How Hiring Apprentices can Benefit your Business

Here at Salon Tracker, we believe in the value that apprentices can add to a business. Many of our staff members have been through or are currently going through a degree apprenticeship through Salon Tracker which has been beneficial to both the individual and the business alike!

Apprentices can be beneficial to all types of businesses, from office environments to beauty salons! In this blog we will explain different ways that apprenticeships can benefit your business.

Government funded training  When you hire an apprentice for your business, you may think that this would come with a lot of costs, but this is where you’re wrong! The government will pay 95% of the costs of an apprenticeship, making it a cost-effective way to produce skilled employees. This means that you will be able to develop the skills in your workforce in order to transform your organisation, at a fraction of the cost of other types of training. 

Diversify your workforce 

Because apprenticeships allow individuals to earn an income while studying their qualification, it is attractive and available for a broader range of people, as not everyone can afford traditional methods of gaining qualifications or be able to study full time. This opens up a wider range of people that you will be able to hire, making your workplace more diversified and bringing in fresh minds with new ideas! 

Training tailored to your business 

Unlike a traditional qualification, an apprenticeship will be tailored to your business, with the apprentice’s off-the-job training being relevant to your needs. This allows the apprentice to understand your organisation in greater depth, which will allow them to exceed in their job role. Research shows that 86% of employers say that apprenticeships have helped to develop skills relevant to their organisation.  

Improved staff retention 

Research shows that 69% of companies reported improved staff retention since hiring apprentices. Generally speaking, apprentices seem to be more loyal to the business and more motivated to learn and implement new skills into the workplace. Giving your employees the chance to learn new skills via an apprenticeship has been shown to increase job satisfaction, which in turn increases staff retention as they are happier in their job. This also decreases the cost of recruiting as you won’t have to do this as often due to retaining staff better. 

Developing new skills in your workforce 

Apprenticeships can help to develop professional skills in your workplace which will increase productivity and improve business performance. The combination of on-the-job and classroom learning enables apprentices to put into practice new skills as they advance, which allows you to develop a more highly skilled workforce even in the short-term, with skills getting more developed throughout the journey of the apprenticeship. This then boosts the talent in your organisation so that employees can make valuable contributions. 

Boost Productivity 

Apprenticeships can be a great help in boosting productivity in the workplace in many ways. When you first hire an apprentice, due to the training that they receive, the minimum wage is lower, which can make this a cost-effective way to increase the number of employees in your business, allowing an improvement in productivity for lower costs. Also, as apprentices progress through their course, the skills that they develop will be implemented into your business and they will be able to work more efficiently and to a higher standard, increasing the productivity per employee. There is supporting research which shows that 78% of businesses found that their productivity improved after hiring apprentices and 74% saying that apprenticeships have helped to improve the quality of their product or service. 

 

But don’t just take our word for it; this is what some of our past and present apprentices have to say: 

Elyse: “I am currently starting the 2nd year of my apprenticeship here at Salon Tracker and, so far, I have really enjoyed it. The apprenticeship has made me feel more confident at work and has allowed me to contribute new ideas backed up by things I’ve learnt.” 

Leah: “I finished my apprenticeship with Salon Tracker a few years ago and found that it has helped me a lot with progressing in the business up to my role as head of sales and marketing. The apprenticeship has greatly developed my understanding of business and allowed me to excel in my position and bring in new ideas.” 

Apprenticeships are becoming increasingly popular in many types of businesses, why not consider it for yours? 

Salon Tracker X 

5 Salon Tracker reports that will change your life!

 

On Salon Tracker, there are over 40 different reports that can help your business, but have you used them all? Today we are going to go through 5 of our favourite reports and how they will benefit your business. 

Action Log 

The action log is one of the most useful reports on Salon Tracker as it will show you every action that has been performed on Salon Tracker, accounting for every second from when you open Salon Tracker, to when you shut it down! It also tells you which user was logged in at the time. All of this means that you can have peace of mind when you’re not in the salon, knowing that you’ll be able to check every action whenever you need.  

 

Day End 

The day end receipt is a great summary of the day at your salon, including a breakdown of sales taken from bookings or retail products, customers that have been in, a summary of your bookable items (sunbeds or beauticians e.g.) and much more! This report is great for every day use to be able to see how your business is performing at a glance, day-by-day.  

 

Service Minutes Remaining by Customer 

This report allows you to see your customer list and how many minutes they have left to use on the sunbeds. This is great to be able to see which customers have minutes on their accounts and when those minutes expire. It is a lot quicker to see customers’ minutes from this report rather than having to individually look at everyone’s customer cards to see their remaining minutes so it will save you time so that you can focus on other things. 

 

Stock Check/Stock Levels 

The stock reports are extremely useful for monitoring the stock levels of your products in the salon. With the stock check report, you can use this to physically count how many of each product you have in the salon, and then compare it against the stock level report which tells you how many of each product there should be so that you can see if there’s any discrepancies between the two. This is extremely useful as if the levels counted were different, you would be able to identify this and then look into why and notice if it is a continuous occurrence.

