“The Truth
about Salon & Spa Computer Systems”
A
Free Guide
Introduction
Don’t worry
you are in safe hands, this is a fun and super simple guide to the truth about buying
a computer system for your salon or spa.
Because this has information you may only find out after your purchase
there are some who do not want you to read this. I try to give general advice
in this report and I try to not be biased, but for some absolutely crucial
things I must stress them to you. If you do have any questions I am always
willing to answer them on the contacts below.
Why?
You want a
computer system because it will save you time, do your paperwork for you and get
you organized. With electronic marketing it will get your business to grow
amazingly quickly by filling up those quiet days. That’s great, but there are
pitfalls and problems. I hope this report
helps you along the way; it is a collection of 10 years of experience of computers
and helping businesses’ and allows you to be aware of the issues BEFORE you pay
out the money.
Let’s get
some of the buzzwords out of the way so you are familiar with what you are
buying.
|
Buzzwords Hardware -
anything you can touch Software -
anything you cannot touch and runs on the computers hardware this is
sometimes known as the “system” Support –
Somebody who can help you, on the telephone or over e-mail or connect to your
computer over the internet, to easily help you. Setup –
Somebody who can come to see you or connect to your computer over the internet
to install your software Training –
Someone to come to see you or connect to your computer over the Internet to show you how to actually use the
system. |
Guilt
Packed “Free” Demonstrations
“You HAVE to buy it, we have come all this
way to show you it“ – OUCH!
Don’t ever
let anyone visit you unless you have actually SEEN the product FIRST.
Don’t even
give out your contact details. Once they
are in your home or business you will be made to feel awkward and in most cases
bullied into signing up there and then……how horrible..…don’t
let it happen to you.
Pushy Sales People?
Imagine a
busy day, imagine your phone ringing, and imagine how annoying it would be for
that to be a pushy sales person who you almost have to hang up on to get rid
of. You talk to them all the time trying to sell you something, and you just
switch off, right? It’s your choice, in your time; don’t be bullied into making
the wrong decision, if a company is not run with respectful sales people as
your first contact, are they going to respect you when you need help and
support? When something goes wrong? When you want your money back? It’s YOUR
choice in YOUR time and you should be respected.
The
Delivery Date Con
Your Hardware
delivery gets ‘delayed’. By the time it gets to you and you need help to
set it up you are told that your free support time has expired and that you
must take their support package in order for them to help you get setup –
disgusting! Call another reputable
software company and they will get you setup free with nothing further to pay. It is a bad sign of things to come from that
outfit – Ditch em’.
The License
Con
We have
recently heard about a salon software company (lets call them whySalon) that have bought into another company with
existing customers who had already paid for their software. Guess what? They
are now saying that they have to keep on paying even though after 5 years of
paying they thought they owned the software. Very nasty and underhanded, rather
like your mortgage company saying “actually you have paid 25 years but need to
keep paying or we take your house, sorry!”.
Find another new company and ask about transferring your data over,
they’ve probably done it before and it may be free.
The
Tax Con
100% tax
deductable! It’s like those toothpaste adverts “I am not a dentist” – You need
to talk to a professional accountant to find out if you can claim the tax back
on the software. If you can it will probably be JUST the software and not the
expensive help and support packages on offer.
Money is money and if someone says “you may as well have the best as you
can claim it all against your tax bill” – This is fine but remember if the
government changes their policy on tax and software you are the one STILL
paying the bill!
Easy to use?
Everyone
says this, everyone, but take a look, does it look easy to use? Are there ANY
screen shots of the system on the website? Remember you are using the system
daily, it needs to be genuinely easy, not just after 2 days of expensive
training. As you look at a screen shot
think about training the new employee in the system that you see? Would you
like to be keeping your customers waiting while you scratch your head because
you forgot which button to press?
Take a look in your local “chain” coffee shop
or big store for the system they use. They cannot have people waiting, they use
touch screens, they have systems built specially for touch screens and they’re
professional businesses that value customer service. They also have high staff turnover so
training is an issue, which is why they have excellent and easy to use systems.
Price
The big question! The main warning with price
is you really do get what you pay for, but, only up to a point. The very cheap software is attractive, but
many people buy and then find it too difficult to use, with no support or help,
then you have to start looking again and end up spending out, again. If it’s cheap or very cheap you just don’t
get the support because you have not paid for it, and you need the support!
(See “free trial” section below)
On the other side, beware of the very large
companies that advertise widely,
some even produce their own magazines! This costs a huge amount of money. Who
pays for all that? Hmmmm…. It is you when you buy their over inflated software system!
