How can you ensure customer satisfaction?

Ensuring customer satisfaction has multiple benefits, for instance, this will guarantee the client’s loyalty and retention and it can also help increase the number of new customers. Word of mouth, personal recommendations and getting positive reviews are all powerful means that enable the salon to stand out from the competitors.

Today we will give three top tips to guide you to the ultimate customer satisfaction:

1. Create an environment and a service that your guests love.

By creating a haven for your salon guests where they feel they can be totally pampered is one of the most important aspects to customer satisfaction. Listen to what your clients needs are and tailor their service to their hair. The consultation before you even cut your hair will give you the tools and answers you need to make sure the client gets the best style and service for them.


2. Listen to customer feedback

Sometimes negative feedback does happen, although the salon is putting all efforts in making its customers happy. Take all feedback on board, all information provided is an opportunity for you and your staff to improve, it could be more training is needed or a different shampoo or product would be better. Really celebrate the positive feedback and share it with your staff and your other clients via your website or on social media to create that buzz for the salon.



All reviews allow you to listen to your clients opinions which makes them feel valued and that you really care about what they have to say.




3. In depth follow-ups

After the first visit from a new client, it is necessary to start building a relationship with them and to show them you want to offer the best service. To ensure client satisfaction, for instance, the salon owner can personally call the client asking a feedback or just to thank them for visiting the salon. By engaging with the client on a more personal level you can see how the service was for the client, did they like the products and ultimately what they thought of their hair!

Finally, it is very important to interact with your clients in the salon and also outside the salon. The power of social media has increased massively and one single bad feedback can reach and influence thousands of people instantly. Make sure to interact with your audience regularly and show them that your salon strives to offer the best service for them.

At the end of the day clients come to the salon to get great hair and great service -  I have always been told your best advertisement is the last haircut that walks out of your door - so make sure that each staff member is creating beautiful hair and the rest will follow :)

RemoteGENIUS - Access SALONGENIUS from anywhere in the world.

Running a business can be very stressful sometimes, you  may need to attend many meetings and travel around the world to expand your business. How can you stay in control of your staff and your business while away? With remoteGENIUS managing your team from a remote place can be a whole lot easier! Using remote access will give you the opportunity to access your SALONGENIUS system from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, be it on the beach, the top of a mountain or simply from the comfort of your sofa!

remoteGENIUS is strictly password controlled ensuring you decide who can have access to the system and to what information. With remoteGENIUS you can perform centralised bookings or simply dial-in and see what’s going on via your tablet, PC or smartphone whilst you are away from the salon.

The key benefits of accessing your system through SALONGENIUS are the following:

1.       View your system from anywhere in the world

2.       Always stay in control of your business

3.       Take control without interrupting the salon

4.     Accountants or management staff can access reports or figures themselves giving stylists more time to do hair rather than pull off information.

5. Use SALONGENIUS the same way you would from your main PC giving you more flexibility.

If you would like to discover more about our system and remoteGENIUS, don’t hesitate to call The Sales Team on 0203 6579848.

How can you increase client loyalty and retention?

We all know that increasing client loyalty and retention are the most important objectives of every salon. Although every business sees a couple of customers leaving every year, there are some rules that you can follow to increase customers’ loyalty.  Here are the three top tips to increase client retention:

1. Share your values with your clients

Customers like to identify with a brand and what your salons values are, by defining the message you want to get across with your business that will attract and retain your target clientele. Go back to basics and treat your clients how you would expect to be treated

2.  Understand your customers and their needs

Customers prefer those companies that resemble them and that are able to understand their needs. Take some time to understand your customers, who they are and their needs. Try to make them feel comfortable and at ease every time they visit your salon. Customers like to feel they are getting a personal service, customer satisfaction is probably the most important factor in retaining customers. Try using a review website like Salon Spy to get feedback from your clients about how you are performing.

3. Educate your customers!

Make sure your customers understand the value behind their purchases and services. Don’t sell your customers products that don’t have any value to them or try to get them to try different services if it wont give them the result they are looking for. Understand your clients’ needs and explain the advantages they get from buying a certain service or product, try to create bespoke packages for clients to continue with the personal service and increasing customer satisfaction. By educating your clients they not only get a great hair cut but also feel valued as your taking the time to talk to them about prolonging that great hair feeling and their overall salon experience.

