2021 Spa Business Yearly Planning: How to Prep & Take Action

Today’s blog busts the myth that Fall is too early to be planning the next year of your spa business— and that, in fact, you should be thinking about your 2021 spa business yearly planning right now!

Yearly planning is, hands-down, one of my favourite parts about being in Q4. It’s a time where I block off at least two days to A) get organized and B) analyze past data to set realistic goals and action steps for my upcoming year. (Plus, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t jump at the opportunity to help my private coaching clients take their yearly planning to the next level!)

My manager, Delia, and I actually just finished our 2021 strategic planning for both my spa coaching company, Kirsten Foss Coaching, and its accompanying done-for-you digital marketing agency, Virtual Spa Business Management. 

That’s why I knew I needed to share our key takeaways for making the best of your 2021 spa business yearly planning days to ensure that 2021 starts off with a bang in terms of kickass recovery and growth. Keep reading, and be sure to Bookmark this page for easy reference once you get started planning!

2021 Spa Business Yearly Planning Step #1: Block Two to Three Dedicated Days Off

I get it: blocking off two to three full days when you’re juggling your spa owner responsibilities, personal life, and all the roadblocks COVID-19 has thrown at all of us in the spa industry? It can sound like a lot to bite off.

Instead of looking at it like that, however, look at it this way: how many times a day, week, or month do you have time to really dig into your spa business? I’m talking about your spa business’s numbers, protocols, systems, services, direction… the whole shebang. The answer? Rarely or never! Give yourself a business gift this Fall by properly organizing and analyzing your spa business without schedule constraints. If you’re like me and have read books about highly successful, organized people, 99.9% of them say that they routinely block out time to think about their business. This permits opening conversations about what’s working, what’s not, how numbers compare over the years, considerations of direction in terms of where your spa business is going— the list goes on.

During COVID-19 in particular, do yourself a favour and block out two to three days to tally all the goings-ons in your spa business rather than burning yourself out by trying to multitask. Delia and I, for example, took two 5-hour days to really dig into Kirsten Foss Coaching and Virtual Spa Management; we even have a follow-up “Action Step” day scheduled in mid-November to give room for any belated considerations that may pop up (as well as using it to assign yearly planning action step tasks and deadlines to team members!)

The bottom line? I recommend two initial days for your 2021 yearly spa business planning and one day for a follow-up to tie up any loose threads!

2021 Spa Business Yearly Planning Step #2: Gather All Past Data Relevant to Your Spa Business

A pitfall I see frequently in both my coaching clients and in my free spa-owners only Facebook group, Spa Business Mastery! The fixation on vision planning!

As a former spa owner myself I understand how easy it is to fall prey to “the fun stuff” when it comes to planning. The reality, however? Your 2021 spa business yearly planning goals need to be based on your past data, namely 2019 and 2020’s past data as comparisons.

Which data am I referring to specifically?

• Retail: which retail items are enduring top-sellers? Which are straggling? Analyzing which items are the best and lowest-performing (and why!) is essential for both setting future sales benchmarks and deciding how to manage your current inventory.

• Services: which services are the most popular? Which services are the most expensive to upkeep? Are they still worth the expense? Are there any services you no longer feel passionate about offering and should cut from your treatment menu? Use your yearly planning as the golden opportunity to niche down on your services, maximize your existing offerings, or pivot direction completely! (For example, many spa owners are toggling to virtual spa services because of COVID-19 and have done so using my done-for-you virtual skin consultation services toolkit.)

• Team: which team members are the most productive? Which are facing challenges? Utilizing this opportunity to nail down trends within your team (like sales, pre-sales, bookings, etc.) using historical data is crucial for optimizing your team going forward in 2021.

• Clients: who are your top clients? Are you attracting your ideal clients? Are there any types of clients that your offerings are attracting who you don’t want to service? If you’re not happy with your current clientele or need more of the same, now’s the time to clarify your ideal client and what they’re looking for and use that information to fine-tune 2021 marketing campaign strategies.

• Marketing: which marketing channels are you currently on? Which are working for you? Are you struggling to reach new consumers? Did a new product or service launch fall flat? Could your lack of multi-channel marketing efforts be to blame? Is your branding lacking consistency, creativity & clout? Does it need a shot of paid advertising to kick visibility into gear? 

Having this data in front of you is when you can start course-correcting and setting benchmarks for the upcoming year.

2021 Spa Business Yearly Planning Step #3: When in Doubt, Follow the Delta Model for Change

Coined by Andrea J. Lee, my very first business coaching, the Delta Model for Change is a thinking construct that helps overwhelmed entrepreneurs simplify their problem solving sessions. 

Based on the delta (the Greek letter of the alphabet and in the shape of a triangle), Andrea J. Lee’s planning process is divided into three key questions that spa owners must ask themselves:

• “Where are we now?” (When analyzing past data.)

• “Where do we want to be?” (When goal-setting.)

• “How will we get there?” (When devising a yearly planning strategy.)

Coaching clients of mine will recognize the Delta Model as my favourite model for course-correcting sales. In fact, I use the Delta Model all the time to simplify my own planning processes within my businesses; the beauty of boiling the seemingly-overwhelming task of yearly planning down to just three points can streamline your decision-making process.

For example, say that you want to change niches. You would want to analyze which niche you’re currently in, the niche and accompanying services you want to toggle to in 2021, and setting month-by-month changes to make that goal a reality!

2021 Spa Business Yearly Planning Step #4: Add Those Actions to Your Project Management Software and Calendar

Once your follow-up “Action Step” day has come and gone and all yearly planning tasks are clear, assigned to team members, and given due dates, I cannot recommend enough adding those actions to your project management software and calendar. 

This is one area of leadership many spa owners are missing - that all of these growth initiatives are considered individual projects and require the right tools to make follow through actually happen. My top three project management softwares for spa owners who aren’t already utilizing one?

• Asana: used to manage business goals, milestones, onboarding, and calendars, Asana is a beginner-friendly project management software with versatile uses. 

• Trello: an automation-based project management software, Trello can be used to view processes and calendars at-a-glance (perfect for spa owners on-the-go!)

• ClickUp: hailed as the “all in one productivity app”, ClickUp, while a bit less user-friendly to spa owners who aren’t tech-savvy, offers app integrations, process management, and reporting features for both team and solopreneur use.

Again, as a former spa business owner myself I understand firsthand that it can be challenging to carve time out from your schedule to dedicate days to your 2021 yearly planning… but I assure you that, because of COVID-19, this is a particularly critical leadership project. Not prioritizing strategic business planning will doom you to a year filled with hopes of increasing bookings and sales but lacking the info needed to make that boosted revenue, services, inventory, and team a reality.

Not sure where to start? Reach out to me today for some one-on-one guidance on your 2021 yearly planning.