How important is customer service at the salon to you and your staff- REALLY?

This is a true but anonymous example of a friend who encountered a bad experience at a salon which in turn neglected her need to return. Make sure this isn’t you or your colleagues...

The hair salon in question was visited by one of my friends Caitlan* who was due to spend £475 for luxury micro ring hair extensions. As one would assume, with quite a large investment, she had high expectations. Caitlan* really values customer service. She’s one of those kinds who religiously tips over 10% at restaurants, more if it’s great service.

Firstly Caitlan* arrived at the salon and was not greeted until she had been sat down for about 15 minutes. When she had finally been greeted, there was no further engagement except who she was and what she wanted. Now she loved/ loves her extensions and the treatment itself went great. However, she seemed really distressed as we discussed the event.

Caitlan’s biggest problem was she found that the salon were constantly nattering about other clients, the state of their hair and the things they complained about. She also said her hairdresser texted her friends back about 9x throughout the 4 hour stint which elongated the process somewhat. She found this irritatingly uncomfortable and afterward, and was therefore, anxious about her return for maintenance. Her hairdresser was the salon owner.

Needless to say, Caitlan* researched another hair extension specialist and never returned to the salon after this experience. She has had the hair extensions in for 2 years and they have lasted well. This means the original hair extension specialist who charged £80 every 10-12 weeks for maintenance has lost at least £640 in maintenance costs from this one client.

This really is something to think about! You might wonder why we are writing a blog on this, stick with us! Salon management software isn’t only for booking services and treatments. You can improve your staffs abilities and attitude with the endless access to reports, targets and performance. Here are a few ways you can manage your staff and really help them succeed in your working environment.

First of all you need to prioritise and make a plan of what it is you would like to improve at the salon with regards to staff, be it their attitude, retailing or overall performance. Consistency is key so if you start with a new development programme, make sure you are managing expectations.

KPI’s and Performance

Even if your employees have regular clients and are always booked out, this doesn’t mean they are underperforming on other business fronts. Are they selling retail or ensuring they rebook clients before departure? Are they, like the above, using their phone midway through doing treatments? With Salon Tracker you can not only delve into overall business KPI’s but individual staff strengths and weaknesses. These features are so important since as a business owner, it’s also your responsibility to encourage training and development. Everyone has an ‘Achilles Heel’ when it comes to work, but it is essential that salon managers know what this is and how to nurture it and in turn, motivate and turn this into a positive.

Aim with targets

Researching your KPI’s is great but not if you aren’t going to put anything into action. Key point indicators are exactly that, indicators of what to do next! A salon management system will allow you to track targets and monitor consistency through your reporting function. As long as you know the catalyst for underperformance and how to develop this, you are being a great manager. 

Don’t let them get stuck in ways

Not many people like change but switching things up is so important once in a while to prevent complacency. Junior staff who haven’t been with you as long can usually be trained to a result you require, and are usually looking for ways to improve and deliver. Ensure that all staff respect your decisions with training development, regardless of their serving time. If they are insulted, why not use them to train in strong areas to improve overall performance of the team.

Countdown to Christmas: How to keep the atmosphere alive at Advent

Hasn’t the year flown by! Tomorrow we’re officially in December and the countdown to Christmas is real. So, 24 days to go until the big day, we bet you guys are gonna’ be jam-packed at the salon. But just remember, in the hustle and bustle of the busy period, it is so important to keep your customers satisfied and to also get them in the Christmassy mood. As after all, the happier the customer the healthier your tills!

Here at Salon Tracker we’ve thought of a few ways that you can have a bit of fun throughout the month of Advent and also how to manage clients during peak season.

Daily Advent Social Media Tips

Many of you will have a salon page on Facebook and at Christmas, there is no better time to use it as everybody is online bagging cyber deals, keeping up to date with friends and sharing their Christmas pictures. Why not for every day of December in the lead up to Xmas post a little beauty tip? If you feel like you might be stuck for time, you can always use a social media management site, such as Hootsuite or Spredfast? Spend an afternoon planning your posts, schedule them using one of the mentioned sites and away you go. And make sure to #hashtag! The benefit of posting a beauty tip everyday means that you can hashtag key words and brands to ensure that as many people see your post as possible, which also equals an increase in brand awareness for your salon, cost-free!

