Webinars in the spa industry can be effective for so many things, from providing education to introducing new products and services. However, one key benefit of webinars that is often overlooked is customer service.
Are you and your spa staff participating in webinars? If not, you are missing out on an important business and education resource.
Estheticians and spa and salon owners should regularly attend webinars to stay current on the latest products and services but also to get business advice and receive good customer service. Webinars can have multiple benefits, such as:
- Keeping estheticians, spas and salons informed on the latest products, research and ingredients;
- Providing education in skin care science and technique;
- Offering incentives such as discounts on new products;
- Providing access to key members of the company and industry experts; and
- Providing a forum for clients and customers to give feedback.
Webinars: The Basics
A webinar is a live, online and educational presentation during which participating viewers can submit questions and comments. In essence, a webinar has all the benefits of attending a live seminar without travel. In this, material is presented, usually in a PowerPoint, and audience members can ask questions of the presenter. Webinars should be conducted by company heads or other key people within the organization.
Webinars usually run for approximately 30 to 35 minutes, with an additional 20 minutes for questions and answers. This is when the client or customer has direct access to the leader to be able to ask questions directly, receive invaluable advice and be inspired.
The keys to creating a successful webinar include the following:
- Providing substantive content that your customer can use;
- Providing a timely topic appropriate to the season and newest innovations;
- Regularly scheduling webinars to be at the same date and time each month to assure clients of regular content and contact;
- Always providing enough time for questions so the audience can interact with the presenter;
- Keeping the information to the point;
- Always making sure the equipment and platform is up to date and working efficiently;
- Properly promoting the upcoming webinar with weekly emails to your customers, as well as always following up; and
- Always educate! A webinar is not just for sales and trouble shooting. It is the greatest opportunity to share information and knowledge.
Tell Your Story
Businesses can now reach out to their clients on a global level to tell their brand’s story. Research shows that messages delivered as stories can be up to 22 times more memorable than just facts. Webinars provide a means to both visually and orally tell a brand’s story, helping to immerse the client in the company mission and DNA. This is an opportunity to learn the story on your company’s founding, the bio on the founder and learn what makes this company successful; what sets them apart?
All of the company’s accolades and standards of excellence should be clearly delineated within the first stages of the webinar to assure the client that they are engaging with a service representative that has qualified for the highest standards in operation.
Deliver the Latest Information
Webinars should provide an interactive platform for information on the latest advances of a brand, as well as provide in-depth information about ingredients and their benefits. Here, spa and salon owners and estheticians can be kept abreast of all the newest, most important launches, as well as provide all the information on ingredient benefits and study results. This is especially important if the ingredients are not as well-known or on the cutting edge of biotechnology.
Brand and Esthetics Education
One of the most important services a webinar can provide spa practitioners and owners is monthly demonstrations of the latest, most innovative facial and body treatment protocols. While regular attendance at educational classes via trade shows or company conferences is a must at least twice a year, webinars offer spas, salons and estheticians monthly training without having to incur the costs of monthly travel. These can both introduce the esthetician to the latest techniques or can help reinforce the information they originally received during a class.
With these, an expert at the treatment is online, talking the practitioner through each step and available to answer questions afterwards.
Webinars can even provide testing with immediate results to help the esthetician qualify their strengths. These can include additional incentives of discounts or free products for participating for the practitioner or owner.
Business Training
Webinars can provide exceptional customer service to the spa owner or esthetician by also giving essential business information and advice. Important marketing data and research is provided to help enhance individual businesses and are part of an exceptional customer service package.Webinars can help salons and spas define their clients as well as give them the skills to exceed their needs. They expose undeveloped markets to new and innovative practices, as well as provide information on federal and state laws that affect their business.
If the company founder is moderating, this is also an opportunity for them to inspire their customer with their own story. Helping businesses be successful is part of an overall mission for professional skin care companies. By helping individual businesses, the industry benefits overall.
Product Incentives and Discounts
True customer service can be provided by offering discounts and free products to clients for signing up. This is valuable to both the customer and the company, providing targeted sampling to help educate the clients as well as demonstrate the product’s effectiveness.
This is also a great opportunity for your business to highlight special promotions. This is why monthly webinars that adjust to seasons and special events can be an especially win-win service.
Offer Question Opportunities
Studies show that for 45% of millennials, a key factor to consumer satisfaction is to be part of the innovative process. They expect brands to build relationships with them, to listen to them and to engage with them.1
The Q&A portion of a webinar is the spa practitioner and client’s opportunity to engage directly with the company, provide feedback as well as give their input on future developments. This engagement can be further nurtured in follow-up email blasts and forums. Being part of the process in development, as well as being acknowledged for input, is a key marker for a successful business going forward.
Strengthening Partnerships
Partnerships are what make or break a business. Webinars not only provide a great way for spas to sample what a skin care company has to offer, but they also provide a way to retain and strengthen existing business partnerships, providing the host of services described above. Finding new and innovative ways to educate through webinars, creating a monthly schedule and providing diligent outreach and follow up via e-mail regarding webinars has now become essential to creating successful and long-term partnerships.
Reference
Lydia Sarfati is a master esthetician and the founder and CEO of Repêchage. She was a contributing author to the Milady Standard Esthetics: Fundamentals, Twelfth Edition. Sarfati also authored Success At Your Fingertips: How to Succeed in the Skin Care Business. For more information, go to www.repechage.com, www.pro.repechage.com and www.LearningwithLydia.com.
