Fill Your Empty Salon Appointment Slots 💇‍♀️

With any business, big or small, there will inevitably be slow days. The same is true for salons, because after every busy period comes the days in which you just can’t seem to find enough appointments to fill your calendar. From those occasional no-shows and cancellations to struggling to attract new customers.

Empty chairs come at a cost to your business because beyond the loss of potential revenue, you’re also paying for staff not working to full capacity, and at the end of the day, that can add up!

There are many reasons why you find empty seats in your salon.

Attracting New Customers

The average hair & beauty business loses between 10-25% of its clients each year. 💇‍♀️ For that reason, it’s important for you to attract new business, build your customer base and market your salon constantly. 

While customer loss is a normal and expected part of the business cycle, there are ways to reduce attrition and improve retention efforts. Successful anti-attrition plans can help you decrease complaints, increase profits and use your marketing budget in a more effective way.

Last Minute Cancellations and No-Shows

Did you know you could be losing thousands per year from no shows and last minute cancellations?

As a salon owner, you want a full calendar, no no-shows, and 100% re-booking, but it is often the no-shows and cancellations that we overlook, but this is profit that is being lost. 

It is unrealistic to expect to completely eliminate salon no-shows and last-minute cancellations. However, with bills to pay, it is critical that we address this, and there are numerous tips for limiting them to true emergencies only.

New Team Members

It takes about 12 months to build a profitable salon clientele and it takes up to 24 months until you have your ideal client base. However, with the right marketing efforts, you can reduce this time to 4-6 months.

How to fill those empty white spaces in your diary.

Filling white space in your salon diary is crucial to the success of your business, and there are a number of strategies you can use to achieve this. Here are some tips for filling your diary and maximising your income:

1. Offer discounts or promotions during slow periods: Encourage clients to book appointments during typically quiet periods by offering special deals or extending promotions. You can do this via your Locate Your Look last minute offers listing.

2. Send reminders via email or text message: Send automated appointment reminders to clients to help reduce no-shows and fill empty spaces in your diary.

3. Implement a cancellation policy: Establish a cancellation policy that includes penalties for missed appointments and last-minute cancellations, which will help encourage clients to attend their appointments or provide advance notice if they cannot make it.

4. Use online booking software: Implementing an online booking system can help fill empty appointment slots by making it easy for clients to book themselves without having to call or email.

5. Network and collaborate with other businesses: Forge partnerships with neighbouring businesses to cross-promote each other’s services. For example, a hair salon could partner with a nail salon to offer discounted packages.

6. Offer walk-in appointments: Have at least one stylist or technician available to take walk-in appointments during certain hours of the day, especially during slow periods.

7. Host events: Host events in your salon to attract potential customers and create a buzz. This can include workshops, styling events, make-up tutorials, product launch parties etc. 

8. Expand your service offers: Add new services or packages that you specialise in or explore packages or offers different from your usual services that may attract clients. 

9. Send personalised recommendations: Connect with your existing clients by sending them personalised offers for services you think will appeal to them basing on their last visit or previous preference.

10. Improve customer experience: Improve treatments, improve appearance & Ambience of salon to make it better than your competitors . Happier customers make it more likely for them to recommend your salon to others which will help fill up white spaces in your salon diary.