Spa Director Spotlight:
Jennifer’s life mission is to share her knowledge of keeping skin healthy. Upon discovering microcurrent, Jennifer reinvented herself as an esthetician and has never looked back since. After helping so many people improve their health and their lives, body and spirit, Jennifer has learned that our bodies and minds are amazing and complex, and that a healthy lifestyle is the key to a healthier life and a Powerful Youth.
Nestled in downtown Burlingame, California, L’Escape Spa offers a personal and intimate setting where clients are pampered with attentive caring, state of the art products and services. Well known for their custom tailored microcurrent treatments, L’Escape Spa provides optimal results from skin rejuvenation to many healing and holistic wellness solutions. Spa Owner and Director, Jennifer Pham, is an industry veteran with a passion for healing people, making new clients friends, and running her business. After 25 years in the business, Jennifer has grown L’Escape Spa into a pillar of her community with a range of offerings for her clients. Take a journey through L’Escape Spa’s holistic, caring atmosphere through the lens of its forward-thinking owner:
SIGNATURE TREATMENT
At L’Escape Spa, microcurrent is the star treatment. Spa Owner Jennifer Pham describes their Electro Microcurrent Facial (60 or 90 minutes, $195-$225) as a unique combination therapy: “Our Microcurrent Facial in combination with our proprietary skin care products produces immediately recognizable improvements in skin tone, tightness and appearance. Our procedure is fine-tuned to work with delicate facial and neck muscles, dramatically improving soft tissue, muscle tone, skin elasticity, wrinkles, post-surgical recovery and scarring. This non-invasive and pain free procedure is administered through the use of small probes applied to the skin’s surface. The probes are moved over the target areas in conjunction with the application of various proprietary massage techniques and special, optimizing skin care products.”
Jennifer goes on to explain the many benefits of the treatment: “More specifically, the body’s cells naturally produce micro-electrical charges. When the body or specific tissue is injured or as skin ages, these micro-currents are disrupted, limiting blood flow, diminishing tissue energy and reducing the body’s ability to heal and rejuvenate. The device we use detects these microcurrent anomalies and is programmed to deliver corrective microcurrent pulses to the cells to remediate their specific condition. Once restored to a normal level of charge, appropriate ion exchange in the cells is re-established. This increases ATP production, nutrient intake and the expulsion of built-up waste products/toxins, which rapidly results in tissue regeneration/rejuvenation.”
More than just a targeted therapy, Jennifer aims to infuse wellness in every treatment. She describes, “Clients experience relaxation, released tension and a boost of post-treatment energy.”
MARKETING
Good news spreads quickly. And this is no different for word of mouth marketing. The majority of new clients at L’Escape Spa are attracted via client referrals and word of mouth. As for keeping clients coming back, Jennifer says, “generally the results of my Microcurrent Facial speaks for themself and people return with stories about how their friends asked them what they are doing to look so good and if they’ve had cosmetic surgery because of the rapid transformation they see!”
Of course, Facebook and Instagram play a role in the spa’s marketing strategy. Jennifer explains that social media posts are a focus for the spa, and they “trend between upwards of 60,000 and 70,000 followers.” L’Escape Spa often posts before and after photos and health related articles and educational videos on their Facebook page. Jennifer often takes to Instagram to showcase featured products and treatments.
TRAINING
With the high volume of microcurrent treatments performed at L’Escape Spa, consistency is important through all the spa’s estheticians and service providers. Jennifer is strict on “only hiring certified professionals” and takes pride in the quality of her staff. When training a new hire, Jennifer explains, “For L’Escape Spa specifics, they are given an orientation as to the services the spa provides, trained in the vision, mission, operating principles and customer expectations. As for meeting frequency, we are constantly communicating throughout the day so formal meetings are generally not necessary.”
Once the staff is well-oriented and trained, maintaining a high level of service requires regular check-ins and performance reviews with the staff. Jennifer sees every moment as an opportunity for review and training. She says, “Review of performance happens on a real-time basis. It’s more like personal coaching.” This “real-time” method allows for more flow and dialogue between spa director and service provider, rather than one formal, sit-down meeting.
To keep her staff incentivized, Jennifer offers frequent rewards, such as spot bonuses, free products and team dinners.
SPECIAL EVENTS & PROMOTIONS
Giving back to your community is what makes any day spa a pillar of that community. This can be done through special events, local promotions, and holiday parties. At L’Escape Spa, Jennifer hosts several parties throughout the year for various large and small occasions: “We hold numerous special events throughout the year: holiday parties, product launches, client appreciation parties, etc. These are all custom planned events and are different each time. We generally plan and promote these a month or so ahead of the event.”
Partnering with local vendors is another great way to support your community and remind clients that your spa is an active member of the small business economy in your area. L’Escape Spa employs this strategy often. Jennifer explains, “We often broker referral arrangements with local hotels and merchants. This is done with a personal touch. As the owner, I visit the hotels and merchants, often with cookies for the staff and/or some products as gifts, gift certificates and then ask them to refer their customers should they be seeking spa services. This has been very effective.”
REVENUE & RETAIL
As a veteran of the esthetics community, Spa Director Jennifer Pham is often sought after to try new product launches and retail products. She says, “I am very well connected with many industry-leading aesthetic companies and often get to trial “first to launch” products. I regularly attend trade shows looking for new ideas and highly effective products and innovative treatments. I also regularly review print and online sources for the best of what’s new and for high-value products and approaches.”
L’Escape Spa hosts occasional promotions for retail products, which help to attract new clients and immerse them into the L’Escape Spa experience. Jennifer adds, “We offer periodic discount promotions. Occasionally, I offer introductory discounts to new clients. I also provide clients with sample products that they can try.” This effective and immersive strategy allows L’Escape Spa to bring in 15 percent of their revenue from retail sales alone.
