Luxury Spa Attitude

A rewarding meeting with Dominique Pierson, Founder of DP-Training.

BH: You offer training programs dedicated to the spa environment with no interference in the dayto-day treatment protocols and techniques. What is precisely your area of expertise?

Dominique Pierson: With the greatest of pleasure, my area of expertise is in sales. I have developed a sales method adapted to the luxury area, where the customer must in no case feel imprisoned or forced. The objective of this method is to help the customer define his own needs: utility need, belonging, appearance, pleasure need to please somebody, narcissistic need, recognition need, brand identification need etc. Once this awareness is achieved with a set of questions, the customer validates the choice and purchase is natural. My training session bears the name “Natural sales through positive communication”. This method banishes argumentation and answering objections. Indeed, experience shows that the more you justify a product, the more worried the customer is. It doesn’t help the sales to be positive about the product; it’s much too easy. It is up to the sales person to drive the customer towards expressing product satisfaction. Therefore, the method is based on the discovery phase, where the customer remains connected. He remains highly motivated and this is perfect to have him express his opinion. Each question is asked in such a way as to create awareness of the advantages or necessity to buy the product that becomes necessary and essential. Customer feedbacks are “I really felt he was taking an interest in me” “he really is professional, he managed to help me choose” “I was really undecided and he introduced me with the exact product I wanted”. This is the way to make your customer feel heard and helped, but in no way forced. This sales notion is linked to “Luxury Attitude” within the teams of the hotel boutiques and “Spa attitude” behaviour within the spa staff

BH: The Bristol, the Ritz, the Meurice, the Four Seasons, the Shangri La… Within the last 12 years, the best hotels in the world have retained your services. Can you share with us an experience that really had an impact, a surprise on you?

Dominique Pierson: I could quote several of them. I was really surprised by the environment of sympathy, accessibility and proximity of the teams who work in these wonderful Palace Hotels. From the practitioner, from the waiter to management, there’s a real sense of service from every part, and for everybody even for us, trainers. We share meals together at the cafeteria (from the chauffeur to the CEO) and each one of us clears his table. A positive and supportive state of mind prevails. And among the things that made me smile, I remember a VIP guest in bathrobe, with his two dressed up bodyguards wearing glasses and earphones.

BH: The perfect experience according to Dominique Pierson… from appointment scheduling to payment?

Dominique Pierson: In a perfect world, sorry in a perfect spa, the call will be answered by the third ring. The voice of the hostess is soft and welcoming, speaking an octave below the usual so as to calm the customer and invite him into a serene environment while talking on the phone. She carefully explains each treatment, massage and spa service in a positive and inducing manner. When the customer arrives, she acknowledges him, calls him by his name and invites him to comfortably take a seat. She offers him a welcome drink to help him unwind after a hectic day. And gently invites him into the spa ritual. She then moves on to a soft discovery of his needs, his expectations, his desires and helps him discover new desires. Her questions are positive, inducing, clear, if not pedagogical. Once the customer’s needs are identified, she invites him to follow her to his cloakroom. She explains the whole experience: the locker’s opening and closing procedures, the disposable string and how to wear it, the bathrobe, the jewellery box, the different services such as hair dryer, comb, perfumes, towels, flip-flops, showers, functioning of the hammam, sauna and the equipment available. We are always aware that customers do not necessarily know about our protocols. She also introduces other services like beauty treatments (make-up, minute hair styling), following the proper treatment, such as room service and how to get a light meal or a snack. She escorts the client to the spa therapist and makes introductions. Customer management is total and holistic; therapists already know how to do it. Once the treatment is over, she suggests products to intensify and extend its effects, depending on the expectations expressed before the treatment during the “soft” discovery phase. She escorts the customer to the tearoom, the relaxing lounge or by the swimming pool and offers him a drink, in line with the treatments and the spa concept. And when she feels the customer wants to leave, she escorts him to the cloakroom to avoid his getting lost. When the customer is back at the reception, she invites him to the counter to hand him over his purchased items, offering him samples or a prepared gift before escorting him to the door or the lift. She greets him politely and invites him to come again as he pleases. In the meantime, she did not forget to write the customer’s details down, so as to be able to send VIP invitations, newsletters, greeting cards etc. These are, in short, the ideal steps of our customer’s management procedure at the spa. In addition, we have to remember that the customer does not only come to indulge in a massage or a treatment but that he wants the live the experience of a lifetime.

Infos & contact : dp-training.com