A manager is not essential to the overall wellbeing of your business. If you have a single location business you can have a lean and efficient team that does not require a manager thus keeping payroll expenses down. The success of your business comes from empowering your front desk team to be well trained and do way more than check in and clean. As well having some part time positions that help to create an excellent customer experience are key. Who is on your lean and efficient team?
The Membership Advisor
This position may be called yoga, fitness, spa, or beauty advisor but no matter the name this person is managing your customers. They are ensuring they have an amazing experience from day one. The membership advisor is a sales and retention role -selling from intro or first visit to membership or other purchases and ensuring that members/customers stay the course for months to come. The key to success is relationship building and being able to communicate well. This role grows with your business. They may start at two to five hours per week and add extra hours as your business grows.
Client Services or Front Desk
This may be your concierge, your tech team, your cleaning crew, client services- whatever you call the person or team who mans your front desk to check clients in and clean, these are the people you need to empower on your team. This role should include check in and cleaning but they should also be handling all, yes ALL of the operational tasks for your business. They should be handling late cancels, waitlists, all phone calls, text messages and emails, sales, duplicate clients, unpaids, account balances- and the list goes on. This person should feel that they have an important role. And they do. They are not only the face of your business but they are running your business and they need to be trained how to complete important operational tasks. Cancellations, suspensions, and money owed are examples of tasks often handed off to a manager. Not anymore. These tasks are taken care of by the front desk or your new “client services” role. They clean, check in and run the show.
The Teacher/Therapist Advisor
This role is designed as a part time position to help manage your team of therapists/teachers. This is usually a teacher or therapist and they receive a small salary to do a few extras. These extras include communication with the team, scheduling, mentoring/training, reviews, etc. They then report to the owner once a month (or as needed). Their main role is to create a sense of community among the team. Some businesses have found this role to be invaluable especially if the owner is performing a lot of client services.
A manager can be an expensive addition and often unnecessary unless you have multiple locations. By empowering a small but mighty team you are ensuring that the customer has an amazing experience and allowing the team to contribute more which helps with staff retention and loyalty.