We have so many helpful articles here, which are great for all therapists, salon owners and mobile therapists too.

Please scroll down this page to see them all, we have information on the following subjects:

Which Salon Software Is Best For You?

Do I need a booking system for my salon business?

How To Fire A Client

How To Deal With Negative Staff Members

Are you a salon owner that struggles with self belief?

How To Choose A New Supplier For Your Beauty Business

These are all on this page just scroll down to see them all

We highly Recommend Hollie Power - The Best Therapist Coaching Company for our Industry and Hollie is the Co Founder at Salonology

Here at Gateway we love Hollie's Blogs and we wanted to share them with you so that you could all benefit from them too, if you prefer to watch and listen to this information rather than read it, there is a link at the bottom for the video option which goes into a bit more detail. We have also included a link for their training course too which is offered at a discounted rate for all Gateway web site visitors even if you have not been on one of our courses!

ENJOY  

This blog was written By Hollie Power

Do I need a booking system for my salon business?

All the worries we’d had – such as “what if the internet goes down” and “people won’t like it”, disappeared within days.

In fact, we had one of our best months ever the first full month we had the system in place.

Because, when you wake up in the morning and realise you have ten new bookings you wouldn’t otherwise have, you quickly appreciate the sheer power of having something like this in place. 

Now this may sound harsh – but if you don’t have an online booking system, you ARE losing bookings.

Not only is ease of booking preferred nowadays, it’s often expected.

And if you are not offering it to your clients, you’re missing out.

BIG TIME.

Because here is the thing – whether you are working solo, or running multiple salons, an online booking software can be the difference between covering costs versus making lots of profit.

Or a 60% booked diary vs a fully booked diary.

Even more amazing is the plethora of outstanding options available to us in this industry – from simple systems to in-depth marketing machines – and all in between – there is a suitable software that will help you get where you need to be.

We have put together this guide of some of the best in the industry to help you choose who might be right for you. 

However, before we get started, here are some ‘top tips’ for you to read first.

    Research many, choose once.

Whilst worth the time and effort that goes into setting up an online booking system, it’s also important to note that it’s a front-ended task that takes a little time. 

By that, I mean you’ll need to commit some time to learn the system, input all your treatments, timings, pricings and settings and configure it correctly.

So, make sure the company you choose not only offers what you need now, but offers what you’ll need in the future. If you plan to get bigger, take on staff, or bigger promises, you’ll need software that can easily grow with you.

    Think about what you need.

Online software companies offer everything from a simple online booking system, to a full marketing suite – so be sure to know what you really need to help you operate your business to it’s full potential.

A decent system can act as a full-time receptionist for you, manging bookings taking deposits and filling your diary for – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    Be careful of the bells and whistles

Different software offers different features which might be the best thing you’ll ever need, or could just be an aspect you simply don’t require – that’s costing money either way.

Every single business is different so be sure to know what features you will use for your clients before you commit to all the extras.

SOFTWARE NAME: Phorest

BEST FOR: Salons with 3+ staff and with big goals

PRICES FROM: Contact Phorest for a custom quote

MAIN FEATURES:

    Custom created packages for you
    Full marketing suite included within the software; ready made for SMS text marketing and email marketing
    Unlimited users – so no additional cost as the business grows
    Manage stock, staff, POS and client information all in one space
    ‘Industry best’ customer service
    Click, pick, sell… with a fully integrated online store
    Includes a salon app branded for your business as well as a loyalty program
    Salon reputation management – generate more reviews for your business right from within the software
    Client photos within customer portfolio
    Free stock image library
    GDPR complaint
    Cloud based for access from anywhere

IN THEIR WORDS:

    “With over 6,000 spas, hair and beauty salons as customers across the globe and growing, Phorest Salon Software is the system of choice for the forward-thinking salon owners. The team at Phorest continue to push boundaries and strive for innovation, with the salon owner at the forefront of everything they do. With state of the art features and customer service, Phorest aims to take the work of running a salon on, allowing you to concentrate on delivering the best level of service to your clients.”.

IN YOUR WORDS:

    “Phorest allows us to present our online booking via our salon branded app, through our website or as a link via our Facebook page.  It secures the clients card details remotely, and takes a booking fee from 60p dependant on the total price of the booking. This fee will secure the booking and is automatically deducted from the total treatment price on the system at the point of checkout in the salon. If needed it allows us to request payment in full if a client fails to show and we wish to charge.  It also allows clients to view and change their future bookings as well as seeing any historic appointments.”    Kerry Douglas, Body Sense Beauty Salon

SOFTWARE NAME: Timely

BEST FOR: Suitable for solopreneurs to multi location salons

PRICES FROM: From £15 per month (for solo), with price increasing dependent on staff numbers

MAIN FEATURES:

    Easy to use for staff and clients
    Cloud based
    Booking via website, Instagram and Facebook
    Personalised booking experience
    Deposits and payments can be taken online
    Client portal for easy booking management
    Deep client profiles including customisable digital consultations with the Consult app
    Over 40 accessible business reports
    GDPR compliant

IN THEIR WORDS:

    “At Timely, customers are our sun. We believe your time is more important than ours and we go out of our way to help you when you need it. There are no ‘silly’ questions here – computers aren’t for everyone and our friendly team are here to support you, without judgement. Whether it’s creating beautiful body art or delivering treatments that make your clients feel pampered and special, we know that aesthetics and experience matter to you and your clients. It matters to us, too. Timely is beautiful to look at, simple to use and powers your bottom line. Timely’s product team is focused on building solutions that work for you. Automatically save time with no more unproductive gaps in your calendar, connect to Afterpay to see your client-spend soar, and create an exceptional client experience with a beautiful mobile ‘front counter’.”