Just don’t
accept that, you are paying way over
the odds and you are directly paying
for someone else’s expensive trade shows,
expensive sales people, expensive cars and expensive hotels and flights!
Don’t let
them get away with the price is ‘about’ X amount – get it in writing. In short
the price you see is not the price you pay with all the hidden costs.
Very Cheap
Software!
We have all
bought something that was too good to be true, I have, and it always turns out
to be a mistake, very cheap software = bad idea. What is missing; think about if anyone is
there for you when it goes wrong or just if you have a question. If you know
computers, great, save some money, if not you need a system that literally is
Childs play and its worth spending a little bit more for it. Beware of companies that lock you into their
support and their computer hardware. You will save a huge amount of money by
buying from your local computer shop instead of their over inflated
prices….don’t do it! Don’t accept the
rip offs.
Hidden
Setup Costs and Must Have Costs
Read the
small print. Always. Ask if there is anything else
that you MUST have and MUST pay for ahead of making your decision.
The price
looks great. Is it all you have to pay? Ask. Remember if it looks too good to
be true, it always is. Once you decide
on your system do you have to pay for
setup? Do you have to pay for
training? Do you have to pay for
telephone support? Do you have to pay
for e-mail support? Do you have to
buy their computer hardware? Ask. There is always some catch. You can end up
paying 3 times what you originally thought.
Online
(web page based) versus Windows based
What you
will be told; “We do your data backups for you” and “Your customers can book
appointments 24/7”, these are the main selling points. Think about this; would
you trust anyone else to do your backups? I wouldn’t! Good Windows based
software will have an internet booking system. Further to
this, and more important than anything, if your internet connection stops
working then so does your business. Not worth the risk.
Testimonials
Do not
believe all you read! Anyone could have written a testimonial and popped it on
a website or sales letter. Look it up
and see if the salon exists, call them on a quiet day, ask how the system is
working for them and if they are well supported, then you will know. If the testimonial is provided with a picture
of the salon with an employee actually using the system on screen, it is much
more likely to be true.
A quote
from “David from
We
have more than 10,000 Customers!
A marketing
trick, don’t believe it, there is no proof other than talking to someone who
uses the system and see if they are happy, visit if possible, talk to the staff
using it!
I
want to store customer details/replace my messy paper cards!
Some cheap
systems will do just this and maybe
this will be great for you.
Good systems
will reduce features down and reduce the cost to you at the same time. This means you could start with just the basics
you feel you need and expand in your own time without paying for the stuff you
don’t use! You should be able to just start with replacing your paper cards, and
then replace your paper daybook.
As more
salons use electronic marketing you would not want to get left behind. Always
think to your future and invest the proper amount in it. Imagine how impressed your customers would be
with reminders of appointments on their mobile cell phone or e-mail, or a
“thank you” message after they have been in.
They will show their friends who will become your customers just so they can show their friends! The best systems do this totally automatically,
no more busy phones and wasted time while you remind people about appointments.
Get
Broadband it will save you money
Put simply,
if your system provider “cannot” connect to your computer from their offices to
solve problems, or just to show you how to do something, it is going to cost
you money. Visits are likely to cost you
money, if you get broadband it will save you money
from the start because you won’t have expensive people visiting you. If you are
told you must have someone visit and
it is going to cost you, say no, it’s really unacceptable.
Free
Trials are great, always use them!
You will be
using the system daily; it’s got to be easy and simple. A free trial will let
you know instantly if you can use a system. You should be able to be using it
very quickly without being scared! Always
do a trial first, even before you give out your phone
number, in the modern world if they do not have a free trial you can get from
the internet then, simply put, they have something to hide. Why would they not want you to see their
great and easy to use software? Because it isn’t easy to use or it needs some very
expensive setup.
Automatic reminders of appointments (two-way?)
Your simple
software should allow totally automatic
reminders of appointments to be sent out the day before all customers
appointments. I do mean totally
automatic, you don’t click or open or do anything, the computer should do it in
the background, and you don’t have to think about it, you simply remove your
no-show % without even trying. The best
systems have two-way reminders (or 2
way) meaning that the customer can reply to the message from their mobile. If
they say ‘No I cannot make it’ – the software should e-mail you and turn the
appointment a different colour; so you know you can
release the appointment time for another customer.
Touch
screen systems are highly recommended to impress!
Get them,
it will allow you to check out your customers faster, they require less training
and mostly you don’t have to fiddle with the computer mouse, which is slow.
They are also
impressive for your customers to see and don’t cost that much more.
Be aware
that for a good touch screen systems to work well, you need good software to
run on the computer, software that has been specially designed for touch screen
systems.
What
do I need to run an electronic daybook?
