Featured Photo Source: Trios Aveda Facebook

When it comes to technology, Trios Aveda salon owner Joe DeAnda is the person you want on your side. He’s tech savvy and keeps up-to-date with all the latest technology.

That’s why when Joe his wife and co-owner Karen moved from their original salon software to SalonBiz in 2000, a rough data transition due to their original software left them a bit dubious about their choice.

“We felt like we had a bumpy start, and when we heard about someone else who went with a different software company, we decided to go that way, too.”

But shortly after moving to the new software, Joe says he realized what they were missing. Although their new salon software was a large program, it wasn’t as robust where they needed it the most. Over the next four years with that system, Joe began hearing more and more from other salon owners at forums about SalonBiz.

All the new features and the words of confidence from other salon owners convinced Joe & Karen to come back. Here’s why they’re glad they did.

The Top 10 Reasons They’re Glad to Be Back:

1. Powerful Reports:  “The other software just couldn’t produce the reports we needed, especially the ones we needed for Aveda.” In the interim, SalonBiz had only gotten more intricate with reporting, which is the thing Joe really missed.
2. Salon Owner Thinking: With the other software, Joe was constantly having to figure out work-arounds for things his salon needed, whereas with SalonBiz, they were already included.
3. Coaching with Whiteboard: This module displays daily goals and progress in real time on a screen in the break room instead of relying on salon managers to print out and post reports whenever they get the chance.
4. Online Gift Cards and Promotions: Joe was pleased with how simple it is to add the widget to the website so they can run special promotions and sell online gift cards though a system that talks directly to their salon software, so the whole process is seamless. (And it’s all included in your SalonBiz subscription, so the only charges are from your merchant account)
5. A Faster Front Desk with the iPad App: Something entirely new since Trios left SalonBiz was the app for the iPad, which is like another mini front desk. It allows clients to pre-book from the chair and can accommodate checking out for retail and services chair-side as well, plus pre-booking and more. (Link to other iPad app blog.)
6. Online training for New Users: This is one of Joe’s favorite new features: “It’s simplified the onboarding process. When we have a new person in guest care, we can let them go online and we don’t have to sit there and babysit them while they get up and running.”
7. An End to Server Drama. Our fully hosted solution means his system runs through our servers and we maintain and update everything. Plus we backup the salon database to protect against any loss or unforeseen disasters.“It’s a huge relief,” Joe says. “We moved to HA in the summer of 2015 and haven’t looked back.”
8. Seamless Aveda Integration: With Trios being an Aveda salon, Karen likes that SalonBiz works so well and automatically updates the Aveda products, prices and gets Aveda benchmark reporting.“We like SalonBiz because it feels like it’s part of the Aveda family. It’s awesome to be able to connect with Aveda that way,” she says. 
9. Trusted Tech Partners. Joe notes that “We’ve just started using Zeezor, which integrates with SalonBiz, and in the first month, just having those numbers in our stylists’ hands has helped us grow 15%-16% compared to the same month last year.”
10. Innovation to Come: Joe was excited about what’s coming next. “At Serious Business, we went to SalonBiz PowerUp to hear what they had planned coming up. It was exciting to see that Pure Privilege is going to have its own beefed-up integration. I can’t wait for that.”

Trios is also looking forward to setting up online booking on their website and implementing salon-wide use of the Stylist App.

“Between all the new features, their superior reporting, and the mobile apps, SalonBiz is keeping up with the pace of technology. I like that.”

Reflecting on his past 19 years running the salon and dealing with three different softwares, server maintenance and data conversions, Joe had this to say:

“What I’ve learned is that there is no perfect salon software. They all have their own hiccups; it’s just a matter of how many hiccups versus how many benefits your software provides,” says Joe.