 

Sales/Bookings by Day Chart  

On the sales by day chart, you will be able to see your total sales, booking sales and retail sales split up by day. This is very useful for identifying which days your salon performs best, which could help you adjust different components in your business to bring the sales up on the under performing days. This can be used alongside the bookings by day chart which shows how many bookings have been made on each day of the week, including charts for cancellations and no shows. By using these reports, you will be able to identify your strongest and weakest days for business. 

If you would like to have a look at all of the reports that Salon Tracker has to offer or want to go through any reports you are unsure on just give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or email us at info@salontracker.co.uk.

Salon Tracker x

 

My First Year!

 

 

I’m sure I have had the pleasure of speaking to the majority of our clients, if you haven’t spoken to me yet… I’m Mia. I am part of the support team here at Salon Tracker Software.

I started working at Salon Tracker in June 2022 and began learning how the software works. Once I was comfortable with the system and understood it I began looking into the support side of Salon Tracker.

A typical day in my life consists of answering your support calls and helping out with any queries that you may have and also going through tickets we have taken from you with things such as feature requests and seeing if these requests are something we can add.

As the software is always being updated one large part of my role is to conduct testing on any of the new versions of Salon Tracker to make sure everything is running correctly before we set this live for our customers.

As well as supporting our customers with their software needs, I also have a role in setting up PC’s that customers have bought from us and also connecting any other hardware, such as Cash Drawers, Fingerprint Readers and more for our customers in their salons.

As well as that I am also studying at Sheffield Hallam University to complete a Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship , which Salon Tracker has given me the opportunity to complete alongside working. Completing this degree whilst working at the same time has given me the opportunity to take skills that I have learnt at University and put them into practice at work. 

In the future I am hoping to develop my knowledge more in the support side of Salon Tracker so I can learn the more technical side of the system as this is an area which interests me most due to it being a bit more complex.

Overall, I have really enjoyed my first year at Salon Tracker.  I have enjoyed getting to know the system and speaking to the new and existing customers. The team have been extremely helpful in terms of helping me settling in and helping me answer any questions I have had. We have many projects planned for the near future so keep tuned and see what the Salon Tracker team is going to be up to over the coming year. I look forward to speaking to you in the future!

Mia x

How using Salon Tracker's Online Services can Benefit your Salon!

As summer fast approaches, here at  Salon Tracker we know that this means busy season is close for our customers. In this blog we are going to talk about how using the online services available in our enterprise package can help you and your salon business, especially in these upcoming months.

 

Open 24/7

One of the major benefits of offering online services such as online booking and online payments is that your customers aren’t limited to your salons opening hours when it comes to booking appointments and paying for services. When it comes to our customers who use our online booking feature, 36% of all of their online bookings are made out of their salons opening hours. This means that if they didn’t have this feature, they would lose out on 36% of their bookings. Our online payment feature also allows your customers to buy services out of your salons opening hours meaning your salon is bringing in a profit even when you’re shut.

Reduces Waiting time in the Salon

Another benefit of using our online services for your salon is that they can help reduce your customers' waiting time in the salon drastically. For example, if you’re a tanning salon or a nail salon who predominantly offer walk in appointments, offering your customers online booking will mean that they won’t need to just show up and wait for an appointment, they can choose a time which works for them and will know that they won’t need to wait once they get there.

Cloud Backup

One major benefit of using our Enterprise package is that all of your salon/customer data is backed up to the cloud. This means that every time your Salon Tracker syncs to the internet, this goes to the cloud. Due to this if your salon unfortunately gets into a situation where your PC breaks, gets damaged or even stolen, you won’t need to worry about losing any information on your software. All we will need to do is connect to your new PC and then redownload all of your Salon Tracker information onto there. Having all your data backed up to the cloud also means that you don’t have to back it up locally to your PC, saving space on your disk.

 

If you’re interested in getting booked in for a look at these services in a FREE demonstration of our system please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling 0113 350 8230 or emailing us on info@salontracker.co.uk .

 

If you’re an existing customer and are wanting more information about potentially upgrading your Salon Tracker package to our Enterprise package, again please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling 0113 350 8230 or emailing us on info@salontracker.co.uk .

 

Salon Tracker x

Professional Beauty London 2023

 

We are back and better than ever!

Come and join us this March at Professional Beauty 2023 at Excel London. It has been a whole year since we've seen you all and we can't wait to tell you about what we have been working on this year. You can find us at stand Q32 on 5th-6th March and talk to one of our dedicated sales team and receive our exclusive show deal! We will be showcasing all of the new features from the past year and we can't wait to see what you have been working on too. 

What's new and improved?

We have spent the past year improving all of our existing features and we even have some new features that we think you'd love to hear about. Here is an introduction of what we can't wait to show you in March: 

Online Payment and deposits-

We have now made online booking easier and more effective for you by adding online payments and deposits. We have brought this feature out with you guys in mind. Did you know that 40% of bookings are made outside of Salon hours?  This is why we've partnered with the payment provider stripe so customers can now charge their clients a set deposit when booking appointments online therefore reducing no-shows and generating a more streamlined revenue. 

