Promoting products with salon software...

Now is the perfect time to really start promoting those retail products to clients.   In the height of the tanning season, your bookings for sunbeds, spray tans and the like go on a massive increase.  Excellent for profits but what about pushing those a little further by advertising products that pro-long a customer’s tan? 

It isn't rocket science to yourselves or your clients that a tan will naturally fade if it isn't maintained, whether it be spray or sunbed, your skin naturally sheds the top layer every 7-10 days.  However, if the correct hydrating and replenishing skin lotions are used, this helps to reverse and prolong that cycle a little, extending that time-span to around 10-14 days.

Initially, you should inform clients that they need to thoroughly exfoliate 48 hours prior to having any form of spray tan or sun bed treatment.  This is a key indicator in preparing the skin for tanning in which so many people are still so blaze’ to, so this is something you could promote on a treatment booking.  Evidently, by informing clients of this routine, this is your first marketing point to get some sales of your salon retail products through the till.  It is then when the client comes back for their treatment that you can further promote the products used for within the tanning process, followed later by ones for the up keep of their tan.

Water-based moisturisers are a brilliant product to apply to the skin prior to any form of indoor tanning, as the natural moisture helps the skin to absorb tanning solutions or stops it from drying out in intensive sunbed heat.  An excellent tip to push to all your sunbed users!

Little will your clients probably know, there are some products that actually contain antioxidant benefits that keep their skin in a youthful condition and prevent ageing!   In regards to tanning, anti-oxidants help to keep the skin in a healthy condition, by replenishing the skins minerals that are lost during the sunbed tanning process.

These are all facts that you can inform clients of when they are paying, use them as an opening line for add on sales.  Maybe even have a range of these products at your till point?  Or you could allow free testers with their next purchase as a bit of ‘try before you buy’?

It might be worth planning a little strategy for the rest of May and June and taking a visit to your supplier, to see the ranges of products that they have on offer.  Retail add on’s are a brilliant selling point for tanning salons over the summer and once a client is hooked on a product, they’ll continue visiting your salon and re-purchasing.  Win win!

Salon Tracker x

Bank Holiday ideas for your salon!

May is always a busy month for all salons, especially in the tanning sector, as the demand for the ‘golden glow’ goes on the up in time for the two bank holiday events. However, salons can capitalise on their increase in custom by planning promotional events to give sales that little boost! 

Here at Salon Tracker software we have thought of a few different ideas that may be of benefit to your salon.


Skin Consultation Night

On the lead up to Bank Holiday weekends, everyone wants to be pampered and looking their best, so why not have a little appointment night that gives clients the chance to have in depth skin treatments.   We realise that many salon technicians now actually give their clients a skin analysis prior to booking any form of tanning or beauty treatment, normally regarding skin tone or any product allergies.  However, if you expand on this a little bit and get your salon technicians involved in a ‘treatment night’, this could attract lots of clients who are unaware of how treatments and routines can improve their skin condition.  Consider perhaps staying open later one night and holding 20-30 minute slots over a 2 hour period, where you book 5 or 6 clients in at a time.  Your technicians could give the clients a cleansing and exfoliating treatment, followed by a lesson on how to maintain this routine at home.  It is an excellent way for your salon to boost its reputation with clients and also to increase the sales of your retail products.  It would be up to yourselves how you would want to price the event, maybe the consultation is free when a certain treatment is bought, or alternatively you charge a small fee which is then redeemable from the purchase of a retail product after the consultation.  Make it fun with some champagne and nibbles?  Just a little idea for you!


‘Bank-Holiday Specials.’

Offers are always appreciated by your clients, especially your longest and most loyal and when better to hold them than in a peak period!   If you properly promote the deals on your social media portals, in your salon window and to clients via SMS, it will increase your custom levels significantly.  Some of our ideas for you to think about are;

· ‘Bank-holiday Bronze’, where you could offer 10% off spray tans on certain nights of the week or off certain sunbed courses for the month.

· ‘Bank-holiday Brows’, where you could offer half price brow treatments with any other tanning service.

· ‘Bank holiday Beauty’, for those of you that offer facials, you could similarly offer a discounted cleanse and exfoliation treatment on a certain night of the week.

