6 tried and tested reasons to start using salon management software
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Thinking about how to make a beauty salon successful or just looking for more ways to exceed the results of your business? So many salon owners switch to salon software these days.
Unlike the customary combination of paper or electronic appointment books, calendars or spreadsheets, salon management systems can help you automate and improve the salon routine, increase profit, and overall create a positive chain reaction.
Are you already testing out salon software? Here are 7 reasons why you should… plus a couple of tips for salon services on improving productivity.
1. Save time — increase efficiency
It’s achieved by having everything you need in the same place: client data, appointment bookings, coloring formulas, preferred products or professionals, and other important information. There is no need to manually fill in different kinds of data and transfer it from one program to another, from one notebook to another.
This way, you get the following benefits:
- Administrators and professionals spend less time on manual work (making appointments, searching for data, etc.);
- The amount of human error is drastically reduced;
- Employees can focus on their main tasks, and do a better job.
Together, it all helps you improve the quality of all processes. A well-organized beauty salon requires fewer administrators, and all employees (administrators and professionals) work more effectively.
How can you save time and increase efficiency with Beauty Pro? Everything you need is in a single program. Click on the appropriate tab and the program will show you the appointment book or employee workload, the products database or list of suppliers. There’s no need for complex calculations to get the information you need or form a check for payment.
2. Control everything that happens in your salon
Beauty salon software can be viewed as a virtual assistant. It knows what is happening with your finances, salon workload, inventory, sales, and passes on that information to you on demand, in the most structured way.
How much do you profit from services and spend on materials? Do your employees use the materials wisely, without overspending? How many clients each professional serves on a regular basis? A salon management system has all the answers and even more. Plus, it helps you:
- Invest in the salon promotions that work: Set up your advertising campaigns with salon software, and it will show you which advertising channel brings you the most profit and clients.
- Invest in salon services that are more popular or in demand: Use the report that shows the monthly income share by service — see which ones are the most profitable.
- Manage inventory: Track the remains and replenish stocks on time, monitor how much you spend on back bar products and if you are wasting any. Moreover, you will get notified when you are low on a specific product.
How can you control your salon with Beauty Pro? The software includes over 150 different reports that allow you to keep an eye on all salon business processes, especially if you are testing new ideas for a salon. Using them, you can analyze and control:
- Finances: cash flow, profit, and loss by day/month/service, sales and profitability of services, tickets by professionals;
- Clients: primary, active, and lost clients, clients by rank, client visits, dynamics of visits, referral sources;
- Inventory: product remains, stock count, the flow of products, back bar use by professional;
- Professionals: workload, planned appointments.
3. Increase the quality of customer service
In a complex system, everything is interconnected, which gives you an opportunity to analyze your salon’s performance as a whole, as well as each of your employees individually. It also allows you to test any salon business development idea by measuring results in the process and gives you the tools to improve the quality of customer service. Here’s how:
- Connect to IP-telephony (IPT): schedule tasks and listen to recordings of calls between your administrators and clients, analyze, and control whether or not your administrators follow the proper phone call etiquette, reward or correct behavior.
- Analyze client profiles: Information from the clients’ questionnaires, history of visits and purchases can help you better understand your clientele. What’s it about your services that they like or dislike? What would they want to be added that other salons don’t offer? Altogether, it can be used to improve your services and even find new segments.
How can you improve customer service with Beauty Pro? Here are a few of the methods you can implement with our software:
- Monitor how administrators communicate with clients: It’s easy to set up IP-telephony within the system. The calls will be automatically recorded and stored in the program, so you can listen to them at any moment.
- Attract and retain clients: The information you accumulate in client cards, by means of calls and questionnaires (e.g. information about their family and friends), and history of visits can help you understand not just what your clients want, but also why they stay or go, and where you can improve.
- Understand your clients: How many regulars, new, or one-time clients do you have? Which clients have stopped using your services and after which session? You can get answers to these questions by analyzing the client cards and reports.
4. Attract more new clients and turn them into regulars
How to market a hair salon? — By word of mouth. How many times have you answered a friends question about where you’ve had your hair or nails done? If you like the job, you’re bound to tell them about the place or professional you go to. As they say, “Happy client is the best marketing.”
With salon software, your administrators don’t waste time on the routine and can devote more time to clients and making sure they have the best time during a visit. It also gives you, as the owner, more time to brainstorm salon customer appreciation ideas that could make your clients happier.
Clients’ personal details and history of visits are documented in the software, so you can predict what a client might want when you have a phone conversation. For example, which service or professional they would like to book. Moreover, if you set up IP-telephony, you can address clients by name when they’re calling since the name will pop-up on the screen.
How can you retain more regulars with Beauty Pro? You can read more about the methods on our blog, but here’s a couple of them:
- Detailed client cards: You can add all sorts of information here, not just name and phone number, but also favorite coloring formulas or a preferred hairstylist. The system also automatically saves everything about the visits, like which professional and services the client went to, what products they’ve purchased, how much money they’ve spent, and so on.
- Online booking: There are many potential clients who don’t like phone calls or simply don’t have the time within the working hours. If you add this feature to your website or social media pages, you will get more bookings. Even people who usually call might use this option from time to time.
5. Increase the profitability of your salon business
One of the surefire ways of increasing your profits is attracting new clients and retaining their loyalty. Salon management software will be your greatest assistant in that. For example, it can help you set up advertising campaigns to attract clients, analyze the campaigns and invest in channels that bring you the most clients and profit. There are other promotion ideas for salons, like selling gift cards or certificates, that also works for increasing profit.
Salon software also gives you an insight into:
- Which employees bring you the most profit and which have minimal input;
- Which products and services bring you the most profit;
- Which types of advertisements and promotions bring you the most profit, etc.
All these insights and information can help you focus on the most promising activities for your salon, as well as implement new beauty and hair salon business ideas.
How can you make more money with Beauty Pro? Our software provides functionality for advertising and marketing campaigns. Aside from that, you can also send out promotional emails with custom messages.
The best way to set up a productive email campaign is by using client cards — they hold all essential information about your clients so you can analyze it and segment your clients by needs, email them the information they are most likely to benefit from.
Selling gift cards is another way of promoting your services among the clients’ friends and family. Beauty Pro has the functionality to create them and track how many gift cards have been sold and used.
6. Free up the salon owner’s time
Automating routine tasks frees up a lot of time, so you can focus on more complex business tasks, strategy, client segmentation, salon promo ideas, actually have time to listen to phone call recordings and think of ways to improve your services.
Most entrepreneurs wouldn’t leave their company unattended even if in dire need of a holiday. Using the aforementioned reports and capabilities of salon software, you can keep up-to-date with the company’s life when you are on vacation.
How can you do this with Beauty Pro? Anywhere you go, be that a business trip or a holiday, you can take along your laptop with Beauty Pro installed and monitor how your salon is doing.
Beauty Pro brings system and structure to your business. It’s like a virtual employee, a multi-tasker that will help you save time, increase profit and improve quality of services, attract new clients and retain their loyalty, and control every big or small process in your beauty salon, spa or barbershop.
Want to hire this virtual employee for a trial period? Download our 14-day demo for free and see how it can transform your business.
