Let’s talk about the elephant in the room — hot tub sales are not great right now. Right? Some outliers are having strong years, but for the most part, it sounds like retailers and manufacturers are not meeting their 2024 projections. Realistically, we knew the COVID bubble would burst, but I’m sure we all hoped for a softer landing.
Despite some headwinds, like interest rates and competition from travel and other luxury experiences picking up, there are still a lot of things going for the hot tub industry. For one, our products fit into the growing consumer focus on health and wellness, and in general, consumer spending is still strong.
So we need to get better and evolve. I was proud of how our industry pivoted to meet the pandemic demand, but there was a cost. Training, sales excellence, product innovation and quality went on the back burner for many. As quickly as we moved during COVID, we have moved pretty slowly to pick up some of these again.
The time has come, and we’ve got several stories to give you a jump start and some inspiration. We’ve also got a solution to your sales training woes. Coming in September, SpaRetailer — with the help of Steve Hasenmueller from Effort Today Enterprises — is launching a sales training program. This isn’t a one-off class or webinar; we’re talking about a yearlong journey with weekly touchpoints, monthly workshops and a community of peers to learn from and be inspired by. And it’s under $200 a year, per person — just a total no-brainer.
This kind of training has been a big goal of mine for SpaRetailer to be able to offer the industry, so your feedback and support are greatly appreciated.
Best,
Megan Kendrick, publisher