Robots are not going to cut hair or perform other salon services any time soon. It requires human judgement and intuition and there’s a bond of trust that develops between a stylist and their customer. However, technology can still transform a salon by streamlining processes, adding automation, and generating more business. By using technology solutions including various cloud-based platforms, salon owners, managers, and stylists can all benefit by staying busier and developing long-term relationships with loyal customers. As the country starts reopening and decimated salons dive back into business, they’ll also need technology to develop competitive advantages as demand for their services grows. Here are some top tech tips to jumpstart your hair stylist career.
The average salon features five to ten stylists in a 1,500 square foot space. A successful salon requires a steady stream of returning and new clients to keep the chairs filled so the owner can pay the rent and keep the business growing. To do this well and consistently, owners and managers need to maximize their time to ensure every step is ROI positive. So, whether they’re managing product inventory, managing the schedule, or performing outreach to new customers, they need to relate their efforts directly to money in everyone’s pockets. This is best done through technology.
Use Technology to Improve Social Media Marketing
Many salon owners follow the competition by posting on Instagram every day without an underlying strategy. They take hours to setup perfect poses and lighting to showcase their work, but they don’t have visibility into if their efforts produce new customers.
Managers want to build a social media presence, but they need to use the right types of content. For example, if they want to find customers on Instagram, they need video content. There’s several free or inexpensive editing software applications that are accessible and allow users to add graphics, simple effects, and other elements that can improve production values. And salon managers can also use editing software to cut video content into segments. So, if they build a 60-second spot for YouTube, they can chop that into five or second segments for Facebook or Instagram. Repurposing content is a great way to maximize ROI for these social media efforts.
Owners can also consider spending money on paid advertising on Facebook or other channels. Taking the time to learn a few platforms and tools will pay off for the long term as managers refine their skills and narrow their efforts to those that produce the optimal results. Again, just some top tech tips here to learn.
Create a Tech-Enabled Sales Funnel
Technology platforms can add structure and automation to new business efforts. They’re required for developing a sales funnel, where paying customers filter down from a large audience, into prospects, to leads, to booked clients, to clients that show up and pay. A sales funnel encourages salon owners to focus on the ways their actions relate to revenue.
For example, maybe a salon has a goal of bringing in $25,000 in a month. They can use a sales funnel platform to gauge how large of an audience they need to reach to pull in a certain number of prospects, and then paying customers. Firms like Grow Hair Clients offer a multi-step sales funnel solution that functions as a roadmap for increasing conversions and retention. This platform automates several of the sales and marketing efforts. It removes some manual processes and adds business structure to the salon industry. For example, the platform provides users with automated conversion scripts that use informative non-pushy language. It also offers suggested ad copy and creative elements, pricing guidelines, and various appointment generation tools. That’s why leveraging top tech tips will help your business and career.
Extract Value from Your Leads
As you utilize a sales funnel you’ll pull in more leads. Without technology tools you’ll struggle to extract optimal value from these leads. Consider using a cloud-based CRM platform that puts all your contact information in one place that’s accessible and secure. Some CRM platforms are available for around 20 dollars a month per user, a small investment for a service that can send automated messages, help with scheduling, and help you create mass yet personalized messages.
For salons, you want to capture leads and then immediately make them an attractive offer. Consider product-based offers instead of free or discounted salon services to get into the customer’s habitual buying habits. CRM tools and other cloud-based collaboration platforms allow you to offload manual scheduling, manage product inventory, and streamline various other functions. It frees you from manual tasks so there’s more time to improve the in-person customer experience, boost the stylists’ job satisfaction, and to focus on getting more paying customers in the door.
When adding a new technology tool or platform to your salon business, always try to ensure it’s providing you with measurable results. You’re running a business, and need technology that works for your schedule, automates certain tasks, and gives you a roadmap for more customers and more profits. Just a few top tech tips to jumpstart your hair stylist career.
