Happy Holidays!

Another year over! I think this has to have been one of the fastest years for us, I mean I know we say this every year but this one in particular seems to have flown by! For us here at Salon Tracker, we’ve had a jam-packed year; we’ve done 2 shows, expanded our team with 3 new staff members and also brought lots of new useful features to the software along the way (which some of you may be taking advantage of already).

To mention a few feature requests that we have introduced- we have brought to you our upgraded tanning waiting list, improved touchscreen display, a brand-new Salon Tracker colour theme and we made a few tweaks to our calendars too - to make life easier for those of you who have lots of different types of service categories!

We’ve also had the privilege of meeting quite a lot of you this year at the shows and we’re actually going to add an extra event to our usual appearances next year; calling all you guys who have salons in the Midlands, we will be exhibiting at Beauty UK next May! This is our first ever Beauty UK show so we’re really excited to see how this goes for us and to be able to be closer to some of you who may usually travel to Manchester or London to see us. We thought we’d spread ourselves a bit more evenly across the country next year! We’ll then also be exhibiting at PB London in Feb and Manchester PB North in October, where the event space is actually changing for PB North to Event City this time round, rather than the usual Manchester Central, so we’re excited to see what the new venue holds too!

So, we’re really looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings for us and can’t wait to continue to help you to improve your salons. We’re working on even more new developments, including an enhanced Salon-Assist where clients can check in and sign for disclaimers using a tablet! This is all coming very soon, so be sure to keep an eye on our news page for more info. And for those of you that are thinking of visiting us at PB London in Feb, keep posted in your inbox for our direct invite and for all of our product updates! But before that, we hope you have a good last few busy days in the salon and make lots of Christmas retail sales from your Winter stock! From everyone here at Salon Tracker, we all wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and we’ll speak to you in 2019!

Best Wishes,

Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker's Last Minute Christmas Present Ideas!

Less than a week to go! Can you believe it?

Here at Salon Tracker we know all about that last-minute dash we all go through to ensure we have everything ready for the big day. And so to help, we have decided to compile a list of our best last-minute present ideas!

Candles

Scented candles are a great present idea because of the fact that there is a range of scents and style of candle that you could specifically choose to fit the personality of the person who you’re buying it for.  Yankee Candle have over 200 different scents so there will be no one you can’t find the perfect scent for.  Also, if you order in time you can now get them personalised for that extra touch.

Flasks

Colourful and cute flasks are also another great idea for a Christmas present. They’re extremely useful, especially in England when it’s always cold, to keep your drink (and hands!) nice and warm through the winter. They’re also reusable meaning you’re helping the environment and saving them money as they can make all their hot drinks at home rather then buying them when they’re out.  Primark and New Look have many different designs like this one here!

Face Masks

We all know at this time of year that we tend to over-indulge on the Christmas food and fizz! And this can really take its toll on our skin. So, another great stocking filler to add to the list is Face masks! There are so many different types on the market, ranging from the anatomical range that start at just £1.50 a sachet, great to give to people who spend a lot of time travelling around. Or you’ve got the Body Shop pots that are great to have on the bathroom shelf for whenever you need to beat those blemishes!

Coin Purse

Christmas time is party-time and we all take smaller bags on our festive outings, so why not treat someone to a sparkly new coin purse, or mini card wallet for the guys?  This is the perfect present for someone who wants to condense their night-out accessories! Depending on the style you want to go for you can pick these up from so many stores on the high-street, or even get a personalized one online at sites like https://www.notonthehighstreet.com   . And don’t forget to put a coin in before you wrap it for good luck!

Photo Frames

Photo frames are always a great present idea, and these photo walls make for a great creative present! We’ve found one on Amazon for just £19.99 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rumcent-Panel-Display-Organizer-Organizer-Rose/dp/B078PGSSP8/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1545214920&sr=1-1&keywords=Rumcent+Mesh+Grid+Panel ), and it’s even on Prime so if you need anything last minute this is a great idea. You can clip photos, artwork, you could even push the boat out and buy an extra shelf, so you can place items on it as well. It could even be used to organise your things as well, like your keys and mail, so it can be a multipurpose present.

