Whether we like it or not, the coronavirus epidemic is revolutionising the industry. The changes concern the way in which it is being perceived by the general public, but also the way hair and beauty services are going to be provided in the foreseeable future. People need their regular visits to keep themselves well-groomed and the lack of what they used to take for granted negatively affects their well-being. From regular people to news reporters and even government officials, each of them is affected the same way. Needless to say, we are all waiting for salons to finally reopen - but we have to be aware that when it happens, they won’t operate exactly the same. More and more experts, when talking about protocols to follow for a safe reopening, stress the importance of adopting digital solutions for management purposes. Operating a salon with an automated tool used to be a convenience - now it turns out to be a necessity. Let’s take a look at the reasons why starting your Booksy account will be a literal life-saver once you get back to operating.
Let’s begin with some unpleasant facts. Paper is considered a “soft surface” and as such, it cannot be disinfected properly - and therefore shouldn’t be reused. This makes using a paper notebook for running customer records and managing appointments pretty much impossible. According to the protocols enforced in countries that are already lifting the lockdown, you also shouldn’t hand paper notes with the date and time of the appointment to a client or even give them your business card. Overusing paper in your salon is not only very wasteful - in the new reality, it is also straight-up risky.
There is no room for walk-in appointments - now each visit has to be carefully planned in advance. Post-lockdown advice stresses the importance of reducing in-store contact even during the check-in and payment processes - so people simply walking in and discussing the most fitting date and time for ten minutes straight is a big no-no. You are most likely to keep the salon’s door closed, inviting only the one person that is booked for a particular slot. This is why you have to make the remote booking process as easy as possible for your clients - which leads us to...
Online booking used to be a great convenience for both you and your clients - now it’s additionally the safest and most efficient way of taking bookings out there. Once asking for an appointment in person is out of the question, you are left with phone calls and discussions via Messenger. Both of these are very time-consuming and tiring in the long run - especially since now you want to avoid unnecessary contact with any surfaces when working with a client. Every time you will be forced to stop and answer a call, you will have to go through the process of washing your hands and disinfecting the phone all over again. Moreover, post-lockdown reality requires maximum precision. There is no room for misunderstandings, double-bookings and other errors of that kind. Online booking ensures that one client is booked for an individual slot and removes the need to verbally arrange the date and time, thus reducing the risk of mishearings and misinterpretations.
As mentioned earlier, the booking process should work like a well-oiled machine. The client has to be fully certain of the date and time of their appointment - especially as the dreadful no-shows are going to be even more painful now, as you cannot simply start working on another client waiting in the reception area or invite a walk-in. It’s crucial to cut down the possibility of having a no-show as much as possible - and appointment reminders are your best bet.
It may sound harsh, but post-lockdown reality makes it necessary to gather information on your clients, as in the case of an emergency situation, you will have to track back who visited you at a certain time. If you use Booksy’s online booking feature, you already have an advantage - to make appointments online, your customers have to submit their contact information. Then, of course, you can keep adding other useful details - Booksy’s customer records not only safely gather clients’ data, but also automatically store their history of appointments and purchases. With such records, you will not only be able to quickly contact your client in case of any emergency but also provide better services in the salon and even recommend at-home care cosmetics remotely.
You have to be prepared that an emergency may occur. Salon protocols will help you to react accordingly - in such a situation, it’s important to keep calm and act quickly. If you, one of your staff members or a client starts showing symptoms of the coronavirus, you have to contact other customers booked for that day as soon as possible and cancel their visits. Booksy’s message blast option allows you to quickly filter all clients booked for a given period and send a message to each of them automatically. Whenever you will have to send important updates, statements or news to all or a particular group of clients, Booksy will be your quickest, most convenient and professional tool to do so.
It may happen that your employees will have to work in specific shifts, in order to keep physical contact with other people at a minimum. What’s more, just as with clients, you have to keep in touch with your staff members - if one of them falls ill, they have to inform you immediately and you have to be ready to rearrange the schedule. To help you manage it all, Booksy delivers digital work schedules. You keep in touch with your employees at all times and whenever there is a need to make quick rearrangements, you will be able to do so with just a few clicks.
As you have to follow all the spacing and disinfection protocols, you will need to plan time gaps between the visits to be able to sanitise the stations, tools and equipment properly. Using salon management software, you can easily add such gaps to your schedule, ensuring that no one will be able to book a slot right after another client.
Thanks to the Booksy system, you can ensure that the required equipment will be booked automatically during appointment scheduling. This way, you eliminate the risk of booking appointments that require the same resources - which is crucial now, as you cannot shuffle the stations so easily. This will make your organisation of work much easier!
Even after you reopen, the sales may not immediately be as impressive as one could imagine - due to the limitation of the number of clients allowed in the salon at the same time, which means you are not going to work at full capacity. Adding the time needed for disinfection and purchasing all sanitary products, your business may not be as profitable as you were expecting, at least not for a while. This is why Booksy has introduced a great way for earning money regardless of the circumstances - eGift Cards that can be sold remotely. Don’t let the post-lockdown reality surprise you and stop from making a profit - thanks to well-thought-out digital solutions, you will be able to get back to work safely. Test drive Booksy for free and see what a difference it makes!
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