After the year you’ve had and the busy season you’re in the middle of, gals and guys, you need to find a pool, a cocktail with a little umbrella🍹 and kick your feet up STAT!
We wanted to help make your life a little bit easier while you push through the next few weeks or even months of hectic business so let’s jump into them!
Keep your finger on the pulse
Cloud Appointment Book
🔥HOT TIP🔥 – By keeping online booking (and your main computer) switched on while you’re closed (like at night or on weekends) clients can still make bookings for when you re-open. If you want to check-in on the appointments that are being made while you’re at home, the Cloud Appointment Book will be your best friend! You’ll be able to see appointments appear on your mobile device in real-time as they’re booked.
You can even control what clients are booking, and when – just make sure to configure and update your online booking settings and update your rosters.
👉Click here to watch a super quick video to learn how to configure your settings.
Cloud Reporting
Numbers make your business go ’round! So keeping a tab on your must-know business stats is super important – no matter how flat-strap you are in the busy season.
With our sleek and easy to process Cloud Reporting dashboards, you’ll be able to see at a glance the numbers that really matter to you. Think things like net sales, rebooking percentage, average customer spend and view employee KPI’s and performance metrics.
Marketing
Automated marketing is going to take a MASSIVE weight off your shoulders while you’re seeing clients back to back during the busy season! Set aside just 30 minutes to make sure your email and SMS marketing campaigns are all set up and running as expected, so you can focus on servicing the clients who have been desperate for your love and attention during lockdown!
Some of our favourite campaigns you can set up include “time to see you again” reminders, birthday wishes🎂, and even happy holiday messages so you can continue those timely interactions with your clients.
👉Click here to learn how to get your automated marketing campaigns up and running.
You can login to the cloud and start using the Cloud Appointment Book, Cloud Reporting, and Marketing features today! Click here to login.
If you need a hand, reach out to our Helpdesk team on ☎️1300 667 374☎️ and they’ll help you get started with any of these cloud features!
Prepare for storm season
Summer = storm season for many Aussies which means there’s some prep work that needs to be done! Heck, we wish it didn’t need to be considered, but unfortunately wild weather, bush fires and flooding pose a real risk to businesses. To be on the safe side, there’s a couple of things you can do during storm season to keep your computer and data safe from Mother nature having a rage.
Back up your computer
Now, if you’re planning on closing your doors for a few days over the holidays, don’t forget to back up your computer! Your computer ideally should be backed up daily, so you’ll never feel the effects of lost data if something does go wrong. But at least backing it up before you close down for the holidays will save you so much grief if something were to happen while you are away. Like flood, fire or theft – they do happen!
What lost data means is you may not have a record of bookings made since your last backup, what they were for, or who they were with. Eeek! 🙅♀️
Especially if a storm is brewing or you receive a fire warning, take a backup of your salon data on an external hard drive so you won’t lose a thing, even if your computer is impacted.
👉Watch this quick video on how to backup your data.
Move your computer
If there is any chance of your salon flooding, make sure to raise your computer up high. A tabletop should be fine, but as high up as you can is always best!
If there is a chance your salon will be affected by natural disaster, like a flood or fire, you can always take your computer with you – but only if it’s safe to do so.
If you live in a super ⛈️storm-prone region⚡ (hey there QLD🙋♀️) then you’ll have to take some extra steps to protect your system and data from electrical surges and sudden power outages.
In addition to daily backups and moving your computer, you’ll need to:
Unplug your computer
You may have heard that you need to turn your computer off when a storm hits, but did you know that once you’ve turned it off, you also need to unplug it from the wall? Yep, a power surge can destroy your computer and all the data on it in just one second, which is why it’s so important to disconnect it from power.
Your data is so much more valuable to your business both short and long term than just one night of missed online bookings, so if a storm is forecast, remember to take that extra step to keep your salon safe.
Keep a print-out (just in case)
Going old school is a fail-safe way to ensure the safety of your salon, spa or barbershop. If a storm is forecast and you’re worried you might lose power, it’s so easy to print out all of the essentials so you can keep your business running.
You can easily print out your day sheets to so you can keep up with your day-to-day running of the salon without descending into chaos.
Printing out your price list is another great way to prepare for when the power goes out, especially when you offer an extensive range of product and services. You can do this via the service breakdown with levels report in your Shortcuts system. This way your team can check out your clients and charge them the correct amount.
The last thing you can do for a power outage is make sure you have a cash box that can be manually opened and doesn’t rely on a computer to open it. That way you can still check out your clients and make transactions without needing to chase them up later!
If you have any questions about keeping your computer and data safe in storm season, feel free to get in touch with our 24/7 Helpdesk team on 1300 667 374.
And lastly, we want to wish you all a very happy and safe holidays – and here’s hoping for a better 2022!
