I had a good massage this week, and a day later I can barely remember it
Hello,
I’m still in Spain, and this week has been a whirlwind of emotions. After settling my son into varsity in Murcia, I spent two days with my dad, who is 96.
My dad was always the strong one, a businessman, an absolute rockstar of a father. Watching someone like that become frail and old is something nobody can really prepare you for, and I’m still sitting with it.
So I did what I do everywhere I go. I booked a massage. This time I chose one of the best spas in the city I was staying in, and after a week like that, I was hoping for an hour of being looked after.
The treatment itself was good. Not great, just good. What was missing was everything around it. Nobody asked me a single question. Not about pressure, not about what I like, not about what I don’t. There was no conversation with the therapist and none with any of the staff. I got onto the bed and the massage started.
It was a transaction.
A day later, I can barely remember it. I haven’t told anyone about it and I won’t. I didn’t buy a single product, I won’t be leaving a review, and there is no reason for me to rebook.
And that, right there, is the real cost of a forgettable treatment, and it is a cost most spas never see on their reports.
What a forgettable treatment actually costs you.
No retail, because nobody asked what I needed, so there was nothing to recommend. No review, because there was nothing to say. No rebooking, because there was nothing to come back for. And no referral, because I won’t mention it to a single person.
One client. Four ways to lose her. And the spa will never know, because on paper I was a perfectly good booking.
This wasn’t a bad spa. It was one of the best in the city, and the treatment was fine. What it lacked was connection, a conversation, a therapist who spent thirty seconds finding out about me. That is the gap between a transaction and an experience, and it is exactly where retail, reviews and loyalty are born.
It is also exactly the gap the Retail Masterclass for Therapists closes. Not by turning your therapists into salespeople, but by giving them the tools, the dialogue and a system for connecting with every client, asking the right questions and guiding her to what she actually needs. The industry is finally talking about 20 to 30% retail. In my world it is 40 to 50%. None of that happens by accident, and none of it happens without a team that knows how to connect.
This is your last call.
The Retail Masterclass for Therapists starts next Thursday, 22 October, and runs live online every Thursday from 10 to 11am for five weeks, finishing on 19 November. There are tasks to practise between sessions, on your real clients. It is live and cameras are on, and the value is in being there and taking part, so please don’t book anyone in who plans to catch a replay.
It also finishes just before December, which means your whole team walks into the busiest month of your year with the system fresh in their minds.
Here’s how to join.
If you are already a WPC member, you are in. You attend automatically, you just need to let me know, because the masterclass has its own separate group and I need to add you.
If you are not a member yet, you have three options:
- Membership, paid monthly over 12 months: Register Here
- Membership, paid upfront with a big discount: Register Here
- The Retail Masterclass only: Register Here
So here’s my question for you this week:
If your best client had a treatment in your spa today, would she remember it tomorrow? Would she tell someone about it? Or would she be me this week, a good massage and nothing to say?
Your business success depends on your team, so don’t let them be the good massage nobody remembers. Get them booked in.
Have a wonderful week.
Lots of love,
Marisa
P.S. This week reminded me that people rarely remember what was done to them, only how they were made to feel. Your therapists can give every client that feeling, but only if someone shows them how. The more you invest in your team’s growth, the more they give back, to your clients, to your business and to you. That is what these five Thursdays are for.
