After the year we’ve all had, I think it’s safe to say that we all need a relaxing break; a pool, beach and a cocktail with a little umbrella.🍹 We’re all starting to feel a bit of burn-out after one of the wildest years in our lifetimes.

While you push through the last few weeks of hectic business, just start thinking of the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now, regardless of whether you’re closing your salon, spa or barbershop entirely for a week or two over the holidays, or staying open during the non-public holidays, there’s going to be a few things to do prep wise.

Let’s jump into them!

If you’re taking a well-deserved break

Sometimes it can be tricky to switch off from your business entirely, but the clever cookies at Shortcuts have designed a suite of easily-accessible cloud features so you can tap into your business anytime, anywhere – even if you’re out enjoying a socially distanced meal! 😉

Cloud Appointment Book

🔥HOT TIP🔥 – By keeping online booking (and your main computer) switched on while you’re closed, 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 kicking back by the beach, 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 before you go away.

👉Click here to watch a super quick video to learn how to configure your settings.

Cloud Reporting

Now, we know the last thing you might want to do on holidays is go through your salon’s sales, retention and reporting. But if you still have some of the team running the ship while you’re taking a much-deserved break, then Cloud Reporting will help you keep your finger on the pulse.

You’ll be able to view net sales, rebooking percentage, average customer spend and view employee KPI’s and performance metrics.

Marketing

Before you completely close for the holidays, make sure your automated marketing is up and running so you can keep the conversation rolling  with your clients even while you’re closed.

These campaigns 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 these features today! Click here to login. 

If you need a hand, reach out to our Helpdesk team on ☎️0161 972 4900☎️ and they’ll help you get started with any of these cloud features!

Back up your computer

Now, before you close your doors for a week or two, 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.

Take a backup of your salon data on an external hard drive so you won’t lose a thing, even if something happens to your computer.

👉Watch this quick video on how to backup your data. 

If you’re staying open

If you’re staying open (which many of you likely are after the huge impact of Covid this year) then there’s going to be less prep work for you to do.

In addition to daily backups and moving your computer, you’ll need to:

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. Why not print out all of the essentials so you can keep your business running if anything is to happen to your computer.

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, 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!

And lastly, we want to wish you all a very happy and safe holidays – and here’s hoping for a better 2021!