YES!!! You can access VirtualSalons & VirtualSpas on your iPad!

The VirtualSalons / VirtualSpas websites and system run through Flash Player, so you MUST use a special browser to access our sites on the iPad, but now you can!


We are now RECOMMENDING iSwifter from the App Store for best system performance. To get the iSwifter browser installed, Go to the App Store to download the iSwifter app. The download is free for 5 minutes of connectivity and is $4.99 for unlimited use.

The five minutes available to use for free is plenty of time for clients to make appointments with their professionals, so clients should never need to get a paid version. You will need to inform clients to download the iSwifter app if they are trying to log-in from their iPad.

Professionals wanting to use the browser for continuous connection to the online system will want to pay the $4.99 (one time fee) for unlimited access. It is well worth it. Of course, before purchasing the browser app, professionals should download the free version and work with the system through the browser to see if the performance will meet their needs.

We have done a lot of testing in the iSwifter browser on the iPad and have found it to be providing very good performance. Personally, I think it may be faster than on some of our laptop PC's!

Next we'll be posting video demos and more blog posts with hints and tips about using the VirtualSalons and VirtualSpas system on both Android tablets and iPads. We'll be publishing all of the info we gather in this blog and on Facebook - so be sure to "Like" us for instant updates as soon as they are posted. http://www.facebook.com/VSalonsInc

Smartphone access is coming slowly but surely, but for now, tablet access is here and providing access to the whole system! We want your feedback, so please call 888-474-8018 or email info@virtualsalons.com with your tablet hints and tips.

Top 5 reasons to stop using paper appointment books

There are only so many hours available in each day. As a service provider, the only time you are making money is when you are performing services for clients. Putting your appointment books online with a specialized Salon/Spa booking system provides you many benefits that free you up to perform more services.

Here are the "Top 5" benefits we hear from our subscribers:
1. Access to your schedule 24-7 from any computer with a High-speed Internet connection makes appointment and client management SOOOOOOO much easier.
2. Our subscribers that have chosen to offer online booking to their clients find that on average, approximately 35% of their clients will book online. Last year our subscribers saw an average 28% increase in service revenues - Do you see the connection? More time available for clients in-salon means more income!
3. Having your client records available online for easy access and updating is a dream.
4. Clients LOVE getting the confirmation and reminder emails sent automatically by the online books. Confirmations sent right at the time of booking reassure the client that their appointment(s) are scheduled correctly and reminders 24-96 hours prior help professionals practically eliminate no-shows.
5. Easy tax reporting! All of our subscribers love the one-button reporting they can access to assist them at tax time. Less stress and automated calculations make April a much easier month for any size business.

Not sure if you are ready to invite your clients to use online appointment booking? No problem. Get your books online for your personal convenience and invite your clients later.

We invite you to experience online books first-hand with our 30-Day FREE TRIAL

"Virtual" Salon & Spa Gift Certificates

Virtual Salons and Virtual Spas has partnered with Giftango to bring our subscribers special pricing for adding Online Gift Certificate Sales to their business.

We've chosen to partner with Giftango because they have the most advanced features available in Online Gift Certificate selling and delivery. This technology will allow our subscribers to offer custom branded Gift Certificates online.

Consumers purchasing the gift certificates can choose to have them delivered via email or text - and they can even set a date in the future for the gift to be delivered.

There are many other great features that can be demonstrated in a short demo with a Giftango representative. Contact us at info@virtualsalons.com to request a demo.

To sign up with the negotiated VirtualSalons & VirtualSpas start-up rate (a savings of $200), you will can CLICK HERE

New Unlimited Use Ecard functions - Coming April 2011

We are in final testing of our new Ecard functions that we expect to go live as early as this weekend!

With the new improvements, you will be able to send picture Birthday Ecards and two styles of Ecard design that will feature your custom logo and image - just like all of the automated email in the Virtual Salons & Virtual Spas system.

In addition, there are many new font controls and even a brand new ability to make the text area different sizes for all Ecards. These improvements provide endless opportunities for communicating just the message you want to your clients - all with a few clicks of the mouse.

Unlimited Use Ecards are part of our Basic Subscription and available to all Virtual Salons and Virtual Spas subscribers!