Salon Advent Calendar for staff & clients

As well as keeping your clients satisfied, it’s important to ensure that your staff are also just as upbeat, as happy staff is the key to appreciative clients. Personalities and moods rub off on others so to ensure an ‘atmosphere of Christmas cheer’ all round, why not introduce some little Xmas freebies for staff and customers. Theme it to Advent and for staff, maybe it is that you create a large Advent calendar and keep it in the tea room? Then every morning when your technicians come to work they get to pick a sweet out from whichever day of Advent it is. It doesn’t need to cost much, the calendar could literally be a make-shift collection of 24 little jars or bowls with the letter 1-24 stuck on them and you could just fill them with sweets or Christmas choccies? Similarly, this could also work for clients, but instead of having the whole Advent calendar on display (as it may be a bit too big for the front desk of your salon), you could have a jar of goodies in reception and have a ‘__days till Christmas’ sign displayed alongside it. Again, this doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, you can pick up small Christmas themed black boards for under £5.00 online, so you can chalk the message and alter it each day of Advent.

Secret Santa

If you haven’t already organised Christmas goodies or awards to give out at the Xmas doo, then Secret Santa is always good for a bit of fun between employees. Create a theme with a set spend amount so that it isn’t unaffordable for anybody and then get your staff members to pick names from a hat. Some ideas for themes could be ‘everyone spends £5.00 and has to get something funny, something Christmassy and something edible’. Another idea would be to set a minimum number of presents to be bought for a certain price range, so this could be ‘5 presents for £5.00’. Have a little brainstorm with your staff but this is sure to contribute to the festive feeling!

Managing waiting lists wisely

As well as the surge in booked appointments, the demand for walk-in gaps also increases during the holiday season. Excellent for business profits and brand reputation, but equally salon staff are left with the job of managing the waiting clients so that they still have a pleasant experience from the offset of walking through the salon door. So, having said this, the best way to win clients over is to offer them a couple of complimentary freebies and ensure you have plenty of up-to-date magazines. You will always offer tea and coffee on an ordinary day but jazz this up a little throughout Advent and perhaps offer a glass of bucks fizz instead, complimented with a mince pie or mini yule log cake. These can all be bought for a small price at big-chain supermarkets and at this time of year many have bulk offers on so you can do it on a bit of a budget!

We hope some of our ideas come in handy for you in the lead up to the big day and that you have a fun-filled salon of success this Christmas…Happy Advent!


Salon Tracker x

Staff motivation and incentive in the salon leading up to Christmas!

Christmas time at the salon means all hands on deck! Staff really are expected to step up at this time of year meaning that their stress levels may well be on the increase. All of the extra pressures can sometimes lead to demotivation, but a great way to ensure alleviation and to prevent this is through incentivising staff! Not all salon owners who are starting out can offer commission on their products but we’ve come up with a great way to highlight your appreciation for your employees’ effort and hard work all year- End of Year Awards!!

First let’s address some of the most important awards and remember to insert your own “gift” to what you can afford! We’ve gone with a top three as an example but you can adapt this depending on what your salon achieves.

A great way to incentivise staff throughout December is to enlist everyone into a competition. Tell staff they will all be entered into a competition where their colleagues will nominate them for who deserves the ‘Outstanding Service’ award! Nominations will be counted up on Xmas Eve and the winner will win; (insert your gift here) a weekend away in a luxury B&B at the Lake District for themselves and a +1!

Another award could be for the most ‘Profitable Stylist’. You could use your salon software provider to delve into each staff member’s takings, both for products and services. This is a great one because it encourages staff to push as many retail products and gift sets as they can throughout the lead up to Christmas. A (insert prize here) cash bonus prize is a great incentive for this or maybe a night at the theatre and dinner at a scrumptious local restaurant.

For the one who ‘Always exceeds their target’, why not send them on a (insert gift here) spa weekend to give thanks for their efforts month on month to always hit and exceed their goals. Praise and recognition towards staff is such an underrated company value and can impact positively throughout the entire business, so you don’t just have to offer expensive prizes to your profitable stylists. Ensure everyone is awarded at least one gift! Some ideas are as listed below along with prize ideas!

