Evolving the working practices of your beauty business

Due to the everyday, unpredictable rush of working in a salon, an opportunity to evaluate and evolve your team’s working practices to ensure maximum potential comes rarely.

However, the team at salon software company Shortcuts argues it’s an essential step that you should always make time for. From training to policies, these are some of the key areas to assess when revamping your salon’s working practices:

 

Appraise your policies

Having your procedures and policies clearly set out and communicated for both employees and clients is essential for any salon. For example, having a comprehensive health and safety policy is fundamental to keeping your clients and staff safe, especially in the wake of COVID-19.

It’s also worth assessing whether your booking and cancellation policies are as cost and time efficient as they can be. No-shows can cause the average salon a loss of over £25,000 in revenue, which can be easily avoided by taking a customer’s payments in advance.

Upfront Payments with Shortcuts allows for this, ensuring guests show up and revenue is consistent. This feature is also flexible, meaning you can choose whether they need to pay a deposit or the full amount in advance and whether they’ll be charged if they don’t show up. 

Always communicate any changes to your policies or procedures clearly to both clients and staff to avoid any issues.

 

Focus on staff training

Without your staff, you simply wouldn’t be able to run your salon – and that’s why it’s essential to invest in them. Ensuring they’re equipped with the correct skills and knowledge to deal with clients means you’re offering the best service possible. This training can include expanding their knowledge of new products or services, more general topics such as customer service. 

Another key area of educating your team should be getting them up to speed with your salon software. Shortcuts run regular workshops for teams so they can develop an in-depth knowledge of its features. These cover a range of topics, from Marketing to Reporting.

 

Check your stock

Another productive and essential task is to review the stock of products in your salon. Assessing how much you have left of each product and reviewing whether they have been selling or not is a great practice to keep up. Planning ahead and considering which products you may need more stock of also gives you a good idea of what promotional offers you could run.

If you don’t already have a system to manage your stock in place, consider Shortcuts’ automated Stock Management feature that lets you know when you are running low and need to replenish stock levels.

 

Pick the right salon software

When you are busy dealing with staff and clients, a tool that will make your life easier is essential, which is why the salon software you use has a big impact on the daily running of your business.

Shortcuts software helps you run your business, motivate and inspire your team and manage your clients more effectively. From Online Booking to Marketing, the wide range of features will help attract clients and ensure they keep returning.

Shortcuts will also cut your admin workload in half and automate the essentials, so you have more time to focus on your business. If you’re interested in learning more, get in touch or book a demo to try it out for yourself.

Sponsored Story

 Jo Burgess is the co-founder of Shortcuts, which began in 1994 when she collaborated with two software developers. Now, Shortcuts can be found 14,000 salons and 45 countries across the world.