Hello 2017!

Hello, hello, hello and Happy New Year! A BIG welcome back from all of us here at Salon Tracker, we hope you all had a fantastic Christmas with family & friends and managed yourself some well-deserved ‘me-time’ in and among handling the festive bustle in the salon.

So, a fresh New Year, a new start and business is probably a bit quieter now for you, so what a great time January is to get thinking and planning for the coming months. Maybe have a look at some new improvements for the salon? From décor, to introducing new treatments, to refreshing your marketing strategies, this is the month to do it and also we have loads of tips in our past blog posts to help you along the way, here’s a few below that you may wish 

to take a look at;

Does my Salon Need a Website?

Our Social Media Tips for Salon Owners

Why are Salon Reviews Important?

If you don’t have software already then maybe this is the time that you want to look in to how a software package could help you to progress through this year much smoother? Want a bit of inspiration, then you may want to check out our blog here about how our salon software can help to create a seamless client journey and make business management much easier for you.

Or if you’re already a current customer of ours then have a look at our latest software enhancements, and maybe you could look at upgrading your software feature set?

Saying that, what are our latest features and what can you expect from Salon Tracker in 2017?

If you didn’t know already, we are exhibiting at Professional Beauty London in February this year and therefore are releasing some new features show-ready for any of you that are visiting, so be sure to keep posted on our news feed for what's is coming up! Fancy coming along, then register for your FREE ticket here and head down to join us, we'd love to meet you!

Our most recent features however are the launch of the salon-branded mobile app, which is fantastic for salon businesses, and its clients, in ensuring that online booking is still accessible even when business doors are closed. This makes the business profitable 24/7 and enhances a salon's online profile, not to mention ensuring that it is keeping up with the ever-changing technological advances. Alongside this, we have introduced the ability for salon owners to view activity and business from the comfort of their own home, through our HQ and Homeview features. Making business management much easier, especially for those of you who are owners of a multi-site business and find it a constant struggle to split your time across multiple locations.

If you want to do a bit of Marketing or hold some promotional events, we have introduced 'Happy Hour' which means you can set offers & discounts throughout certain times of the day to entice clients to come and spend with you in your quieter periods. A great advertising technique for Jan! With this we have also recently introduced client groupings, meaning you can create certain discounting rules for a particular group of customers, such as students or friends & family, rather than having to keep a track of all your manual discounts.

We offer free demonstrations of the features mentioned above, and you can view the demo anywhere you wish as long as you have access to a PC and the internet, as we offer online demo's with members of our team. You can also trial Salon Tracker free of charge, no-obligation, for a fortnight to see for yourself how the system will benefit your business day to day. To book your demo & trial, enquire here or call our office on 0113 350 8230 to speak to a member of our team, we are on hand to answer any questions you may have and to discuss the best software options for you.


We look forward to another year of working with you and helping you to manage your salon business! Here's to 2017...


Salon Tracker x

And that’s a wrap for 2016!

Well, it doesn’t seem like 2 minutes since I was writing this post last year, but here we are, another year down – and it’s been a busy one! We’ve had a fantastic time working with you guys this year and it has been wonderful to meet some of you in person at the Professional Beauty shows. And on that note, I’d just like to mention that we’re actually exhibiting at Professional Beauty London this Feb too, stand P2, we’ll be there across the 2 day event and so hope to be introduced to some more of you in person there very soon. I know that this is an extremely busy time for you in the salon now, and we hope that our software and marketing tips have aided you in managing through the bustling festive period. As we head in to 2017, we’ll be finalising the development of several new features so keep posted on our news page for all information about up-coming releases, as there are definitely some exciting new updates to come. But from all of 

us here at Salon Tracker, it’s been a pleasure, a big Merry Christmas and a 
Happy New Year to you all and we’re 
looking forward to working with you 

next year for another successful 12 months!