IN OUR WORDS:

    “As I half-heartedly clicked on to the Timely website to have a nose, I realised it ticked my boxes. Yes, my customers could book online.  Yes, I could log on from anywhere. Yes, I can take a booking fee upfront. Yes, It would run the reports I needed and, best of all, it was paid monthly and it wasn’t ridiculously priced!”   Taken  from my other blog piece, How I Cured My Booking System Headache

SOFTWARE NAME: FRESHA (formerly Schedul)

BEST FOR: Those starting out and wanting to grow

PRICES FROM: Free with a PLUS option which uses a small % fee structure

MAIN FEATURES:

    Unlimited location and team members (on free and paid options)
    Point of sale – with accompanying barcode scanners, receipt printers and cash drawers available
    Stock management
    Listing on Fresha marketplace with the PLUS option  – a network that sends millions of clients to salons every month
    Payment processing (PLUS)
    No show protection (PLUS)
    Marketing tools (PLUS)
    Free two-week trial available

IN THEIR WORDS:

“Join the world’s largest beauty and wellness network that sends millions of clients to salons and spas every month.  Free up your time to focus on what you do best, create your online profile and be discovered 24/7 on Fresha marketplace, Instagram, Facebook, Google and your own website.  Securely save client cards on file for an effortless checkout experience using our modern, secure payments system.

Take back control of your calendar by remotely charging no-show and late cancellation penalty fees, receive automatic payouts daily to your connected bank account.  Boost sales and fill your calendar with a suite of intelligent marketing tools to keep clients returning.  Simply set and forget to automatically reach clients through campaigns using targeted, personalized offers for birthdays, lapsing clients, top spenders and many more segments”

IN YOUR WORDS:

    “There’s a free subscription option or you can upgrade and pay a low fee for extra features like online booking deposits and card payments.  It’s easy to use and set up , can be used on any laptops or any tablet.”  Sarah-Jane Lewis, Sarah-Jane’s Hair and Beauty

SOFTWARE NAME: You’re On Time

BEST FOR: Small businesses looking to grow

PRICES FROM: Free but optional upgrades and power ups

MAIN FEATURES:

    A comprehensive free option which includes email / SMS reminders and limited reports
    Power ups to allow you to add more features easily and to suit you
    Data loading for a one-off fee
    Pay for what you need
    Self check-in feature on paid subscription
    Loyalty scheme options

IN THEIR WORDS:

    We know you’re probably doing a lot of research into this, and we know it’s a pain. That’s why we’ve broken it down below, so you quickly see why you’ve just found your software solution, lock it in, and get back to doing what you love.

    An appointment book needs to be fast and flexible, so you can see bookings in day or week view, book resources or block out unavailable times.  You need to be able to quickly make repeat bookings, search for empty slots, or view clients histories all without leaving the appointment screen. It is the cornerstone of your software, so go with the best.

    A seamlessly integrated, complete point of sale where you can invoice appointments, sell products, utilise promotions, give refunds and print receipts.  And then pay with your own payment methods, integrated terminal payments, and print or email the receipt directly to the client.

    Have clients beating down your door with flexible SMS or Email marketing communication, using your own templates and targeted client groups.  Combine with loyalty prizes, online booking and promotion and you really have the ultimate solution to generate repeat business.

IN YOUR WORDS:

    “Most salon systems don’t do what our spa business needs; appointment book, electronic forms, client histories, point of sale and staff scheduling.” – Kristen, Bulla Spa

SOFTWARE NAME: Shortcuts

BEST FOR: Suits all types of salons including spas, clinics, barbers, salons and multi site

PRICES FROM: Starting at £20 per month, however prices are dependent on business model – a variety of options include Essentials, Evolve, Elevate and Elevate Plus

MAIN FEATURES:

    Bespoke packaged to suit individual needs
    Full marketing suite included within the software; ready made for SMS text marketing and email marketing
    Manage stock, staff, POS and client information all in one space
    Includes a salon app branded for your business as well as a loyalty program Incentivise and reward clients
    Intuitive appointment book
    Hardware package options
    Free online training classes
    Support 24/7
    GDPR Compliant
    Free two-week Shortcuts Live trial available

IN THEIR WORDS:

    These days, we’re pretty proud to be able call ourselves one of the world’s leading software providers for the hair and beauty industry. Our software can be found in more than 14,000 salons and 45 countries worldwide – not bad for a business that began with three young entrepreneurs in a back shed!

    We’ve never been the kind to rest on our laurels – our constant innovation keeps us at the top of our game. The world of technology today is changing faster than ever, and we are always dreaming up new ways to help businesses work smarter, not harder.

    At the end of the day, we’re so much more than just a company that creates software. We’re also a bunch of hard-working humans who love what we do, and who will go out of our way to help you achieve your wildest business goals.

