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How do I even begin...I had trouble finding the hosue b/c there were no numbers on the house. So I call the lady twice and she finally answers and says "I am the brown stucco house, don't park in my driveway" Ok I can overlook that....wrong! I get in the house and she ask me to wait until they are done eating to set up. ok, I am thinking 15 minutes..wrong again! A hour and 15 minutes later I sneak in to the dining room ( mind you the whole hour and 15 mins i was sitting by myself in the living room) and ask the hostess if I can set up my foot tubs in the living room at least. She respond " I don't know if you noticed or not but I DO have hard wood floors and water will ruin my floors." By this time you know where i really wanted to stick the foot tubs?
The ladies were all very snooty and noone wanted to take their makeup off to do the microderm abrasia so I just let them do SOH and extreme repair lotion. They soaked their feet, used the foot lotion, neckwraps and eye pads.
The hostess and another lady ask me to join them in the kitchen for a moment and says "This is not what we expected, we were expecting back massages and full pedicures for all the ladies and for all the ladies to get a gift from you. And that the women would be more likely to buy stuff if they could sample ALL the products."
I informed them that we do not give all the ladies free stuff , only the hostess.
At this time I am ready to just run out the door or punch someone. I haven't been treated like that in years and was so upset , esp. with it being my first spa. I tried contacting my director after the spa to tell her what happened but she's not answering her phone at Celebration.

After all that I only got $52 in orders and a possible "I might have a party in September"
When I was handing the hostess and another lady their reciepts, the hostess brings me it back and puts it right in my face and says "write paid on this " Then asked me when and how the ladies that didn't get their stuff were going to get it. They were expecting me to have everything, I had alot but not the buffer.
Sorry to be so long winded but I am still upset and so VERY discouraged now.

Thanks for listening,
Tracy

P.S. after I left I called a friend and said ..meet me for a margarita! LOL

That is terrible. I haven't been with BC that long but I have NEVER had anyone be rude like that!!! I don't know what I would have done if I were you. I feel so sorry for you. I don't blame you, I would have had to have a drink after that also. How did you get that Spa scheduled to begin with? I take it the hostess and the friend that talked to you in the kitchen had never been to a BC spa before. I'm sure you are very upset and disturbed by all of this but I'm sure your next spa will be a very good experience. Hopefully you will never have a spa like this again but IF you do I'm sure you will think back on this experience and you will know more of what you should say or do. Keep your head up and don't let this one bad experience get you down. Hang in there and go spa someone who appreciates you and what you do for them!!!

Oh my.....I can't believe they did that to you! Even if they expected you to be giving them massages, etc, that is no reason for you to stuck in her LR for over an hour. That's just rude.

That said....we have ALL had bad spas. I'm sorry yours was your first spa, but trust me, they are not supposed to be like that! http://www.wahm.com/forum/smileys/smiley36.gif

I think this is a perfect time to evaluate your hostess coaching. What did you tell her that you would be doing? What did you tell her that you expected her to do? Did you, or she, contact her friends about this spa experience? Hostess coaching is everything when it comes to a successful spa. You need to look at every aspect of this spa and figure out how to avoid it next time.

I would suggest to you that you contact your hostess immediately after she books and get a hostess envelope in her hands. Have her read through it and understand it perfectly. Tell her how long the spa will last, and exactly what treatments you will be doing. If you are doing the new spa format, with the skin care at the sink, tell heryou'll do thatand make sure her guests know that they need to come w/out makeup, or be prepared to take their makeup off. (or they could try it on their hands if they must). Tell her you will be doing a foot treatment, lip treatment, and hand treatment and that everyone will participate. (I dont do the foot tubs anymore, but if you want to do that, ask the hostess if it will be ok. If not, plan to do just a foot lotion. Either way, both you AND your hostess need to know what you plan to do before you arrive).

I would also advise you to send out the invitations yourself. I recently redid mine and they explain fully what they will experience. I had many guests in the past who came to the spa not knowing what they were coming to! and yes, they expected massages too. http://www.wahm.com/forum/smileys/smiley36.gif I think that's a common problem. If you send out the invites, and make the follow up calls, you can answer the guests questions about what they will experience before they even come to the spa.

I think your biggest problem here was hostess coaching. You should be talking to her about 5 times from the time she books, until her spa. You need to cover every aspect... the time you'll arrive, the time it will start, who is she inviting, what they will be experiencing, and what is expected of the hostess. She needs to know what to do to earn her free products.

I've learned that hostess coaching is what separartes the good spas from the bad. And I've had them all! Don't beat yourself up over this one, just learn from it and move on. Find a new circle of women who will treat you like the professional that you are. Pat yourself on the back for being a professional in a very rude situation. $52 isn't much...but it's better than nothing. I've experienced that once and it wasn't fun. You did good, girl! Get back on that horse and try again!

Sam

Actually the way I got this spa was because my director was at Celebration and the lady called her Thursday asking for her to do the spa as a surprise the next night. Well my director called me and asked if I wanted to do it, of course I did because practice and money.

I didn't have the hostess phone number until about 4 hours before the spa so this was a last minute thing.

I would make sure to talk with your director about the spa and I think your director should even contact the lady and talk with her about what happened.