You may already do something similar to this in your salon and if so, have a think of how you can refresh it a little bit to capture the interest of your clients!


Beauty School Evening

Beauty enthusiasts are always keen to know new product regimes and how to apply products to better care for their skin.   If you sell retail products in your salon then why not hold a bit of a ‘learning night’, for clients to come along and receive training from your technicians on how to use some of your products.  For instance, if you are the owner of a tanning salon, why not hold a night for clients to be shown how to exfoliate properly to achieve a better tan?  Or if you are the owner of a beauty salon, perhaps hold a night that gives clients the chance to learn how to carry out mini facials at home.


Bring a Friend

All promotion is good promotion, and what better way to bag yourself some extra clients by using the good old ‘word-of-mouth’ method.  Advertise to your existing clients that on their next visit to the salon they can ‘bring a friend’ for a free mini treatment or a discounted package of treatments.  If you promote this offer to your loyal client database then you are more than likely going to receive a lot of footfall from their friends, whom essentially are new clients for you!   A great way to receive extra sales around the Bank Holiday weekend, just in time for your busy summer period!


Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker software supports your tanning salon!

You may have previously read our blog post on Tmax integration, and how Salon Tracker can ensure that your salon runs smoothly through our software.  In this post I want to introduce you to some further specialist features that will improve business for all salons in the tanning sector.

Online Client Card with Fingerprint and PIN registration

With the latest tanning regulation laws and the safety of indoor tanning being a topic of high focus in the headlines, it is important that your client cards are kept up to date and stored safely. One of the main gripes from tanning salon owners is that client information cards are regularly miss-placed, this consequently meaning that their personal information is ‘lost.’ The dangers of this is that you cannot determine when their last sunbed course was, if they have any product allergies, their age, or any notes regarding their skin tone.   Salon Tracker software has a ‘client-card’ feature, that ensures all client information is stored in one place.   Before a client can even register for a sunbed course the system prompts for the salon technician to see formal identification, therefore keeping you safe from illegal tanners!   The client then sets a PIN code or alternatively you can set up a fingerprint method by purchasing one of our fingerprint reading pads, to ensure that no one can access a client’s account other than themselves.   This is a perfect method for you as a salon owner as it eliminates the worry of under age tanning, clients ‘over-tanning’ and the use of ‘freebie’ minutes from friends or staff in your absence.   Salon Tracker’s online client card provides the salon technician with details of when the client last had a sunbed, prohibiting them from tanning again in the next 24 hours and also flags up the clients’ skin tone, prompting technicians to advise clients on how to tan safely in regards to this.

Site View

Ever wished there were a few extra hours in the day to plan and manage your salon?  Salon Tracker now has a ‘Site View’ feature that enables salon owners to access all business happenings, reports, track KPI’s and monitor staffs' behaviours when on the move or from home.  As administrator you can also give other staff members’ permission to view their calendars from home using the ‘Site View’ feature, so they can prepare for specific clients and give those a more tailored personal service!  A brilliant feature to improve your time management and take a little bit of weight off of your shoulders.

Secure shell lock your PC

Are you really aware of the information that you’re staff have access to within your salon? No matter what sector your salon specialises in, privacy is always on the forefront of a business and with Salon Tracker’s secure shell system you needn't worry any longer. The feature comes with password protected security levels, so as salon owner you are administrator and can manage which areas of the database certain employees can and can’t see.  Client cards and employee’s personal information will be safely stored and any financial business reports, all under one database so it is easily accessible to you.

Free Installation, system transfers and support

If you’re intrigued by our software, get in touch and we can set you up with a demo via remote assistance!   If you like what you see, we then give you the opportunity to test our software for free with a 14 day trial, a bit of a ‘try before you buy’ deal.   From there we install the software on your PC free of charge, and if you are already with another existing software package, we will convert your data onto Salon Tracker, again for FREE!

So if you are a tanning salon and feel that our salon software would benefit you, your team and your business, then contact our Leeds head office who will be more than happy to give you some advice!  Alternatively drop us an email and we can fire a brochure over to you with all the other information you want to know! Hopefully hear from you soon…

Salon Tracker x

   

Salon Software integration with Tmax Timers

Are you struggling to manage minutes in your salon, or have any ‘mystery’ minutes that have disappeared, causing a dwindle in profits?  Salon software could be the answer! Your salon life will be made easier as our software promises to ensure that your tanning business runs smoothly, even in your absence!