SOFTWARE NAME: Ovatu

BEST FOR: Suits all types of salons including schools

PRICES FROM: Pricing starts at £15pm for the solo plan for 1 employee, then £30pm for small (5 employees), £45pm for medium (10 employees) and £65 for large (20 employees)

MAIN FEATURES:

    Free 60 day trial (no credit card required)
    Completely synchronised and fully accessible on any web, iOS or Android device
    Chat style booking bot sits on your own website as an icon, which opens up into a self-contained booking system
    Powerful availability settings, re-scheduling and check-in tools – you will never need a paper diary again
    You can take payments, deposits and card capture online to secure bookings and reduce no-shows
    Email and SMS reminders are automated as are rebooking reminders and review requests, which will automatically display on your website, too
    Create your own discount codes and customise how they can be used. Offer passes and packages for your clients, or for them to gift to their friends. A course of treatments, an unlimited month, or an introductory bundle perhaps.

IN THEIR WORDS:

    Ovatu’s founder Dave, began building Ovatu in 2010, as a side hobby (Dave has interesting hobbies!) in a tiny flat in Manly.  Turns out, one day he accidentally turned the ‘subscription’ function on without even realising.

    Imagine the surprise when right away a handful of businesses signed up and more importantly, provided invaluable suggestions for improvement. This became the backbone for how Ovatu is developed.

    Since then, it’s been an exciting and humbling journey watching businesses use Ovatu to work less, achieve more and win more time back for themselves!

    Today, Dave and his wife Ula run Ovatu from a beautiful country town on the South Coast of NSW whilst raising 4 busy little boys on their farm. Achieving a work life balance is so important to their family and is something they are dedicated to facilitating for thousands of customers as well as for Ovatu’s global team.

IN YOUR WORDS:

        “Used for about 6 years. Always improving and reasonable cost. Works on every platform and has consult forms, reminders, post treatment emails, birthday emails, loyalty scheme. Support is good and responsive.”   Sue Davies, Gorgeous Emporium

SOFTWARE NAME: Book in Beautiful

BEST FOR: Single users to multi staff location businesses

PRICES FROM: £27.50 per month for 1 user + £5 per additional user

MAIN FEATURES:

    Branded websites and apps
    Cancellation Watch – automatically fills your cancellations (adds £180 per month on average)
    Consultation forms / Covid-19 policies
    Products, training and gift voucher sales with full stock management and marketing
    UK customer service via live chat and phone
    Full ownership of your data
    Custom Service list for each client.  Switch individual services on/off and set custom times per client
    Feedback – Collects and directs 5 star reviews to Google as well as creating branding marketing content for your social media
    Client photos and notes
    Fully GDPR complaint marketing suite with SMS & email marketing with the option for automated marketing to remind clients to keep booking
    Cloud based for access from anywhere

IN THEIR WORDS:

    Book in Beautiful was developed to help my partner create a balance between salon/home all whilst removing the guilt that the business would suffer as a result.

    Our Cancellation Watch is lorded as a game changer and allows us to confidently say we are the best value system for the industry with this single feature adding £180 on average on a monthly basis which for a system that starts at less that £1 a day is an incredible return on investment.

    Over the last 3 years we have completed what we considered to be nearly 5 years of development and we pride ourselves that due to our presence in the industry we can give our customers what they want when they need it!”

IN YOUR WORDS:

    “I couldn’t be without Book in Beautiful! BiB covers every part of my business – All my Nail Appointments, My Education courses, product sales, marketing and so much more!  BiB gives me more time to focus on the fun side of what I do and spend quality time with my family! Thank you!”  Scarlett Senter Nail artist & Educator

SOFTWARE NAME: Salon Tracker

BEST FOR: Sunbed salons

PRICES FROM: From £30 per month

MAIN FEATURES:

    Safe tanning management
    Multi-site management
    Online booking via website or Facebook
    Walk in and wait feature
    Split bookings
    Staff or client finger print check in option available
    Caller ID
    SMS and Mailchimp marketing suite

IN THEIR WORDS:

    Our software includes intelligent marketing tools with built in client record cards and stock management. It is guaranteed to save you and your employee’s time and money. Salon Tracker is designed to be easy to use, in which we believe will make salon management easier and stress-free.

    Our innovative software features and values are built upon your needs so we include all the basic and advanced features that you might require. Salon Tracker is guaranteed to make day to day activities easier, such as cashing up and analysing business reports. KPI’s, commissions and business takings can therefore be managed instantly and accurately.

IN YOUR WORDS:

    “Everything is really simple so doesn’t take long to train new members of staff. We used to use a paper card system before moving to Salon Tracker, so it’s made our lives a lot easier and our business more efficient and professional. Can’t fault it, there’s no improvement I can think of.” Emma, 2Fifty5 Tanning Studio

SOFTWARE NAME: Retention Force

BEST FOR: Bigger salons looking to enhance their marketing

PRICES FROM: This integrates with an online booking platform – packages start from £0 for the very basic option

MAIN FEATURES:

    Free powered chatbot for Facebook messenger
    Drives reviews on Google, TripAdvisor and Facebook
    Collects customer feedback
    Referral program
    Rewards program for clients

IN THEIR WORDS:

    It all started back in 2016 when our founders opened their first beauty salon, OD Blow Dry Bar. By combining experience of management, business automation and excellence in customer service soon OD Blow Dry Bar became one of the few top rated beauty salons in the city.

