Every year, SalonBiz hosts a state of the union at its PowerUp event in January, held in conjunction with Serious Business, where users gather to learn about the newest features in their favorite software.

This year, SalonBiz Director of Sales Denise Boudreaux outlined all the benefits, bells and whistles that users are loving, and then brought three industry leaders out to share their personal success stories.

Marketing With SalonBiz

Vivian Yeh, owner of Josephine’s Salons and Spas in Houston, Texas, was ready to consolidate all the various software programs she was using to run her business. After a conversation with her SalonBiz rep, she realized she already had everything she needed.

Now she no longer overspends on overlapping software—every tool she needs is in one spot.

One of her favorite features is the ability to put her clients into three categories—promoter, passive and detractor. She knows which clients are “promoters” and asks them to leave reviews/ratings, which helps Yeh generate five-star ratings.

A daily report gives Yeh a recap of all the reviews, comments and scores from the day before, and she responds to all of them. She also gets a text or email alert in real time when a negative review posts, allowing the salon to take immediate action.

“I’m fixing problems I didn’t even know I had,’” she says. “I can find out if a stylist’s nails are too long, if the music isn’t right, if the check-out process takes too long—these surveys/reviews allow me to improve my business and be a better marketer,” she says.

Yeh says she is also able to use these surveys when she does employee performance reviews, giving her comments and suggestions from real clients.

Integrated Payments

Tim Tupy, owner of Liv Aveda Lifestyle Salon & Spa, in Mankato, Minnesota, launched integrated payments in March 2019 after wasting hours manually entering in his numbers every day.

“It was messy and unclear with tips and reconciling cash, credit cards, checks, etc.,” he says. “Now it’s simple.”

All payments, including online gift cards, are now integrated in SalonBiz, eliminating human error and saving time. And Tupy’s favorite part? They no longer have to ask guests if they want to leave gratuity.

“Before, the system would put the gratuity at a different charge rate,” Tupy says. “For example, for a $100 @ 2 percent (credit card fee), and then add a tip after the charge it goes into a higher charge bracket of, let’s say, 4 percent. So we were asking the guests the tip amount before the charge—it was difficult for the team to ask and awkward for new guests. The service staff would rush off because they didn’t want to ask.”

Now, gratuity can be left discreetly, and everyone is happy.

Scheduling and Reminders

Christian Malacara, CEO and co-owner of Montage Salon in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Matthew Stam, Director of Operations, found their front desk staff making too many calls. Between confirmation calls and reminders, they were making 100-125 calls per day. Automated confirmations and reminders were a game changer. It saves two to three hours a day, freeing the front desk up to serve clients in the salon.

They’ve also gone front deskless, with two self check-in kiosks. Stylists have iPads at stations to check out and pay. Clients don’t leave the chair without professional product recommendations recorded in their file and their next appointment booked.

Every reminder and promotional email sent to clients always includes links for online booking or booking through the Pocket Salon app.

Montage has automated emails to clients about birthdays, reminders or anything else they want to communicate. The salon is more efficient and provides better customer service than ever.

“Technology allows our business to focus on in-house customer service experiences and services while offering a seamless and efficient automation of ways to reach customers about appointments, salon promotions and upcoming events that previously had to be handled in a more time consuming, hands-on manner,” Malacara says. “With the communication tools we can set up future communications and strategically target growth opportunities with our guests.”

Are you maximizing the features in SalonBiz to your salon’s full benefit? Get inspired by these owners and maximize technology to provide the best possible client experience.