The lead up to Christmas time always brings in more clients and with that more money – which is great! However this often means long, busy and stressful days for salon managers and owners, as well as staff. Make sure you’re getting the best out of all your salon software has to offer to reduce this stress.
1. Manage appointments with a waitlist
Manage client influx effectively with a waitlist! This allows you to store clients wanting appointments and easily fill gaps as they arise, especially during busy periods like the Christmas rush. It also helps mitigate the impact of cancellations.
Using your salon and spa software for your waitlist simplifies adding clients, tracking them, and quickly booking them when slots become available.
Learn more about how Kitomba Waitlist can easily help you fill those last minute appointments and maximise your revenue this Christmas: Fill last-minute cancellations with Kitomba Waitlist
2. Benefit from online booking
Online appointment booking is increasingly expected by clients, offering them convenience and enhancing their experience. It saves your staff time by reducing the need to monitor calls and messages.
When setting up online booking, ensure services are clearly described, including accurate names, details, and staff capabilities to prevent confusion.
If your software supports it, integrate your online booking with social media by adding “Book Now” buttons to Facebook and Instagram, allowing clients to book directly.
Did you know that with Kitomba Online Booking you can also take deposits or payments for appointments, easily manage your loyalty program, and collect client information? Find out more about Kitomba Online Booking.
3. Increase your profits with vouchers
Vouchers make ideal gifts, especially when they can be easily purchased online. Setting up your online voucher system early is key—start promoting them well before Christmas so they become the go-to gift option for your clients.
Selling vouchers not only generates additional revenue with minimal extra effort, but it also helps expand your client base as current clients purchase for friends and family. Think of it as planting seeds for future business!
Be sure to inform your clients about the simplicity of ordering vouchers online. Highlight that they can have the voucher emailed directly to the recipient, complete with a personalised message, all through your salon and spa software. This convenience adds a thoughtful touch, making gift-giving even easier.
Learn how to set up online vouchers in Kitomba.
4. Inform your clients with a marketing campaign
Don’t let your clients procrastinate this Christmas! Kick off the season with an early email or text campaign encouraging them to book appointments ASAP to avoid missing out.
If you have a waitlist feature, highlight it so clients know they can call to be added if their desired time isn’t available online.
Include details about your Christmas hours, gift ideas, and new products and services, along with a reminder to book pre-holiday appointments.
Keeping clients informed enhances their experience and helps manage the holiday rush effectively!
Find out how to set up one-off marketing campaigns with Kitomba software.
5. Increase sales by adjusting targets
Traditionally we see a large spike in client spend in quarter four each year – clients getting ready for the Christmas or summer holidays, attending events and more.
Take advantage of this trend by increasing your team’s targets so they’re motivated to achieve their goals. Now is the time to be leveraging an increase in retail sales, rebooking rates, and more.
If your software has a targets feature, be sure to set that up and provide your staff with access so it’s easy for them to track their progress on any device – you could even think about using staff incentives to help create that extra motivation for your team!
See more about how introducing Kitomba Targets to your team can help your business grow: How to introduce targets to your salon team.
6. Prepare your sale ahead of time
Save time by prepping client invoices as you go. Updating invoices with changes to services or retail products streamlines checkout, prevents missed items, and reduces congestion at the front desk.
Kitomba 1 now allows selected users to edit and delete invoices, making invoice management easier, especially for package billing.
If you’re a Diamond or Platinum customer with admin-level permissions, you can edit or delete invoices directly from the Sales tab or Appointment Book.
Additionally, we’ve introduced four user permissions to customize access based on your team members’ roles, enhancing security for your business.
Learn more about Kitomba 1 invoicing here.
See more about making a sale through Kitomba below.
7. Go paperless with digital forms
Creating digital forms that can be filled in by your clients on any device reduces your time spent on paperwork. They make consultations faster and help you keep a reliable record of the clients details and preferences.
You won’t have to manually add client details from paper onto your computer, and your client can easily fill in the form themselves!
Find out more about Kitomba’s digital forms.
8. Prepare holiday packages
Set up some Christmas or summer packages to encourage clients to try something new! It will mean your clients are spending more, and they might even be tempted to try the new service or product again, a great way to prompt them into rebooking for the start of next year.
Creating these packages is also an opportunity to get creative with marketing. Selling them as the essential “get summer-ready” package will remind clients that summer is just around the corner.
Creating packages with Kitomba is easy – simply choose the package name, add in the products and services you would like to include, and also a description of the package. You can choose whether to have this available through your Online Booking site, and also whether you would like to include a concession!
See more about setting up packages with Kitomba.
9. Set up staff timetables and Business Leave
The Staff Timetables and Business Leave features in Kitomba 1 make it easy to manage staff rosters, planned and unplanned leave, and any last-minute changes to your staff timetables from anywhere.
With any adjustments made to your staff timetables, as well as, all Business leave (for example Christmas Day) automatically updating the Appointment Book, you can ensure you and and your staff stay on top of this busy season.
Note: These features are available to all Gold, Platinum and Diamond customers.
Learn more about how to set up Staff Timetables and Business Leave.
10. Integrate with Reach.ai
Time is money in our industry and with the busy season upon us, there is no better time than to try to save time where you can!
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.
REACH.ai will help to give you and your staff an average of 14 hours back per week* by automatically and intelligently managing communication with your clients to help keep your appointment book full, including rebooking/pre-book messages, last-minute appointment availability, nurture campaigns for retention, and review requests.
How does it work?
- REACH.ai continuously scans your appointment book to look for any openings and last-minute cancellations for your bookable staff members.
- When a gap is identified, REACH.ai will look at your client database to see who is the best fit based on their history.
- Once clients are identified (and they don’t already have a future booking), REACH.ai will send them an email or SMS informing them about the available appointment with a link to your online booking site.
- Once the client books through your Kitomba Online Booking site it will show in your appointment book as usual, and you can accept or make changes to the appointment.
- You’ll be able to see all the messages that have been sent to your clients at any time using your REACH.ai dashboard.
Then you can use Reach.ai’s Reputation AI feature to help you maintain a great reputation online by getting more Google reviews – improving your SEO and attracting new clients, all while meeting Google’s terms of service. It works by sending automated emails to your return clients immediately after their appointments, inviting them to rate your business out of 5 stars and leave feedback.
Learn more about REACH.ai here.
Use your salon software to get Christmas ready
Every year, Christmas rolls around faster than we expect. We all know how precious time can be when running a salon, especially during the peak season! And when every dollar counts, it’s definitely worth leaning on your salon and spa software to do more, with less effort.
All it takes is a little planning and set up, but when done correctly and with plenty of time, it will help ease pressure, and get you into the flow of things once you’re in the midst of the busy season.
For more information, or assistance with setting up any of these features in Kitomba, contact our friendly support team, or view our online support guides here.
Not a Kitomba customer? Book your free demo to find out what Kitomba Salon and Spa Software can do for your business.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on 25 Nov 2020 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
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