    The very initial version of RetentionForce was born in OD Blow Dry Bar, at first as a salon rewards program. Clients loved the system immediately with over 97% of engagement. It didn’t take long for founders to realize that the value of the system is huge. With some modifications to support multi-tenant architecture the product was adopted by other salons in the city. The name RetentionForce was born.

IN YOUR WORDS:

    “Due to the ease of RetentionForce marketing tools, we always stay on top of the mind and receive massive rebookings!” – Amanda Palmer, Palmer’s Glow

SOFTWARE NAME: iSalon

BEST FOR: Large and established salons or salons with multiple sites

PRICES FROM: £75 per month

MAIN FEATURES:

    Both accessible from the salon and from the cloud
    Can work with a touch screen, pc, scanner, cash drawer etc.
    Includes 12 hours of training
    Specialised medical records
    Stock management
    Staff time management
    Standby list management

They also have a marketing agency – iCreate – which offers salon websites, social media management, brand design and guidelines, graphic design and print and content writing

IN THEIR WORDS:

    With over three decades of knowledge and experience in the salon software industry, iSalon are the partner of choice for your business. We are the complete salon management and online booking solution for hair & beauty salons, barbers, clinics, spas and colleges.

    We know your clients are the most important thing to you, so we’ve designed iSalon with a multitude of features to perfect their in-salon experience and make a visit to your salon the highlight of their day!

IN YOUR WORDS:

    “My experience with iSalon has been really, really positive and the rest of the team will say the same thing. Every salon should have iSalon, I would not hesitate to recommend it!” Helen, Forbidden Hair

SOFTWARE NAME: SalonIQ

BEST FOR: All sizes, groups and franchises

PRICES FROM: From £27 per month

MAIN FEATURES:

    Waiting list feature
    Self employed staff reporting
    Cloud based
    Integrates with your credit card machine
    UK company
    Two – way texting
    Client information is securely stored and includes images
    Loyalty scheme

IN THEIR WORDS:

    SalonIQ are a UK based company which means you are always talking to a UK based team with local knowledge. Our UK head office is in Kent and we have a satellite team based in Manchester, so wherever you are in the UK we have you covered.

    Our friendly team are all UK salon experts: many are qualified hairdressers and others have worked in the UK salon industry for many years. So, whether you need onsite training or want to see an onsite consultant, we are here to serve you.

IN YOUR WORDS:

    “Easy to use and understand with fab support and development. Great for building your business, retaining guests and reporting. Guests love the online booking too.” Darren Mitzi, Darren Michael Hair Dressing.

SOFTWARE NAME: Booket

BEST FOR: Hair or beauty salons of all sizes, including spas, clinics and barbers

PRICES FROM: FREE

MAIN FEATURES:

    Unlimited staff members and clients
    Automated email and SMS reminders
    Cloud-based platform that’s completely synchronised and fully accessible on any device
    Integrated shop for salon consumables
    Stock management
    Staff time management
    Optional online booking
    Optional integrated card terminals
    Marketing suite included within the software
    Free data merge if you’re switching from another platform
    Full ‘accountant ready’ reports
    Support 24/7 and online training
    GDPR Compliant
    UK company

IN THEIR WORDS:

    Simple and flexible salon software that grows with your business.

    We find that salons want a simple and easy to use platform that boasts all the features they will ever need; that is exactly what Booket provides….. whilst being absolutely free!

    With booket salons have complete control over every aspect of their business with flexible, customisable bookings, automatic reports, powerful integrations and much more to help you take your business to that next level.

    Our integrated store is an industry first and allows salons to pick up those essentials at competitive prices without ever leaving the platform – absolute convenience.

    We are a UK based company which means our team will be on hand to assist with local knowledge and technical support, whenever you need us.

IN YOUR WORDS: 

    “I have a very busy and well established Hair Salon and I loved the old school way of booking clients  using a diary. I did my research and spoke to the team at Booket and decided to change my booking  system. Booket has been so easy to use and has helped us quickly and easily reschedule our clients in time for when our salon reopened after lockdown. There are so many benefits and our clients love their text reminders too. Their team is always on hand for support and they answer our questions quickly. My staff all love our new booking system and it’s great to be able to see your appointments wherever you are. Highly recommend for the ease of use and the ongoing support offered.” –  Zoë, Bliss, Alvechurch.

SOFTWARE NAME: Slick

BEST FOR: Salons with 2-14 staff members and L’Oreal salons

PRICES FROM: From £5 per month (online bookings incur a 50p fee)

MAIN FEATURES:

    Passionate about paper to software transitions
    Full cloud based
    Bespoke staff permissions
    Unlimited users
    Offers complete customisation to avoid double bookings and annoying gaps
    Unlimited SMS reminders
    GDPR compliant
    Comprehensive marketing system
    The ONLY approved L’Oreal booking system

IN THEIR WORDS:

    Control appointments, clients and notes at the touch of a button. In-salon or at home: Slick gives you control over your clients and business. Smart marketing tools help you win and keep clients. The optional online booking fills slots 24/7 even while you’re shut. Smart huh? Stop spending time on admin and start spending it on your business. Slick will calculate cash up, reports and wages without you lifting a finger. Customised service times per client, no-show protection, repeat bookings. Slick is built by salons for salons which is why so many small salons love us. No 50 page contract here! We are so confident you will love Slick, we don’t do contracts. No commission. No hidden fees.

