Tricks To Maximise Salon Efficiency

In order to make sure your salon can bring in more clients it is important to maximise your efficiency so that you can be as productive as possible. This blog will give you tips on being as efficient as possible.

A salon’s efficiency can make a big difference when considering how much revenue your salon can bring in. Streamlining your system and salon procedures can go a long way towards ensuring you get the most out of each day. Small changes such as organising your stock room and salon can make the day so much easier, as everything is easy to find, labelled and clean, helping your stylists to carry out treatments quickly and efficiently. Managing to increase the speed and efficiency of your salon while maintaining your performance standards can take time to achieve, so it is important not to expect instant results.  

The key to efficiency is to attempt to make sure that you and your team need to expend as little time as possible to get satisfactory results. This can include encouraging every stylist on the team to maintain a clean work station throughout the day so there is no need for a big tidy up before going home, or automating your SMS system to send reminders to clients of upcoming appointments.  

Automate  

Using salon software, it is now far easier to set up systems that automate your customer marketing and improve the salon experience for clients and team members. Here are a few key ways to automate the client journey and maximise your salon efficiency:  

• Online Booking – An automated online booking system is key to ensuring that it is quick and easy for your clients to check when you have available slots and book in. The online booking system will then automatically update your scheduling system, with the appointment showing up for any team members looking at their schedules.  
• 2-Way SMS – Having an automated SMS system allows you to send your clients messages with the date and time of their next appointment. This is often far more accurate and efficient than having to input all the details and send the messages to clients manually. This system can be used efficiently to reduce the number of no-shows that you have to deal with as a stylist.  
• Skin Test Tracking – It is imperative to use digitally tracking skin tests and other allergy tests, to protect your salon. Automating skin test tracking to make sure that you follow all product guidelines to prevent reactions can help you avoid any issues and help you protect your clients.  
• Marketing Emails – Sending out marketing emails can be a fantastic way to keep in touch with customers and remind them about upcoming salon events. Automating Emails in advance for events such as client birthdays, Halloween, Valentine’s Day or Christmas can help you to organise your salon’s digital marketing strategies ahead of time.  

Scheduling  

In order to maximise how effective your salon is, a fantastic way to help the whole team stay on track is by creating schedules that outline the jobs that need to be done in that day and whose responsibility they are. Having jobs, such as cleaning the salon floor or tidying up the staff room for the day ahead, organised in advance makes it easier for staff members to manage their time effectively. It is often difficult for staff to multitask, so setting up defined roles can help you as the salon owner delegate to a reliable team member tasks that need to get done.  

Defined roles, such as social media manager and stock taker, can help your team members divide duties and complete their roles more effectively. While you may feel anxious allowing other staff to take on more work, it often makes sense to delegate a portion of what needs to be done.  

Communication 

Making sure that communication within the salon is smooth and effective can go a long way towards ensuring that your team can work together effectively and maximise what they can achieve. While having a schedule for each job can help ensure there are no mix ups, a face to face meeting with your team is always better to help you to see how everyone is progressing.  

Organising regular team meetings to let your team know what you are aiming to achieve over the next month is a good way to ensure that you all remain on the same page. Weekly updates in team meetings and monthly one on one chats are a good way to communicate directly with your team and gauge how well they are all doing. Discussing in the team meetings what they think needs to be worked on in the salon – and what is going well already – can help to clarify the situation when you are setting out salon goals as well as personal goals for your team members.   

Space 

When it comes to maximising your salon’s efficiency, keeping the salon clean and well organised can help ensure not only a good experience for your clients, but also a more positive place of work for your employees. Organising your space so all your products are stored correctly and can be found quickly can help to ensure that your salon remains efficient. In each salon there will be a wide range of dyes and other products such as shampoo used for the customers’ treatments. Ensuring they can be easily found and used by all of your staff is a good way to increase the overall momentum of the salon.  

Perhaps you have a corner of the salon that doesn’t really have anything going on; find a way to make the whole space of the salon work by introducing a seating area, a new shelf for products for sale, or even just placing a houseplant to make the area look nicer.  

Retain Staff 

Every salon has a separate rhythm that can take a while for a new employee to pick up on – learning the salon rules and regulations, even memorising the different retail products in the salon and which type of hair they suit can be difficult for a new team member. In order to maintain your efficiency, it is important to try and retain your staff so that there isn’t a drop in efficiency while you are training a new team member.  

There are three main ways to make sure you retain your staff:  

• Offering your employees potential for promotion, such as to a manager when they reach a certain standard when it comes to KPI’s.  
• Giving your team a voice inside the salon and asking their opinion about any changes or updates to the salon. It’s a great feeling to be included in the running of the overall business, and this will help the stylists feel included.  
• Consider what motivates your team, and do your best to ensure that your salon is a nice place to work. Something small, like a break room with a coffee machine and a mini fridge, can make working in your salon much more comfortable.  

If you are interested in using software from SalonIQ to supplement your salon’s efficiency, then please contact us here. Our staff will be happy to discuss what SalonIQ software can do for your business.  

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