The highs and lows: how to manage sales seasonality in the spa business.

You would think that, because we know that this seasonality regarding bookings, cash flows, and team members leaving/being hired on happens year after year, each and every one of us in the spa industry would be more on the ball regarding managing these highs and lows… and yet, when you’re in the weeds of your spa business, it’s all too easy to only focus on what is “immediate” in our business versus planning ahead for how to tackle these recurring hurdles.

That’s why today’s blog accompaniment to my latest episode of Spa Business Mastery explores how to be aware of this seasonal pattern and how to approach it strategically for stronger peace of mind, higher sales, and better overall internal rhythm within your spa biz.

The One Question Spa Owners Need to Ask Themselves When it Comes to How to Manage Sales Seasonality in the Spa Industry 

Have you heard of the 10x rule?

Popular in coaching, there are two definitions of the 10x rule: the first, popularized by author James Clear in his book “The 10x Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure”, advises that business owners should set targets for themselves that are 10x greater than what they believe they can achieve and that they should take actions that are 10x greater than what they believe to be necessary to meet set targets. The second definition, which is what I’m referencing today, advises that business owners should look at their business model and 10x it.

What does that mean? Well, look at your business objectively and think to yourself, “If my workflow was multiplied by 10 (woohoo!), could I still manage it? If that was the case, what systems and structure would be missing that would make that 10x growth both possible and manageable?”

Spoiler alert: the majority of spa businesses would not be able to support 10x growth… which is why the frequently-seen sales boom in both the summer and winter can wreak major havoc on unprepared spas.

So how can your spa staff, systems, booking structure, and offers support both those high and low points of spa sales seasonality? Well…

Plan Ahead of Both the Lows and Highs

My first tip as a former spa owner myself is to plan ahead of both the lows and highs of spa sales seasonality.

High points for spa sales throughout the year, for the majority of spas, are:

• Spring

• Summer

• Winter (specifically December)

...Whereas “low” months for the majority of spa businesses are September, October, November, January, and March.

Despite this seasonality being both recurring and consistent, the majority of spa owners don’t know what to do to change this fallout and instead offer “spaghetti at the wall” promotions that act as ineffective BandAids to the core problems surrounding it. This is especially true for working moms in the industry who find themselves surprised when bookings decline in September and yet don’t have the mental wherewithal or time to tackle it.

So how do you circumvent this sense of panic and feeling of being unprepared?

As mentioned above… planning! 

Like most aspects of running business, the simplest answer is the correct one: putting in the hard work to plan around this seasonality is the only way to sufficiently prepare for the lows and get you and your team prepped for the highs.

Overcoming seasonality, specifically, needs a market system. You need a system to support the plan!

How to Create a System So Your Spa Marketing Plan is Delivered... Easily

Ideally, what this planning looks like is a minimum of twice-a-year planning sessions in order to get a big-picture view of your common hurdles, recurring events, and both short-term and long-term goals. Big-picture planning works to hone in on your strategic focus, set priorities, and creates accountability checklists… instead of making both your marketing and operational endeavors a mad dash two weeks before a big event or deadline!

I recommend having a 12-month marketing plan in a spreadsheet, Google Doc, or journal to strategically mitigate the lows and manage the highs so that the year flows more smoothly in terms of sales, cash flow, and team culture. 

You don’t need to map out all the aspects of each month: instead, pick out a main topic focus, service feature, and two product features that the messaging is cohesive & therefore be amplified. This will simplify your social media marketing, provide easy content for your email marketing and blog marketing, and work to generate leads where you need them most. Trust us: we here at Kirsten Foss Coaching offer a variety of digital services to spas just like yours and planning your digital marketing content well in advance makes a world of difference!

Here is a checklist for those of you who are just starting out with your spa marketing system:

1. Get crystal-clear about what your marketing system includes. Common inclusions are social media, email, website, blog, and both in-spa and digital ads. This is crucial for keeping your monthly marketing messages consistent, clear, and relevant across all applicable platforms

2. Start a spreadsheet, Google Doc, or journal for writing down your systems. Don’t keep all your ideas up in your head; write them down instead for an easier reference than can be shared to all applicable team members and/or outsourced marketing experts

3. Choose a monthly or seasonal focus depending on if you want to create content by-month or by-season. Each month or season should focus on a specific service, a specific client pain point, and up to two specific products you would like to focus on selling

4. Put in the time. In order to strategize each month’s focus, optimize bookings, and nail down sales in advance, you need to put the time in. As always, I’m here to help with the coaching aspect of this to maximize the time you spend planning! For example, for my clients I help break down this 12-month marketing system by quarters (Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4)

5. Attach accountability. Remember: as a spa owner, you are much like a project manager… which means, especially in this case, you have to act like one! This can look like assigning due dates and deliverables to your social media or reception team in order to ensure that you aren’t bottlenecking your business’s growth potential. (As a hot tip, both Asana and ClickUp are affordable, user-friendly project management platforms that any and all team members can be added to to simplify your internal processes!)

How the Kirsten Foss Coaching VIP "Spa Marketing in a Day" Beta Test is Here to Simplify Your Sales Seasonality... In Just One Day!

If you are thinking to yourself, “This is absolutely something I need to do… but I just don’t have the time or energy!” then you need to know about the beta test that my marketing manager and I have put together for you.

A brand-new digital services feature, this VIP Day provides you with the opportunity to get everything I listed above put together in just one day! 

How does it work?

• We start with a 30-min Game Planning Session to prep for your high-level coaching day

• We have all the applicable the spreadsheets, information, templates, and social media SOP at the ready

• You come to our VIP Day for two 90-minute sessions that will ensure that my team puts together a cohesive, effective, and on-brand 12-month marketing system, a custom Q1 plan for your spa business & direction for how to complete the rest of the year

• We provide you with hands-on, actionable knowledge on blog topics, social media campaigns, branded email marketing ideas, and so much more

• In one month after our VIP Day together, we will schedule one 30-minute follow-up call to ensure that all is running tickety-boo

In short, it’s an all-encompassing spa business marketing system that will be simple to implement, be results-driven, and, above all, will work to make your spa biz run more efficiently and effectively than it ever has before.

We are only working with two lucky spas in the month of June, so contact me today to be put on the list for our coveted VIP Day done-for-you 12-month marketing system program!