In addition to being the ONLY Salon and Spa Management system that has On-Demand professionally designed Ecards, we have many automated Email functions that also do tremendous work for building Salon and Spa business.

We invite you to try the Ecards yourself - Sign-Up Today for our 30-day FREE TRIAL - no Credit Card information is required. Click Here for FREE TRIAL SIGN-UP

System Updates for Subscribers - Exciting new Features for Emarketing

Included in a system update this weekend were the following feature additions and improvements*:

* New Auto-Email options. You will now have the opportunity to automatically set custom text for "Thank You" email to be sent to clients on a nightly basis. One version is a New Client Thank You - any client that is checked out "today" and has never been in your book will receive the New Client Thank You. To activate this auto email, you must enter custom text. You can enter a simple thank you or put a special incentive to return to your business. There is also a new Existing Client Thank You where you may enter custom text. The Existing Client Thank You will send each night to any returning client who has purchased a new product or has been checked out with a new service. You must enter custom text and activate these email in order for them to begin sending nightly. Improvements to the "We've Missed You" auto email are also going to require custom text and reactivation for this email to be functioning. You will find the area to edit these auto email in the ADMIN section "Policies and Auto Email Sending" - Button - Manage Email Sending. A new online demo about these auto email tools will be sent to our subscribers via email.
* Expanded Financial Export tools for importing End of Day Totals into accounting software like Quickbooks. A new report named "End of Day Financial Totals" will be available in the REPORTS tab just under the existing End of Day report link.
* New Font Tools for Ecards. This is the first incremental improvement to our Ecard functions. Now you can change Font Family, Font Size, and even the spacing between characters. The Ecard sending code has been completely reworked for better image handling and deliverability to every client record. (Sneak Peek at our next Ecard improvements coming very soon: You will have the ability to send an Ecard featuring your logo and custom image that you've uploaded to your online books and you will be able to make the text area three different sizes and select a background color. These improvements along with the new font tools provide MANY customization options for your Email Marketing) A new video demo for the Ecards will be created when the custom image and resizing tools are added soon. Current subscribers will receive this training video link via email.
* During this update we also did some work on the main servers to optimize system performance. We're hearing good things about improved speeds today.

*To be sure you are able to take advantage of all of the new system improvements, please CLEAR CACHE in your Internet Browser before your next log-in.

VirtualSalons and VirtualSpas Featured in Dermalogica Profit Flash

MARCH 2011

Virtual Salons & Virtual Spas is pleased to be featured in the Dermalogica Profit Flash along with their new Face Mapping App for the iPad.

Dermalogica accounts enjoy special savings on VirtualSalons & VirtualSpas monthly fees. See the Dermalogica Business Center for more details or call us Toll Free at 888-474-8018.

The JOY in the JOB

As a former salon owner, hairdresser / make-up artist, I often miss experiencing the daily joy I was able to give to each of my clients as they looked in the mirror and told me how great they looked. Anyone who has ever been a service provider understands there is an immediate reward in hearing "I love it" or "I didn't think I could look this good" from a client.

My years of salon and technology experience now have me leading a great team of people who help build salon and spa businesses everyday with online salon and spa management tools, but so much of what we do on a daily basis is often without immediate response from our clients.

We get lots of positive feedback when we talk with our customers, but the last few days have really renewed my JOY in what we are working to accomplish at Virtual Salons and Virtual Spas. We've been working on collecting video testimonials of our clients experience with VirtualSalons and VirtualSpas Online Salon and Spa Management tools and suprisingly, that process has turned out to be a great experience for us and for our clients.

The other day I had a conversation with a salon owner who told me that while she was interviewing her staff for making the video, she learned how much her staff realized that using our system has made a big difference in their personal income and their daily life. As the owner, of course she knows how much the online system has done for them, but she hadn't realized that her staff was so aware of the positive impact for clients and the business overall.

The video testimonials we are collecting provide joy to our development team too. It is just as important for them to see these videos as it is for our prospective clients. Our team loves to know the work they are doing makes a difference in the daily success of our clients.

To preview these video testimonials, please visit the TESTIMONIALS PAGE at www.VirtualSalons.com or www.VirtualSpas.com

Evaluating an Online Appointment Booking Service

When evaluating an Online Appointment Booking Service, your top 5 concerns should be:

1. Protecting your Client Records. If the online service provider you are considering will be assigning your clients any type of "Points or Rewards", what this really means is that the online service provider will also be communicating with your clients and promoting their business (and in some cases they will also promote other professionals) to YOUR CLIENTS.