Best Wishes,

Salon Tracker x

*We are closing down for Christmas on Friday 23rd December 2016. We will be back in the office on Tuesday 3rd January 2017. Should you require assistance during this time, please telephone 0113 3508230 and leave a voicemail or email info@salontracker.co.uk*

How to keep staff motivated during busy periods

Christmas is almost here. We cannot believe it is only a few days away. It seems to me that the year has only just started, but 2017 is approaching unbelievably fast. A lot of salons are especially busy over December as many customers would like last minute appointments to treat themselves before the festive period to look extra glamorous. However, this can often cause extra stress for the salon owners and its staff members. Long hours, extra promotions that bring the numbers of appointments up and customers that seem more stressed than usual can often be draining. It is understandable that energy levels can be low and it feels hard to keep motivated. This can lead to a lack of desire to give 100%, which can negatively affect customers and therefore your business. After all, those who work extra hard during this period deserve some appreciation. Therefore, we are looking at some last minute tips on how to keep staff members motivated and plan for the months ahead of you. As salon owner or manager, you have to overlook the business and manage the salon. Customers are not the only thing you have to take into consideration, but also your staff members. Without them your salon wouldn’t function on a daily level.

Happy staff = good atmosphere at the salon = happy customers!

Good customer service comes from your staff. Client retention, reputation and revenue all strongly depend on excellent customer service. However, what do you do if your staff are tired, stressed and over worked? You know, one of those days where it simply seems a bit too much for them. Especially in the run up to Christmas this can happen quite often. Here are some tips on how to keep staff motivated all year round, but especially during busy periods.

Regular breaks

This is a given, but when it gets busy I know that sometimes a break can be skipped. Every member of staff is entitled to a 30min break if they work for six hours and longer. Not only should staff members take their breaks, it also helps them to wind down, shut off and relax for a quick period. Refreshed and nourished they can then return to work with a fresh mind and new found energy.

End of Year Awards

This incentive is a great one for showing your appreciation to your staff and also combine it with treats for them. All you have to do is 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 ‘what’ award! This can be anything from a ‘Newcomer of the year, Profitable Stylist, Most appointments taken, or hardest working staff’. The winner might receive a little trophy and a goody bag, or a gift card. This doesn’t have to coast much and you provide whatever is possible with the budget you have.

Seasonal Events

Events such as Secret Santa and Christmas Jumper Days are great for promoting community and involve everyone at the salon. You can even team up with a local charity and motivate your customers to get involved and donate too. Using the Marketing Suite on Salon Tracker Software is an easy and quick way to spread the word about upcoming events. Secret Santa is always good for a bit of fun between employees. Create a theme with a set spend amount so that it is affordable for anybody and then get your staff members to pick names from a hat.

Socials

We all need some time off here and then and it is especially important to get away for a while to embrace other non-work related activities. How about you plan a social for all your staff. This could be anything from bowling to eating out, or attending a show. Find out what people are passionate about and book something everyone would enjoy. Team bonding activities such as karting are great fun and leave everyone with good memories.


No matter how busy some days can be, don’t forget you are a team and no one is supposed to handle all the customers and stress on their own. Plan in advance how you can make this time easier for you can your staff. Organisation is key and will make life a lot easier when done early and properly.

With that said, we hope some of the tips come in handy and it gives you some ideas for the New Year as well.

Salon Tracker x

Raising money for Save the Children!

Every year, Save the Children run a national charity event in December to raise funds for their global children's charity. One of our clients the 'Sun Centre' in Ormesby, Middlesbrough ran a little fundraiser to join in with the national 'Christmas jumper day' and we helped out by donating free text messages so they could notify clients of the event.

Salon Tracker donated 3000 free messages to the salon so that they could instruct customers that if they visited Sun Centre on Friday December 16 wearing their best festive knit, they would receive offers on 
their treatments and retail products - where 
suggested donations to the Save the Children 
were recommended as part of each offer.

Talking about the day, Sun Centre’s Director Kevin Conway said: “The event went well, it was decent plus we raised a fair bit for charity.”

Nicola Soanes, Marketing Manager at Salon Tracker, further added: “We assisted Kevin with his charity campaign as we always want to support clients where possible when they are hosting fundraising events, especially in this case for the wonderful cause Save the Children at Christmas time.”

Sun Centre raised more than £65 for the charity and according to the official Christmas Jumper organisation, funds raised across the nation have so far reached a massive 537,860.

Salon Tracker x

Christmas Lookbook 2016!

'Tis the season of sequins, sparkles and glam! From glitter to metallics, we have chosen our fave looks as seen on Pinterest, beauty blogs and make-up brands this year for this seasons Christmas styles. So if you're in need of a bit of inspiration, here are our selected looks perfect for your festive days out and party wear ready for you to recreate this Christmas...

