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Salon software advice: how to run a client evening at your salon

10/27/2014

Salon management involves endless number crunching, careful planning and tough decisions. Salon management software enables you to offload many of these tedious tasks, but it can also assist you with some rather more enjoyable aspects of salon management. Organising salon events is a challenging but rewarding experience. The best salon events take in money on the night, earn you some new clients, improve customer loyalty and also provide networking opportunities. In order to achieve this level of success, your event needs to be organised down to a T. i-Salon experts are here to share their tips for running a client evening at your salon…

Pick a theme
Your client evening will be far more enjoyable to organise and run if you’ve given it a theme that’s fun to work with. You could link it to the season or a big global event – such as the Oscars or sporting events – or simply your salon’s anniversary. Other tried and tested themes for salon client evenings include Hollywood glamour, the season’s top trends, and the various decades. Choose a theme that you think will be popular with your client base and target market, and ensure that your stylists are united in their enthusiasm for it.

Decide on entry fees and the guest list
If you want to run a salon open evening to promote its opening, entry should be free. You’ll need to market the event, of course. If you’re looking to organise a VIP event for your loyal salon clients, use salon management software to determine who your top spenders are and send out invites either in-person or through email. Encourage guests to bring along plus ones. While it may seem logical to ensure your events are free entry, there are benefits to be had from priced entry. First, those who have spent money on a ticket will be very likely to turn up, whereas guests may change their mind about attending an event if they haven’t already paid for a ticket. Secondly, you can help recoup some of the costs of the event through paid ticketing. Third, you could partner with a charity and encourage attendance by giving a proportion of ticket revenue (or its entirety) to the charity.

Partner with other businesses
To give your guests more reasons to attend your event, speak to other local businesses to ask them if they’d like to take part in your event. Invite them to give short speeches, product demonstrations or to sell their wares (at a discounted price). Approach businesses that share target markets with you. If you’re a hair salon, ask a representative of the local nail bar if they’d like to partner with you. Local fashion boutiques, luxury food and drink retailers and other independent consumer-facing businesses are all good options. These special guests might also be able to provide your guests with refreshments...

Goody bags
Offering your guests a complimentary glass of bubbly and a free cupcake isn’t going to be enough to tempt them to attend. You’ll also need to promise generous giveaways. This may be an expensive endeavour, but if you’ve partnered with a number of other businesses the costs can be spread. Give out samples of pricier products, and don’t forget to include vouchers and offers in your goody bags. Give offers and discounts time windows to help you fill up quiet periods in your appointment book and gain you a swift return on your investment.

Overall, remember that attendance is key. If only two people turn up to your event, it won’t be worth the money you spent on it.

Review
Review the success of your client evening using salon management software, if you have it. Track your clients’ spending, and look for an increase in sales off the back of your client evening. Send out targeted marketing emails or use social media to collate feedback on the event.

If you’re short of salon software and you’d like to see it in action, contact i-Salon and we’ll arrange a demo.