Working at a spa, the management had challenged massage therapists to learn how to sell some products and services to clients – and I had not the foggiest idea how to do that.
[this part 3 of 4; see beginning of the story here]
Thus far I had suggested an essential oil to a client who thought I was giving it away, suggested an item out of stock, and in the middle of recommending a product I had made a big disbelief face when I looked at the price we were charging for an item.
Despite feeling like a complete idiot, however, I had managed to make some sales and had gone into the first month as one of only three massage therapists at my spa who actually sold stuff. It then occurred to me that if I simply asked the other two therapists how to sell, I might learn something.
The first therapist had been there quite a while and was a spa’s version of a golden employee. This therapist was also licensed to do facials and skin care and had often sold several thousand dollars a month in products.
I toodled over to her one Tuesday morning when the spa was slow and asked my big question: How do you sell products?
“Well, wouldn’t you like to know,” she said, clearly amused. And that is all she said.
Okay, that went stunningly not-well. While she ran off to her buddies to tell them how amusing I was I tried our other therapist who had sales experience.
This massage therapist was a male, a relative rarity in the spa world. He had worked on cruise ships and at several high-end spas and had a way of being charming while also giving a great massage. His sales were routinely high, anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000 a month. I had been struggling with our spa director’s $100-a-month quota.
I asked the big question, and to my surprise he was actually interested in helping me. “You don’t sell anything,” he said. “You identify a need and then fill it.”
Huh? What did that mean?
“Think about it,” he said. “You will figure it out.”
Oh great, now I was getting advice from the Sphinx. I was completely baffled, which along with feeling like an idiot was becoming a too-familiar state of mind. I watched him gather up a bag-full of products and leave it at the front desk for a client.
