Time and time again business owners in the beauty and aesthetic industry are told to ‘work on it, not just in it’ when it comes to their businesses. Between performing treatments, leading your team and providing an exceptional client experience, working in the business can often overwhelm the opportunity you have to work on the business.
Finding a happy medium (or the sweet spot) as I like to call it, can actually be a lot easier than you might think. The key? Automation.
Automation is the shift in practice you need to make to be able to create a business that really works. A business that really works for you, your team and your clients. It's a shift in practice that has everything to do with recognising that the purpose of your working life is not to serve your business, but rather have your business serve you.
Here are some of my favourite management tools that will allow that automation process to happen smoothly, so that you can elevate your client experience, save hours on admin, establish a much loved brand, and grow your revenue - tick, tick, tick!
1.Appointments
Juggling appointments is the number one time taking admin task that's often the bane of our existence - only to have the client cancel when you’re expecting them to walk through the doors! It’s important to fill your calendar, maximise your booked time and delight both your new and existing clients with a beautiful and intelligent booking solution. Businesses that use the online booking function with Timely and have enabled the 'minimised gaps' feature are up to 48% busier with appointments than those that have not.
2.Client experience
An above and beyond client experience means happy clients and great word of mouth. That being said, the client experience doesn’t just start and finish in the treatment room. When it comes to managing your business through automation, digital consultation forms, before and after photos, client history notes, purchased products and everything that encompases the touchpoints that take a treatment from okay to oh, wow!
3.Prescriptions and payments
Create a seamless check out experience for your clients with innovative payment solutions from reception, mobile, ipad and more. Set up your tools to encourage your team to upsell, value add, rebook and retain your clients via cashless pay, online gift vouchers and prepaid services.
4.Marketing
Build your brand, credibility and client loyalty with powerful marketing tools that help automate client growth and retention for your business. Set and forget SMS messages to remind your clients about their upcoming appointments, email them to advertise a new service or product launch and wish them a happy birthday with a personalised message. The more marketing your business automates, the more your clients are likely to remember you next time they’re looking for a glow up and the more time you’ll have on your hands.
5.Inventory
Cut your admin time in half and keep your business humming with sophisticated retail and professional stock management tools that let you sell more. With the click of a button, you can see that Mary has returned to the treatment room and is due for a top up of cleanser she purchased last treatment. It’s intelligent systems like this that make your team look like superstar professionals.
6.Employees
Stay in control of your business and keep your team focused and organised with staff dashboards, timesheets, rosters and automated appointment updates. There’s nothing worse than a double booked treatment room or an impossible turnaround time from one client to the other. Ensure your business management systems are intelligent and can pick up these overlapped clients to keep your services flowing and your staff on side.
7.Reporting and analytics
Reporting might not be in our bank of knowledge but with the help of easy to navigate dashboards and in depth reports you can understand insights that power your decision-making, help motivate your team and keep you in control. Understanding the story that average client spend amounts and rebooking rates are telling will help guide your business to success when aligning goals and measuring growth.
8.Business admin
Manage your team and locations from anywhere, with flexible, easy to use tools that keep you in control of every detail, while ensuring your business and data is secure. Enjoy true time away from the business while being able to feel calm and collected should you need to access the books.
Discover all of the features that make Timely the world’s most loved appointment booking software for businesses of any size, industry and growth ambition at https://www.gettimely.com/
Words: Tamara Reid, Head of Brand - Timely Business Management Software