Perfume

Tiffany & Co. Eau De Parfum is one of my favourites. This perfume is the perfect gift if you’re wanting to splash the cash a little on a loved one this Christmas. This perfume is well worth the money as you can smell it on your clothes for days after and only requires a couple of squirts for the smell to linger all day. The smell is a very pleasant musky/ floral scent and receives 5/5 stars on most review pages I have looked on as well as me being able to vouch for it myself. You can buy this fragrance from most department stores such as Debenhams, House of Fraser and John Lewis but if you’re wanting to order one now… go to https://www.johnlewis.com/tiffany-co-eau-de-parfum/p3330859?size=50ml to order from John Lewis!

We hope these last minute gifts help you with your Christmas shopping rush!

We hope you have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,  Salon Tracker x

Feature of The Month - New Years Marketing

Now we all know that January tends to be a slower month for most salons, with people having just spent like crazy in December it tends to be that everyone wants to save and not spend money on themselves. So, given that, we’ve come up with some SMS marketing campaigns that you can send out to make sure that your January isn’t too dry.

Example 1

“Hi <<forename>>, why not treat yourself this Jan with a hair treatment, we’ve got 30% off all treatments when you book before the 31^st! <<companynumber>>

Example 2

“Hi <<forename>>, book in for a nail treatment at <<companyname>> before the end of January to receive a £10 voucher! T&Cs Apply”

Example 3

“Hi <<forename>>, as well all know January can be quite a slow month, so why not pamper yourself & book in at <<companyname>> to receive a free back massage”

If you aren’t a Salon Tracker customer, then you might not be aware of one of the great features available on both our professional and enterprise packages. In the reports section you are able to see which days are your best/worst in terms of income and which hours your best/worst are, you can then use this to determine the best time to put your offers on. You can then use the marketing section to send out your campaign to your customers, heres some examples below:

Example 4

“Hi <<forename>>, visit <<companyname>> between 1pm-4pm Monday-Friday to receive 50% off all single minutes and courses in January!”

Example 5

“Hi <<forename>>, feel like pampering yourself after the Christmas madness? Book an appointment before 31/1 between 9am and 12pm to receive a free facial!”

For those of you that use our Salon Tracker system, you might be aware of our marketing suite, this is available in our professional and enterprise packages. With this feature you can send out marketing campaigns to all your customers or just a select few, e.g. customers that have visited the salon in the last 3 months. This is a great way to make sure that your customers know about any offers that you are currently doing or planning to do in the future, and with it going directly to their mobile it means that most of your customers will read the message.

If you would like to test out this feature, we offer a demo and free 2 week trial of our software where we will give you 50 free SMS credits which you can use and test whilst on trial. You can call 0113 350 8230 or you can email us at info@salontracker.co.uk to get booked in! We hope that these few examples will be of use to you, or at least help to spark your imagination for any offers that you could do heading into the new year!

Salon Tracker x

Utilising your xmas profit for New Year budgets

I think we’d all agree that January is the longest month of every year. It’s cold, we’re all running low on funds and the one thing we’ve been looking forward to all year is over -(Christmas). So how about we make your January a little more exciting this year and give you a rundown of how you can take a little of Decembers joy with you into dull January!

I’m sure you’re all aware that December is booming with appointment after appointment meaning your revenue is more than likely double your average month! Yet once all the festivities are out of the way and everyone sinks back into reality it might almost appear like a ghostl town in the Salon. Well I’m about to tell you how you can turn that around by investing the extra profit from the run up to Christmas in all the right ways.

Send a simple Happy New Year text to all your clients!

Show your customers some love with a text on New Years day, not only will this bring a smile to their face but also remind them of your Salon and push them to book in. A little offer wouldn’t harm either, whether it be a small or big one!

Nothing beats a bargain to cure the January blues

The good news is that from all the extra profit made in December, you have room to give or take a little bit in January. Hold some offers that will draw your current clients and new clients in to keep you and your staff busy in the quiet couple of months. For example 30% off any retail product on the day of appointment.

Spread some festive cheer

For everyone that visits in December and spends over £30 for example, give them a voucher with their receipt for something like 10% off in January to keep them coming in. You might not be getting your maximum profit here but you’re going to need all the appointments you can get in January! Plus, what you earned in December can account for this.

