8 Easy Ways to Tackle the Busy Season in Your Lash Salon
9 minute read
The silly season is fast approaching, are you and your business ready?
Every year it feels like Christmas is getting closer and closer, most major shopping centres already have Christmas decorations up! November throughout December is the busiest time for the beauty industry. Everyone wants to look their best for family reunions (especially after covid), going on holidays, work Christmas party etc.
Here are some handy tips to implement now, to have an easy breezy, enjoyable holiday season. No need to stress out, running frantically, wondering where that last D curl tray went!
A simple checklist to get you and your lash business ready for the busy season:
- Check all available stock
- Plan your schedule now
- Get regular clients to book infills
- Plan and schedule your marketing
- Take booking deposits
- Spring clean now
- Give gifts to loyal clients
- Get in the festive spirit and decorate
1. Check all available stock
In preparation for the busy holiday season, it is vital that you have enough stock for that period to service all your clients. It’s best to check your stock levels now, to see what you’re running low on, or what you may need spares of. Do you have enough lash trays to last you the two months? Grab a couple Premade fan trays or Promade trays to help lash clients faster, and to have as back up for those emergency situations. Ensure you have the right type of glue for your environment, conditions can change quickly within the salon, so having a selection of glues can be advantageous to suit the right environment.
And don’t forget to set your hard work with Superbonder to ensure they last as long as possible, before your clients next infill appointment.
Online shopping has become very mainstream, so don’t forget to place your order with your suppliers now, as they will also be busy with their business, sending out orders. The postal system will be inundated with parcels, being delivered world wide! Parcels can take up to a week longer(or more) than estimated delivery time to arrive. It’s best to have more stock than to have too little.
2. Plan your schedule now
When organising and setting a schedule for your business, you also have to remember to set time for yourself too. Block out a few hours, or even one day a week for your personal tasks. Do you need to do Christmas shopping? Go to kids' end of year school plays? Or any planned holidays? Block those times out now, so that you can work around it.
Figure out if you want to have early morning starts or late night finishes. Don’t do both as you’ll burn yourself out way too quickly! You’ll need sufficient rest to keep going for the next two months, that includes taking your lunch breaks to eat nutritious food. Stretch in between clients, keep those wrists pain free, walk around the neighbourhood to get the blood flowing. Mental health is just as important as physical health.
3. Get regular clients to book infills
Inform your regular clients that your book will fill up quickly, and may not have many slots available at a later date. Encourage them to schedule their infills in advance until the end of the year. They’re your loyal returning clients, so you should be offering the first pick to them.
4. Plan and schedule out marketing
Have your marketing planned out in advance. Use a social media scheduling system like Hootsuite, Agorapulse or SocialOomph to post emails, social media posts on multiple channels on certain days. That way you don’t need to do it during your lunch break or at a time you have off during these busy months. Be organised and have it all ready to go and let the software do the hard work for you!
Hootsuite Social Media Scheduling System
Source: Hootsuite
5. Take booking deposits if you don’t already
If you don’t already, start taking deposits for all appointments. This will ensure that clients come to their service and not cancel last minute or try to reschedule on a day that you’re already booked out. Sign up to a booking software such as Fresha or Appointy, that will request a deposit for the appointment, or full payment. Your time is money, charge accordingly! This is the busiest time of the year, you can’t afford to have gaps throughout your day that you can’t fill at the last minute.
Fresha Booking System
Source: Fresha
6. Spring clean in November to be prepared for the busy months ahead
Do the majority of your spring cleaning now in November. Don’t try to do a deep clean in between clients or on nights after you’ve finished with your last client. You’re most likely going to be drained after a long day and need to prepare for the next day. Continue with your daily hygiene of lash tools etc. clean up as you go, that will also help avoid a big clean up at the end of the day.
7. Offer your clients a gift
Christmas is the season of giving, so why not give a little back to your clients! Show how much you appreciate them for coming to you for their beauty services. It doesn’t have to be a lot, a block of chocolate, a deluxe care package for their lashes, maybe something personal you know they’ll like. It’s not entirely about the gift, but the gesture and meaning behind it.
Let’s not forget to have enough stock to retail products for clients as well! Buy foaming lash cleansers, crystal mascara wands in bulk, to save on some money and also have plenty of stock for the season. Package them in little gift sets so they can be bought for other loved ones as a self care package.
8. Get in the festive spirit with decorations
Don’t forget to spruce up the salon for the festive season! It doesn’t need to be a real Christmas pine tree with all the tinsel and baubles, a small tree on the desk and some tinsel hanging on the salon windows is enough. To really set the scene, light a festive candle, leave vanilla and ginger to permeate the air, it’ll be as if you’re breathing in a gingerbread house!
With these top tips to get yourself and your business ready for the busy season, you’ll be so prepared you’ll never have to dread it each year again!