IN YOUR WORDS: 

    “We’ve used them for the last year with online bookings the last 6months. They have been great! No issues, you get a message when someone’s just booked so you can review and alter if needed. They’re adding different bits for marketing support and other bits all the time. They also reply super quickly.”  Joanne Moqvist, Ysatis Hair

You might also want to read my original blog about how salon software had such a positive impact on my day spa and salon.  You can read that here.

Please note that this is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather comprises some of the most popular systems.   Please ensure you do your own research to suit your own business needs.

Hollie xx

Prefer to watch the video version?

CLICK HERE

FOR MORE HELP FROM HOLLIE PLEASE SCROLL DOWN THIS PAGE FOR MORE GREAT ARTICLES

Click on Link Below for Full List of Courses Available:

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VIEW ALL THE COURSES WE OFFER, PRICES, VENUES AND DATES

We have over 70 courses to choose from, over 20 venues across the UK, Scotland and Ireland and regular weekly dates.

We highly Recommend Hollie Power - The Best Therapist Coaching Company for our Industry and Hollie is the Co Founder at Salonology

Here at Gateway we love Hollie's Blogs and we wanted to share them with you so that you could all benefit from them too. We have also included a link for their training course too which is offered at a discounted rate for all Gateway web site visitors even if you have not been on one of our courses!

ENJOY  

This blog was written By Hollie Power

Are you a salon owner that’s got a really difficult client, and you don’t know how to fire them?

Quite possibly most salon owners have that one client that they no longer want coming into their business – and I know myself because I owned a very large day spa for more than ten years prior to becoming a salon coach.

So I see my fair share of our clients who are struggling with that one or two difficult clients and they’re not quite sure how to deal with them.

So I thought I’d talk about it today because we’ve kind of grown up in this mentality that the customer is always right.

And we should absolutely bend over backwards to make sure that our clients are happy, and it’s our job to do everything that they want – and if we don’t do what they want then we will end up getting bad reviews and we’ll end up getting told off and we’ll lose all of our clients and our business will fall apart.

And this is the message that has been fed to us over and over and over again.

And then you’ve got various sort of gurus and influencers who say, you know, push back from the business, push back to get your money back if you’re not happy, and all this kind of stuff.

And we find that as salon owners, we tend to do whatever our clients want, in order to make them happy, which is deemed, in a way, as wonderful customer service.

But sometimes this goes too far.

And sometimes we get that one client who is very difficult, and this client will have a negative impact on your business because maybe they don’t turn up on time for their appointments, or they’re always moving their appointments last minute and canceling and changing what they want.

Maybe they just don’t turn up sometimes.

Maybe when they turn up they’re rude and they’re negative towards you, maybe they’re never happy.

We’ve all got that one person, right?

And I had it in my business, I must have looked after hundreds of thousands of clients over the years, we had a very, very large spa, with many clients that came through over the time that we owned it.

And of course, we had the occasional client that was very, very difficult.

And it’s hard to get into the headspace, that it’s absolutely okay to fire a client, because we all fear they’re going to tell all their friends and all their friends are gonna think we’re awful.

But the truth is firing a client can have a massive, positive impact on your business.

Because if this is somebody that’s worrying you, that’s stressing you out, that’s causing you problems, that maybe is losing you money, because they’re not turning up and they’re refusing to pay a deposit or cancellation fee, that’s going to have a negative impact on the bottom line of your business, but also how you think and feel about that client as well.

And it’s funny how our brain kind of pigeonholes people.

So if you’ve got one particular lady who’s this sort of age group and she’s very difficult all the time and she does this for a job, you’re going to find you’re going to start looking at anybody else like her in the same way, thinking she’s going to be one of them.

She’s going to be one of these difficult clients, we don’t want these difficult clients.

So it’s really important to feel comfortable in firing somebody if they’re not acting like a good client.

Because quite simply, if you weren’t acting like a good therapist or stylist or technician to them, they’d quite quickly fire you and go and find somebody else to fill your space.

So if you have somebody that’s been particularly difficult and you want to stop them coming to your business and I see this with people all the time and they say, how on earth do you fire a client?

And they’re imagining picking up the phone and saying, “you’re fired”, Alan Sugar style.

It doesn’t need to be like that.

You don’t need to yell at them, you don’t need to be nasty to them.

And in fact, a very, very simple trick that you can use where you flip it back to them.

So if a client is coming to you, they’ve caused you a problem, or they’ve come in and they’ve been negative, or something else has happened and you think enough, is enough.

All you need to say to them is;

    “I really fear we’re unable to meet your needs any longer.  We’ve tried to look after you the best that we possibly can.  But based on your feedback, or based on the experiences that we’ve had with you, we just feel that we’re not the right salon and there would be another location, another salon out there, that would be so much better to look after you because ultimately you’re the client, and we want you to be happy, and we just are unable to make you happy. So please, we’d encourage you to find an alternative salon because we’re unable to offer any services for you any longer.”

