Here’s a story that got me thinking and if I do say so myself, more than a little riled up…

I recently received a letter from an overseas bank… it was to do with the purchase of some land that I am involved in with one of my business partners – but that’s not important – what is important was the message and the implication of the message.

Now a little background, we have been waiting for over 12 months for confirmation of the sale after a couple of procedural matters had been taken care of, take note – 12 months waiting with no communication nor explanation whatsoever from the bank. We understood it was going to take a wee while, but nowhere near 12 months… anyway that’s not the real issue, I just wanted you to be aware of the time-frame…, now that the procedural part has been taken care of by the bank, we are obligated to produce some documentation and supply it to the bank to finalise and complete the sale from our side, again pretty standard stuff when buying land overseas.

BUT (back to the letter) here is an excerpt from that very letter I am talking about…

“Therefore, you are to return both the executed agreement together with the transfer documents for execution by the Bank within 30 days from the date of this letter;

Please ensure settlement is effected within sixty (60) days from the date of the agreement as failure to do so may compel the bank to rescind the agreement and all monies paid be forfeited as liquidated damages.”

Now very clearly the bank’s policy is to get the required settlement within sixty days or they will cancel the agreement and keep the money we have paid so far… so my rhetorical question is, do you think they will do that if we don’t meet our side of the agreement? You bet your cotton little socks they will!

So what got me so riled up about that? Well it had nothing to do with banks or land or timelines, it just made me think about the issues that many salon owners have with clients and some team members too; you know what I’m talking about, no-show clients, late for appointment clients, team members not toeing the line, lateness, slowness, arrogance… well you know what I’m talking about, but there is a difference – and it’s that difference that I’m talking about.

The difference is that Banks do have set policy guidelines for their team to follow regarding the way they do business, and have very little problem policing and enforcing that policy, whereas, many salons do not have a clear policy for their team to follow and the salons that do, tend not to enforce the very policy that has been made. And that’s where the proverbial generally hits the fan,

My contention is that we as salon owners have trained our clients and team to behave the way they do. Think about it – what did you say to your last client that was 10 or so minutes late? Was it something like “oh that’s OK, I’m running behind anyway”? If this happened (and YOU know it does) you have just confirmed with that client that it is acceptable for them to run late, it’s just not that important to be on time. Likewise, how about the staff member who continually flouts your rules or standards? For example lateness, chewing gum, not cleaning properly etc… Think about what your rules are around these areas, do you have any? If so, what are the consequences of non adherence to these rules? And do you actually follow through on the consequences when these rules are broken or is it another case of “oh it’s OK this time but just don’t do it again”? My question is… how’s that working for you? Hmmm I thought so… It’s not right?

What I am actually saying here is many of the issues that salon owners are experiencing on a daily basis can be solved by having a clear policy on how to handle the situations and the consequence of not adhering to the rules within the policy. And the owners having the (can I say Ball’s here?) you know what’s to follow through. If you want a smooth running salon that works virtually on autopilot one of the things you have to get right are the policies that you set and apply to your business, they help you run your salon from afar – or at the very least allow you to get on with what you need to do (like marketing, accounts, your own clients etc) without the constant interruption of staff asking what to do about this or that.

Policy really is the set of rules and actions that apply to situations that occur within the salon that everyone can follow to give a consistent standard of service and outcomes to all clients and team members. Too many salons do not really have any form of policy and the ones that do, fail to be consistent with the delivery and policing of them. A word of advice – do not be afraid to enforce your policy – especially where clients and team are concerned.

The moral of this story is firstly to have Policies for your salon operation and then train your team on the use and importance of these policies. Then be prepared to stand by your rules and follow through with your consequences, doing this will ensure you gain respect from both your clients and team. And if it’s good enough for big business like banks and works for them, it’s good enough for you.

The Question…

Hi Malcolm, I like when you say “Your business should be be built on relationships and loyalty - not on discounting”, but I have seen quite few salons around discounting in December, Pay for one get the other one Free etc…
Can you tell me if you know whats happening? Is everyone around not doing ok? Why not discounting?  Im curious as I work on my own and don’t talk to many other businesses owners, it would be good to hear from you…

My Answer…

Nice to hear from you Viviane and thanks for taking an interest in my article… to answer your questions/comments…

There is a difference between discounting and adding value, Discounting is when you reduce the price of a particular service or product, like say… a Signature Facial normally $110.00 now just $69.00 – That’s Discounting.

