Every beauty business owner has one aim – to keep their salon business running smoothly while offering high-quality services and maintaining profits. However, all too often, the life of a salon owner is much more overwhelming than we can think of.
They have several hats to wear and literally have to maintain chaos with a flair. From managing clients to juggling staff schedules and stocking up on inventory, there are so many things a salon owner has to do.
What if there was software that would have it figured out all for you?
Well, thankfully there is hair salon software that saves you from becoming a full-time manager and marketer. With the right software by your side, you don’t have to take care of the mundane. You can focus on what you’re passionate about – beauty and people.
No matter what kind of salon you run – full-service or boutique, offering your clients the best quality and experience each time they visit is an absolute must. There are no two ways about it. The minute you compromise on quality, your clients are going to switch to your competitors.
Quite often, salons tend to offer great quality when they open which slowly begins to drop after a few months. If you want to thrive and not just survive, focus on being consistent.
In this blog, we will be discussing how salon owners can offer high-volume services without compromising on quality.
Key Takeaways
- Whether you run one salon or multiple salons, maintaining SOPs is important. SOPs stand for Standard Operating Procedures. It helps you keep the quality consistent even during a busy phase.
- Leverage technology to simplify your daily processes. Use software that simplifies it, not complicates it.
- Every salon owner must find their niche. Doing too many things or offering too many services will take your focus away.
- Always remember, client experience comes above everything else. No matter how busy you are, clients should always be offered well-communicated services.
How Salon Owners can Thrive in a Busy Salon Environment without Losing Quality?
Build Standard Operating Procedures
At the end of the day, every salon wants to become a brand and doesn’t just want to be known as any other “neighbourhood salon”. For this dream to come true, building standard operating procedures is a must.
The biggest mistake you can make as a salon owner is relying on the individual talent of a hairstylist. Under pressure, this can break.
In order to not compromise on quality, consistency is key and this comes from repeatable processes.
When you start a salon, build a system that will be understood by all. By standardising processes, you can ensure a client receives consistent service quality.
Ideally, no matter which service you’re offering, it should include consultation, prep, execution and finish.
Let your employees know these steps and allot a time frame for each of these processes. For instance, 5 minutes for consultation, 10 minutes for prep, 30-45 minutes for the service (depends on what it is), 5-7 minutes for the finish (blow-dry in case of a hair service).
Make sure these SOPs are common for all your hair salon programs. Benchmarking can help you cater to as many clients on a busy day. You can even train your stylists to maintain checklists so that nothing goes wrong in between an appointment. Checklists are an important component of SOPs.
Invest in Smart Scheduling/Digital Booking Systems
Without a hair salon appointment tool, clients would simply barge in. Overbooking kills quality faster than anything.
By investing in the right digital tools, scheduling becomes easier and you can even cut down on unnecessary administrative work.
Salon360App is popular among salon professionals. Such tools are designed to bring about salon efficiency.
Smart scheduling software not just handles bookings but also sends confirmation emails and issues reminders to clients. Everything on the app is automated and salon owners don’t have to move a finger. It’s best to allocate service-based time slots. For instance, one hour per client per stylist.
Use hair salon software to detect which services run long and which can be wrapped up in under an hour.
In between appointments, make sure you give a buffer period. This is important for consultations, corrections or even walk-ins. When you’re smart about your scheduling, you will automatically be able to allocate the right amount of time for every service.
In order to reduce no-shows, send automated reminders to clients.
No matter how many clients show-up in your salon, smart scheduling will never let the service quality drop.
Optimise Daily Workflows
As a salon owner, if you want yourself and your stylists to stay productive, it is important to optimise daily workflows. By having a process in place, you will be able to save time and deliver top-notch services no matter how busy you are.
In every salon, there will be a series of repetitive tasks each day. Make a list of those services and streamline them.
You can divide the repetitive tasks into three parts namely pre-opening, in between servicing clients, and end of day.
Pre-opening usually involves sanitising and organising tools which helps ensure stylists and technicians are ready for the day. This saves time in between appointments. Even if you have a large number of clients all through the day, at least you will be organised.
Managing high-volume services in a salon means you need to be quick with client transitions. Make sure that in your salon you have a reset station. This will help you prep colour formulas or any other thing you need for a service.
By pre-mixing colour formulas, you can save valuable time on a busy day. You can check client history on your hair salon computer software to see the most preferred colours availed by clients.
While you can do all this at the beginning of the day and in between appointments, the end of the day is equally important. That determines how your next day will be.
At the end of each day, check inventory on your hair salon software and contact suppliers for any restocks. This will avoid any kind of mid-service delays the next day. Running out of inventory is a nightmare to any salon or spa owner. It can even lead to an embarrassing situation and clients not returning at all.
Have a Team-based Service Model in Place
So, you’ve cracked the code of being a high-volume salon and your clients love you. It doesn’t end there.
Besides your main stylists and technicians, it’s important to have smaller teams to handle smaller tasks. You can’t expect your top stylists to do everything.
You can focus on delegating tasks to assistants. By handing off certain responsibilities, your main team gets some time to breathe.
Assistants are great at handling prep. You can give them tasks such as washing, colour mixing and blow-drying. Shampooing and basic hair prep can also be done by them.
This is ideal when a client walks-in while you’re servicing another client. Assistants can start with the wash and stylists can just take a short break before they start another service.
This ensures the quality in a high-volume salon never drops no matter how busy it gets.
Base-level stylists can also help with finishing a haircut by taking up the blow-dry part of it.
By clearly allocating each person’s roles, you can ensure nothing falls through the cracks. This ensures the day runs smoothly while protecting client experience.
Control the Service Menu to Handle Peak Hours Efficiently
Having too many services can slow down your salon. Thus, ensure you handle peak hours tactfully. By following the right approach, you can deliver excellent service to every client.
Tools like hair salon software will help highlight the high-demand services that should be prioritised.
Save the morning rush for quick services including trims, blowouts, threading, waxing and so on.
Midday should be reserved for complex services including colour and highlights. By this time, you will have full staff support available.
Late afternoon and evening are ideal for mixed services. Another way to maximise efficiency in your salon is by grouping similar services together. Encourage back-to-back colouring treatments in order to streamline the process.
Invest in the Right Technology to Enable Automation
Today, technology has become the backbone of the beauty business. The right salon management software can simplify daily tasks and mundane salon operations. It takes care of appointments, inventory, client management, staff management, automated reminders, analytics and reports, and so on.
Always remember to choose software that simplifies tasks, not the other way round. It should reduce stress and enhance revenue in the best possible way.
A few features you should look for when you’re selecting hair salon computer software are online booking with a real-time availability calendar, CRM, and automated confirmations and reminders to eliminate/reduce no-shows.
When there is less chaos behind the scenes or it is managed well, you can focus better on the guest in the chair.
In Conclusion
High-volume salons succeed with great technology by their side. To help you hustle with ease, Salon360App, salon software in India is at your service.
It is a game-changer for streamlining salon operations. However, technology alone won’t do the job. The trick is to balance efficiency while delivering top-notch services to your clients. Use software to add value to your client’s experience.
By making small, consistent changes to your salon business, you can achieve big results over time.
Request a free demo – your stylists will thank you.
