As you wind down from the holiday hustle-bustle, it’s time to start putting into motion your plans for what will soon be the busiest season of the New Year. Having the proper tools in your toolbox will not only enable you to operate efficiently, but will also help to ease some of the anxiety you may have at this time of year.
You’ve probably already begun determining which service and retail promotions you will offer and when, created the sales goals that your team needs to achieve over the coming months, purchased and installed new equipment, established your marketing initiatives, and started hiring and training seasonal staff.
With the right systems in place, all facets of your organization are measurable. Analyzing your historical data will help you to ensure you are properly prepared for everything the busy season encompasses; from staffing strategically and stocking ample inventory to optimizing your marketing efforts.
As you use your data to forecast your sales during the upcoming months, the highest priority will be to ensure that your systems and processes can optimally handle the influx of traffic into your salon. The customer service that you and your team deliver is of highest priority and once you are in the heart of season, you want to make sure that your systems are already streamlined based on experience from prior years, and that you can focus on your salon guests.
Once you are in the heart of season, you want to make sure your systems are already streamlined based on experience from prior years, so that you can focus on your salon guests.
One of your most valuable resources is your staff. Whether they are veteran team members or hired specifically as seasonal employees, a key to your salon’s success during the busy season will be having a well-trained team. A quick-to-learn and user-friendly software program that can automate tasks for your staff will undoubtedly turn out to be one of your biggest assets.
Ask yourself these simple questions: Does your salon management system give you the ability to display descriptions of products and equipment so that your employees have the details needed to upsell lotions or session upgrades? Does it allow you to outline policies for each of your EFT membership levels and automatically calculate first-draw dates and prorated dues? Providing automation of tasks and arming your staff with information throughout every transaction that they process will ensure efficiency at the time of year when it’s needed most.
When it comes to marketing, pre-planning a schedule of promotions is vital. Now is an opportune time to ensure that your software system will allow you to preconfigure the marketing initiatives you want to run during specific date ranges throughout the upcoming months. When completing this back-office type configuration for those product-related promotions such as a buy-one-get-one half off, make sure you can set up inventory reorder points and quantities so that you don’t risk running out of stock or creating purchase orders too late.
During the busy season, you will likely have first-time guests walking through your doors, so make sure you are able to electronically collect their demographic information, email address and mobile number along with their preferred method of contact. Creating a positive experience in the salon during a first visit and planning follow-up marketing to these guests will result in turning a large percentage of them into long-time, repeat customers.
Now is the time to focus your efforts on strengthening relationships with existing customers, as well as fostering long-lasting relationships with new ones. Having the right tools and resources in place will allow customer service to be your focal point and ultimately grow your business to the next level this season!