Invest it

Is your Salon looking tired and dull? The New Year is the perfect opportunity to fix that! Treat your Salon to a makeover, have something to show for the profit you made over xmas. It’ll be much more rewarding when you have something to show for all the hard work you and your staff put in over the festive period.

Give your staff that well-deserved promotion

Have some staff that you really appreciate and feel they deserve a promotion? The new year is a perfect opportunity to give them that. Even if it’s just a little one, a promotion is a massive motivator for your staff which will increase the quality of their work and their loyalty to you!

And that’s how you can make the most out of your Festive profits this year… spend wisely!

Have a lovely Christmas and a very happy new year!

Salon Tracker x

Getting your Salon Ready for Christmas!

Christmas is just around the corner again! Can you believe it?

It feels like just two minutes ago that we were saying this last year. With this in mind here at Salon Tracker we want to share with you all our top tips on how to get your salon ready for the festive season. This one of the busiest times of the year for many salons ensuring you’re doing the right things to draw in customers and optimise your profits is very important.

Decorations

Decorating your salon in a festive way is sure to draw new and existing customers into your salon.  Decorations such as lights, tinsel and Christmas trees will catch the eye of passers by and encourage them to come into your salon.

Offers

When it comes to the festive season, we all love to feel like we have a good deal! Doing special offers around this period will help ensure you have the largest number of customers possible.  Different offers on your services and retail will for sure encourage your clients to treat themselves just a little bit more over the Christmas month. One offer you could do on retail products is 3 for the price of two. This may encourage people to buy your retail products they may have overlooked if it wasn’t for this offer. Offering a percentage off some of your salon’s services will also help when it comes to attracting customers, both new and existing.

Competitions

Competitions are also a great way to celebrate the festive season in your salon.  You could run competitions such as ‘pick the prize out of the Santa hat’ or run a Christmas jumper competition where the best jumper gets a voucher for your salon. These competitions will keep up morale in your salon and help customers feel included with the way in which you run your salon. These will also encourage people to come into your salon due to the excitement of the competition and the chance of them winning one of the prizes. As well as these in salon competitions, you could also run a social media competition. You could ask customers to take 'selfies' of your handy work and post them online tagging you or with a specific hashtag in order for the chance for them to win a prize of your choice. This will help other people who may not know about your salon see some of your work and then book in for an appointment. 

SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is also a great way to spread the festive joy with all your salon customers whilst also reminding them to book a visit to your salon. Using the marketing suite on Salon Tracker, you can send out unique campaigns to all your clients wishing them a Merry Christmas and to remind them all to get their Christmas bookings in before its too late. You could also use this feature to send out booking reminders to ensure the smallest amount of no shows are possible in order to make optimum profit during this busy period.

Feature of the Month- Our New Touchscreen Features!

As we all know the technology world is changing and more and more people are opting for touch screen pc devices rather than the more traditional mouse and keyboard operated desktops. Touch screen devices have a range of positive features which make them very much adapted for use in a busy salon. They have the bonus of being very quick to use and also easy to train on for new members of your salon team who are trying to get to grips with how your salon is run. They’re also a lot more compact than a desktop pc which means they won’t take up any unnecessary room in your salon. With this in mind here at Salon Tracker we wanted to make our system as user friendly as possible so we have made a few changes to our system to make it easier to use for our clients that are choosing this type of device for their salon.


Our new menu
With regards to the look and functionality of our software we are constantly trying to make it the best it could possibly be for our customers. With this in mind we know that when it comes to using touchscreen devices with our system, the more room you have on the booking calendars the easier they’re to use. So, in order to help out we have slightly changed our main menu feature, you are now able to hide the main menu which normally takes up a fair bit of room on the left-hand side. This means you can make the most of your whole screen with no menu taking up a large portion of the screen.


New Buttons
As well as this new menu feature we have also made a change by adding in buttons for your bookable services. We assign each sub section of your services a colour and when it comes to booking one of your clients in for a service it is a lot more touch screen user friendly due to the fact that the buttons are larger cutting back the chance you will click on the wrong service for the client. The colour coordinated buttons also mean the software is nicer to look at and you could personalise these to fit your salons theme.


