There is no more important task for spa owners and/or managers to fulfill than building up and maintaining an excellent relationship with the visitors of your spa.
To make the guests feel truly welcome and giving them what they need and expect to get or even better, overdelivering from time to time, guarantees not only the financial success but can create the image of excellence far beyond local or even national boundaries.
So what skills and tools can make this worthwhile goal reality? I can see three key elements for success, which I list in the sequence as they are build:

• Establish trust that your spa strives for total customer satisfaction first, with financial gain trailing behind
• Ongoing personal care for each customer - as much as your time allows it! - not just for new customers or VIP clients
• Uninterrupted "soft-communication" with every customer in contrast to hard-selling harassment, applied whenever the spa needs a cash injection or for profit maximization

If those three elements are put in place and practised by management and staff, the fame comes by itself.
So what are the ingredients and/or tools to make fame happen? Element 1: Trust The trust that you put the customer first does not come with hype and aggressive sales slogans.
Trust comes quietly, quasi sneaking through the backdoor.
It is built with the little things management says and does.
Let me give you an example: if a client buys a gift voucher for a special day for a loved one or friend but wants it returned for whatever reason (you will never find out the real reason, so no use to ask for it!), refund him or her with a smile.
It will not take long until this person will buy again or send a friend to you.
Such gesture will have multiplied your income and won you a customer, possibly for life.
It is very easy to think of dozens of similar cases.
Generosity creates trust, greed and short term thinking is a destroyer of relationships - in business as in private matters.
Element 2: Personal care If you are able to make the customer feel that you really do all you can to make every of her or his visits a complete success story, you are winning the game for fame.
But be warned: to want to deliver such care is one thing, to make it happen is another.
You will not only experience that some clients suck your energy and goodwill beyond belief but have to fight a seemingly endless battle with your staff.
There will be days, where you will feel completely empty, having no clue how you can do the same again the next day.
It is no secret that not everybody does have the genes of a personal care provider.
I am convinced, it cannot be learned in the interest of the business like a mathematical formula.
Better be realistic and inspect your psyche or ask your friends: do you have what it takes to deliver personal care? Element 3: Ongoing soft-communication You got to stay in touch with your clients, even if they have not visited your spa for days, weeks or even months.
There can be many reasons for their absence and you will never find out, if you eliminate the link with them.
Your customers are your most valuable assets.
It was hard work to get them on board, don't let them go! Linking with them is made very easy nowadays via internet, where semi- or fully automatic software sends out news and invitations regularly (you determine when and how often) to your client base.
Those broadcasts can be organised according to the clients interests and status.
The software is known as so-called auto-responder software or is part of a complete spa software package, which can be tailored to your needs.
Wrapping it up, it becomes very obvious that in spite of living in a society, where technology can and often does dominate our life and actions, the human element in a spa is still the number one success factor.
It may come as surprise for some but many of us will consider this to be good news in our high-tech world!