Every day, brands in WellBiz Brands’ franchise portfolio deliver premium personal beauty and wellness services to consumers around the globe through franchisees’ service providers, who are committed to taking care of customers. But someone has to support and take care of the service providers, too.
WellBiz Brands has built a culture that appreciates and nurtures franchisees’ service providers while allowing franchisees to take care of their teams.
It’s a system where franchise owners like Matt Perry can thrive.
Perry and his wife, Tracy Gilligan, own five Elements Massage® studios in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The couple were named Elements Massage Franchisee of the Year in 2022.
Perry says he works with the leadership team at all five studios to build a fun and supportive culture. “Culture is a fire that you can’t stoke high enough,” he says. “For us, the most important thing is to be transparent about the higher purpose behind why we do what we do.”
Win-Win-Win
You’ve heard of a win-win proposition? Perry says he looks for opportunities with three wins.
“We ask, does this deliver a win-win-win? Does it take care of clients, the studio and our teams? Because that’s what’s important to us,” he says.
“Everything we do stems from our core values and helping our team understand who they work for and the philosophy and values that we work through. That’s especially important with five locations, because then you have five sets of managers and five studio teams. We have to all be on the same page to accomplish our goals.”
The team celebrates success with bonuses and quarterly events designed to get everyone together outside of work, Perry said. Over the summer, his team was treated to a dinner cruise. Perry and Gilligan also help to plan the annual Power of You Gala, a black-tie celebration for Elements Massage studio employees throughout the Boston and New Hampshire region. Ownership groups from all the studios come together to celebrate the work they accomplished, sharing client testimonials and reviews.
“This year, we started the Elements Excellence Club. Although different owners use different KPIs (key performance indicators) to determine bonuses and such, we agreed on four main drivers and goals, and the studios around the region will try to achieve all four to get into the club,” Perry says. “We’ll announce who will join the Excellence Club at the next gala.”
Career Development
Perry says career development is a win-win-win. The Elements Massage brand offers a career advancement program that allows massage therapists to become “elite therapists.”
“The elite therapist program puts them on a journey with us to promote advancement of their career and demonstrate the massage therapist’s value to clients and to the studio,” Perry says. “Because of the training and certification involved, we are able to charge more for an appointment with an elite therapist, and the studio splits the additional revenue with the massage therapist. So, it’s a win for the client, a win for the massage therapist and a win for the studio. Win-win-win.”
Perry prioritizes his role as mentor for other team members, too, and he is passionate about developing strong leadership. He sits on the Elements Massage New England co-op board and is proud that the board invested half of the co-op budget in leadership training for managers.
“We know that great managers and great teams build great success, and that’s why we support and encourage them,” Perry says. “And when the studios have success and growth, we are happy to share that with the whole team.”