It’s super simple.

It’s to the point.

It’s said in a kind way, and it works every single time.

Every time I’ve told somebody to try this, they’ve said, “okay“, and it’s worked and that client is gone.

Or, “I’m so, so, so, so sorry. I’ll never mess you around again“.

You can make a choice where you want to go from there.

Or they said, “Yes, I think I will find another salon” and they no longer have a problem.

I hope that’s helped. If this has resonated with you, let me know.

Hollie xx

FOR MORE HELP FROM HOLLIE PLEASE SCROLL DOWN THIS PAGE FOR MORE GREAT ARTICLES

Click on Link Below for Full List of Courses Available:

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VIEW ALL THE COURSES WE OFFER, PRICES, VENUES AND DATES

We have over 70 courses to choose from, over 20 venues across the UK, Scotland and Ireland and regular weekly dates.

We highly Recommend Hollie Power - The Best Therapist Coaching Company for our Industry and Hollie is the Co Founder at Salonology

Here at Gateway we love Hollie's Blogs and we wanted to share them with you so that you could all benefit from them too, if you prefer to watch and listen to this information rather than read it, there is a link at the bottom for the video option which goes into a bit more detail. We have also included a link for their training course too which is offered at a discounted rate for all Gateway web site visitors even if you have not been on one of our courses!

ENJOY  

This blog was written By Hollie Power

Are you a salon owner with a really difficult staff member?

Quite possibly if you’re reading this.

I know that in my business and in multiple businesses that belong to my clients, I see so many people dealing with a negative staff member.

And negative staff members can be terrible for business and here’s why…

Because when you have a bad apple in the barrel, they’re likely to infect everybody else.

Much like if there is a dodgy strawberry sitting in your fridge next to some other strawberries, it’s likely the other strawberries will go off.

Because when you have a negative person who’s being difficult in the workplace, they tend to spread their negativity around.

Unfortunately, that’s a bit of a trait of negative people that like to share their negative opinions with everybody else.  And that can sometimes bring other people down.

In the industry that we’re in, we have to work very closely with our clients.

And that means we have to stay very positive, very upbeat, very focused, very strong, we have to make sure that when our clients come in, and they’re having a bad time, that we can really look after them and turn that around for them.  But of course, if there’s somebody in the mix, who’s not on that same level, it can have a big impact on your business and your client base.

So it’s very, very important that you deal with negative staff members head on and quickly, and either try and fix the problem or remove them from your business.

Now, one of the biggest problems I hear every day is that, the certain staff member might be negative about changes in their business, they might be negative about other staff members, they might be unhelpful when it comes to covering other staff or working hours they want to work.

But they’re a really good therapist, this seems to be a really common thing. They’re excellent when they’re with the clients. And they’re terrible when they’re away from the clients. And this makes the salon owner question whether or not as you keep them within the business. Well, in my opinion, absolutely not!

As salon owners, the most important thing is that our team work together and are connected in order to make sure that every client that walks through the door gets a wonderful experience.

Now if you’ve got Miss Negative out in the staffroom saying negative things to all the other girls and then she walks out and does a wonderful treatment on Mrs. Jones, all those other therapists are going to then see their clients and they’re going to be negative towards them.

And herein lies the problem.

How do you deal with this negative person?

Well, there are a few steps that we can take, but the first thing is to deal with it.

Sounds crazy, sounds obvious, but you have to deal with it head on, whether you want to or not.

Now, sometimes these negative people can be quite strong, so it can be a little bit intimidating. So make sure you’ve got plenty of information to work with. Make sure you know the facts and that you’re not blaming somebody for something that’s not quite right.  Make sure you know exactly where you stand of course, if you’re going to have a propre deep conversation, where you go down the path of sort of disciplinary and that sort of thing, make sure you speak to a company that can help you with that.

That’s not something we do here at Salonalogy, but speak to ACAS or speak to a company that specialises in guidance within employment, just to make sure you’ve got all your ducks in a row.

Then go and speak to them one to one.

Don’t try to humiliate them in front of the rest of the team.

Don’t face up to it in there, in front of other people.

Take them aside, one to one, take them to a treatment room or take them to the staff room.  Or take them to your office, take them to a coffee shop if you don’t have privacy, and say to them;

    ‘Look, you’re a wonderful therapist. You’re a wonderful stylist, you’re a wonderful technician, I love having you here in the business. I feel that you’re unhappy, because I hear that you’re saying this, and I hear that you’re frustrated about this. And you seem to be resistant to changes, changes are going to help us grow as a business. Tell me how you feel’.

Give them the opportunity to talk to you, give them the opportunity, one on one to tell you what their problem is.

They may turn around and say ‘I’m having a bad time at home.’ ‘I’m having a bad time in my relationship’. ‘I feel frustrated, I’m having difficulties with another staff member’, you might unlock some information that you didn’t know.

And you want to address with them exactly what the issues are, how it’s impacting the business.

I had this with one girl particularly strongly, and she came back and she revealed that she was dealing with depression, she was dealing with anxiety, and we addressed that together.

We worked our way through it to help her feel better in her role.