               

How our Software can help you through busy periods

Running a salon can often be a stressful task. Managing staff, juggling with clients and oversee sales and marketing can be a hideous task to manage all by yourself. Especially, in the run up to Christmas, when all of a sudden you have customers after customers wanting to be squeezed in before the festive days. How is there any time left to improve things such as client retention, stock control and business analytics. After all, you can’t be at the salon 24/7, but probably wish that in these periods there would be a possibility to be more productive even when you are not around. If these things sound all too familiar to you then Salon Tracker might be the solution to you. Let me tell you why:

Many salons still rely on the traditional pen and paper appointment booking system, however new technology now makes it possible to use Salon Software to seamlessly manage your salon. Salon Tracker is designed to keep track of all appointments and client data and is simply supposed to help with managing your salon better. It is far more than just an appointment scheduling system. We offer features such as stock control, booking and no show reminders, SMS and email marketing, online booking, advanced reports and many more. This is certainly important if you are looking at boosting any last minute sales and want to target specific groups. What you want, especially before big sales opportunities such as Black Friday, Christmas or Mother’s Day is a system that makes life easier not harder, as well as support your staff and help you plan ahead.

The calendar view helps you to keep track of general appointments, upcoming bookings and no shows. You can access it from your salon PC or laptop or on the go on through our site view feature on any portable device. We have chosen a few features that are useful in everyday salon life and will certainly make life easier in busy periods.

Marketing & SMS Reminders

Our Marketing feature is so simple to set up, yet a very easy way to engage with customers. Salon Tracker supports email as well as SMS marketing. It’s an easy way to spread the word about offers and incentives without the lengthy process of planning numerous marketing campaigns. Just use our software to filter your customers database for upcoming birthdays, VIP’s or customer by age and simply send out your message. Our handy feature can be used for all kinds of things and is primarily designed to get the word out if you want to promote your services. You have a variety of options to choose from for your personalised campaigned. It's a great way to work on your client retention and encourage your customers to book with you in the future.

To ensure customers won’t miss their appointments, once booked in, always remember to enable automatic booking reminders. That way you can sit back and relax, without worrying to ring numerous customers. In case of a no show the same concept applies. All customers who haven’t turned up to their appointments will receive an automatic SMS notifications.

Advanced Business Reports

Reception duties and evaluating your salons performance is one of those tedious tasks that no one has time for, but can be crucial for planning ahead. Save this time for your clients and let Salon Tracker do the job. As we provide a variety of business reports, the advanced business reports on the software enable you to find out clear and concise information on all aspects of your business quick and easy. We offer simple reports from a cashing up report to more complex annual sales charts. This helps salon owners, especially those of multiple sites, make informed business decisions to increase profitability whilst absent from the salon.

Fingerprint Reader + Staff Rota 

When your Salon is busy and you as a salon owner has a lot going on, it sometimes can be hard to observe every client that comes through the door or your staff. To speed up the process of looking clients up on your database, you can simply add their fingerprint to the system and the next time they put their finger on the reader their client card will open instantly.

Our smart staff rota system, now lets you take control and ensure your staff arrive and leave on time. We have integrated a function on our software that links to a fingerprint reader. Our ‘Staff Rota’ feature is an easy way to track clocking in and clocking out times. Once it is linked up to a fingerprint reader, staff members simply place their finder on the reader before they start their shifts and again when they finish their shifts. The feature will accurately track the duration of staff shits without them being able to edit or manipulate the rota. You can run specific reports at the end of the week/month to check your staffs working hours.

Site-view

Salon software is a great way to take control of your salon business, especially for when you cannot get in to the salon. Site View is designed to oversee salon activity wherever you are at home or on holiday, ensuring that business still maintains its professionalism even in your absence. 

It gives you the ability to oversee your business and monitor activities such as bookings, takings, refunds and stock management. You can also access staff performance charts to maintain authority in your absence. Site View is an essential for those salon owners who hold multiple sites and need to split themselves between sites, especially those business owners that are constantly on the go. Access your current business activity from your smartphone, iPad, tablet or a PC. Furthermore, your staff will get their unique log-ins to view their upcoming appointments for the upcoming week.