Editable Siteview-

This past year we have been improving our Siteview app so that you can edit appointments within the app. This is available both as a feature within the native app on IOS and Android devices but can also be used in the web browser on any PC/iPad that has internet access. Appointments can now be added, edited, updated and deleted within the app, in which this is all permission based within the software itself, meaning if there are certain elements within the app that you don’t want some employees having access to (for example reports), these can be restricted for certain logins. This is now available to anyone on our Enterprise software package.

Enhanced security-

We know how important it is to keep your reports, takings, customer data and much more safe and secure. This year we have been further developing your Salon security. With Salon Tracker's Professional and Enterprise packages you can create password protected staff logins, you can even add a staff fingerprint for extra security. We can change your staff members' permissions so that only you can access to features such as reports or stock levels. With our fingerprint reader you can ensure that your customers are only using their own minutes and keep their data safe. 

Hardware-

In addition to all of our existing hardware, we have been working on a new hardware feature to improve your salon's efficiency and security. We are now launching QR code scanners for all of our Enterprise customers. All you need to do is get your customers to log into their online account and click into their profile icon to pull up their unique customer QR code. They can then scan this in the Salon to pull up their customer details making the book in process quicker and easier. 

On top of all our great features we also offer free demonstrations of the software and free two-week trials so that you can try Salon Tracker out free of charge. 

So come and visit us at stand Q32 for your very own live demonstration with one of our sales team who are there to answer any of your questions! 

Register for your free tickets at: Professional Beauty London 

See you soon, 

Salon Tracker x 

The Hidden Costs of 'Free' Salon Software

You may think you’re onto a winner when you sign up to a free Salon Software subscription but have you actually thought about the hidden costs and implications that come with it? You may end up paying overall just in the online bookings you take when the money from them bookings should be rightfully yours, wouldn’t you agree?

Here at Salon Tracker we have kept the same pricing model since 2014 – that’s nearly a decade of affordable software that is tailored to each of your Salon needs. Furthermore, we have 3 set subscriptions with no hidden costs… FREE training, FREE support and unlimited FREE online bookings. What more could you want?

The beauty industry is a competitive place, and it's important for salon owners to stay ahead of the game. However, when it comes to salon software, many salon owners mistakenly believe that free software is the best option for their business. While free salon software may seem like a great idea, there are hidden costs associated with using it that can add up over time. First, free salon software often comes with limited features and functionality. This means that salons may not be able to do all of the tasks necessary for running their business. For example, if a salon uses a free software to manage their appointments, they may not be able to customise the system to fit their business's needs. At Salon Tracker, all our development of features is done in house and we really care about the needs of our clients so everything that is requested is always taken on board. We really rely on our clients feedback to improve the software in every update we do – something a free software has not got the capacity to give you.

Additionally, free salon software may not offer online booking or other features that are necessary for a successful salon. Did you know that according to a study carried out by Zippia in Nov 2022 67% of clients prefer online booking and 40% of bookings are made outside of salon hours? That statistic alone is too significant to ignore as online bookings become more of a necessity than a luxury in order for your Salon to stay competitive. Although free software providers may offer the online booking functionality, there is a high chance they charge per booking made instead and in some cases they charge a high amount per new customer that registers. One free software actually charges a 20% finder’s fee for every new client booking so if they book a £60 treatment, £12 of your hard earned money goes to the software provider.

Secondly, free salon software often comes with outdated technology. This can lead to significant security issues. This could make your software vulnerable to malware and other malicious attacks, which can place customer information at risk. Thus putting you at risk of a GDPR breach leaving you with a hefty fine.  Additionally, outdated software can also be unreliable and unable to keep up with the demands of a busy salon which can lose you customers due to frustration and therefore reduce your profit, not what you need for your up and coming Salon. Free salon software has also proven to lack customer support. This means that if a salon owner runs into any issues with their software, they may be unable to get the help they need in an instance. Without proper support, salons may be unable to troubleshoot problems or update their system as needed. Whereas here at Salon Tracker, we are always on the other end of the phone to assist you with any help you may need instead of waiting days sometimes weeks with free salon software providers.

Finally, free salon software may not be compatible with other software programs and systems. At Salon Tracker, we link with payment provider ‘Payment sense’ and all of our POS hardware meaning that everything is all in one place. Additionally, salons may have difficulty transferring data from one program to another, leading to data loss or other costly issues. While free salon software may seem like a great way to save money, the hidden costs associated with it can add up quickly. Before you decide to go with a free salon software provider, you should carefully consider the features and functionality of the software and ensure that it meets the needs of your Salon. At Salon Tracker, we offer a FREE 2 week Trial and a virtual demonstration of the software with one of our friendly sales team, just give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or enquire through the link below to get started today!

Salon Tracker FREE trial!

Salon Tracker x