Salon Software company Salon Tracker's 10 top tips on; How Salon Owners can make the best of Professional Beauty North!

Our salon software company ‘Salon Tracker’ are exhibiting for the first time this year at Professional Beauty North, however we have spectated at many previous trade shows. Here are our 10 top tips for salons that are going for their first time this year and how to maximise their time to the best potential at this year’s 2 day event in Manchester!

1. Sort your travel, early!

The vast majority of you will be travelling from afar so travel is a necessity for you! Consider the implications of traffic on the day if you are going to drive, you don’t want to be late and it eat into your time to speak with the industry professionals. Instead why not research into deals with rail networks, in which some actually do discounted offers for Professional Beauty attendees.  Also, if you require a hotel, many close by will also have similar deals.  Make sure to arrange it in plenty of time, it’s a popular show and things book up fast!

2. Forward-Plan!

It is important that you make a thorough itinerary for the time that you are there, whether it be one or two days.  Trade shows are busy and time is limited at each stand due to the high volume of traffic, therefore know which stands you need to visit and for how long!

3. Identify your objectives for the event.

There is obviously a key reason why you are visiting the event, however you need to establish the main objectives that you hope to full-fill whilst you’re there.  Pin-point any problems that you may have in the salon at current and decide on the stands in which you think you will most require information from.  List these then in priority order, in case of contingencies on the day!

4. Have your questions ready!

By identifying problems, you should then prepare relevant questions to ask at each particular stand, because as we earlier mentioned, the event is busy and therefore time to speak with stand representatives is minimal in some cases.

5. Be confident

Don’t be afraid to ask out of the ordinary questions and also don’t shy away if a stand looks a bit over-whelming.  You are there to get information, and people at the show are there to help YOU!  Remember that!  Have a think about which team members might be a good asset to go with you?  If you have a bold, fearless technician, then, maybe take them along as a side-kick!

6. Know your competitors

Being knowledgeable of your competitors is always key to any salon.  Identify what your competitors are currently doing well, that you’re maybe not quite reaching them with and then use this to your potential to gather research from the trade show as to how you can do better!

7. Plan yourself a couple of breather breaks in!
Trade shows can be exhausting!  You are on your feet the majority of the day, plying information out of so many different people, its thirsty work and can be a lot to take in! Make sure that you make time for a couple of short stop offs to re-fuel!  Also, it gives you chance to go over your information that you’ve gathered so far that day, and re-evaluate should anything be different to how you planned.

8. Take down notes and Contact Numbers

Your head will be bombarded with information on the day, in such a short space of time. So, to avoid details slipping the mind, make some notes at each stand whilst you are enquiring.  Also, don’t forget to take some names, telephone numbers and emails down as references, just so that you can get in touch with the professionals after the show, using the notes you have made to prompt the subject of your call.

9. Take your own business cards

You never know!  One minute you could be on a stand chatting about how to improve your salon profits, the next another visitor could overhear you and ask you about your salon business?  At trade shows, anything goes!  Everyone is there to network, it is such a sociable affair so be ready on the off chance that you could do a bit of brand promotion whilst your there!

10. Don’t forget your freebies!

It is standard, at a trade show 9 times out of 10 you come away with something free from every stand, whether it be product samples, trials of programmes or brochures.  The thing is you will visit that many brands that particular day, it can be difficult to memorise the branding of each, so the little freebies will refresh your memory.  Also, any product samples you get you could even take back to the salon for clients to try and give their feedback on before you purchased any from suppliers?

If you are a salon and it is your first time visiting a trade show this September, why not drop by our stand B35, and get a bit of information as to how salon software may work for you?  We’ll be more than happy to give you a bit off free advice!  No harm in a bit of cost-free info!  See you there!

Salon Tracker x