Adding Value is when you offer the service for its normal price and give something else with it, i.e. a Signature Facial AND a Pedicure now just $110.00 (value $159.00) now although this appears to be discounting there is a subtle difference, you are promoting your regular service and encouraging clients to have an additional service as well for no extra cost, therefore you maintain a much better margin on the sale as the added service generally is not costing you the retail price of that service.

The rule of Adding value is… A high perceived value (retail Price) to the client and low cost to you, so, Pedicure is say $49 retail value and your cost may only be $19… (thus client is getting $49 Value and its only costing you $19 to give it)

We are all familiar with the saturation of the one day deal sites that are flourishing on the web at the moment, (unless we’ve been living under a rock the last few months!); their gain in popularity would not have gone unnoticed by any of us as the buzz that these sites are generating in our industry is simply amazing.

I am getting asked by an increasing number of clients and industry people: “what do I think of them as a way of getting new clients?”

I work with and have been in discussion with salon owners who have used and are continuing to use these sites as a way of simplifying their marketing and generating cash-flow. And on the face of it they seem to be the ultimate way to attract new clients, i.e. you only pay when you make some sales and it is only a percentage of the fee that the websites take from you.

Because so many salon owners have asked me about these sites, I have done some research on them for the benefit of us all.

The salons that have run the promotions that I have spoken to experienced a variety of results and experiences – it would appear that on the face of it most daily site deal companies are relatively easy to deal with, however there are also reports of some that seem to make it difficult for you to market with. Most salons and spas report satisfactory to great sales of vouchers when they have run promotions – from a low of 24 sales for men’s beauty services to over 250 sales of beauty packages for women and anywhere in between, it would be fair to say that the majority of advertisers are from the beauty side of the hair and beauty industry, however, there are more hair salons getting involved in recent times. The key to all these successful sales is offering a ridiculously low price for a wide range of services; Packages are the name of the game. Many salons are excited to get involved with the trend of social shopping sites because of the almost instant cash they can generate, some salons reporting paydays of up to $14,000.00 (after commissions etc) and that’s a good payday in anyone’s book isn’t it?

So should you run deals on these sites or not? From my research, you need to approach them caution and understand exactly what it is you want to achieve from running your promotion.

There are a couple of things you should understand about the buyers:

The typical buyer generally doesn’t recall which social site company they brought the deal from (as they typically belong to many, average 5 or more). And many of them do not seem too concerned about the name of the salon. Did you know there are more than 50 of these types of sites popping up online globally, every month!?  To the client, your salon is just a commodity for delivering the service. They generally know nothing about your salon or even the terms of the deal. They can be confused. A confused client can easily turn into a difficult client. It is reported that often the client doesn’t know what actual service they have purchased. They don’t understand your offer and specifically the terms and conditions of the promotion.

And another thing, customers buy vouchers from varying sites so, when they have purchased multiple coupons from different sites for different salons all over the city, how can they be loyal to ONE salon, i.e. your salon?

These deal buyers can be much more demanding, almost feeling they are doing you a favour by coming to your business. They come to your salon with a different frame of mind. They are visiting because they got a great deal. Consequently, they are extremely price conscious and they want to make sure that they get a lot more then what they paid for. These customers are mostly much more demanding than some of your more discerning clients and that makes it hard to deal with them mostly for a one off service/s that you are not necessarily making money on. The buying site’s sales rep will tell you otherwise. They will tell you it is your opportunity to sell other services/products to these customers and also you have the opportunity to retain them as a loyal client… and that’s codswallop! And I’ll tell you why.

Firstly, these customers are deal buyers and that means they will only spend what they have already spent and have no intention of spending more (They know that your objective is to up-sell them so they are particularly wary of this) and secondly, whose customer are they? – They are the deal sites customer, why – because the deal site has another deal probably very similar to yours and markets very well to these previous purchasers to buy new deals all the time so they don’t really want you to retain them as your customers as they lose theirs. Remember, the customer is viewing your salon as a commodity and probably has already purchased their next voucher already and if not, will be looking forward to purchasing another Cheap Deal… no matter who is offering it. Many salons who have participated in these deals report only one or two clients becoming regular, and that has been the result of some very clever and shrewd marketing to them. So for the most part these buyers are one time visitors who won’t come back, and why would they when they can get a big discount from another salon when they want to?

