Don't throw the baby out with the bath water

Imagine announcing a 24-hour sleepover spa therapy event to your audience on social media! This, and all the other jokes I saw clients posting had me in absolute stitches on April Fools Monday. The best part is always the comments - get out the popcorn...

These pockets of fun are important for both clients and staff morale. I am a firm believer in finding and injecting joy and laughter in business!

Jokes aside, this week wasn't all fun and games. As always, I'm using the experience to share some ideas and best practices with you. This time, it's about supplier relationships.

What happened was, I was placed in a potentially tricky situation with one of our spa suppliers. Initially, the numbers were telling me the brand was not doing as well in our spa as some of the other brands we partner with. It seemed like we weren't getting enough support from them in terms of training and sales.

My first thought was to phase them out and look for another brand.

But then, I decided to chat with the brand’s general manager.

It was a good reminder of how important it is to have open lines of communication and strong relationships, not just with the sales rep but with the whole team behind the brand.

Turns out, there was more to the story. Our spa team and their sales rep had different versions of the events, and a key training session had missed focusing on the brand's top-selling products, only touching on the premium lines.

So, instead of moving on to a new brand, which would have been an inordinate cost in terms of time and money, I chose to give this one another shot. It felt a bit like navigating through a rough patch in a marriage. You don't just give up; you work through it. These are the questions and answers that led me there:

1. Is the brand well respected? Yes!
2. Is the brand team a joy to do business with, and are they efficient? Yes!
3. Are the margins I make selling the brand good? They are great!

This realization led to a straightforward action plan:

1. Schedule a training session focused only on the brand’s hero products. Once we get those right, we’ll move on to the rest.
2. Role Play sessions on how to recommend the brand effectively. Many, many sessions.
3. Host an exclusive full-day event showcasing the brand, complete with free expert consultations.
4. Offer a solid incentive for our team to shift their mindset in selling the brand.
5. Increase visits from the sales rep to build a stronger connection with our spa.

Making that call to the General Manager and deciding to focus on what we already had was a relief.

1. It taught me the value of thoroughly evaluating what we have before jumping into something new.
2. It also reminded me of the importance of relationships.

Don’t get me wrong, there will be times when a change is good, but you should always exhaust all avenues before making a brand change decision. It’s always best for both spa and brand partners when you remain objective and ensure you give your all to work on the relationship.

To help you with similar situations, I've put together a quick guide on managing supplier relationships. Please print it, share it with your team, and keep it at your reception area. It's just a snippet of what is available in our Business Management Members dashboard, which includes over 200 ready-to-use templates for your business.

Come join us at the club!