In addition, SALONGENIUS incorporates a wealth of ways to automatically reward your clients and help you enjoy better return rates and higher spend. Loyalty schemes will also help increase clients’ retention and allow you to check the return rate. Full reporting is available on Loyalty Scheme activity. SALONGENIUS offers a choice of either single salon gift vouchers or vouchers that can be used across a group of salons. In both cases, balances can be checked on demand. Full reporting on activity and liability are included.

Did you Know we offer Online Booking?

Want a 24/7 Receptionist? BookingsGENIUS is a real time online hair, beauty and spa booking system. It enables clients to book an appointment at any time of the day or night. It is fully secure and allows a huge amount of flexibility!

• Bookings 24/7

• Secure registration

• Fully automated

• Automatic online bookings discount (optional)

• Your salon has full control over all bookings

• Better customer experience and customer service

• Attract new customers

• Integrate on your website and Facebook page

• Seamless, automatic, no hassle booking

• Live updates

• Fully powered and supported by SALONGENIUS

Speaking to so many hairdressers and beauticians – all say at some point in their free time they will receive a message from a client asking about an appointment and can they book in?! With bookingsGENIUS you can alleviate this encroachment on your time and let your clients organise their appointments in their own time via your website or Facebook page!

Whether your phone is busy or your salon is closed, your registered clients can book their appointments whenever they feel like it. Reduce the number of phone calls in your salon and watch your appointment book fill up before your eyes.

The mobile bookings solution allows clients to book whilst on the move from any smartphone or tablet device; so even when they are on the go they can make a booking. It can also be integrated with your salon Facebook page to allow your registered clients to book their appointment in just a simple few clicks.

Every time someone books online you will receive a confirmation email and the appointment will be seamlessly added into your SALONGENIUS diary.

Full statistical information is available to deliver you the important facts on occupancy rates and value per hour. Visit the SALONGENIUS Facebook page and try our online bookings demo. Click here: https://www.facebook.com/salongeniusUK/app/190322544333196/

If you would like more information on bookingsGENIUS or help setting it up on our low monthly fee, please call us on 01202 311826 or email sales@salongenius.com

What are the Benefits of Social Media

Have you ever thought how social media can improve your business with no extra costs? Facebook and Twitter are all great channels to increase your visibility among your clients, to engage them and to raise your brand awareness!

Facebook, for instance, can be used to tag existing and potential customers, encouraging engagement and discussions. In the digital world, sharing

has also become easier. If you want to publish important information, news or relevant content to your business, this will be only one click away and accessible to everyone.

Did you know that over 60% of customers go to social media for customer service because this is quicker and easier to use rather than sending emails?  This is a good service you can provide to your actual and potential customers to raise awareness and build solid relationships with them. Why not try it?

Eventually, Facebook and Twitter offer a geo-target service. For instance, if you would like to expand your business to a specific area, Facebook and Twitter provide you with the tools to share your news with a specific audience based on their location.

If in the past, salon owners have always looked for the quickest way to reach their customers, nowadays social media allow you to share, engage and target your audience all in one place and faster.

Salonspy - The Salon Essential!

Adam from Salonspy.com came to spend some time with us in the office and give us a bit more information about his website and what it can do for salon owners.

So Adam first and foremost, tell me what is Salonspy?

Salonspy is an online platform to harness the power of word of mouth! It takes your clients opinions and shares them with everyone else. If you think of one client telling their friends to come into see you because they think your amazing – that reach is quite small as they only have so many friends – but put that recommendation on the internet and everyone has the opportunity to see that! Salonspy is the Hairdressing and Beauty worlds equivalent to TripAdvisor! It will integrate into the SALONGENIUS system to automatically text your clients to ask for a review after the competition of their appointment. This effortless system has been proven to motivate the team, increase a salons online presence, attract new customers and ensure that you are retaining existing customers. 

Why should salons and spa’s use Salonspy?