Salon Tracker software can integrate with Tmax Timers, encouraging business security!  It has an advanced seamless integration process that tracks sunbed usage from the software. Not only does the software operate the timers, and ensure that no client is going over the duration of their selected course, it also accurately tracks all minutes and produces reports that can be printed daily. These show recordings of all sunbed activity in that particular day, including the details of the client that has had a sunbed treatment, to ensure that they can’t book a tanning course for at least another 24 hours.

There are many other features of the salon software to suit tanning, for example the prompt of ID on booking (to ensure clients are over 18) and also the ability to link multiple salons. This essentially allows you to manage each site from the comfort of your own home, when abroad and on the move, 24 hours a day.

The key to this is that you can oversee all business happenings, including cash flow, staff movements, client bookings and end of day reports without having to actually be present in the salon.

So if this sounds like it would benefit you don’t hesitate to get in touch…and remember to keep checking our news feed for further info this tanning month!

Salon Tracker x

Promote your salon services using events!

This month is paramount in maximising

your product sales...if you do your research!

It goes without saying that each year the peak time for a salon is throughout the summer, as clients come for their spray tans and ex-foliating treatments pre-holiday.

However, with a bit of research regarding local and national events and some clever cost-free advertising, you can generate awareness of the treatments you offer to maximise sales. Popular music events including Manchester’s Park Life and London’s Wireless are coming up at the beginning of June and July, with Wireless holding an extra night in June this year to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event. These are massive opportunities that your salon can capitalise on. You will find that the majority of festival go-ers want the golden glow beforehand. Not to mention there will be some bank holiday events happening in your local area...so, May is the month! Here are some ideas of how tanning salons can use events to their advantage;

Specialist treatment packages

You could do specialist ‘festival’ treatment packages. These can be devised however you want. They could include a buy-one get one free spray tan, or a half price sunbed course and so on.

Discount Days

Many of you have probably done this before, but you can hold a so much ‘percentage off day’. An example in the tanning sector would be to do ‘Thursday Tan-Day’, where you give 15% off spray tans or sunbed courses on that particular day, or when purchased on that particular day.

Gifts with a purchase

You might want to give loyal sunbed clients a free ‘tan prolonging product’ that would be perfect for festivals, when they book their next sunbed course.

These are just a few simple ideas to initiate a rise in sales. It is imperative however that you do not discount all the time, as such ideas as the ones above will not work if a salon is renowned for discount, as clients become accustomed to it. However, one off present packages and gifts such as the above will be really appreciated by your loyal customer base, as they see it as valuable service. If you have a website, are on social networking sites and if you already use salon software, your advertising will be extremely low cost. You can promote on the internet, your social media feeds and through SMS to your client database. However traditional methods such as poster advertising, flyers in local businesses and through the letterboxes of clients can work just as well!

So do some research into local events, promote the biggies and bag yourself some extra sales for May.


Love, SalonTracker x

Tanning salon owner? Are you breaking the law?

Sure you know safe tanning, but are you really aware of the damages to you and your clients?
Many salons over the past couple of years have faced £20,000 in fines after their businesses failed to meet trading standards regulations.

Since 2011 it has been legally forbidden in England, Scotland and Wales for anyone under the age of 18 to use a sunbed. It has also been advised that salon technicians should provide each client with relevant information regarding their skin tone, due to findings that have linked the overuse of sunbeds to skin cancer. Beauty therapists are in a fantastic position to inform clients about the dangers and this also benefits your business, by showing you care for your clients’ welfare, you build a great level of trust by informing them of this information.

Skin cancer specialist Mr Paul Banwell has recently spoken to professional beauty, following a study with Cancer Research UK and believes that it is a “unique position for beauty therapists to educate clients about the sun damage and spot early signs of skin cancer.” Melanomas are generally first noticeable on the legs of women and on the back for men, whether it be a malignant mole or a skin lesion, these are the primary areas on the body to be wary of. However skin cancer can appear anywhere on the skin.

