3 Ways Technology Can Ramp Up Revenue in Your Salon

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Courtesy of Vish

It’s time to forget the misery of missed service revenue.

Every stylist has been there–during an appointment you realize the client needs an extra toner or conditioning treatment that was not planned during the consultation. Hair needs and client wants can change throughout an appointment. While this is the result of great client care and upselling from the stylist, it may not always benefit your business. Often in these situations where a stylist upsells or has unplanned treatments or toners, the services and products get missed on the ticket, whether due to a busy schedule or a reluctance to charge the client. This happens in every salon, and it's crushing your profits.

According to research into millions of formulas recorded by color management pioneer Vish, capturing all those missed services can lead to an immediate 15 percent uptick in revenue.

So how do you protect your profits and minimize the misery of missed services?

1. Get toned

Toners are the most expensive item to be missed off the ticket, yet it happens on an almost daily basis. Good stylists know their recommendations will result in a better color, however, they might be reluctant to pass on the cost of the better result to the client. Familiarize your team with costs so they can explain them to the client before getting started. Tech- and profit-savvy salons use scripts, coaching and technology to capture additional charges and communicate them automatically to the front desk, removing the onus from stylists. All of these efforts combined will help to ensure all products and services are added to the final ticket.

2. Automation to the rescue

"Technology also excels in precision, so clients can recognize the fairness in the charges that are passed to them," says Tim Howard, former salon owner, now chief innovation officer at Vish. "When additional color charges are added to the ticket, Vish shows exactly how much product was used on their hair–to the tenth of a gram–making it easy to demonstrate value."

3. The details are in the data

It seems easy in the moment to throw in free highlights or a gloss. It's only a few dollars, after all. Yet totaling up the potential commission, salary or revenue and showing it to your team gives them a new perspective. Sharing data with your team promotes accountability and advocates for change; particularly when it highlights how it affects each individual. Having data at your fingertips, rather than just assumptions, is a powerful and effective approach when having conversations with your team. 

Data-driven decisions also help reduce the amount of color inventory needed, eliminating assumptions based on color tabs and reducing a bloated stock room with colors that aren't needed.  

Color management systems may have started as a way to reduce costly color waste, but their ability to capture every gram dispensed in real time works to deliver the promised profit of these costly treatments.

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