It would pay to remember that your business is ideally built on relationships and loyalty, not endless discounting.

So to answer the question – should you participate in these sites… well there are a couple of things to consider…

The opportunity cost dealing with these clients, whilst you are busy looking after the discounted clients who generally are more demanding and take more of you and your teams time, do you have space and time for the attention that your loyal, full paying clients need?  The deal buyers are also trained (by the deal sites, and by default, you.) to want huge discounts! Is that really the best way to get clients that are willing to pay premium prices for high quality value and service that you are wanting to offer?

This type of deal making is at best a short term solution for a longer term problem.

So really by participating in the deal sites, you can attract one-time low-quality clients by discounting your services. And all that you are doing is sacrificing your profit margin long-term. It can also distract you from attracting loyal, more affluent clients. As suggested above, it is a short term fix and a harmful one at that.

When would I recommend utilising these sites?…

When a short term solution to cash flow problem, this would be the main attraction of these sites, you get a large cash injection into your business within a couple of weeks of offering the deal. So if you need emergency cash to pay the rent, then you can utilise these types of services. But you must understand and expect that for the most part these will be one time clients.

Another area of usefulness for them would be to get a supply of customers for your trainees and apprentices to gain valuable experience, therefore booking with certain people would be a condition of purchase. Remember, these customers can be difficult so gaining experience early in this area can be an advantage for the trainees and apprentices.

You can turn slow days into busy days, so limit the deal only to certain days and times during the week, thus allowing you to generate additional revenue, it is better to have some money coming in than staff standing around doing nothing.

Remember, these are all short term solutions. You may have a more serious underlying problem. Even the best salons in the world will struggle and suffer, even go broke without an efficient marketing system for attracting a steady flow of new, good customers, especially well-heeled clients.

These types of customers are the most stable in an unpredictable economy. They have more discretionary income, they tend to be more loyal and they prefer to buy value and service. You can definitely build a business around these prosperous customers.

While you could use Daily Sites as a short-term solution, you must immediately re-invest that money to implement a long-term marketing plan/system that will attract better clients who are willing to pay you higher prices for your services.

The 2011 Kitomba, NZARH & HITO Business Awards delivered, the talent was exceptional and the evening was a great success all around. I was thrilled with the opportunity offered to me to judge the awards entrants so my anticipation of the evening started to mount weeks in advance. When the seemingly endless debates over who were going to be announced the winner in the respective categories ceased, my fellow judges and I could breathe again satisfied in the knowledge that we had chosen the best.

With a well rehearsed speech in my pocket, I was ready for an evening of glamour, champagne and incredible talent.

The event was held at the Auckland Museum where the room was decorated in a light, clean sophisticated way and a stage that was visible from all tables (an achievement that many other rooms don’t seem to be able to achieve). The light airy feeling of the room was the perfect introduction to what was a very slick award and show ceremony. One could almost touch the excitement and anticipation of all who attended.

With an awards ceremony broken up by the very skilful talent of the Hip Hop dancers and a sumptuous dinner service the crowd was not left to ponder things for too long. Just enough time elapsed between award presentations and the speakers mostly respected that we were here to celebrate the winners so kept their speeches to a minimum.

The ever charismatic Mana Dave gave a commendable performance as MC although there were some notable hiccups along the way, which he handled with aplomb and kept the audience entertained well.

The overall winner on the night was the awards themselves and if this is any indication of the standard of salon owners in New Zealand then the industry is in strong stead for the future.

The awards kicked off with the annual HITO (Hairdressing Industry Training Organisation) awards which recognise the talent of the new hairdressers entering our colourful industry – the apprentices. Erica Cumming (CEO) and her team can be extremely proud of what they presented and who they represent. HITO perform an important role in the development of the New Zealand Hair industry through their work with apprentices and salons. The enthusiasm and passion that Erica’s team showed on the night was shining through. Congratulations to all the HITO and World Skills award winners, awesome job!

On to the business awards after some more hip hop and dinner. Finalists were read out and winners announced for each of the different categories and thrilled winners came to the stage to accept their awards, each having a few words to say about their achievement with most thanking their team, partners, mothers and fathers and all commenting on how proud they were to be in the company of other finalists salons and of course not expecting to win. It’s such a thrill to see what it means to winners and just how humble they are when accepting their prize.

