Salon Tracker LAUNCHES online booking set to change the future of salon software!

What people are frequently taught is how we have entered the ‘Technical Takeover’ and are now in an era where it is almost an insult, to dismiss technology. 

So is technology really the key element to ensuring success in your salon? In a word, YES.

Salon owners are in an extremely competitive market. With more salons opening day by day in the hair, beauty and tanning industry, the ability to consistently stand out is proving difficult in a time where the requirement is absolutely imperative.

So how can you be the competitor to beat?

The answer is to ease the sale with online booking rather than waiting for it.

Take your website or Facebook for instance: Clients are there to get information: more specifically, prices and treatments. The formulated error by not using technology and advertising properly, is asking the client to reach out when they are ready. By providing the client with information but no enticement to act, there becomes a standstill on the booking process. This sales technique deprioritises their custom, potentially losing the sale mid flow.

Salon Tracker not only aims to increase the awareness of your salon through our advanced marketing suite but it then proceeds to follow the process through with the engaging online booking facility. Online booking is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With seamless Facebook and/ or website integration, we can help keep your business flowing to improve profit and increase revenue all day, every day!

Our online booking differs from the competition since the aim is to improve the performance of your business. The system will attract new clients and improve customer relations as it gives unrivalled access to your salon at your client’s convenience. Online booking can also fill quiet periods and reduce admin providing room for more customer engagement because all appointments and transactions are instantly updated in your software!

Salon Tracker offers a FREE demo and trial for every customer so contact now and try before you buy!

Rain? Snow? Warm up with these AMAZING 'Winter Warmer Treatments'...

It’s estimated up to 4x more expensive to attract new customers than to maintain existing ones so here’s some last minute marketing tips for you this 2014! We thought we would encourage and offer ideas to salons for their ‘winter warmer and rescue remedy treatments’ and ways of promoting them for this next month. Hopefully this will encourage customers flooding through the doors rather than rain!

•  Hands and nails are difficult to maintain in winter and so tend to be ignored in the process with a quick lick of paint covering the damage. However, we don’t notice the stress put on our hands and nails in the cold. A ‘healthy hands’ treatment integrating a hand massage with a deep moisturise and manicure is a great way to mend cracked and weak nails.

• Feet are another area to be neglected in winter months, they aren't seen as much since we tend to wear 8 pairs of socks and wellie boots to protect us from the puddles! Nevertheless, moisture is really important for the feet or they have a tendency to dry out. To prevent this, try offering a ‘tootsie treatment’ integrating hot stones into a foot massage to get the circulation running again. Fix them up with a nice little pedicure for added extras!

• Winter is a great time to convert clients from shaving to waxing as it is better for hair regrowth and also customer loyalty. It is an ongoing treatment which still remains popular throughout winter so try some new offers and promote them to all clients.

•  A deep facial cleanse will rid skin of dry impurities and bring out the brightness in your skin for that perfect winter radiance glow.

•  Hair tends to be scraped and further damaged in winter months too, so it is the perfect time to offer hair rescue remedies for locks that have been exposed and need some life back in to them. Maybe include some colouring offers in your salon too, winter is great for experimenting with darker colours so influence the daring side of your clients with a new do.

•  Tanning treatments are not just for summer, spray or bed remain popular through the winter because it allows clients to keep a form of glow through the winter months.

•  Finally, offer hot chocolate, marshmallows and whipped cream complimentary of your winter treatments so people feel that added comfort!

Salon Tracker’s advanced marketing features will allow you to not only categorise people who might be more susceptible to your treatments but will send them a reminder email or SMS to encourage footfall to the salon all under your dictation.

See the results before you buy! Get your FREE trial of SalonTracker today and receive 50 FREE SMS’s! Call 0113 350 8230 for more information!

Beautician? Hairdresser? Why you ARE the new CUPID!

From tanning and waxing to dyeing and crying, beauticians and hairdressers have seen it all! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the beauty industry are preparing for one of the biggest business booms of the year.

Whether you are female, male, single or taken; the 21^st century has made it okay to want to look good and of course, show off the results! Women are (obviously) obliged to partake in the odd pamper, but DailyMail (2012) studies suggest that men really are putting the man back into a MANicure with beauty salons in the UK ‘reporting a 66 per cent rise in the number of male clients’.

Those of you in and amongst the beauty industry are creating the aura for customers to feel beautiful with your treatments, whether that be a haircut, massage or a full body wax. A trip to the beauty, tanning or hair salon can sort you out and put you in good prep for any day let alone, Valentine’s Day!

That being said…here at Salon Tracker we’ve gathered the facts, scorned the heart break and unravelled the greatest gifts of 2014 for you to advertise in your salon,  treat your own beau or to just treat yourself!

Happy Valentine’s Day xxx

•  Offer ‘special’ promotions for the day. The majority of salon go-ers are women so it is important to highlight love packages that couples can enjoy together to ensure speciality is felt by both parties.