Our Hardware
With this in mind Salon Tracker now offer some touchscreen hardware options. We offer brands such as dell and touchscreen devices to our salon customers in order for them to be able to use our software to the best ability. These PC’s can work operated by touchscreen or by the more traditional way of mouse and keyboard, whatever your preference is!


We also have some new touchscreen windows tablets coming soon here to Salon Tracker. These tablets will make it so your clients have the ability to fill in all their details, which will save you a lot of time especially in the busy festive months! You’ll also be able to use these for your marketing and to display your advertisements of things such as upcoming Christmas and Black Friday offers on!


If you would like any more information on these or any other of our features don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or email us on info@salontracker.co.uk to find out more or book in for your FREE demo and trial.


Salon Tracker x

Black Friday/Cyber Monday, our ideas to ensure you boost your salon sales this season!

OK so Bonfire Night is out of the way, it’s time to look towards the nations next big event, BLACK FRIDAY! It’s retail heaven, a client’s dream, where it seems most businesses across the globe discount their entire merchandise by a significant amount (the tradition is 30%) for 1 weekend only – typically running from that ‘Black Friday’, ending the following ‘Cyber Monday'. Cyber Monday is apparently the day to get your online deals, however, as online shopping seems to have overtaken the traditional in-store method, most retailers now begin their online discounts in line with the Black Friday start date (if not before!).

So, this year it has fallen on Friday 23rd November, slightly earlier than last year but it still gives you a good week and a half from now to get organised if you haven’t yet done so. Get advertising, shout about your deals as early as you want because as the day is renowned for the discounts, all your customers are going to be doing their research early to see which of your products are in the deal. I know normally we don’t shout about you guys giving discount, as we feel there are other more valuable ways to attract customers and keep your business value reputable. Black Friday however is an exception, this is the day to discount and flog all of your stock the best you can.

However, there are some little tricks of the trade, to ensure your sales and profits are boosted a little bit further throughout this event. Some businesses for example, may just discount all of their stock by a certain percent, which if they only offer a few products or services then this may be the best way. However, for salons, if you think of how many treatments you have to offer and the amount of retail products you sell, an across-the-board discount may not be the best or only way for you.

Do you monitor your best and worst sellers frequently? Both with services and retail products? As this can be extremely important and useful information to you when you are planning a day of discounting. Why? Because you may not need to take as much money off as you first thought. Think of it like this, if you have a service that your calendar is constantly booked up with, this means that your clients are already more than willing to pay for this at full price. So, to keep in tradition with Black Friday, still offer a discount but maybe you only need to offer a smaller % off, such as 10% rather than the usual 30. Then, similarly to look at this the other way around, if you have a certain service that is a poorer seller and you have lots of service stock relating to this service, it may be in your interest to use Black Friday to discount this package significantly. In an aim to hopefully improve the sales of this certain treatment that you may not make as much money from on a normal day.

The exact same method applies to your retail products. You’ll know which of your items fly off the shelf and which gather dust in the stock room! So, use a similar technique here and use a higher discount for your least-selling products and only give a minimal discount off your best-sellers. At the end of the day, a discount is a discount so if a client always usually buys a particular product anyway, they’ll appreciate any sort of money-off!

And the tricks don’t stop there. There are other little ways that you can make a bit of extra money during the Black Friday weekend. The majority of your clients purchasing from you are either going to be getting discounted treatments for themselves, or purchasing vouchers and retail products as Christmas gifts for family and friends. So, how about offering a little gift-wrapping service? It could be as little as £1.50 - £2.00 but can actually save your clients a job and equally make your salon seem to be offering a more professional service in the process. You can get hold of bulk tissue paper and small gift bags online or at arts and crafts shops for quite a low price and therefore you should still make a little profit by offering this extra add-on. Something to think about!

Another thing, how do you display your retail products? Because this can be a big player in how much your clients spend with you. Ever thought about doing a gift table? Cover it with loads of Christmas decorations and accessories first, then place all of your retail products on the table with little advertising labels, letting your clients know what the discount is this Black Friday. Plus, even when the event is over you can still use the present table for the entire lead up to Christmas, as product placement will help to boost sales even when the discount period is over. 

Speaking of aesthetics, your salon decorations play a big part in the mood of your clients throughout the Christmas period and we all know happy clients=happy shopping, more profit for you! So, throughout the Black Friday weekend make sure that you have clearly advertised your discounts, to make sure you are promoting this loudly but also, have dressed the salon up all Christmas-themed, to get your clients fully in to the Christmas spirit!

