Lindsay Madden-Nadeau, FRHI’s director of spa integration and operations, warns operators to do their research when thinking about how to enhance their spa technologically in an exclusive Thought Leader column for Spa Opportunities: how to choose products that are good for business.

THOUGHT LEADER: Lindsay Madden-Nadeau, FRHI

How to choose products that are good for business

With so much access to so many new and innovative beauty products on the markets these days, we, as industry leaders, have a hard time choosing which products are best suited for our businesses, let alone our guests.

There are so many new technologies on offer today we consistently hear words like; natural, organic, peptides, nanotechnology, cosmeceuticals, medicosmedics and many more. It becomes overwhelming. Match this with having to choose from a variety of natural facial, energy magnetic facial, oxygen facial or ultrasound therapy and where do we start?

Aside from the results your guests expect to see instantly at a price that is affordable, owners of spas also need to consider the level of support they will receive in return for endorsing the products. With so much competition on the market, we are seeing product houses stepping up to the plate with their offerings to remain competitive. Having been approach daily for new brands who want to work alongside our spas we need to ensure we have partners who will support us initially and thereafter.

Most people are happy to place our logo on their brand but have they followed up afterwards with support? Recently we performed a review on 50 different products brands worldwide. It was interesting to see aside from the actual “products” what the companies had to offer from their training and support, sales and marketing, PR, sustainability, pricing and brand philosophy. All of these combined actually make up the essence and success of product brand within your spa. Ideally the more training and support you receive the happier your guests will be; they will have a result orientated product alongside a thoroughly trained therapist who they can trust and return to. Which brand will you choose?