Is a
week book handy?
The free
trial should reveal all, but make sure you get the daybook as not all systems
have the daybook. A week book is also very helpful, for example, if someone
asks for time off you can see how busy the week is very easily. With a daybook and touch screen you can move
appointments by touching the screen and dragging the appointment to the new
time or employee, making it dead easy, no more messy pencil marks and erasers.
Marketing
with E-mail and SMS Text Messages
You don’t
have to have quiet days anymore, if you get each of your customers postal
addresses, e-mail and Mobile Cell phone numbers you have a great deal of
flexibility to market to them very easily in future. Your salon software should allow you to easily
target different customer groups also, for example, you should be able to
target all men under 30 who usually have a back wax and send them a text
message on your quiet days.
Help
and Support
Watch out for
the companies that can charge an obscene amount on a per call basis just to help
you, also ask them if there are any limits of calls per month under the
agreement you are paying for, you should get 30 days completely free help as a
minimum. You should get 4 or 5 calls a
month (1 a week) as part of the support plan and unlimited e-mail help as
standard.
You may be
sold a cheap system from the start, but you can really spend a lot of money on
the forced support that is absolutely needed on over complex systems. Getting a simple, well put together system up
front will cost more but will save you money and frustration very quickly.
If you
cannot get through on the phone, always leave a telephone message and if you
have left one before with the same issue, say that on the message and that
no-one has contacted you back. Especially if you do leave a message on the
phone do also E-Mail the same message to the support department to back it up
and again say you have not had a reply.
This covers you twice and at least one method should get you a response!
Then make
sure you check your e-mail for a reply before getting mad!
Setup
The very best systems will set themselves up
automatically based on how you use it, the first time you will show it how long
a service would take to do and next time it remembers – saving you loads of
time. To have someone visit you to set this up can be very costly – This is no
longer acceptable – Get a system that learns and save money.
As with
training (below) you should be able to do this yourself for free, or at least
your salon software provider should be able to connect over the internet and
set you up, again for free, even using a computer you have bought. It is not necessary to visit you at an
expense if you get a broadband internet connection.
You could
literally pay for 2 to 3 years of broadband internet costs by not paying for
setup and getting them to do it over the internet for free, this should be
provided.
Training
This can
get expensive; as you are paying for a dedicated trainer to come out to your
salon. You might want this and you might have the budget for it, if you do,
this is the best money you can spend, and get as many people in as possible so
many people can help you in future if you forget. Before you pay, ask if they do a free training
DVD and look for free training\demonstrations over the internet instead, they
should be able to do these and it will save you a lot of money.
Get
out from a bad provider! Money Back offers!
You should
be able to give a months notice, it seems fair that if you are not happy you
should be able to cancel with 30 days notice.
There are currently two companies giving 12 month money back offers. In
practice to get this refund you would need to be writing in a book all the
problems you had and not simply decide after 12 months that enough is
enough. Even if you got the money from
the lease or purchase of the software this would not include a refund of the
computer hardware. Keep a diary of
issues and how quickly they got solved from the very start.
Is your
information stuck in a bad system?
If you have
trouble with your existing salon software provider and are looking to move, but
feel trapped, your information might be able to be moved to your new system,
ask about this service.
A lot of
salon software companies will take your suppliers product list and get it into
your new system, if they cannot they are not very good at all! This should also be free and a condition of
the purchase/lease. Ask!
Systems
sold outside of their native country
Watch out
when you are told about free telephone support, that’s fine if you are actually
IN the country that provides it, if not, it might start to cost you a lot to be
on hold!
Ask.
E-mails get answered slowly if they are asleep still when you send it!
Leasing
expensive computer hardware?
Don’t do
this! Any modern system should run fine on a very basic computer you can
purchase from your local computer shop on a shoe string budget. The main reason is that 12 months down the
line it is really not worth even half of what you are still paying for it. You will
also be paying well over the odds for it. If you are told you must buy a
certain system get on the phone to someone else, it’s not true, or at least you
do have other options. I would advise you to buy receipt printers, hand
scanners and cash drawers as, and when, you can afford them, a good system
should allow this slow expansion.
I would also
advise you to get extended warranty on all hardware because if it goes wrong
it’s someone else’s cost and not yours.
A
Printer and Ink
Buy a printer, even a cheap black and white one will do, it does not need to
be colour. A
Canon is a good make and great quality.
Get to your local ink refill shop and save money too. A good system should allow you to print out
your electronic daybook for the next day along with customer contact
details. You should do this before you
go home the night before, this will protect you from fire, theft or even just
your computer stopping working. You will
then have the information you need to carry on the next day while it is fixed.