One noteworthy mention must come from the overall winning salon, Reds Hairdressing. The owner, Diana Beaufort, graciously offered to open her entry to anyone that may be interested to see how she achieved her winning results. A clear example why she was such a worthy winner and congratulations must go to her for sharing the secrets to success with her industry peers. As quoted in Images Magazine, Diana says she has a fantastic team of people working with her. “They are all committed to going the extra mile consistently and I’m committed to providing them with the tools, knowledge, and life skills to be successful in their own right. These awards are a great opportunity to closely scrutinize not just your business strengths but also the areas to improve for next time.”

Of course I would be remiss not to highlight the two awards that Shock Consult sponsored (Boutique Salon and Classic Salon of the year) and congratulations go to the winners of these, Do.Hairstyling, Christchurch and So You Hairdressing in Wellington. Congratulations to Mihi and Holly for awards well deserved. I am excited to be able to work with them as part of their prize.

One part of the evening I was particularly looking forward to, was hearing artist Dane Rumble sing a few of his songs. I was surprised then, that he didn’t sing at all! He just played the DJ role… Perhaps that’s what’s in vogue these days and so my (only slightly!) older understanding of these things could be a little behind the times. The constant thump and bang of the music was a fitting time for me to exit gracefully and leave the bump and grind to the younger, more appreciative audience.

Each of the awards presented during the evening recognised the passion and hard work of people in our industry. It is this undying passion that makes me confident to say that our finalists had the courage to pursue their dreams. I left after an exciting, fun filled night of celebration and pride. It was a tremendous success and I felt that my vision is shared with industry professionals who continue working hard to reposition the hairdressing industry as a respected profession where talent is recognised, nurtured and rewarded. And this is the type of journey I would not want to miss; I’m looking forward to next year’s awards already.

Sponsors of the Evening were… Kitomba, NZARH, HITO, Telecom, Schwarzkopf, Shock Consult

There’s often a big divide between people who need to be helped and the people are ready to be helped. Which one r u?

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It takes repeating a task or action at least 21 times before it becomes a habit! Good & Bad

Have u thought about? There’s often a big divide between people who need to be helped and the people are ready to be helped. Which one r u?

Have u thought about… making better use of your business card, is your back blank? fill it up with useful info or your point of dfference!

Have you thought about? What goals you are setting for 2011 to make it your best year yet? Go On Pick 5 BHAGS (Big Hairy Audatious Goals)

Have you thought about? Creating a marketing plan for 2011 that is based on what you want to achieve in your business for 2012? PM me 4 help

Have you thought about? Checking your financials more often than once a year after your accountant has done your books? Weekly? Fortnightly?

Have you thought about? …
It takes repeating a task or action at least 21 times before it becomes a habit! Good & Bad

For a start, if the stylist brings some clients with them when they arrive, then they should be documented and flagged. If, or when, the stylist leaves they are allowed to contact these original clients and let them know they’re leaving. The rest are salon clients, so it’s up to the salon owners to notify them that the stylist is leaving and give them the opportunity to rebook with another stylist in the salon.

However, as with much in life, theory rarely works in practice. The fact is, if you’re not giving clients a good enough reason to come back to your salon then you should expect them to move on with leaving stylists… Instead of moaning about it, focus on attracting more clients. “but you don’t understand” I hear you cry, “I’ve spent good money and resources attracting the clients for the stylists and they just take them with them when they leave” WRONG! I do understand, I’ve been there and had the sleepless nights wondering what to do about it when I see my profitability leave with the stylist and I’ve had to find a solution, the answer is twofold…

1              Make sure that you are providing an amazing, stimulating environment for your team to minimise them moving on in the first place

2              Create a system to ensure that clients are getting an amazing overall experience in your salon so that they have a reason to continue coming to you even when stylists move on.

It is as simple as that. Give your stylists and clients more reasons to stay than leave. So how do you do that?

Don’t forget that your team are people too. They have wants and needs which don’t always revolve around money, Take time to get to know them, I mean really get to know what motivates them, what ‘gets them going’.

What about your leadership? Is it strong guidance, or wishy washy? Are you fair and give out trust and respect to them? Do you understand them or have you forgotten what it was like working for someone else? Are you clear on where you are going with your business and do the team know this? This is just scratching the surface.