Here are some of the Key Benefits:

• The platform provides a safe environment to generate reviews - if you get a bad / fake / unfair review on Google / Facebook / Yell - they are incredibly hard to deal with or have removed. By sending your customers to one location, you can manage that account easily. 
• Performance of employee’s - praise during one to one’s or training issues identified by their reviews
• The salon will receive an email notification when a new review is published
• Salon owners can reply to all reviews or if necessary dispute reviews
• Motivate the team by sharing reviews on social media, stylist of the month for most positive reviews etc.?
• Facebook integrated Recommend a Friend system
• Great google ranking (SEO) so your reviews are as high up on a google search as possible!
• You can identify unhappy customers and rectify any mistakes before they are lost clients.
• Ability to link the reviews to your own website which update automatically on your webpage.
• Share reviews on social media
• All reviews are humanly moderated, spam is never published, negative reviews are considered carefully before publishing. 
• Free membership - saving £420 per year on Salonspy fee’s by simply being a SALONGENIUS user.

Can the reviews be trusted?

Quite simply – Yes! They are trusted because a text is sent 30 minutes after a bill is paid in SALONGENIUS after a client’s appointment prompting the client to leave a review so we know the review will be real.

Why would you get more reviews on Salonspy – I can use Facebook or Google reviews?

We conducted an experiment with a SALONGENIUS customer over a 6-month period – the first 3 months they left their clients to review off their own back using Google, Facebook and Yell.com. Over the 3 months they received 8 reviews. The second 3 months they used Salonspy and text all clients as they left the salon – the salon received 86 reviews – you can’t argue with the numbers.

Historically 2 types of people will leave a review – either a client who is very happy or a client who is very Unhappy! Salonspy is designed to capture the views of those in-between clients who don’t think to leave a review because they are used to great service! By prompting your clients for a review they are more likely to leave one for you!

How can Salonspy ensure quality reviews and cut out the spam?

When the review is submitted it goes to a back office area, where it is humanly monitored and moderated before it is published. Each review is checked for family friendly content, no swear words, names are removed from any negative reviews and personal attacks are not published at all. The reviews need to be seen as beneficial to the salon so they add value either from a marketing perspective to share the love or from an improvement perspective to learn from any criticism.

But what about any negative reviews?

Nipping negative reviews in the bud as quickly as possible is very important. When a new review is published the salon will receive an email to let them know a review has been left. This allows you to respond as quickly as possible. Salonspy is set up so the salon can respond to any feedback however once this has been done the client cannot then respond again so alleviates any slanging matches on the salons page. At the end of the day if a review is particularly bad pick up the phone and speak to the customer!   

Isn’t sending texts to every client really costly?

The open rate for a text message is 98% compared to 13% for emails so you are almost guaranteed that your client will read your message. For each message you send out you are potentially getting all these benefits:

1)      You can reach out to your clients and engage with them outside the salon making them feel valued

2)      You are asking your clients to leave a review which you can either share on social media for marketing and advertising or use the comments to focus training or development for the staff.

3)      You gain a review which has been humanly moderated, monitored and published on a dedicated website for your salon.

4)      Salonspy ensures your reviews are easily and readily found and are as high as possible on google searches meaning they are going to be read!

5)      You can also respond to each of your reviews either to thank your client or to put a problem right.

6)      The review can also be used to motivate the staff, create awards and recognition for hard work!!

7)      Salonspy also integrates with Facebook for your clients to then recommend their friends so you will potentially get some new clients too!

Not bad for 8p eh!?

Don’t forget Salonspy is FREE for any SALONGENIUS customer!!! Saving the salon £420 a year! There are no contracts or hidden costs – all it costs is the price of a text message to each of your clients J

If you would like to sign up just drop us a line on either
01202 311826 option 1 or email us on sales@salongenius.com.

The SALONGENIUS Awards 2016

Salon Visits!

The SALONGENIUS Awards 2016 were to recognise and support the hard work, achievements and initiatives of our customers in the hair and beauty industry. This is our first year we have had the awards, we had some amazing applications and really enjoyed reading about our customers and hearing all about your salons.

The Categories we judged were for the Front of House Team of the Year, Manager of the Year, Retail Salon of the Year and Salon of the Year. There was £500 up for grabs for Salon of the Year and £250 for the other categories.

