How you can create a great atmosphere at the salon

The atmosphere that you create will be the biggest reflection of your business’s overall image. This can be anything from the design to friendly staff and cleanliness. Therefore, it is important to plan your overall goals beforehand, in order to achieve the perfect ambience. Your salon’s atmosphere can successfully reflect your salon’s brand in the right way through the actions you take. The most important tip that we can give you is that you create an atmosphere that is welcoming and relaxing for your customers and true to your brand.

Creating a good atmosphere can seem like a tricky subject that requires creativity, but this is not the case at all. Sure, you can work with different kinds of décor and design ideas but offering a neutral and bright environment that is clean will also do the trick. Additional items that help to brighten up the place can always be added at a later point. You can, for example, help by having fresh flowers at the reception area or other small décor items. You want to make customers to feel as comfortable as possible in your salon, as happy customers will be motivated to spend more on you. As a result, it is critical to create an inviting and pleasant atmosphere that will keep people coming back over and over. Putting a little extra time and energy into improving your atmosphere can have a positive effect on your business’s revenue and growth.

Here are our top recommendations to get you on the right track:

First Impression

First impression is key, make sure to get it right. The right first impression is vital for salons. The customers can already decide a lot here just by entering your salon's space. It’s all about great customer service and it doesn’t just start when the customer is welcomed at the door. Think about the booking process, did the customer ring or book online? How easy was it for new customers to find you and make a booking?

All of these factors will count for the customer. Once the customer arrives, ask yourself if staff members are well presented and carry a smile on their faces? Good customer service is key for a positive first impression.

Look at your exterior as well. Does your salon portray clean and positive surroundings? Make sure the entrance area is free of any rubbish, shop windows clean and not full of clutter.

Therefore, have a good look at your salon and try to image it through your customer eyes. You can even ask friends and family members to help you. Gather information on what they think when entering your shop.

Back to basics

If you’re finding it hard to get started, begin with the basics. Create a clean and tidy environment that is clutter free. This will work its wonders already without putting all your time and money in improvements. Once you have a better overview you can work on the little details. Dust your shop on a regular basis, especially retail areas. Make it a primary task for you and your staff to do this a few times a week as well as a regular polish of all glass surfaces and mirrors. The last thing you want is customers picking up products with a month’s layer of dust on it. They will probably put it back on the shelve and go somewhere else.

Always remember that happy and satisfied customers are likely to refer you to their friends and family and therefore increasing your revenue as well as client retention. 

Brand Reflection

Stay true to what you are selling to your clients. This will guarantee that your salon’s atmosphere is reflective of your salon’s brand. A tidy and nicely decorated space will present the customer with confidence about choosing you. Therefore, think about what you want to present to your customers. If you have a spa and your brand is representing tranquility then it’s best not to have loud music blasting out in the salon that would interrupt the relaxing atmosphere. Rather choose calm sounds that work well with the interior. 

Customers that are on the hunt for a new salon are often looking for something ‘special’ that they can’t get somewhere else. If your salon is, too bland or boring people will start going elsewhere because they feel more comfortable there.

As you can see there are plenty of factors that come together to create a welcoming atmosphere at the salon. With summer in full bloom, you might want to spice things up or work on improving some old habits that have a negative impact on your salon.

No matter if you are planning on small changes or a big re-vamp of the salon, every effort counts.


Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker’s Feature of the Month

For our last few features of the month, we’ve discussed all the wonderful add-on technology that we offer to really enhance your salon.

However, on looking through our product-list, we decided that for this month, let’s concentrate on the most beneficial aspect of owning a salon management system. That is, the digital client card.

For anyone who is switching from the appointment book to your first management system, the fundamental reasoning for you opting for a computerised solution is so that you can do away with the appointment book and paper client cards for good! But our digital record card offers more than that. It allows you to go completely paperless within the salon as we offer some key add-on features that mean that any form of marketing lists, signed disclaimers and skin patch testing can all be recorded on the system as well.

Our record card has 5 different tabs, the first 2 allowing you to enter primary information about the customer, so the usual; their name, contact telephone numbers, D.O.B, email, postal address and so on. By having all of this information digitally, this allows you to then use the information in clever ways, and also eliminates the chance of you losing a paper record card, speeding up that search process for finding the relevant card.

Salon Tracker then offers a brilliant inbuilt marketing system, meaning that you can actually filter clients using this information; for example by date of birth to do some relevant target marketing. You might say search for client birthdays within the next month and then email or text them with a little complimentary birthday gift or a simple celebratory message.

By having their email address and contact number, this then allows you to communicate with those clients and market to them personally, should you ever need to send them an individual message regarding their appointment. This can be done directly from the system, meaning that you’re not reaching for your personal mobile phone or searching for the clients’contact number on their paper record card among realms of other documents. Instead, it will be a simple system search and click of a button on Salon Tracker to quickly communicate with those customers.

You can then have an added PDF disclaimer stored with an e-signature on the client’s digital file. Salon Tracker links up with electronic signature pads to allow clients to sign for your terms and conditions digitally, again eliminating the need for any paper documents at all. A great space saving exercise and it improves time management massively!