Next take a look at your clients, what do you do that makes the client feel welcome and special in your salon? How much communication do you have with them or is the stylist the only one that communicates with them either within or outside the salon? You NEED to be actively working on your client experiences, both when they are in the salon and also in-between visits. Give them every opportunity to keep coming to your salon and little choice to go elsewhere because they would not get the same level of service and attention they get from you. And if they do follow the leaving stylist, it doesn’t take them long to recognise that they were better off with your salon than the new one.

It struck me that our bodies can be paralleled to our businesses, or if you like the other way around. When was the last time you detoxed your business? Have you ever thought to flush out the toxins naturally and safely from your Clinic? What about doing a detox of your management style and systems… could your Clinic spending go on a diet? Are you actually spending your profit on the right things for your business and you? Do you really need that new pair of shoes or boots, or could the money go to getting the outside of your clinic or salon water blasted and freshened up with a lick of paint?

We can all probably relate to our bodies being a bit sludgy, slow and downright tired – you know that feeling we as business owners know too well as the staleness of the same old day in day out and in need of a good long holiday to recharge the batteries and freshen up. We know there is a definite need to purge our system of the sapping toxins and bugs that plague us when we don’t look after ourselves as well as we should.

So here’s the point, I thought hell… if we need to do a detox of our bodies regularly (and we should!) then we really should do the same for our businesses.

I challenge you to ask yourself… does MY business need a detox? Could it do with a new diet and shape? Maybe it just needs a minor clean up or a major cleanout?

I would argue that ALL businesses could benefit from a check-up and a detox of sorts… from being maybe a little stale, bloated and weary to the very unfit, sludgy and almost needing some form of hospitalisation to nurse it back to good health. A little dramatic I know, but think about your business… on a scale of one to ten where would you rate it for healthiness? One meaning get me to the hospital quick, and Ten being it could run two marathons in a row because it’s very healthy and at the top of its game?

If you’re having troubles establishing an accurate rating for your Clinic try measuring it against these four areas below…

1. Client Care Systems: Do you know the lifetime value of your client? This is where you calculate how much each client is worth to you over the time they are a client (average 3 yrs). Do you have a standardised bullet proof easy to use system for looking after these clients to keep the returning regularly and having them not even considering a change of salon or clinic? If you don’t have anything standardised for looking after your clients, a detox and/or refresher is in order.
2. Team: Are you happy with your team? Do they love coming to work each day? Are they always motivated to learn more and grow your business all the time? What about how they treat their clients? Are you happy with their client care standards? Could your team do with a detox too? It may surprise you to know that generally the way your team behaves and displays their attitude is a reflection of how you as the owner and leader behaves and displays your attitude.Many owners are waiting and hoping that their team will change… and many team members are hoping and waiting for the owner to change. Take a look at how you view and do things, do a detox and make the first move to change and watch your team transform into the people you really want to work with.
3. Financials: Are you in control of and managing your financials efficiently… or do you hope and pray that there is some money left at the end of the week… This area tends to be the most neglected and in definite need of a detox in many salons/clinics. A detox includes understanding the fundamentals of your P&L or as it is now known … your Statement of Financial Position. Also needing attention for many clinics is the area of KPI’s and measurements of results against targets set. Also knowing your most profitable services, managing your pricing structure, taking care of cash flow and your profitability are all important tasks for the modern day clinic owner. It just takes systems and a basic understanding of where you are financially in your business that enables you to project to where you want to be.
4. Marketing: Do you advertise? What about Newspaper, Radio, Yellow Pages? Possibly fliers, posters outside the clinic, Newsletters etc… If so do you measure the results of these? Many clinics think that marketing is about putting ads in the local paper or sending a photocopied newsletter to their client database… many owners spend good hard earned money on ads and advertising without measuring the success or failure of the promotion. Detox your Marketing, plan for results and test the market and measure everything so you know what works for you and what doesn’t.

There you have a good start on detoxing your clinic…. you decide what sort of detox you need, is it a quick simple cleanout that tweaks your systems and improves your bottom line or do you need a full detox program where you analyse all aspects of your clinic with view to cleaning out, refreshing and improving all the functions to create a higher performing unit.

I bet if you take a long look at what you do as a whole, there will be areas that could and should be improved. Don’t just take it all on yourself, get the team involved and make it a fun day of brainstorming about where you could improve and how you are all going to contribute to the improvements. You’ll all have a new lease on your working life and your clients will love you for it and reward you with increased spending and loyalty. So what are you waiting for?