• Make your salon the ultimate love nest! Typically, Valentine’s Day is all about love, so for the sake of one week out of the year….roll out the red carpet, blow up the balloons, dazzle with glittery lights and douse with tasteful champagne and yummy chocolates to show when you do things you do them well. This will help sell the packages and create an aura of comfort and romance for both women and men (…we all know they secretly love gush too!!)

• Promote to the male audience via social activities. A lot of men will be actively searching for treatments around this time for their partner due to it being a typically pleasing gift. The problem is there are so many salons and therefore so many choices, so, where to choose? Promoting through gyms, local football clubs, restaurants are all great places to leave contact cards and offers as these are places men will feel at ease to call and book, they will wait for a reach out so make sure your salon is doing exactly that!

• Social Media is also a great way to not only promote offers but to market to those who might not have known about your salon. Competitions are a great example so why not think about conducting a competition on your Facebook or Twitter page on the condition that they have to like and share your page. Get clients to direct message you pictures and stories explaining why their significant other deserves a Valentine’s makeover. The stories can be funny, special or romantic but the best one wins and gets published on your site.

•  SMS marketing with Salon Tracker. If you aren’t already with us, why not? Salon Tracker has some brilliant features such as advanced marketing techniques with the ability to send texts or emails to those in between certain age groups or even highlighting your most loyal customers or likely to come in at a weekend or weekday, use it to your best ability and target those customers who you think might want lavishing this Valentine’s Day. This can be through different techniques and doesn’t have to just be promoting couples packages! Remember not to single (excuse the pun) people out.

• Join Forces with the local florist… because we all know women love flowers!

• Single and sexy! Of course Valentine’s Day is generally appealing to those with partners or dating, however, why not attempt to target the singles. Some people use Valentine’s as an excuse to go out and celebrate their singlehood or to try and meet a partner why not offer some daring and luscious makeovers or TLC at the salon. Design something for those who aren’t romantically involved. Maybe run a “Sexy and Single” or “Single and Fabulous” night, where the ladies can enjoy a pamper evening of facials, champagne, manicures etc. Emphasise the fun aspect of the day rather than the romantic side. Who says Valentine’s Day is for couples only?

• Competition time! With every customer in the door in the week running up to V-Day, it might be an idea to put them into a competition to win a meal courtesy of your salon or a treatment package tailored to their needs with added goodies or chocolates. This is also a great way to establish rapport with clients and ensure loyalty. If you run the competition on Social Media it might make people come in for a ‘convenient eyebrow wax’ or ‘touch up of the hair cut (from last week). After all, every customer is eligible.

Whatever you get up to, working or celebrating…remember all you need is L.O.V.E

Recreating Salons and Making Life easier!

Darren Lloyd,Sizzling Sarah’s » North Yorkshire

“Salon Tracker has helped me overcome the main day to day concerns of running a salon such as customers exceeding their recommended tanning minutes, customers sharing their tanning courses and the management of the salon whilst I’m away. 

The system logs everything: whose accessed the till, how many clients we've served, how much money we've taken and what stock needs replacing. If I'm away for the day I can look at the system and know in minutes what needs to be done. The secure-shell system [which prevents staff from accessing the computer for non-work purposes] has also helped as it means I know staff cannot browse the Internet when they’re working. We use the finger print reader to identify clients, this has eliminated the opportunity for clients to share tanning courses or exceed their recommended number of minutes. It has also taken pressure of our receptionist, as clients can just swipe in when they arrive. 

Having the peace of mind whilst I’m away from the salon is priceless. Also, the elimination of shared tanning courses has improved my profit margins. The reduction in paperwork has taken the pressure off me, meaning I can spend more time getting more important things done”.

Another day, another satisfied customer...

Louise Tillotson –Dreams Wellbeing Salon - Bradford 

“Salon Tracker software has made day to day salon tasks a lot simpler and we are a lot more productive because of it.  It is simple and effective.  Customers love the fact that everything is stored on the system and they don't need to bring in appointment cards or receipts.  With the integrated T-Max system it also means no more tokens! We regularly use the SMS marketing to inform customers of our offers.  This has resulted in customers re visiting us when offers are running or when we have product ranges on special offer.  We also wish high spenders a happy birthday and offer them something free if they visit us that week.  This is not only great customer service but it also gets them through the door when they may not have come in. Salon Tracker has also been a big help with the management of our employees, we can leave staff alone with the confidence that everything is logged and tracked through the system.  We can also check that they have been logging in and out as they should be, they know they cannot come in late or leave early without it being noticed.  We can even dial in if we choose to and see exactly what sales etc have been made while they are there. The complete stock control built into the system also makes it easier and more accurate than ordering by eye furthermore the reporting functions mean cashing up and tracking things like customer spend take no time at all.”

Increase your sales by up to 20% with SalonTracker

Did you know that you could increase your annual income by as much as 20 per cent by investing in your marketing to new and existing clients?