For those of you who require patch testing prior to offering your services, our record card has a built-in notes file for you to add any relevant information about that client that you should need. We can then highlight alerts for any of those notes that you require, so for example if a client has an allergy, this can flash up as you load the client’s digital file. You may want to keep the notes really informative and use them for taking down clients’ tea/coffee preferences, or recent topics that you’ve discussed - i.e. their upcoming holiday/wedding, just so this doesn’t slip your mind next time. As we all know it can be hard to remember every single detail that a client has told you, especially if your database is hitting the thousands!

Owners then have the option of adding a client photo to each digital file on the third tab. An excellent security feature, especially for those in the tanning industry who need to ensure that identifications are accurate and match the client’s appearance.

Our fourth tab allows you to put clients in to a specific group-type. You create these groups yourself in the admin section of the software, based on the requirements that you need for your salon. A very generic one that is seen at many salons is ‘student discount’. Therefore if you have a client that is a student, put them in this group upon viewing their NUS card and they will then receive the appropriate discount that you have set rather than you having to do this manually, for example 10% off retail and bookable items.

And lastly, this brings us to our 5th tab, which is a skin type. Probably most relevant in the tanning industry as this is where the guidelines are extremely prominent in ensuring that all members of the public are tanning safely dependent on skin tone. However, if a client has sensitive skin and is prone to chemical reactions, you may want to highlight that their skin type is sensitive if you are a beauty/hair salon as well, just for your record.

We really feel that our digital client card really enhances a salon business, as it improves organisation, speeds up the customer registration/check in process and evidently makes the client journey much more personable.

What’s more is if you take advantage of our online booking features, clients are able to register for your salon online and so all of these details are automatically synchronised from the online form in to a digital card on the Salon Tracker system. A great way to also grow your client database!

To see this feature in action, enquire today for your FREE demo with one of our sales & marketing team members. They will be willing to show you how this process works and you can then also trial this with no-obligation in the salon, to see for yourself just how much it will benefit your business!

So get in touch today at info@salontracker.co.uk or call our office on 0113 350 8230 to book your consultation, we’ll be happy to help.

Look forward to hearing from you and helping you to improve your salon management.

Salon Tracker x

How to Attract and Retain Clients at the Salon

The ultimate salon goal for many is a constant increase in revenue by keeping all their loyal customers whilst also attracting new ones regularly. After all, what makes your salon grow are new customers but also loyal customers, as they hopefully refer you to their friends and family. If all of your clients would only visit for one appointment and never return, you have nothing to build on and certainly no room to improve. The best way to increase business is to expose yourself to old as well as new clients and to build up strong relationships with them. 

Now you might ask yourself how effective client retention really is and how you get going at your salon. Luckily we have done some research for you and found out that the average salon can lose up to 20% of its customers annually because they neglect customer relationships. To prevent this you can use different techniques to improve customer service, which will increase the amount of people returning to your salon. Client retention is one of the best and most important things salons should be focusing on. However, you should still focus some energy in reaching out to new clients as well. So below, we have listed top tips on how to attract new clients and how to retain them. 

Source: Lockhart Meyer

Attract

Go Digital:

As more and more people use their smartphones for everyday tasks it is also no surprise that many people, who are looking for the right salon use search engines such as Google or Bing. You can take advantage of theses sites and use features such as Google My Business or Yelp and register your salon. This enables you to input relevant information on them. Make sure you have correct contact details and opening hours in order to make it easier for new customers to find you.

There are lot of small little things you can do with search engines in order to target people. Search engine optimisation (SEO) helps you to be visible online to people who are searching for exactly what you are offering. Google has plenty of tutorials on topics on how you can optimise your business online using social media and other marketing methods.

Using online directories is also worthwhile looking in to. There are several ones that specialise in salon businesses and certainly help you to advertise your services to a broader spectrum.


Refer a friend campaign:

These are great incentives, as they involve your current clients but also encourage them to bring in new ones. It is a great way to improve client retention as you both get something out of it. Run a campaign with an exclusive offer that they can’t find online or elsewhere. This way it will be hard for them to say no. Clients always trust their friends more than brands and therefore it's no surprise research shows that this is a powerful tool, according to Addshoppers. Did you know Dropbox grew their customer base 40 times in just over a year and 35% of Dropbox’s daily signups are from referrals.

What more convincing do you need?


Retain

One key to salon success is client retention and is crucial to drive business forward. There are many ways in which you can ensure that new clients turn into loyal ones. Retaining means clients want to return because they like your salon and services. It is therefore important to get the fundamentals right from the beginning in order to build lasting client relationships. First impression is key and this can be achieved through a welcoming atmosphere in the salon, friendly staff and great offers. If clients feel welcome at the salon they also want to treat themselves more often. Here are our tips on how you can turn your clients into loyal regulars.


Use Salon Software:

Salon software has proven to be a great asset to any salon. Not only does it manage your appointments and client cards, software such as our system comes with plenty of features that help with all business aspects, like client retention. On the system, you can easily track customers history and specifically target clients in order for them to return to your salon.