Oh, Tracy...I'm so sorry to hear what happened your first time out! And don't feel too bad about this...it's not just you. I've had the same thing happen to me several times in the 4-1/2 years I've been with BC. And believe me...I did excellent hostess coaching in every case where things went horribly, like your night tonight. The thing I found out is thatsome people, no matter how great yourhostess coaching, have an idea stuck in their head about what the spa party will entail. They'rethinking massages, and it's difficultfor them to get that idea out of their head.

I agree with Laura that your director should contact the hostess and talk about the situation, since this lead came through your director. You did a GREAT job on such short notice with such little information. I don't know howyour director met this woman or how much this hostess knew about a spa prior to this, but please don't take this eveningto heart. Those women tonight may have had money (an assumption on my part, based on your description of the events) but they showed a distinct lack of class in treating you the way they did. Rise above it, hold your head high and get back out there! Easier said than done, I know, but YOU CAN DO IT!!! Your spa sisters are here to back you!

Sending you a http://www.wahm.com/forum/smileys/smiley31.gif!!!

Blessings to you,
Melissa

Hi Tracy-


I am so sorry, that this had to be your first spa experience!!! People can be quite unbelievable at times. How very assumptive of that woman and her friends.

Just know, that every spa will not be like this - or no one would be working the business! Try to remember that this is YOUR business to run as you wish. If you choose, you do not have to associate with them ever again. It is up to you.

Due to it being a lead from your Director, I would suggest letting your Director know how the spa went. As for your Director speaking to the woman, that would be her call.

I am sure that the margarita helped and you will be out doing spas soon and having a great time!

Best of luck to you!

P/S I hope that lady had to go todayandBUY a massage, but could not get out of the driveway because someone parked in it, so she stayed home and scrubbedher hardwood floors, after she skipped lunch because she ate so much for dinner last night! http://www.wahm.com/forum/smileys/smiley2.gif

Thanks ladies for all the support.


Part of me wanted to walk out on these ladies so bad, but my professional side said no. I hope it gets better!





spa5 , that is too funny!!!I hope that lady had to go todayandBUY a massage, but could not get out of the driveway because someone parked in it, so she stayed home and scrubbedher hardwood floors, after she skipped lunch because she ate so much for dinner last night! http://www.wahm.com/forum/smileys/smiley2.gif

Wow! As the other ladies said, you probably will never encounter this type again (let's hope!). I can't believe the nerve of some people. I think I would've walked out after having to wait after 30 minutes. I probably would've said that I had another spa to do and didn't want to keep the ladies waiting. I cannot believe that she expected a full pedicure, back massages and gifts for each person! That's just insane. Truly, truly insane. I am so sorry you dealt with that, but do not let that get you down. Keep on spa'ing and you'll see it gets better and better. http://www.wahm.com/forum/smileys/smiley2.gif

ShannonEdited by: 2SpaDivas

i am so sorry about your experience. every now and then you do have some misunderstandings and rude people, but your story is one of the worst that i have heard. i can't believe they expected massages and pedicures and gifts for free. i can't believe they were so rude to you, someone who was coming to pamper them.

i recommend booking a spa with your friends and family soon, so that you have a good experience and hopefully get some bookings. and the good thing is when you get bookings at your spas, the people understand what they are signing up for.

good luck and the good thing is all spas from now on will seem like a piece of cake.

I"m so sorry to hear that happened too...geez...the nerve of some people!! I had a bad one myself where I waited an hour after the schedule spa time for the guests to arrive...they brought covered dishes of food to eat....I had a hard time getting them in the living room to do the spa....they all were standing around eating and staring at me...I don't think the hostess even told them what they were suppose to be getting done that day....anyway I had no sales, one booking and no recruits....needless to say the booking didn't hold later....i chalked it up as a lesson learned...never wait that long for guests to arrive....start on time no matter who's there and who isn't....and stop on time.....but it is very important to hostess coach....I've improved on my HC and now are having much better spas.

oh and one other thing....can you tell this was a sore spot for me at one time?? http://www.wahm.com/forum/smileys/smiley36.gif If someone does come in late in a spa....i do not back track to catch them up....i just "insert" them where we are in the spa process....and if she wants to experience what she missed out on...I ask the hostess to give her that missed treatment at the end of the spa...usually its the SOH part or foot treatment....this also is a good lead in to recruiting the hostess and booking a spa with that late comer. ..

So sorry to hear that! I 've been with BC for almost 5 years. I had one bad spa like that. It does get better. Believe in yourself and the company. You will do awesome the next time. Don't worry about your director, the cell coverage at the Gaylord is horrible. I'm sure she will call you back soon. I was a director and I know she will make it right.


Hang in there!


Spa Smiles!

Just know as you are doing this business you are going to get people like this. It is called working in the public sector! Blow it off and keep going. Your good ones will far out weigh the bad ones. Good luck to you, I know you'll do great!

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience! My first spa was with a friend. The reason I did this was because they are the most forgiving and they knew it was my first spa. They helped me practice and didn't mock me when I said "Opps, I meant..." It was also my largest order of all time so far. *grin* Maybe ask a friend if she would like to host a party for you to practice on. I'm sure they'd love a free hour of relaxation from you. It gets better, trust me!