Running a hair and beauty business is a bit of a juggling act. But there are salon software features that will vastly improve your business by automating admin-heavy tasks, streamlining processes and delighting your clients.
Not only will these features save you time, but they’ll also drive more revenue for your business!
Here are seven essential software features from Kitomba Salon and Spa Software that will help to save you and your clients time, while growing your bottom line.
1. Introduce digital forms
Reduce the time spent copying, uploading, filing and storing paper forms with Kitomba Forms. They’re completely customisable ensuring they work for your business and your clients, and you won’t have a pile of paper left to search through at the end of it.
The forms are automatically saved to your client cards and can be accessed from any device, giving you and your staff more time to tend to your clients. It’s also a game changer for client consultations, making them faster and more consistent.
You can also send forms to your clients via email or text message to fill out prior to their appointment, which can help reduce the amount of time each appointment takes and the number of clients in your waiting area. Find out more about sending digital forms.
2. Offer online booking
Time spent answering the phone and going through the appointment book can be tedious, and when calls are missed during a busy period, it could result in a lost booking.
Setting up online booking with Kitomba is easy, and once it’s live your clients can see what appointment times are available and book services easily online 24/7, helping to fill your appointment book outside of normal business hours.
You remain fully in control of your appointment book as you need to approve, edit or deny appointments before they’re confirmed.
You can also fully customise your online booking site to create a seamless experience for your clients. For example, check that your services and packages are clearly named and have descriptions, use staff capabilities to ensure the correct staff are booked for services and make sure you use the customisation options to get your branding on point.
Find out more about the benefits of online booking for salons, spas and clinics.
3. Manage appointments with a waitlist
If you’re receiving more bookings than you can handle (which isn’t a bad thing!), the best way to handle the influx of clients is with a waitlist. This allows you to store a list of clients who would like a booking, along with their preferences, and as you find gaps or appointment times become available, you can add them to your appointment book.
This is especially helpful during busy periods, like Christmas, when your appointment book is completely full and you have clients waiting for an opportunity to get a booking. Learn more about Kitomba’s Waitlist feature.
4. Automate client messages
There’s a vast range of messages you can send to your clients between their appointments to stay in touch and help provide a fantastic client experience. These include birthday messages, appointment reminders, post service care instructions and retail purchase reminders.
Sending these out manually on a daily basis is time consuming and can become one of the activities that drops off your to do list. Instead, take the time to sit down and set up these messages to automatically send to your clients using your salon and spa software. That way you’re maintaining a consistent line of communication with your clients without any ongoing work on your end.
Find out more: The top 10 client messages you could automate now
5. Streamline your stock management
Effective stock management includes knowing the performance of your stock. Your software should help you know when you need more (based on past sales), how much you have and when to order. You should be able to print a report that tells you everything you need to know about your stock.
For example, Kitomba’s Stock Value report gives you an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the value and quantity of your stock on hand. The report enables you to keep an eye on your stock levels and see which products are selling, and which ones aren’t.
When you want to order stock, you can simply print off a list directly from your software with the order ready to send to your supplier.
Kitomba’s upsell retail feature also saves you time searching through client notes to see what a client’s most recent purchases are. You can click on the recent purchases button when invoicing a client to instantly see what they’ve bought, or if they haven’t purchased retail before click the upsell retail button to see the most popular selling products for men or women.
6. Simplify payroll
At the end of a busy week, the last thing you want to do is spend hours doing payroll. Luckily you’ve got software to help with that! Kitomba’s Time Clock allows your staff to clock in and out so you have an accurate record of working hours, while Time Sheets automatically displays your staff’s hours and leave, which you can then view, edit and approve – ready for payroll.
A report detailing approved hours can then be imported to your payroll system allowing you to confidently pay your staff correctly. Simple!
7. Fill your appointment book automatically
Kitomba has exclusively partnered with REACH.ai to help automate your client communications and fill your appointment book by sending personalised text and email messages automatically.
The message includes the client’s name, your business name and branding, and informs the client about the appointment time and date available – inviting them to book directly through your Kitomba Online Booking site, and providing your booking link to make it easy.
These messages produce the highest conversion rates, and are focused on ensuring that your clients maintain their usual patterns and that your appointment book is filled.
See how REACH.ai can benefit your salon with a 30-day free trail or learn more here.
Use your salon software to its fullest potential
When we’re trying to juggle a million things running a busy hair and beauty business, the small changes to how we do things can make a big difference. By introducing smarter ways of working through utilising our salon and spa software to its full potential, such as introducing new processes, tools and automation, it’s possible to achieve a better work-life balance while still growing your business!
So, take the opportunity to look at your business and invest time in implementing new systems, tools and automations, which can save you so much time in the long run.
Kitomba has some fantastic features that are easy to implement and can not only save you time, but also help to enhance your client experience. Book your free demo to see how Kitomba could help your business.
This blog was originally published on the 21 December 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness and accuracy.
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