On our marketing feature you can run filters to find out who your ‘best spending’ customers are or customers that ‘haven’t visited in a while’. Once you have a better picture of who these clients are you can reach out to them via SMS messages or Email with any special incentives.


Rebook:

Rebooking is fast and easy and can be done in person with the client being present at the salon at that particular moment. Encourage staff to rebook appointments whenever they can. This doesn’t require them to be great sales persons as they simply have to ask. State the benefits and ask them if they would like to book now and then. Rebooking is easy, especially if you work with salon software. Once you confirm appointments, the system will give you the option to rebook. At the same time it gives you ease of mind as you are already filling those gaps for the future and secure business. Make sure each booking will receive a booking reminder in order for them to attend their appointment and not turn into a no-show.


As you probably know by now, client retention can be done in several ways. We hope you have found our tips helpful on how to drive business forward. Even small changes can result in growth of the business and have a positive long-term effect on profits that should not be underestimated by salon owners.

Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker’s Top Tips for Boosting those Salon Sales this Father’s Day, and in to Summer!

We can’t believe that Father’s day has come back around again, hasn’t the time gone so fast! It’s always great around Father’s Day because you can cross-reference some of your marketing to suit other nearby events, like Proms, Wedding Season and Graduation, to name a few.

All of these events are great because they are directed at both males and females, so the marketing is relevant to such a large target audience.
So what can you run for this year’s Dad’s day? Here’s a few simple tips that you can then extend in to the summer months! 

- Run a gift voucher campaign, for example get in touch with your graphics team to see what they can produce in terms of Father’s Day artwork, as that way then your clients aren’t having to go and buy Father’s Day themed voucher pamphlets as well. Alternatively you could use this as an add on tool, see if you can come up with a selection of different images and then offer these for say ‘£1.50’ to the clients whom are purchasing those gift vouchers, giving them a range of designs to choose from. Similarly, you could create similar wedding or graduation themed pamphlets to extend this idea out in to your summer campaigns? For every gift voucher sale you make, you’re then making a slight % uplift on the sale. 

- Run a Dad-Daughter pampering day, or even a family spa package. A great one to get all members of the family involved and for those of you that offer lots of different services at the salon, for example beauty, tanning, hair and barbering - you can come up with a great multi-treatment package. There is something to offer everybody therefore it should be quite simple to come up with the perfect family pamper-pack. In which again, this is a fantastic idea to sell to friends throughout prom season as a girly pamper day, or even as bridal packs for the bride-to be and her fellow bridesmaids. 

- Bundles or hamper packs! Such a great idea for Father’s Day, especially if you sell a lot of products and men’s grooming equipment, now is a great time to flog it as Father’s Day gifts! Bundle together your male shampoo’s, facial creams, tan accelerators, shaving balms and create a little Father’s Day style pack. Research has shown that the men’s grooming business is now a multi-million pound industry worldwide, with women being the highest spenders for their significant others, Brothers, Dad’s and Grandad’s, according to the independent online! So this is a great Stat to go by! 

- We’ve mentioned this before - offer a gift wrapping service! If you sell a lot of retail products at the salon, this is your opportunity again to save someone else a job and also make a bit of a profit. Great for any customers who are leading busy lives! 

- Buy in extra add-ons that you wouldn’t usually sell. For example, if you’re going to be selling a lot of gift vouchers, it’s often that clients want to purchase extra trinkets to finish their presents off, so it’s not just a voucher in an envelope. Little things like chocolates, cupcakes and novelty dad gifts won’t go a miss. Have a look at which wholesalers or suppliers you can get some bulk gifts created/ordered and then this is another little add on sale technique for you. You could even put an offer on ‘buy a Father’s Day gift-pack and two novelty gifts and get the cheapest mini gift free’?

- Run a competition on your social media channels. It could be something really simple - for example upload a picture of a product pack on to Facebook/Instagram, ask clients to tag their Dad’s and then the winner wins the package? You could easily run similar comps for prom season and any brides-to-be. Social media posting is free after all and therefore it’s a great way to get some engagement on your company platforms. 

- Tash-tastic! Another simple, and silly, idea for you to grow your brand awareness and get some engagement on your social media portals, whilst promoting your male beauty kits in the process. Appeal to your male market and get them to send in their best tash/beard selfie (or ask them to post/upload them to a certain social media platform and tag your salon). The competition winner, chosen at random, could then bag themselves a free mini facial kit for example, or a discounted beard trim for winning? Tie this in with Father’s Day but then extend this out to all men that aren’t even Dad’s themselves yet and just call it ‘male appreciation’ or something along those lines. By doing something a bit outside of the box around Father’s Day helps your salon to stand out, and also allows your clients that aren’t Dad’s themselves yet to join in on the fun!

We know that it is an extremely busy time for all salons at the minute, but keep your summer profits in mind! By trying a few of these simple promo ideas you could boost those profits by a significant percent just by taking a couple of minutes to re-create some of these easy tips.

Happy Summer Marketing!

Salon Tracker x