There’s an old saying “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” True, I guess, except…
This Pandemic is a forcing factor. While there is no way to digitally cut or color someone’s hair almost everything else supporting this industry, and most others, should be digitized. That doesn’t mean fire everyone and let computers and robots take over but it does mean rethinking how business was done pre-Pandemic and reimagining how it will be done post-Pandemic as we all emerge into our new Economy 2.0.
Honestly, this is a golden opportunity. While there is obviously no way to digitally cut or color someone’s hair, almost every other aspect of the business can be accomplished digitally – from scheduling to ordering to administering loyalty programs to paying for products and services. Not only can this save you time and money, it can also allow you to serve the clients who might not be ready to return to a salon just yet, even at 50% capacity.
Even people who were familiar with online ordering (who isn’t?) have reimagined how they shop during the past six weeks. My mother finally learned how to refill her prescriptions on-line, and my wife actually had groceries delivered, after years of arguing that she had to pick out her own produce. Change can be scary, but change can also be good.
For the suppliers to the salons, I would say this: your sales person’s presence inside the salon is not “essential.” We have learned a great deal about working from home and social distancing. I suspect some of your salespeople will not even want to walk in and out of salons all day, and that salon owners will already be forced to limit the number of people walking in. They will want to focus on getting paying customers through those doors. As a bonus, your salespeople can handle more salons if the sales process is digitized.
Just as salons will introduce new cleaning and sterilizing procedures, this is an opportunity to adopt other new procedures that support building back their businesses while maintaining social distancing to keep clients and staff safe. The Pandemic “broke it.” Digital solutions can help to “fix it.”
Mark