Are
Laptops a good idea for salon front desks?
Laptops are
your most flexible way of working, but due to their portable nature your local
thief could make it a little too portable and grab it from your front desk. I think all laptops have a little security
ring that you can actually lock it to the desk. Do this or you could loose it
very quickly, also keep it out of immediate sight by having it down on a desk
not up on the desk. As another note, a
desktop will perform your tasks faster than a laptop when compared purely on
how much money you are spending. Laptops are much cheaper these days and so it is
a flexible way to save money as you do not have to have a “home” version of the
salon software, you just have one laptop that stays with you 24 hours.
Get a
recommendation
As with all
things, there are no guarantees, but by getting a recommendation from a friend or
website chat forum you are at least getting half way to knowing that the
service has been good for someone else. This is obviously better than a blind
and random selection. Ask if you can
talk to an existing salon owner who runs the system, then ask them how good the
support is and how fast your problems are dealt with.
I
have a few salons, it gets expensive doesn’t it?
You may
have lots of complicated choices here with some providers, involving hugely
over inflated costs for “enterprise” versions.
You are basically being sold the same version but because they know you
have more of a budget they are inflating things (to put it nicely). In fairness,
you should only pay one license for each salon computer. In fairness to the
provider and team you should pay for any setup of “networking” or connecting
each of your computers together, this is acceptable as it is a specialized job.
Either way this is hugely cheaper than the inflated cost of “enterprise”
versions.
Keep shopping around!
Viruses!
You need to
buy anti-virus software with your computer hardware, ask you local computer
shop, if your software provider does not insist on you having anti-virus,
something is wrong, you must always have anti virus software installed. The
brand matters very little, they will all protect you to a degree and so are
essential to have.
Backups!
Your
information is vital; there might be 3 or more months’ worth of future
appointments in your system, if customers are not reminded about them they might
be forgotten. Your salon software should
automatically backup your information at least once a day. The good ones will do it every time you close
the software down for the night so you know it is safe. Ask you local computer shop for a “
Get a power surge protector! (Crucial)
If you get
an electricity power surge for some reason it can destroy your computer, this
happened to me and I was not happy. You
would not be happy arriving in the morning if it happens. A surge protector plugs into your normal
electric socket on the wall and then you plug your computer into the surge
protector. If there is a power surge
this will just shut off and not let the electricity overload your computer. Ask
your local computer or electrical shop for one, the cheapest will do. The more
expensive ones can also protect your phone line which is probably well worth
having as this is the main way customers contact you! Ask.
Latest Technology?
Salon
software can run on different computers from different manufacturers.
Salon
software can be created in many different technologies and at the time of
writing there is only one written in the latest Microsoft technology called
.Net (pronounced DOT NET) version 3.5 released in 2008 with a 2008 reports engine.
The older
the technology used to create the salon software the harder it is to add new features;
this is why many do not have advanced features like SMS-Mobile text message
marketing. It is simply too hard to
create in the old technologies. Looking
forwards, by getting a salon system that is written using the very latest
technologies is a good way to future-proof you for whatever is next.
DOS based – generally a black screen with white or green
letters, no nice pictures and very cheap to buy, please steer away from these,
they are out of date and possibly unstable.
Microsoft Windows – The most common operating system on a
computer, you probably have Windows XP or Windows Vista setup on the computer
you are reading this on. It is also the
most popular operating system for running salon software.
Apple Mac – This is a solid system and some say more
stable than Windows but due to it being less popular you might spend more money
on someone to support the actual hardware and the operating system, which is aside
from your salon software costs. Currently
I know of only one salon software that uses the Apple Mac.
In Summary
Buying the
right, genuinely easy to use system is difficult;
You want a
computer because it will save you time and get you organized with paperwork and
help with running your very busy day.
You need to
compete with the salons in the area, which means you need to promote your
business using e-mail, text messages and personal letters. This needs to be fast and easy, if you do it
yourself with a mobile phone and your paper customer cards, it will work but will
take an age, get the computer to do things for you and take it easy.
You will
then compete and in most cases beat the competition in the area.
Thanks for
reading, I hope it helps.
Always here to help
with our own super-simple salon software
It is very well thought-out
and we wrote it ourselves.
Our Software is called
“Platinum” and it will change your salon life!
Worldwide - Call Me
Back Please?
www.xpectworld.net/Contact/PlatinumContactMe.html
0845 680 0019 from
+44 845 680 0019 from Europe
0011 44 845 680 0019 from
011 44 845 680 0019 from
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Copyright Craig Kelly-Soens SalonSoftwareSystem.com
(Alphatask Ltd Group)