‘Stressed out Sally Award’- A massage or a Jo Malone candle!
‘Clumsiest Clown Award’- A good luck charm bracelet!
‘Pretty Perfectionist Award’- 2 x MAC lipsticks.
‘Always on the phone!’- Selfie stick or personalised phone case!
‘Biggest Smile Everyday’- A big bunch of flowers.
‘Miss Agony Aunt Award’- winter warmer gifts like tea mask and chocolates!
‘Most Creative Hair Do’- An I-O-U voucher for their next hairstyle change!
Miss Clean Freeeeak’- A mani/pedi to recover those tired Cinderella hands and feet!
‘Miss Always Early’- An entire weekend off work!

As you can see with some of the above gifts, rewards don’t always have to cost an arm and a leg. For your “funny awards”, we recommend offering little gifts which match the title of the award or personality of your employee. If you really can’t afford to offer to get your team individual pressies then how about a Christmas lunch or party? This doesn’t have to be anywhere fancy and you can go to your local ‘Revolution’ for a 3 course Christmas Dinner from just £18 per head! If that fails then a Christmas card written from the heart is always a great gift to receive. A few nice words to show how much you are appreciated and how your efforts have contributed to business over the last 12 months never goes a miss!

We hope our ideas help!

Salon Tracker x

How to upsell your salons retail products this Christmas!

The key to upselling retail products in any business is to get your clients to see the value behind every product you are selling, both visually and practically. Retail sales are through the roof at Christmas as opposed to January, so prior to Christmas is a great opportunity to capitalise on the event as much as you can. Here at Salon Tracker we have come up with a few ideas that you can try out around Christmas to upsell your retail products and increase business profits!


Christmas Gift Table

Visual merchandising is everything in terms of upselling your retail products at Christmas. Do you have a creative mind amongst the salon team? If so, set them a task to bring their artistic ideas to the table by creating a display with ‘Christmassy’ effect. The more appealing the display, the better the chance of those products flying out of the door. Make sure that the display is in a key sight-line, so that it will grab the customers’ attention and attract them to view the products. A spectacular arrangement of products will catch the eye of a client any day over a small shelf on the wall!

Add on’s at the till

If you currently use our salon software, you can generate reports of your bestselling retail products for the year and think about displaying these at the cash desk, to appeal to customers whilst they are paying for their treatments. Even if you don’t have software, I’m sure you have a good idea of consumer buying habits when it comes to your retail products, so get those best sellers high-lighted! Especially around Christmas time, clients might be inclined to buy one of your products as a gift for someone, so capitalise on this opportunity!

Baubles containing gifts

Novelty Christmassy accessories are another big seller when it comes to retail products, especially during the festive period. Anything that looks a bit glittery and pretty will appeal to your clients, and again, will make great stocking fillers! You can get hold of some clear baubles on EBay that you could put samples inside or put some ‘mini’ retail products in…great also for hanging on the Christmas tree if your clients are in to modernised décor!

Demonstrate the Products
Certain treatments involve products which tends to be the easiest product to sell since they can visualise the benefits. Skincare or hair-care are great products to upsell for longevity and prolonging treatments. Always make sure you give a good sales speech as to how products can benefit the client!

Events!
Holding an event is one of the easiest ways to upsell retail products. Mini treatment nights with a ‘refer a friend’ campaign is a great way to create enthusiasm within the salon and extend your target audience to friends of clients. If you invite clients to have a treatment with their friends or partners in the salon, then they are more likely to spend that little extra, as it turns the salon treatment in to a social event where the clients may not mind spending that little bit extra!

So I’m sure there’s something here that is worth a go to help you boost those retail sales…we hope that you have SUCCESS this XMAS!

Salon Tracker x

13 Christmas Marketing ideas for your salon!

Every now and then, we all get writers block, but you guys are lucky because we are here to help! Our aim with this blog is to give you inexpensive ways to market your salon as we approach this busy time of year! So whether you have big or small businesses with lots of budget or no budget, we urge you to read on, because we have something for everyone to enable you to cash in on the festive spirit. 

• Think about a place where you can be effortlessly yourself and write about your passion in hair, beauty and all things industry related. Sounds great doesn’t it? Well this could be you if you start a vlog or blog. It’s also a great way to sprint your salon up to the top pages of Google and other search engines and all it takes is some creativity and a little research.