With Salon Tracker, a medium-sized, independent salon generating annual sales of £210,000 with six staff can add a further £35,000 a year in income through the best use of salon management software combined with a series of dedicated marketing campaigns.

Marketing manager, Rachel Scott says: “Salon management systems provide an excellent platform to manage your beauty business but you only get out of them what you put in.

“That means taking the time and effort to enter all the correct data about your customers. A good salon management system should allow you to communicate directly with your clients using SMS text messaging on their mobile phones or embracing social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.”

Scott says, "when salon owners take the time to get their key marketing messages in place and match it with a service offering that genuinely impresses, the client income stream can grow by as much as 20 per cent."

Salon Tracker can be configured by salon owners to send out reminders to clients 48 hours ahead of their appointment and can help cut no shows by as much as 70%.

Marketing messages – whether by text or through social media channels – can be adapted for seasonal events such as Christmas celebrations or summer holidays. If you know the clients’ birthday or special anniversary you can even offer a discount on a treatment through your system.

Fully integrated with Facebook and with a dynamic SMS messaging service, Salon Tracker allows users to manage and prioritise appointments, capture customer information and build an interactive database – which can even allow users to market special offers to customers directly from the system.

The system also delivers fast and efficient Point of Sale with simple business sales reports, cash flow and profit and loss accounts management, staff commission and stock management, and enables remote access to the software from anywhere in the world – even when the salon owner is on holiday.

To get the best out of your salon management software Salon Tracker has the following top five marketing tips:

Increase Customer Loyalty:  Your best immediate sources of additional profits and increased business are your existing customers. Salon Tracker can help you capture, store and organise client data using it a distribution list for key messages that suit your clients’ tastes. It allows you to “Googlize” your clients.

Improve Marketing Campaigns: Salon Tracker allows you to target your customers direct, fast and low cost with the use of the inbuilt sophisticated SMS marketing suite. As the system stores clients purchase history and personal details it allows you to market to them more effectively. Salon Tracker allows you to create contact mailing lists from your client database using any criteria you want, for example you may want to target irregular customers with a 20 per cent off promotion in order to encourage a repeat visit.

Measure Success: It is essential that you measure the response to all of your advertising with Salon Tracker’s business reports in order to evaluate whether you’re getting a return on your investment with improved sales. If it’s not working change your messages.

The Power of the Internet: To drive as many customers as possible to your appointment book Salon Tracker’s online booking service will also integrate with your Facebook business page giving you access to the biggest social network in the world.

Seasonal Messages: Make sure messages engage with the clients’ needs. So, as we head into winter and the Christmas festivities use messages that appeal to them. Messages might include – “Beat the cold weather and keep your skin soft and hydrated this season with 20% off facial treatments” or “Look fantastic this Christmas with our festive hair rescue remedy with every cut and colour."

‘Top 5 Tips’- How to use Social Media to promote your salon

1. Snap away!

Pictures are an underrated form of marketing. We are surrounded by thousands of adverts on a daily basis that when we like or follow a business online, people have a tendency to skip through elongated passage writing. This is not due to lack of interest but more so due to what we presume we already know about that particular business.

Pictures are not only more aesthetic but they are quick, snappy, and, to the point. The right image might just make your customer want to read on so choose tactically!

2. Gossip…

Salons tend to have a warm, cosy and friendly atmosphere which is exactly what people seek on social media. The key with social media is to be the person who you are behind the computer. Facebook and Twitter are fantastic ways to sell new products or shout about promotions but the idea is to be ‘social’, to create a persona that people are attracted to so that they, in return, like and share your business.

Some marketing myths are that the more promotion and marketing a company does, the more successful but this is not necessarily true until you have built and established loyal clients. Many people like originality and variety on their news feed; the key is to stand out, share pictures, throw in some jokes and build rapport with customers as though they are in your salon to make them feel at ease and valuable.

3. Cross Promotions

Connect with local businesses to cross promote to different networks. This era’s media focus is largely surrounding celebrity culture which has consequently given people more interest or made more aware of their appearance. Why not try linking up with local gyms to find a new network? Combine a prize package for people in your town to win a completely free makeover and 5 free PT sessions? If this doesn't appeal why not try local florists for events such as Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day?

4. Social Media Metrics

One of the most important aspects of Facebook is knowing whether it is growing your company. It might be worthwhile making a marketing strategy to surround what works for you as a company. Measuring your strategy will show you what your audience are more attracted to or offers that appeal to them. There are many free measurement metrics that will give you the availability to see when your audience are generally, most active too, which can be your push promotion period.

5. Blogging

Social media isn't just surrounding Facebook and Twitter. Blogging is not as hyped as what connection media is, however it is just as popular. The appeal with blogging is that someone can follow what you do and see pictures, passages, tips you have to share and it can be shared through Facebook or Twitter.

Why not try delegating a staff member for 10 minutes in the day, where they can have the freedom to write an anonymous customer story of the week, post fun and relevant articles, pictures or even health and beauty tips of the week.