We had a great time going through all the applications and seeing how each of the salon businesses are being so successfully run and how each of the salons are so different! After lots of deliberation we announced our winners for our four categories:

SALON OF THE YEAR (Sponsored by Kennet Equipment Leasing): Evolve Hairdressing York – This application was so beautifully presented, obviously a lot of time and effort had gone into putting the application together – if the same amount of effort goes into looking after your clients and business the salon must be a wonderful place to be. You can clearly see The salon has an amazing business, they are also utilising the SALONGENIUS system to the full. Well done to a fantastic team and over all our Salon of the Year!

FRONT OF HOUSE TEAM OF THE YEAR: TONI&GUY Shoreditch - What stood out for us was your incredible percentage of customers who are loyalty card holders! The Front of House team are clearly utilising the SALONGENIUS system to the businesses benefit! Congratulations – keep up the good work!

MANAGER OF THE YEAR: TONI&GUY Canary Wharf - Claire is clearly a very dedicated and passionate Salon Manager and this can be seen in all aspects of the business. The team are so complimentary about Claire and she obviously looks after the salon and the team impeccably.

RETAIL SALON OF THE YEAR: TONI&GUY Canary Wharf – We were so impressed with your pop up stands and the turnover these events generate. The salon has a really strong initiative system for the staff to keep the team motivated. The salon training and support each member of the team receive is clearly working!

As part of the awards prize giving we visited each of our winner’s salons to present them with their trophies and their prize money. We had such a good time visiting our clients and seeing the salons!

Our most recent visit was to Linzi and her lovely team at Evolve Hairdressing in York, where she was presented with the Salon of the Year Award. Jemma presented Linzi with her award and their cheque from Kennet who sponsored this category. The salon was absolutely buzzing, you could clearly see what an incredible business Linzi and the team has developed. Charlene on reception really uses SALONGENIUS to its full potential and has trained all the staff very well so they are all using the system correctly! The clearly cover all the bases in the salon with a fantastic front of house team, incredible retail sales and a business model that clearly works wonders! Well done Evolve you truly shine!

Here is Linzi and Charlene receiving their award with New Business Consultant Jemma Giddens from SALONGENIUS.

We also had a wonderful time at Toni&Guy Canary Wharf meeting Claire to give her the Manager of the Year and the salon’s Retail Salon of the Year awards.

 

Claire gave us a tour around the salon which included the beauty area and the secluded backwash area with their ‘signature lemongrass scent.’ Their retail area was very impressive and it was clear to see why they are so good at retailing their products as the shelves were being constantly updated and restocked. We talked to the staff about using SALONGENIUS for their stock control – needless to say they were utilising the system to the max!

T&G Canary Wharf Front of House Team collecting The Retail Salon of the Year Award with Sales Manager Sian Barnes from SALONGENIUS

Our next stop on the awards tour was at Toni&Guy Shoreditch where we met Stuart who showed us around his gorgeous salon and told us about the inspiration around the salon’s clean cut feel! The salon is very in keeping with the rest of the feel of Shoreditch and you can tell Stuart is very proud of his salon! We talked with the now award winning Front of House team about their loyalty scheme and the dedicated barbers area downstairs – we loved the barbers chairs they are beautiful! The team seemed really pleased with their award and its now in pride of place at reception! Keep up the great work!

       Here is Stuart and The Shoreditch Front of House Team receiving their award. 

Thank you to all the salons who entered The SALONGENIUS Awards and also to Kennet Equipment Leasing who kindly sponsored our Salon of the Year category!

Salon International

A JOURNEY INTO SALONGENIUS SOFTWARE…WITH A TWIST!

On the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th of October SALONGENIUS was back to Salon International for the fifth year in a row! During the weekend, we met many Hair & Beauty professionals and we couldn’t miss the chance to take a picture with them.

David Pickering with Hilary Hall from National Hairdressers Federation

Sian Barnes with Adam from Salon Spy and Andy from Strategiq

We would like to thank our partners Salon Spy, National Hairdressers Federation and Gappt who came to visit us and to take a selfie with us on the SALONGENIUS selfie wall. If you have missed the pictures, you can still have a look on our social media @salongenius. If you have taken a picture on our wall, do not forget to share it tagging us on Facebook and Twitter!

At Salon International we had the chance to meet numerous hairdressers and beauty professionals and talk them through the newest version of our software. If you didn’t get a chance to see us and you want to discover more about our software, don’t hesitate to contact us on 01202 311826 and be sure to book your tickets for next year’s show to discover more exciting news and take even more exciting selfies!