• We have highlighted the importance of salon reviews in one of our previous blogs surrounding Facebook but it’s not just there where we urge salons to get reviews from. Google+ and other online directories like Trust Pilot all help to establish a base following.

• Link up with local businesses and cross promote one another. For salons you could access nearby florists, bridal gown shops and gyms etc to up-sell each other’s products. This can help you in the long run as opposed to just immediately. 

• This flows nicely into competitions. Why not try running a local competition and include other businesses in your nearby area? This allows you to share audiences amongst each other and therefore encourage more individuals to get involved. Christmas is a great time to run competitions. It allows consumers to save money around the festive period if they do win the prize which is all the more reason to get involved!

• Offer a referral programme! This is one of the best and easiest ways to gain a new customer simply because clients trust their friends. You can spend thousands on marketing but a referral is an honest and unbiased view point from someone external to the business.

• Are you using social media to its full ability? If not try to focus on three channels and then work onward from there. Most channels are free but do offer paid advertising and I would strongly recommend this route too. Just ensure you read up about it prior to doing so. We have some great ‘How To’ blogs that you could research into for paid advertising. 

• Showcase current offers, gift cards, promotions and retail products around the salon and discuss them as often as you can. A great area to upsell is at the reception desk when your client is paying. This could be upselling gift cards as stocking fillers or even be a gift from the salon that you throw in for the festive period.  

• Salons are known to be busy around the festive period so your answer machine message should be as bubbly and engaging as possible. All the more reason to put your most popular Christmas promotions and opening hours on there.

• Is there anything else festive you can upsell? Christmas is a great time of year to bring in Christmas drinks, mince pies and Christmas themed cupcakes- this could even be charity related over the festive season.

• Use the window for window shoppers! This is a fantastic place to market the best treatments and services you offer- so go all out! Think about Xmas gifts and popular treatments around this time of year and add a little sparkle to give it the WOW factor.

• Is it possible to offer a gift wrap service for your retail products? We just love this idea because it’s not something that everyone can do but it wonderfully sets you apart from your competition.  

• Are you using your SMS marketing to the best ability… implementing subtle Christmas reminders is a great way to keep your audience engaged? Tell them about gift options you have or even Boxing Day sales treatments you are planning on introducing. We can guarantee you will book up sooner rather than later. 

• Over the past year we have accumulated quite a few salons offering “flash” treatments. What we love about the idea of a flash treatment is that it allows you to get in and out while you are Christmas shopping! Obviously not all salons like the idea of offering fast services so why not try the ‘two treatments at once’ approach. The idea that we can get our brows and pedicure done simultaneously is great around the Xmas period! It allows us to lay back and relax while we get two treatments done! Great way to upsell other treatments too!

Christmas promotional ideas for the salon!

With Halloween, Bonfire Night and autumn festivities just out of the way, there’s no time like the present to throw yourself into your salons Christmas promotions. Year on year, the festive season proves to be a huge money maker for many salons but you need to be prepared for the January slump too! Here’s a bit of inspiration to keep your ideas fresh and eclectic this December.

 Percentage off treatments on 1st day of advent

As we have discussed in our blog posts before, you don’t want to be renowned for giving too much discount too often, as then clients can then become accustomed to these prices leading to a refusal to pay full price. However, a one-off discount on a significant day, for example the first day of advent, could be a great way to increase those sales throughout December rather than cramming them into the final two weeks. You can do this through your salon software programme or use alternative advertising methods such as your social media pages or the good old poster in the window to notify clients early of your advent deal!

Black Friday Promotions

Black Friday is a huge opportunity for all businesses to capitalise on. Most large retailers offer Black Friday offers to price match competitors and reap in those pre- Christmas sales. It is also usually the last discount day prior to Christmas which means people are out to buy, buy, buy! See what discount competitors are offering and don’t be afraid to beat their offers if it’s for one day or weekend only! Ensure you promote these offers, through your salon software marketing feature, multiple times especially the day before Black Friday! Your salon should be high on the list of priorities for your customer to visit.  

Christmas Freebies

There’s nothing like a complimentary gift to give to clients when they come for their winter treatment, even if it’s just something as simple as a free mince pie with their tea, or a nice hot choccy! A lot of salons also have sweets at the cash desk on a regular day; why not theme these up a little bit and have candy canes instead, or Christmassy chocolates like Quality Streets to get clients in the festive mood.