So you might be able to help them through it.  And then we want to talk about the future.  We want to talk about how we pivot at this point, and move forward.

If they’re particularly unhappy, how can you help? 

If they’re particularly stressed out, what can we do?

And if they’re just plain don’t like their job, maybe we need to talk about other alternatives for them and explain to them if you’re really unhappy here, I don’t want you coming to work every day that’s going to make you unhappy.

I want you to be happy, I want to be happy.

Let’s find an alternative path for you.

It’s very easy to flip it back to them and give them the option to say no, I want to stay and I want to be part of the team.

    ‘If you want to be part of the team, that’s brilliant, but this is what I expect. I expect positivity. I expect acceptance of my rules and regulations. I expect the team to support and help one another. And that is the only way that we as a business can grow’.

I hope that’s helped you a little bit and resonated with you.

Hollie xx

Prefer to watch the video version?

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We have over 70 courses to choose from, over 20 venues across the UK, Scotland and Ireland and regular weekly dates.

We highly Recommend Hollie Power - The Best Therapist Coaching Company for our Industry and Hollie is the Co Founder at Salonology

Here at Gateway we love Hollie's Blogs and we wanted to share them with you so that you could all benefit from them too, if you prefer to watch and listen to this information rather than read it, there is a link at the bottom for the video option which goes into a bit more detail. We have also included a link for their training course too which is offered at a discounted rate for all Gateway web site visitors even if you have not been on one of our courses!

ENJOY  

This blog was written By Hollie Power

Are you a salon owner that struggles with self belief?

I see so many salon owners in our communities every day, saying, “I can’t do that. I’m unable to do that. I’m not good enough to do that“.

And it drives me absolutely mad.

Because self belief is the undercurrent and the core foundation of any successful business, whatever industry you’re in.

But I do think that within our industry particularly, within the salon, beauty, hair industry, there’s a lot of lack of self belief.

And that might be because sometimes when we go to college and we train up in hair and beauty, there is a slight persona attached to it.

It’s a very, very challenging course and to come out as a qualified beauty therapist or stylist, you have to work extremely hard and then you go into roles, and you eventually maybe start your own business.

Sometimes you can held back by limiting self beliefs when it comes to business.

Now, I’m going to tell you a little story, okay?

And I’m hoping this doesn’t sound like a boasting story but this is more about how I believe you can simply do anything.

If you’re reading this, the chances are, you already have a salon, you have your qualifications, and you’re moving your business in the right direction.

I opened my salon in 2009.

I had zero qualifications.

I had zero experience in the industry.

I had zero knowledge of the industry.

I had zero knowledge of running a business.

And yet, I opened a spa.

And I built it into a multi award winning, nine treatment room, spa and salon.

Now, like I said, this isn’t about me boasting about what I’ve done, but the only difference between me and anybody else is that I believed that I could do it.

I believed I was able to make it happen.

So why don’t you believe that you can do something?

Why don’t you believe that you can grow to the size that you want to grow to?

Maybe you don’t believe that you can take staff on or you don’t believe that you could have multiple salons or you don’t believe that you could make £250,000 a year.

Whatever it is, that’s blocking you, something is stopping you from moving forward in your business.

And I want to talk about how we can change those beliefs.

Because the beliefs come from from somewhere deep inside us, it’s us that’s holding us back.

And these beliefs build up, because the messages that we hear, and the things that we tell ourselves, if somebody told you all day, every day, you’re ugly and you’re stupid, there’s every chance that you’re going to develop that self belief that you’re ugly and you’re stupid.

But if somebody says to you every day, you’re successful, and you can do anything you want then you’re going to start to believe that message.

Now, it’s very unlikely that any of us have somebody who just sits and tells us all day, that you’re super successful and you can have anything you want.

So what do we do?

Well, we have to start telling ourselves these messages.

When I opened this spa, I had no idea what I was doing.

I barely stepped foot in a salon, let alone owned or run one before.

I didn’t have my qualifications.

I couldn’t deliver any of the treatments.

So I had to hire staff from day one.

All I could do was semi-permanent makeup which I had recently qualified in.

And that was literally it.

So I had to build this based on sheer fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants.

But I did it because I knew I could.

I did it because I was motivated and I was driven and I had a goal.

And my goal was to build a business that gave me good income, that allowed me freedom and allowed me to work what I wanted at work, doing things that I enjoy doing, and the rest of the time I could travel.

That was my goal.

Now I built my spa to a place where I went into work two days a week, for a few hours, where I would just go in and check up on the team and the team run the business for me.

And the business generated enough money so that I could travel ten times a year.

Me and my husband we would go to Vegas, we’d go to California, we’d go to Florida, we’d go to Tenerife, we’d travel around the country for events, and the business fueled me to do it because I had a goal, because I told myself I could get there.

It is the simplest of methods.

In order to self belief, in order to believe that we’re capable of doing something, all we have to do is tell ourselves over and over, and over and over again.

We have to change the data that’s in our body, we have to change the way we think and change the way we feel.

And we do that through repetition, affirmations, meditation.

It seems woo-woo and it seems out there, but this stuff works.

This makes you change how you think, and how you feel.

So if you’re sitting there as a salon owner, you’re thinking I can’t, rather than I can then either way, you’re probably right.