Boost your Christmas Revenue in the Salon

So it is nearly that time of the year again, the nights are drawing in and the likes of X Factor and Strictly are on the TV marking the countdown to Christmas – all we need now is the Coca-Cola advert! We all knowin the salon this is the busiest time of the year, but, are you ready to really tap into this time of the year to maximise your profit? We’ve put together a few hints, tips and ideas for you to make the most of the festive period!

1.       Utilise your database – have you emailed, txt or utilised your social media to advertise availability of your staff for the 6 weeks running up to Christmas? I should imagine as a salon owner you want each member of staff to be fully booked to maximise your takings. If you are using a salon management system like SALONGENIUS, you can look at your quietest times in the salon and do some targeted marketing to fill those gaps!

2.       Stock up – Christmas is the perfect opportunity for retailing! So many of the major brands have some gorgeous offerings for Christmas. Make sure your retail shelves and products are clean, tidy, organised and well displayed with shelf talkers! Create a focal point in the salon and eye catching window displays to draw the clients into the salon. Apparently subconsciously when walking into a shop we go to the right so pop your retail on the right side of the salon!!!

3.       Cash in on the Christmas parties – get your juniors set up with a blow-dry and hair-up bar or a festive nail bar – they can run their own columns concentrating on these skills. Clients will love a quick simple fix for looking and feeling fabulous for their work parties. Perhaps create a set menu of 6 different style options clients can choose from!

4.       Make sure your clients are rebooking for 2017 – January and February are always a bit quieter in the salon, why not create an incentive for anyone who comes in to the salon in December to get them to rebook for the new year. This way you ensure you will be continuing on the wave of the festive period well into the next year. You can utilise recommend a friend vouchers in your SALONGENIUS system which you can print with your receipts to get some new clients in for the beginning of the year! 

5.       Mix up your drinks menu – have you thought about offering a glass of fizz or mulled wine with a mince pie or a festive biscuit? Those little touches may take a little longer but clients really appreciate you going that extra mile to really make their experience in the salon! By switching up what is normal in the salon for Christmas helps not only your clients but also the staff get into the festive feel and hopefully help bring in some extra revenue!

Wishing you all the very successful end to 2016 in your salons!

HOW CAN A SALON SOFTWARE IMPROVE THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY THROUGH THE SALON?

It is not a secret that clients always need to feel welcome, special and unique when entering the salon. Nobody would like to see the staff focused on something else or staring at their mobile phones. The personal touch of a salon will help the clients to relax, feel comfortable and will also determine their satisfaction. That means that a professional service sometimes is not enough to make the client return to your salon and to increase your profits.

The SALONGENIUS system can be used at all points in a client’s journey, from booking an appointment online from the comfort of their sofa either with a salons website or appGENIUS, to paying their bill at reception. A stylist can check their column for the day with myGENIUS – their appointment book in their pocket - which can be used on a phone or tablet. SALONGENIUS technical histories and skin test alerts integrated via myGENIUS also allows the stylist to conduct a consultation with a client with all the relevant information at their fingertips which could be done at the backwash, styling station or in the reception area. Additionally, surveys and questionnaires can be conducted from myGENIUS on a tablet at the client’s leisure from anywhere in the salon.

Through customer contact manager, clients can be contacted via text or email to either remind them of their next appointment, let them know the latest offers, thank them for their visit to the salon and can they leave a review or wish them happy birthday – the opportunities are plentiful!

Meanwhile in the salon your SALONGENIUS system can help make bookings, dealing with staff and salon management less stressful and giving you more time with your clients, allowing you to remember the little touches – such as offering them a cup of tea and that all important biscuit.  As well as the simple things of booking in clients’ appointments, you can store notes for each client and record each client’s drink preference. This will enable the salon staff to read all clients preferences before their appointment; for instance, if they have any particular interests or hobbies they often speak about or if they would like their hair to be treated in a certain way. It’s all about the personal touch.

The personal touch that SALONGENIUS gives your salon will not only make your client feel special but it will also increase the return rate and the profits of your salon. Have you already tried it? How do you usually make your clients feel at ease?