As the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations seem to decrease, states are planning their reopening. The economy is about to start again. However, business will never be the same. Not only because the economy was shut down for two months. But also because spas, salons and other businesses will need post COVID-19 safety tips in order to offer a safe environment to their clients.
The main reason why cases decreased is social-distancing. People staying home, practicing pristine hygiene and staying away from each other is how the contamination rate decreased. Although indispensable, reopening businesses make social-distancing harder to practice. Thus, it is crucial that spas and salons implement safety, health and hygiene guidelines to protect their clients.
Post COVID-19 Safety Tips For Salons & Spas
That is why, as a laser machine supplier to spas, salons and clinics, we put together this list of post COVID-19 safety tips for salons and spas. The safety and comfort of your clients matter most. Protecting them is key for your business to be able to reopen and run smoothly.
1. Implement Protocols
The first of our COVID-19 safety tips is to implement hygiene and safety protocols. Your staff, both technicians and front desk, must know of them and be able to explain them to your customers. It is important that your clients know protocols are in place and that they can witness them being implemented.
Your team should be cleaning and disinfecting your spa regularly, more than once a day. This applies especially to areas and spaces in contact with people, like the counter of your front desk or the bathroom. Disinfect surfaces in the waiting areas and each single piece of equipment after each client.
Make sure you have hand sanitizer, wipes and gloves available for anyone who may need them at your front desk. Receptionists and technicians should be wearing gloves and masks. It will be important that you signal to your clients what steps they need to take to step into your spa.
For example, require that all your clients wear a face mask. Establish frameworks of safe distance in your waiting area. People should not sit closer than 6 feet from each other. Hygiene is crucial. Make sure to tell your clients that should they feel sick, you can reschedule their appointment even at the last minute.
Finally, consult the CDC website for guidelines and advice on what to do. Even though they did not communicate a precise set of guidelines for spas and salons, it is always a good idea to keep yourself updated on best practices that they recommend. They are also the best place for COVID-19 safety tips.
2. Have A Reopening Strategy
Reopening a spa or salon after closing for two months is no walk in the park. It will take work, planning and preparation. Not only will you have to change how you manage your spa, you will have to adapt to CDC guidelines and other post COVID-19 safety tips. Each state will issue specific advice that you will need to follow to be able to reopen.
Furthermore, it is important to take some steps towards reopening even weeks before you do so. Surely, your business mostly works on scheduling appointments far in advance. It is also likely that you had to cancel a lot of appointments prior to the lockdown. Those clients will want to be booked in as soon as possible.
Break down the month prior to your spa reopening in smaller steps to take. A month before is the time to strategize your reopening, put together some marketing campaigns, review your services and think on how to adapt your spa to COVID-19 safety guidelines. Take care of back office and maintenant tasks: now is the time to order hand sanitizer, soap, gloves, masks.
A week before, you can have a meeting with your staff to explain how the salon will now work, adjusted to the COVID-19 safety tips. Inform your customers of your reopening, start booking people in, evaluate how to go through the check in process with maximum safety.
The day before, turn on your email and marketing automation. You can send another newsletter to remind your clients of your reopening. Have a last deep clean of the place to make sure it is pristine. You can use the first week to assess and evaluate how the reopening went and how your business works alongside the safety protocol.
You will have to reevaluate every two weeks or so whether to do so me change, enforce more guidelines or even close again.
3. Update Your Marketing Materials
A good marketing strategy will be essential to efficiently communicate your reopening to your customers and help your business increase revenue. It will also be the best way to show that you are implement COVID-19 safety tips and protocols.
All your newsletter in the weeks prior to your reopening should include the date of reopening as well as some of those protocols you are implementing. For example, make sure to say in your emails the day before you reopen that all customers should be wearing a mask should they want to come in.
Your website should have a post COVID-19 safety tips and protocol page. It should be linked on your navigation menu, easy of access. Should you offer packages, include on the product page that the current situation may disrupt the delivery of the service.
Finally, make sure to provide provisions for services bought prior to the lockdown. For example, someone bought a yearly package but missed out on two months, they will have those two months added to the validity of their package.
4. Communicate With Your Customers
This situation we are currently experiencing was unforeseeable and never seen before. Thus, it is difficult to know how things will evolve and how smooth will business start to run again. The newness of this situation will lead to uncertainty which can lead to frustration.
The fourth of our COVID-19 safety tips is to communicate with your customers effectively. This will mostly happen through your marketing (social media and newsletter) as well as in-spa efforts (front desks, technicians and signage).
It does not matter how many emails you send and how many times you explain your safety protocols. People might still miss them. Thus, to ensure that you clearly communicate your safety guidelines and protocols, print them and stick them around your spa. Signs will be striking and people will see them.
Should there be any changes in your business hours or safety protocols, inform your customers. Make sure your technicians are also able to explains the guidelines and demonstrate them if need be. Receptionist should also know and be able to answer any related questions.
Understand that the situation can be tricky and frustrating to anyone and that in the end, we are all in the same boat. If you update your terms and conditions, make sure to inform your customers.
5. Clean And Disinfect Frequently
Last but not least of our post COVID-19 safety tips is of course, circling back to implement protocols, to clean and disinfect your spa frequently. People walk in and out, bringing with them dirt and trash. Doors close and open.
People will touch your front desk so make sure to disinfect it often, as well as other surfaces in frequent contact with clients. It might also be a good idea to disinfect electronic equipment such as keyboards and phones. Offer to mist client’s phones with sanitizer as they have proven to be a huge carrier of the virus.
The rooms should also be cleaned as well as the equipment. Technicians and estheticians should disinfect equipment after each client and be ready to do that in front of the next customer should they ask to. Have someone wipe the floor often as well.
Check the products you are using to clean. Are they still effective? Have they expired? Make an inventory of what you have to ensure that you have stock and that the products can be used at any time. Have a big deep clean each evening after you close the spa and that the trash is taken out.
That’s it four our post COVID-19 safety tips for salons and spas. Most of the safety guidelines and hygiene protocols mostly are steps that spas and salons were taking already. Hygiene and cleanliness are both essentials to the smooth running of a spa, making a great first impression as well as a good reputation.