That’s a very famous quote by Henry Ford, not me, by the way.

So change the message you’re telling yourselves, print little sticky notes with I can do anything and stick them all over your house.

Change the screensaver on your phone.

Listen to motivational, powerful music by people like Katy Perry and Pink that start singing about, “Yes, I can do anything“.

Every single person out there has the opportunity to have anything they want, the opportunity to have a salon that you want, the business that you want, the freedom that you want, whether that’s picking your kids up from school or whether it’s travel or whether it’s being able to put your kids through ballet and football or whether it’s that you want to buy your dream home or you want a Range Rover.

It’s all absolutely achievable.

All you have to do to start is believe.

Hollie xx

Prefer to watch the video version?

CLICK HERE

FOR MORE HELP FROM HOLLIE PLEASE SCROLL DOWN THIS PAGE FOR MORE GREAT ARTICLES
 

Click on Link Below for Full List of Courses Available:

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VIEW ALL THE COURSES WE OFFER, PRICES, VENUES AND DATES

We have over 70 courses to choose from, over 20 venues across the UK, Scotland and Ireland and regular weekly dates.

We highly Recommend Hollie Power - The Best Therapist Coaching Company for our Industry and Hollie is the Co Founder at Salonology

Here at Gateway we love Hollie's Blogs and we wanted to share them with you so that you could all benefit from them too, if you prefer to watch and listen to this information rather than read it, there is a link at the bottom for the video option which goes into a bit more detail. We have also included a link for their training course too which is offered at a discounted rate for all Gateway web site visitors even if you have not been on one of our courses!

ENJOY  

This blog was written By Hollie Power

I wanted to talk a little bit today about the three things that you should be thinking about when you’re looking at bringing a new brand into your business.

Because I think these are often overlooked.

And I found it myself, when I owned my spa, that what we would do is we’d be looking for a new brand and we go out and we’d Google every different skincare or nail care supplier out there.

And we’d read their website, we’d read all the bumf, and we’d try and find something that kind of fit in with what we were looking for.

However, sometimes what we failed to do was to strip back first and look what we wanted from our business – or look forward at what are goals were.

So I want to talk about the three most important things that you need to think about before you find a new supplier for your business.

Now, the very first thing really is your business goals.

Where you’re going in your business is going to determine the type of supplier you’re looking for.

If you’re working independently, you’re a one (wo)man band, then there are certain suppliers that are really set up to look after you.  If you go and work with one of the bigger companies, you’ll often find they don’t want to work with solopreneurs.

Alternatively, they, they might even cut off your supply at some point when you’ve invested in the initial outlay.

I’ve seen this happen recently quite a lot, and it’s obviously stressful for the salon owners.

So making sure that you know where your business is going, and how your journey is looking to you moving forward.

Your supplier needs to sit in an alignment with that, and they should be there to help you on the journey.

Ultimately, salon suppliers want you to be successful because the more successful you are then the more products and supplies you’re going to need from them.

So it’s very much in their interest that you do well.  Typically, they’ll do their best to help you, support you on that journey through training, through the marketing support that they give you, and helping to publicise the brand as much as possible.

But this will only work if you know what your goals are as a business.

And when I say goals, I mean, where are you looking to be in six months, a year, five years?

Are you looking to grow?  Are you looking to have multiple salons?  Are you looking to stay as you are?  Are you looking to make your business smaller?

So you need to know where your business is going.

But you also need to know exactly what you want to do in your business.

If you think of skincare suppliers, they go all the way from very, very small companies offering inexpensive products, all the way up to huge international brands that offer very high end treatments.

So you need to work out where you sit in that scale.

Because what you’re going to be offering, the brand that you bring into your business is going to sit as part of the representation of who you are as a company.

We often look for salons that offer the brands that we are interested in.

So think about that when you’re looking for your supplier.

The second thing that it’s important to think about is what your clients goals are.

There is simply no point bringing in an anti-ageing treatment brand, if your clients are all under 25.

They’re not going to be purchasing the products, and they’re not going to be booking the treatments. And likewise, if you’ve got an older market and a mature market that you work with, you’re going to wanting to be looking for the companies that specialise in anti ageing, or whatever it is you plan to offer.

Likewise, you also need to know your financial goals of business as well.

Some suppliers out there, the RRP of their treatments are at incredibly high prices.

And if you’ve got big financial goals, you want to be looking for the higher ticket items in your business.

You want to be selling the £200-300 facials, the £850 electrical facials and not the £25 pound facials.

So that’s also going to be represented in the brand that you choose.

So, be sure to know exactly where you’re going, what you want to get out of your business and what you want to offer your clients before you even start thinking about putting yourself out to the different suppliers.

There are literally hundreds out there so make sure they’re in alignment with what it is that you want to achieve as a salon owner.

Hollie xx

Prefer to watch the video version?

CLICK HERE

FOR MORE HELP FROM HOLLIE PLEASE SCROLL DOWN THIS PAGE FOR MORE GREAT ARTICLES

Click on Link Below for Full List of Courses Available:

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VIEW ALL THE COURSES WE OFFER, PRICES, VENUES AND DATES

We have over 70 courses to choose from, over 20 venues across the UK, Scotland and Ireland and regular weekly dates.