‘Tis the season for a full calendar of office parties, family get-togethers, friend-filled celebrations, travel plans, and all-night outings. As a beauty pro, one of the busiest times of the year is upon you, so you might want to put together a plan for your salon’s holiday season survival. Luckily, GlossGenius is here to help manage your time, budget, and most importantly, your sanity.

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Manage Your Schedule

First and foremost, block time off. As much as this time of year is a goldmine for profits, let’s not forget that it’s also about spending time with friends, family, or simply resetting by yourself. With GlossGenius, you can sync up both your personal and professional calendars so you’re never double booked. That means you can have your GlossGenius calendar visible on another calendar (like Google, iCal, or Outlook), and bring your Google or iCal calendar into your GlossGenius app so everything is always in one place.

On the app, head into Settings > My Preferences > Two-Way Calendar Sync to get set up. 

If you have a team, you can coordinate multiple schedules to ensure that everyone gets their piece of the busy-season pie and that days are covered so each member can enjoy their time off equally.

To set up shared calendars, navigate to Settings > My Squad > Manage Team and Permissions > select team member > Change Roles & Permissions > Calendar.

Keep the clients flowing in (or don’t, when you’re taking time off) by allowing them to book online. Not only does this save you the stress of having to field appointment scheduling inquiries at all hours of the day, but it also gives clients the flexibility to book whenever they want without interrupting your plans.

They don’t need to log in nor download an app to book with you – you set the parameters (booking windows, hours, service time, buffer periods), and clients can simply navigate to your custom website, pick their service, provider, and time, and that’s it. Everyone is happy! 

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Communicate with Clients

As you set yourself up to enjoy your time off, make sure you’re really present to enjoy it by communicating with your clients the smart way. Set up batch messages to announce your holiday hours, price changes for the peak period, seasonal promotions, and more.

No matter your preferred style of communication, there’s a GlossGenius function that will feel most like “you” or best communicate what you need to share. Set up an email campaign for more detailed correspondence, shoot clients an SMS for quick updates or check-ins, and keep your website up-to-date with seasonal changes for an ever-present reminder to clients checking you out. Don’t forget to keep the social media content coming with promos, flash sales, or salon announcements for all your followers, too.

• ‍To set up text message marketing: Head into More > Text Marketing to send a mass text message to all or a selection of your clients in a few taps.‍
• To get started with email marketing: Head into More > Email Marketing to send a mass email message to all or a selection of your clients with a few clicks on your smartphone!‍
• To share a social media promotion: Head into More > Share to access easy social sharing options so you can promote your site on social media!

Finally, do yourself a favor and also set up notifications to automatically ping clients before each appointment (and after to leave you a review!) so you don’t have to remember to remind them of their service. It’s like having a personal assistant who always makes sure everyone is where they need to be.

To set it up, go into Settings > Booking Controls & Notifications > Client Notifications to manage all your necessary reminders.  

Protect Your Time and Money

As a GlossGenius member, you have exclusive access to our entire suite of capabilities to help safeguard your time and money, including deposits, waitlists, cancellation policies, chargeback protection (when using a stunning GlossGenius card reader), and more.

Requiring a non-refundable deposit at the time of booking means that even if you’re stuck with a last-minute opening you can’t fill, you still earn money for that time slot. You can also still implement the fees outlined in your cancellation and no-show policies, but taking deposits will provide extra protection for the precious hours in your day.

Simply go to More > Services and select the specific service that will require a deposit. Toggle on Require Deposit, then enter the dollar figure for the Deposit Amount. As an extra layer of protection, you also have the option to request that clients acknowledge and accept your cancellation policy when they book appointments on your site.

Note: To enable the Deposits feature, you need to have payment processing set up in GlossGenius.

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In your GlossGenius app, tap Settings > Bank Account & Verification > Identity Verification and enter all relevant info. Then head to Bank Details, and enter your account information.

When cancellations inevitably arise, keeping a backlog of clients on a waitlist can help fill unexpected gaps. Our Waitlist feature allows you to work smarter, not harder – no more scribbling client notes on a calendar that you’ll have to check with every last-minute opening! Instead, you can give clients the opportunity to jump on your waitlist themselves through your website (you can still add them yourself, too). GlossGenius does the rest by seamlessly notifying them of an opening and enabling them to get booked in minutes – no interruptions to your day juggling calendars, and minimize missed revenue from empty schedules.

When it’s time to wrap up, our salon point of sale solution is compatible with all payment types and helps you check out clients with speed, style, and a flat fee of 2.6% (no hidden fees, ever). Best of all, the GlossGenius card reader is fully EMV-compliant so it also protects your business against chargebacks and fraud, saving you time and money by reducing payments disputes.

Try GlossGenius free for 14 days!