At SalonBiz, we are committed to helping you overcome the challenges presented by COVID-19. In our last post, we shared ways to adapt your salon to temporary closings and stay-at-home orders. We’ve also delivered a webinar on how to generate cashflow during business interruption. Now, we’re looking to the future.
In this post we are sharing the steps you can take now to prepare your salon for recovery post pandemic. We hope that applying this guidance leads to many amazing reopening stories and long-standing successes. We look forward to hearing them!
1. Review Financial Assistance Available Through SBA CARES Act
On Friday, March 27th, 2020, the CARES Act was signed into law; providing $376 billion in financial relief to Americans and small businesses. An additional $484 billion was granted in funding through an expansion of the original bill just this past week. Should your salon need financial assistance to recover, the resources within the CARES Act could help.
These resources include:
- SBA CARES Act small business loans: Available for businesses with fewer than 500 employees, self-employed individuals, independent contractors, or sole proprietors
- Paycheck Protection Program (PPP): Grant/loan hybrid that your salon can use for payroll expenses and potentially other expenses
- Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Loan Advance (EIDL): A unique loan that in cases provides a loan advance up to $10,000 that does not need to be repaid to those denied
Specific application details and deadlines are provided on the U.S. Small Business Loan Administration’s website. Or you can contact your local SBA office.
2. Evaluate Your Systems and Processes
Many salons have made necessary operational changes during this time. Now is a good time to evaluate operations, systems and processes to put your best foot forward in the coming weeks.
Perhaps your salon added credit card acceptance with one technology provider and online gift card purchases through another. Or you need to be able to take pre-booking payments to generate cash flow before fully opening again. You may now want to see if there is a better way to handle those operations through one solution.
Take a look at areas you’ve adapted operationally and areas you anticipate needing to adapt. Explore ways to make necessary changes while delivering efficiencies and cost-savings.
3. Stay Top of Mind with Guests
As we move closer to inviting guests back into our salons, it’s time to start communicating to them about it. The last thing you want to happen is to open back up and not have any customers there to service.
Here are some of the customer communications you should think about
- Make sure you communicate your open date and hours of operation
- Provide detail on anticipated changes in guest flow that you will be implementing to ensure the safety of both guests and staff
- Communicate when and how customers can book appointments and any cancellation policies you have added or updated
- Promote any specials you are running or will be running in the future such as Mother’s Day specials or gift card offers
You can accomplish all of the above and more through the SalonBiz Communications Suite. Not using SalonBiz for your salon management? Schedule a demo to learn how we can provide value to you and your staff today.
4. Prepare for an Influx of Customers
Everyone is forecasting that there will be some pent-up demand for salon services. You’ll want to make sure that your salon is ready to safely serve as many as possible, while delivering an exceptional customer experience. Encouraging customers to pay online prior to their services is a great way to enforce social-distancing measures that may remain in force.
Your salon can also rely on touch-free check-in and payment solutions so customers can notify you when they have arrived for appointments and to self-checkout on their mobile devices. The Pocket Salon App through SalonBiz provides this functionality to your salon – delivering a safe, convenient experience to customers upon reopen.
You’ll also need to continue following proper sanitization guidelines and may consider dedicating one staff member to cleaning spaces after each guest visit. Doing so will help keep everyone safe and ease the minds of customers doing business with you.
Lastly, we encourage you to count your inventory 2 weeks prior to opening and order what you need from your vendors. Make sure you have enough stock to support the service and retail demand. If possible, order a little more than you usually do or be prepared to put in another order a few days after being open to replenish stock.
How SalonBiz Can Help with Your Salon Recovery
The SalonBiz solution delivers a breadth of functionality that can be leveraged to help your salon get back on track. Here we’ve relisted the features we highlighted above and added a few more for you to review.
- SalonBiz Communications Suite allows you to market to your customers right from within the SalonBiz solution. Automate email campaigns to make customer communications even easier.
- Pocket Salon Mobile App – Let guests book, re-book, pay and tip right from their phone, keeping operations running safely and efficiently in these times.
- SalonBiz iPad App has a built-in self check-in kiosk. Clients can utilize this so they don’t have to wait in line. Your team members will still be notified so the client is greeted right away.
- Use the iPad App to expedite the sale. Pre-book from the chair, recommend retail and add it to the ticket before the cap comes off. All they have to do at the desk is pay. But you can even take payment at chairside so they skip this one altogether.
We’d love to help your salon plan for a successful recovery. If you need help implementing any of the above features into your business, call SalonBiz at 888-809-2802. We’ll hold hands (virtually that is). We wish the best for everyone including your team members and families. Here’s to opening your businesses stronger than you ever were before!