It comes down to what people want is not necessarily what they need when it comes to advertising. What most people I talk to need, is to have answers to questions that they do not yet know to ask themselves. Additionally, advertising is just one aspect of a marketing plan that a salon must have – and marketing starts well before any advertising gets underway.

What I mean by that is marketing is all about what you do, how you do it and how you look and behave whilst doing it – from a salon perspective as well as the individuals within the business.

Most salon owners are trying to gain new clients and some are successful in doing so… but I can guarantee that they are they losing the very same client (or a great number of them) that they spent money on to gain because their salon performance was not up to par. Did you know that someone who visits your business is a customer, even twice… a customer… only when they return for a third (and subsequent) visit can you start calling them a client. Unfortunately many salons are in the business of attracting customers and lose them because of their ‘marketing’ within the salon.

So what am I revealing here? Well – Marketing comes before advertising and part of marketing is how you present your salon to your prospective client. Get it right inside your business and you stand a much better chance of securing a long term client than just a fleeting visit by a customer.

If you are currently feeling harried, stressed, worn out and just plain drained when it comes to your salon, I can bet that your salon will reflect that feeling and so will your team (although at a lesser level) – from how it looks through to how clients are treated, in fact its total performance will be under threat. When was the last time you went outside and looked … I mean really looked at your salon, from a prospective clients view? Is it the image you want it to be? Are there lights that don’t work? Is your signage looking old and tired? Are the windows clean? Ask yourself would you walk through the door of this business and trust the people inside with your hair? If not fix what is wrong with the picture as soon as you can, if yes, then what is the reception like? Does someone greet you immediately with a warm welcoming smile? Are you looked after during the visit? Do you get an experience that you would want to come back and experience again and again or do you just get a haircut/beauty treatment from a disinterested operator?

I could continue here with many of the small (and sometimes large) critical mistakes salons are making every day in their salons and not even realising that it is this that is causing either their very own minor or major recession within the business. However I am sure you are aware of at least some of the areas you are underperforming in. The whole purpose of this article is to give you a wakeup call and help you understand that your Internal Marketing needs to be right before trying to attract new clients, and only getting customers. When was the last time you did an internal audit of your salons appearance, client care systems, staff training programme and management efficiency and effectiveness? If it was ages ago (or never!) then it’s time now to review and if necessary to revamp and rev up your business for keeping clients that your advertising is working hard at to attract.

In fact – have your internal marketing working well and you generally will not need to do extensive external advertising, as the continual flow of new clients through recommendations will keep your salon busy and buzzing for a long time. So take time now to review your salons performance and make those changes for the better. Better client experiences, better staff motivation, better revenue and better profit. Oh and also a much less stressful day, week, month and year at work for you.

The computer age has opened up a world of opportunity for even the busiest clinic owner to have all the information they need (and more) at their fingertips within a few seconds… and that spells success for a lot more people.

If you don’t yet see why you should systemise your clinic with a specifically designed software package have a look below at the five absolute solid facts why you should be considering it soon.

1          More efficient booking system;

Appointments, appointments, appointments … the lifeblood of every clinic, and if the appointments are not managed in an efficient way you are losing valuable time between clients, at the start and end of the day, before and after breaks like lunch etc and you know what I’m talking about… how many times have you gone to your paper based appointment book and found five minutes here and 10 minutes there between clients or a space that’s not big enough to fit a client in just before an operator is to go on a break because the handwriting has overlapped the next time slot, or when they are due to come back, this leads to inefficiency and a loss of time, and time is money in the beauty business. How much money are you losing daily to the little time bleeds that a computerised appointment diary will not allow you to have – go on have a look back at your past 3 months bookings and add up the lost time due to inefficient bookings. Scary isn’t it. When we first computerised our salon we picked up $12,000 in the first year of extra business due to more efficient bookings… and that alone justified the cost of buying the software. Could you do with an extra $12,000 this year?

2          Reports that tell you what you NEED to know;

When was the last time you sat down and analysed your salon results? Did you manually calculate the average client bill, facial %, massage numbers and types, what percentage of your business did waxing contribute last month? Did you figure your wage percentage out using a pen and a calculator or did you just put it in the too hard, too long and too tired to do it basket?

A computerised system will have all the above information (and much more) in a matter of seconds, which then gives you the time to actually use the data to improve your clinic results as opposed to using all your energy just to find and calculate the information.