Social Media

Get people talking about your salon!  The best thing about social media is that the messages are delivered instantly and on a mass scale.  Your social media platforms are the best and fastest way to connect with your clients and target audience, to share incentives and to create news about your salon. Launches are another great way to get people talking, whether this is through competitions on your Facebook page or new product launches. Team these with a wintery themed picture and it is sure to attract some attention.  The more publicity you can generate for yourselves on your social media accounts, the better the chance you have at improving your client base!

Salon Decor

Ambience is everything when it comes to a client remembering your salon. Especially during the Christmas period and into the New Year, you have to create an impression that will WOW client and prompt their return.  Over the Christmas period, ensure you trim up with appropriate decorations.  If your salon is usually decorated classically, make sure that your Christmas trimmings reflect this.  Likewise, if your salon is ultra-modern then make sure you go for some contemporary sparkle.  When it comes to the start of the January, ensure that your salon has had a good tidy, is newly organised and is ready for all your New Year services.  After Christmas, everyone is in the ‘New Year, New Start’ mind set, so make sure that your salon indicates that you as a business are also fresh & prepared for the year ahead.

January promo vouchers

January is always a bleak and slow month for everybody and at best we all know that salon sales dwindle off until the Valentine’s Day period.  A good way to increase custom in January is to create a ‘new-year return’ voucher/coupon.  Hand these out to clients in December when they come to pay for their Christmas treatments, offering them something like £5 off their next £50 spend in January or 10% off spends over £40, valid from 1st to 31st Jan.  This is sure to put a spring in the step of your customers and you should see a good return on investment by getting a few extra’s through the door at the start of the New Year.

Hope this helps, Salon Tracker x

Managing your salon reception in busy periods!

We’ve said it before and we stick by our word, a salons reception area is the most important part of “closing a sale”. Everything from the cleanliness, the attitude, communication and information the client is given at this point. With the run up to Christmas fast approaching, we thought it the perfect time to highlight the importance of your salon receptionist’s role/s and how you can ensure they manage your salon reception rather than the reception managing them.

The salon receptionist holds key responsibilities within your business, firstly being their appearance and professional manner. For your salon to be taken seriously by people of all walks of life, your reception staff must have a professional and positive aura. Now obviously you cannot foresee complaints, delays or other similar issues but you can train your staff to react to these occasions.

Staff should be approachable, knowledgeable and efficient, especially in busy periods. This holds high importance in your salon and the above three pointers are linked. To be efficient, your staff should be trained to know all treatments, timings and staff like the back of their hand. This allows them to act with authority, even in your absence. 

Your reception should feel comfortable.  What we mean by comfortable is, at home. Your client should have plenty to do in the occasion of you running behind which is why most salons are stocked up with magazines and newspapers. Can you ensure that your reception staff stay on the ball with complimentary tea, coffee and juice? Phone chargers are another little addition that you could invite into the salon for clients to feel at home. Most importantly is there somewhere for them to sit and hang their coat or put their umbrella if it rains? 

Your client’s safety is another thing in the hands of te receptionist. Have they had the required skin test? Do your hairdressers and beauty therapists know everything they should about this particular client? The receptionists should include all the relevant information needed to ensure the sales process is a strong and safe one. 

A clean and tidy reception and display area are so important. Are your staff on top of cleaning up after every client and on an evening? It’s absolutely imperative to stay on top of this since it could be a make or break for people when they decide if they want to continue with your services.

Meeting and greeting clients is one thing, but are staff tailoring every meet and greet appropriately? How you speak to a 9 year old little girl differs completely to how you would speak to a 90 year old woman. You may need to speak a little slower and explain things more which is where excellent customer service comes in.

Underrated things that hold huge importance in the salon are things such as checking and making appointments. So many errors occur when things haven’t been double checked, which is where you should ensure staff are relaying information back to the client for client, receptionist and therapist benefit. Information might include the cost of their treatment and the date and time of when they have booked. Also what is the typical duration time of the treatment so your client knows for parking etc. Give as much information as you can to help out more so. 

Even if your staff are not specialist therapists or hairdressers, the reception is key to product upselling so they should use the correct terminology and offer all the benefits.  Salon products do tend to cost more money because of the ingredients so the potential outcome of using the product does need to be explained. The reception area is a great time to do this!