Five ways to improve time management in your salon

10 Apr 2014

Written by Alice Smithson

While you might have had the time to reorganise your stock cupboard or fit in an extra client, were you also able to complete the text marketing promotion you’ve been working on or have that chat with a certain member of staff? In a busy and thriving salon, it can be difficult to manage your time effectively because you’ll find that you’re often needed in several places at once, but if you want your salon to succeed then your time management must improve. By completing all of your jobs in good time you will be able to open yourself up to more exciting opportunities and ultimately work toward making more money for your salon. 

Prioritise

There will always be tasks that are more important than others, but it is up to you to work out which will have the most impact the earlier you complete them. If you’re managing several salons at once it can be even more stressful. Salon management software can control one or multiple salon sites from one workstation _ be it at home or at your salon reception. And if you need to produce essential analysis reports for each of your salons, you can do them all at the same time with your multi-salon software.

Delegate fairly

Just because you’re the salon manager it doesn’t mean that you have to do everything yourself. You should be able to look at your to-do list and decide which jobs your employees could carry out and which you should probably take responsibility for yourself. There are bound to be more than a few that you are able to delegate to others, just ensure that you don’t lumber one person with your entire list because that could result in them running out of time to do their jobs properly.

Schedule breaks

While we are discussing ways in which you can save time and use it more wisely, we ought to mention how important it is to schedule time for a break. Without regular breaks you will be unable to work to your full potential, as you are likely to become tired and your mind all over the place. Taking a moment just to clear your mind and prepare yourself for your next task, and encouraging your staff to do the same, will enable you to use your time more effectively and ultimately do a better job!

Get organised

When you’re doing several jobs at once it’s easy to make mistakes, forget to write appointments down or get in touch with that client you promised you’d contact. By using your salon management software to take online bookings, rearrange your schedule and store client information, you can do several jobs at once with just a few clicks of a mouse and your schedule will remain organised for you. By moving your appointment schedule to a computerised system, you can easily make adjustments to the schedule or to your stock order either when in the salon or when working remotely.

Rely on technology

Just as you might find it difficult to share responsibility with your staff or learn to rely on them for help, it can be just as hard to become fully reliant on technology after years working with paper appointment diaries and printed stock lists. Digitising your salon, however, is well worth doing and easier than you might think! Not only can salon management software enable you to become more organised and run a more efficient salon, but it can even help to speed up certain processes, such as card payments. The credit and debit card processing service that comes with i-Salon Software provides you with fast authorisation of card transactions, saving you a great deal of time at the till and helping to provide your clients with a better quality of service.

If you’re keen to start improving time management in your salon and are willing to invest in the technology that will help you to do so, get in touch with the team at i-Salon Software today to request a free demo.