Professional beauty found that most skin cancers are caused by “overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or sunbeds.” According to Cancer Research UK, more than 73,000 new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed in Britain each year, many of them among young people and that figure is rising.

That is where we come in.

Salon Tracker software is an intelligent salon management system that improves your business, and particularly in the tanning sector we offer excellent services to resolve some of the day to day issues that may arise for you in your salon.

Salon Tracker prevents the risk of under 18’s visiting your salon as the database prompts for legal identification to be shown before allowing the clients to use the sunbeds. It also limits the usage of those sunbeds over particular time periods, therefore making it impossible for any one client to go on a sunbed more than once in 24 hours. The beauty of this is that it also forbids clients from ‘sharing’ their minutes with friends and also eliminates the chance of your staff having ‘freebie’ minutes when you’re out of office.

The database has a record notes feature that stores all of your clients past information regarding skin tone, previous treatments and products that they have purchased. Client record cards are no longer needed and the integrated memory system means that you no longer have to remember your clients’ information, you can even add notes onto the file regarding the topics of the last conversation you had with them at the salon to give them a more tailored service next time round.

If you want to know more about our salon software why not look at our prices and packaging page or alternatively give us a call and speak to one of our customer support team who are more than happy to help organise a remote assisted demo for you. Contact us on 0113 3508230.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

SalonTracker x

National Hairstylist Appreciation Day!

Our hairstylists are SO important to us… extremely important to some people. I mean, a survey conducted by Daily Mail (2013) showed that “British women generally keep the same hairdresser for 12 years, almost a year longer than the average marriage of 11 years.” We know what you’re thinking- WOW! We just wanted our hairdressers to know how much they mean to us today more than ever because today is- NATIONAL HAIRSTYLIST APPRECIATION DAY! So to the guys and gals who work miracles on our hair, boost us up when we’re down and listen to our sorrows when we’re sad- here’s to YOU! 

Thank you for…


1. Saving our lives in times of crisis. We won’t forget the times you sprung to our rescue when we’ve had a last minute event that completely slipped our minds.


2. Trialling all those colour strips in our younger phases, blonde to brown, brown to red, red to blonde and back again...even though you warned us that it might go wrong somewhere along the way!


3. Listening to us nattering away talking about the same TV gossip that you’re last client spent 15 minutes talking about.


4. Not judging us when we tell you our deepest secrets and past stories. More so, thanks for not holding it against us and completely understanding every-single-time.


5. The endless cuppa teas.


6. Introducing us to GHD’s 10 years ago! Lifesaving things…


7. Finally persuading us to trim our straggly ends after we forbid you to do it for years, believing all the myths that hair grows best if you never cut it. We were so wrong!


8. The relaxing head massage whilst washing our hair to soothe the aches after a long day!


9. Educating us on the best shampoos for our hair type, and reminding us that anything containing silicones is a first class no go!


10. Saving us a fortune with buying all the latest copies of Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan…even though you see us in our comfies a little TOO often we really do love a bit of fashion now and again!


11. Always squeezing us in for a trim, even when your diary is jam packed.


12. The weekend flexibility, opening on a Saturday and a Sunday to fit around us 9 to 5ers! We love you!


13. Staying around, even when we’ve moved from pillar to post, job swapped, house swapped, you have always been there like a part of our extended family.


14. Refusing us our ridiculous requests, like a semi-perm on years of peroxide dyed hair to make it look thicker, now we understand!


15. That fresh and sleek salon look after all the finishing products have been applied.


16. When we ask you for ‘a pretend cut’ (one of those cuts where we don’t want it to look any different) and you try so hard to get rid of those split ends being given 2 millimetres to work with!


17. Informing us about heat protection spray, our wispy snapped strands are no more!

18. Smiling politely when we are 20 minutes late for our appointment due to ‘nightmare traffic’, even though we’ve just put you and your clients waiting list right off schedule for the rest of the day. You know we didn’t mean it.


19. Trying your absolute best to match the exact picture that we brought in of Jennifer Anniston’s new do.


20. Making our exes so gutted to have let us go! Even we know we’re rocking this new balayage look!


21. Remaining loyal and always putting 110% into our style every time.