A computerised system will provide you with the ability to put your targeted treatment and sales figures in then produce reports based on your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) so you can see at a glance where you and your team are performing well and also highlighting areas that may need adjustment and improvement. Information is important to today’s clinic owner and if you’re not getting it in an orderly or timely manner you are putting yourself behind the eight ball from the start.

3          Tidier client records, Printable client files, Easier recall of past treatments and purchases;

How often are you hunting through your client record cards looking for your next client’s information? Only to give up trying to find it and taking the client through without being armed with her past history… maybe the card has been lost at the back of the cabinet in the beauty room, or you may finally find the card only to see that the handwriting is illegible or worse it hasn’t been updated since June 1961! In any case, this is costing you sales and almost certainly, from time to time, clients! Perhaps your team have a different filing system than you do? The question is: how long are you going to suffer from the same issues before realising that a software system will alleviate them all immediately! Clinic systems will keep your client records in order, all you have to do is print them at the days start and update the history after each client, nothing could be simpler and you save many hours a year (sometimes a month!) from searching for client cards. Also it is a much more professional way to manage your data – and clients are secure in the knowledge that their information is kept safe and not just laying around to be lost and believe me – most of the team actually like updating their clients’ data on the computer so it’s easier to get them to do it.

4          Marketing that gets you new business from existing clients;

Email, Text, E-newsletters, Mail-outs, Promotions, Special Offers, Client invites to special events… the list goes on and on. There is a saying amongst marketers that the ‘Money is in the List’ meaning that it is no good having a great service or product if you haven’t got a list of people’s names to promote it to.

A Clinic system should have a marketing module that allows you to easily and quickly stay in touch with your client base. You can text confirmations of appointments, or fill a quiet afternoon with a great txt only offer. Regular newsletters can be emailed to clients as can promotions and special offers… oh and the only thing more important than a system allowing you to do this is in fact using it when you have got one!

5          Payroll/Accounts/Tax, tidier, faster and easier than longhand and cheaper than an accountant doing it;

Are you spending hundreds (or thousands?) of dollars on accountancy fees? Maybe you fill long evenings or weekends ‘doing the wages and the books’ and not spending that time with family or friends… kick it to touch with a computerised system, some specialised clinic systems come with wages and accounts modules that allow you to quickly process accounts and run the wages efficiently, allowing you to spend the time and money saved on doing what you want to do.

Summary;

So if by now you haven’t realised the benefit of having a specialised Clinic specific software package in your clinic go back and read the five solid facts again, and repeat that until you see that your life will become easier and your clinic will become smarter for doing so.

You can save time and money by investing in a clinic specific software package, your clinic will benefit, your team will thank you and so will your family and friends… the only person who may not be so happy is your accountant… because their bill should become cheaper from doing less work, although I suspect they will be happy too because your Clinic will be running more smoothly and profitably as a result.

A few years ago a specialised Clinic Software System was a luxury only the big clinics could afford, today it is so affordable that every Clinic / Spa looking to be at the top of their game should have one as a matter of necessity.

How did I figure this out? Simple really, I just looked at their hairstyles and thought WOW, how much better that lady would look if she cut her style shorter, or longer or asymmetric or added colour… then I wondered to myself, what is her hairstylist doing to her. I bet she gave up a long time ago suggesting a new look, maybe because a client a long time ago said no to her, and mores the pity because one day that lady (and the thousands of others) will get bored (if she’s not already!) with her hairstylist and will probably go to another salon for a change of style, and she will do this because she will assume her current stylist cannot do ‘other styles’ than what she has been doing for years, if she could she would have suggested it… wouldn’t she?

Are you a Hair Salon Owner that doesn’t see the value in communication training or doesn’t make the time available to teach your team how to look after their clients? Are you watching your stylists let clients just go off to other salons to be pampered and cared for? If so what do you do? what do you think? do you do anything? do you want to do anything?

The truth is most clients will not move on if your team look after their emotional needs, as well as their hair needs.

So today’s One kick Butt Fact is: Your clients will not always wear the same hairstyle, I mean gee, do you or any of your team? I bet not, in fact you probably change it at least 3 or more times a year… or a week! So, why do you let your Stylists produce the same old styles week after week? Train them to offer change and watch your clients glow whilst watching your profits grow.

Time to get off the boredom wheel and kick some butt with new styles and ideas for all your Salons clientele, your clients will love you for it and reward you with increased spend and loyalty.

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