All in all…

As you’ve guessed, Salon Tracker is great as it comes in various packages and you choose the one that best suits you. We have crated three packages that are guaranteed to manage and grow your business. We are here to help and therefore, offer free unlimited support if you ever get stuck on something. The best thing to do is to contact us if you want to find out more about the features. We can demonstrate our best features to you and you will then trial the software for 2 weeks for free.

Sign up now http://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx


Salontracker x

Promo tips for the Holiday Season!

The holidays are coming…we can’t believe it’s the first of December tomorrow, let the advent period begin! And, as promised, here are a few tips from us with advice on what you can be doing in the salon over the festive period to increase those Christmas sales!

Festive Treats

If you have a bit of spare budget, why not get some Xmassy-themed trinkets or even some of the classic festive chocolates that everyone loves, quality streets or a box of Terry’s will do the trick. You could create a Christmassy box to put the sweets or little gifts in, this could even be something as simple as a cardboard box dressed in wrapping paper and trimmed with tinsel around the edges. This just gets everyone in the festive mood and ready for the holiday season. If you decide to get some mini pressies, these could be retail product minis or something that you could even get your company logo printed on, like Christmas-smelling air fresheners or post it notes shaped in a Christmas tree? Both mini-retail products and anything that has your brand appearing on it are winners for you in terms of pushing those Xmas retail sales and brand awareness!

Your Choice of Background Music

You may remember a few weeks ago we actually wrote a post about how songs can influence consumer buying habits, and the same applies for over the festive period! You don’t want to over-do it and drown your clients in a series of Xmas songs on repeat all day, every day throughout December, but you do however still want your playlist to be a bit merry, mixed with a few other beats to keep in with the Christmas cheer. Depending what type of salon you have, your playlist will have to reflect your usual ambiance still, just with a bit of an alteration for Christmas time. As it’s the height of Party season, you might want to create a feel-good playlist, which there are plenty of websites that offer advice on great 
party-season songs. Another idea could be to ask your fellow 
clients on social media to pick a song (within reason) 
to add to the playlist.**Make sure however that you have 
a license within the salon to play music before attempting 
any of the above. **

Rewarding your loyal best-spending Clients

There is no better time than to remind your loyal customers that they are appreciated than at Christmas time. Everyone’s a bit strapped for cash and so by giving your faithful clients a little something extra and selective only to them, this just shows them that they are valued and also reminds them of why they chose your business in the first place. Plus, the more you reward your dedicated clients, the better your client retention. (P.s, if you already have our software, we have a built-in filter in our 
SMS marketing suite where you can autumatically search for 
your best spending clients at the click of a button!)

Competitions

A light-hearted way to get people talking about your business. And as everyone runs competitions around Christmas time it’s a great way to win over a few clients by enticing them with a great winning prize at the end (should they be lucky enough to win)! Ideas could include the best Christmas hair, makeup or nail style, and clients participate by emailing in their best photo? Or maybe it’s even a chance to win a free mini-treatment, and they enter by liking and commenting on a social media post?

Salon Atmosphere

Set the Christmas Scene! Everyone loves a good tree, some fairy lights and a hint of mistletoe. If your store looks twinkly and welcoming, this instantly reflects on customers moods, in which happy customers = better sales! You could also run a Christmas uniform theme, which doesn’t have to be over the top but say your usual attire is a black shirt and trousers? Why not jazz this up by letting staff where a sparkly shade of red with some Xmas accessories throughout December?

Christmas Selfies

A great way to get people to have a bit of fun and also, to get 
people talking. Advertise your ‘Christmas selfies’ around the salon and on your social media pages, getting clients to hashtag #my<yoursalonname>selfie with their uploaded photo after 
a treatment at the salon. Not only is this entertaining, it also gives your salon some cost-free advertising to showcase your work. The more people that upload their pictures and share them to a wide range of people, the higher the chance of some potential new clients loving one of the styles they’ve seen and actually visiting you for the same treatment.

Event Nights

All throughout the lead up to December and during the advent period, business participate in all kinds of Xmas events, such as Black Friday, Christmas Jumper Day etc. and often there are local events happening in the area too. Whatever it is, try and cooperate in the salon by creating a little festive event night, accompanied with some mince pies & prosecco, or maybe take part in one of the Christmas charity days. At least this way you are raising money for a good cause and also creating an opportunity to get some PR coverage about your salon in the process.

Happy Christmas Marketing!

Salon Tracker x