ONE FOR THE BOOKS

Why being ‘forced’ to set up a booking system has changed Mike’s business for the better

MIKE TAYLOR 

“When we reopened on 4 July I felt forced into doing appointments, but registering with a booking app has actually been massively beneficial to the business in so many ways. Firstly, it’s put barbers back in control. Now customers are scheduling ahead so we know when our next appointments are and we can plan our day accordingly (and we can actually go to the loo when we want!)

Secondly, the data that booking apps provide has been invaluable. I’ve learnt so much about my own business. I sat down with the spreadsheets and I went through how many customers had returned, what barbers they were coming back to and which shops had the best loyalty rate. 

“AS BARBERS WE’VE NEVER HAD THIS TYPE OF DATA AT OUR FINGERTIPS. YOU CAN SEE WHO’S PERFORMING AND WHO’S NOT.”

As barbers we’ve never had this type of data at our fingertips. You can see who’s performing and who’s not. The barber with the most loyal clients had a 74% return rate so we looked at what they were doing. Those with a 40% return rate I had a chat with. I didn’t tell anyone off, but I set them a challenge to up their percentage. To be honest finding out the exact numbers hit some of the staff hard. But I stressed that they had to see the positive. This was an opportunity to make sure they were doing everything they could do to get clients back in their chair.

It’s so easy to get into a negative mindset and blame the reduction in customers on COVID-19 restrictions and the closure of local offices. But it’s not a great experience for a client to hear a barber moaning about the circumstances they’re in. We have to put on a brave face and deliver amazing customer experience whatever the circumstances.

Booking apps are great for improving marketing communications with your clients too. I put the data into Mailchimp and now we’re mailing out staff news, offers and building a solid community. It’s so important to make your clients feel like they belong to the barbershop, especially when we can’t always see them as regularly as we’d like to – thanks to lockdowns, firebreaks and the like.

All in all I’m so glad I made the move to a booking app. It’s empowering to have all your clients, reviews, data, phone numbers and email addresses in one place. I can’t wait to see the back of 2020 and start 2021 as we mean to go on.”