On the topic of promotion, you really need to actively promote what you’re going to be offering! Start talking about it now, post everyday as you want to get as much social media advertising coverage as your competitors are, because you are likely to all be sharing the same news feed. Post exciting imagery to attract new clients and think of what could make your salon stand out from the rest. Whether it be free samples, complimentary drinks and snacks; think of a few ideas that you can use to promote your Black Friday event in a different way. Do you even maybe begin your discounts early? A few businesses begin on the Thursday before and especially with a lot of salons doing late-night, could this work for you and maybe you could have a bit of a launch event to kick-off the big weekend?

And, just to quickly mention, we’ll be taking part in the event too! We are offering up to 30% off all of our hardware bundles/products and the first 3 months of any software subscription at 30% off too! A nice little helper for over the Christmas period, as we all know that this is a time when we’re all a bit strapped for cash, so hopefully we can help you to manage your salon during peak season at a little bit of a discounted rate.

We’re excited to hear how you all get on! Send us all your pics of your fabulously dressed up salons; and if you need any more tips, as always, our sales and marketing specialists are on hand to help you every step of the way so just give us a shout! Hope you have a fab Black Friday event, to kick-start your salon countdown to Christmas successfully!

Salon Tracker x

Movember

I’m guessing most of you will know what Movember is and what it is for, however for those of you that don’t it’s an annual event during November where people grow moustaches to raise awareness of men’s health issues. This is a great opportunity for your salon to support a great cause, especially for barbershops. Here at Salon Tracker we’ve compiled a list of some different things you could do in order to raise awareness and money for Movember this year.

Competition

Why not hold a competition for your customers to get them engaging with your business, whilst raising money for a great cause. You could hold a ‘Best Tache’ competition and give the winner(s) a free service of there choice. This would massively help with the engagement between you and your customers, as well as raising awareness and will hopefully get more people involved with the charity.

Offers

Offers are a great way to get the attention of not only your current customers but also potential new clients, so this is a great chance for you to not only bring in new customers but to also raise more money for the charity and really get involved with the cause. You could also send out an email or text message to your customers letting them know that you are taking part in Movember and fundraising for the cause. Here’s an example of a text message that you could send out:

“This year we’re supporting Movember, anyone taking part will receive a £5 shave, all proceeds will go to the Movember Charity fund!”

If you aren’t a customer of ours, our marketing feature of our software enables you to send out a text message directly from the system, which makes it very quick and easy to send out a text to all of your customers or just a filtered selection.

Donations

When customers are paying for their booking, remind them that you are contributing towards Movember and ask if they would like to make a donation, you could even match every donation made by your customers. Be sure to make your customers aware of this to really increase your number of donations. Or you could just put out a charity pot on your reception desk, and just ask your customers if they wouldn’t mind leaving a donation.

Mo-Ment

You could even go all out and home a ‘Mo-ment’, all you need to do is sign up on the Movember website (https://uk.movember.com/) and choose to host a ‘Mo-ment’. This would be a great way to get people engaging with the charity and your salon, you could host a number of challenges and competitions on the night to raise money for the cause, it would also help to increase the awareness of your salon as people would here about what you are doing, which creates an interest.

It’s all well and good doing a competition or an offer but you need to make sure that you are marketing it to your customers and people in your local area, to ensure that people are aware of what you are offering! This will massively increase the number of people entering or visiting your salon and will therefore only increase the number of donations you receive due to the number of people getting involved. Social Media is by far the best way to market to your customers. Facebook is massive platform for salon owners so make sure that you are using this to your advantage and promoting Movember across these, as well as letting everybody know about what you are doing to help the cause. Instagram is also a great place to post photos for the charity, for example why not post a picture of your clients or staff that are participating, and ask them to post on their pages too in order to spread awareness. As I mentioned you could also send out a text message to your clients, this is a great way to market what you are doing as it is going directly to your clients mobile phones.

I hope that this has given you some inspiration for Movember this year and that you will all chip in and help raise awareness and money for this great cause! For any more information please visit the Movember website at https://uk.movember.com/.

 
Salon Tracker x