2. Your clients should never be able to search to find information about other Salon and Spa professionals from any site you use for online booking. Why would you send your regular clients to a site that can refer them away to your competition. Online booking tools should be structured to keep your client's attention on you and your business. It should not be a place where they can coupon shop by zip code.

3. Get some idea about how long they've been in business. You can check when a web URL / domain was registered by using the "Who Is" database search at Network Solutions.

4. Look for a do-it-yourself online FREE TRIAL. If the only way you can get a demo for online booking and managmenet tools for your Salon and Spa is with a software sales person, chances are that the set-up and use of the software is more complicated than it needs to be. Don't sign up unless you can test an online system on your own with both your home and work computers to be sure you will have easy access to your online books.

5. Free Technical Support. If technology is done right, you will not need so much technical support that it cannot be free. Paid technical support is an ancient concept that should be eliminated as soon as possible! Short online demos for all functions in the system you are using are the best type of free training.

Plan to Make 2011 Your Best Year EVER!

You've probably heard the old Proverb, "He who fails to plan, plans to fail". When you manage your own salon and spa business or even rent a booth and manage your own clientele, there are many ways to plan for success.

Planning for your business can be as much as creating a full business plan or as little as simply writing down the "Top 5" things you would like to accomplish in your salon or spa business by the start of 2012.

It is impossible to make EVERYTHING in your business better all at once, so choosing one thing to make PERFECT is a great place to start. The "one thing" you choose should be a revenue-generating feature in your business which for most salons and spas is services or retail.

If you need ideas on where to focus in your business or how to get started, I whole-heartedly recommend you start with Carol Phillips begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting and BeauteeSmarts. I believe Carol provides the BEST retail and business management training in the industry that is both affordable and accessible - even to booth renters!

I read Carol's book, "In The Bag: Selling in the Salon" almost 15 years ago. Even now, it remains the SALON AND SPA selling BIBLE. Learning from Carol and implementing the many ideas in her training, changed my life as a professional service provider and salon owner. My business increased tremendously. I only wish there would have been CD's and DVD's at that time to make it easy to review all of the great material she provides.

Popular class titles like "A Year's Worth of Business Builders", "Low Cost / No Cost Marketing", and "10 Ways to Get Your Staff to Sell" are full of techniques you can put to work in your salon or spa business the very next day. A highly in-demand speaker, Carol's practical insights and easy to implement ideas will increase your retail and service business sales - GUARANTEED!

In the last year, I have had the privilege of meeting Carol and I have seen first-hand how she continues to have a true passion for helping each individual beauty professional succeed - just like we do at VirtualSalons and VirtualSpas.

To have your BEST YEAR EVER, I encourage you to purchase any of Carol's training materials that appeals to you. Buy them for yourself and your staff - YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED WITH YOUR RESULTS!

TO BEGIN SHOPPING, GO TO: www.beauteesmarts.com/xcart

Who is Carol Phillips? To read her professional bio, CLICK HERE

Salon and Spa Social Media

Social Media has a valuable place in a service business marketing mix and I have no doubt social media tools are here to stay, but in my business, we're also seeing a bit of the "BUZZ" wear off for Salon and Spa professionals.

It is true that Facebook and Twitter can help you communicate with and inform many people of news in a single click of the mouse, but too many times, I'm seeing a Salon or Spa using this new media only for "couponing" their services. Filling last minute cancellation with a tweet or post is very cool, but continual service discounting offers can hurt your reputation with existing full-price clientele.

Just like I teach in our business management forums, I'd rather see promotions like a product "gift with purchase" type of offer that adds extra value when a client pays for a service. I recommend professionals always use these marketing tools for product-centric savings that will drive an immediate response from clients and build product sales for the future. For example: An offer like "Buy one regular price - get one 50%" can significantly increase retail sales. In my experience, if a client goes through two bottles of a product - they are usually hooked and will be back for more. Or better yet, I've seen this promotion do even more to build future sales when the client is required to buy a product they've never purchased before as their 50% savings selection.

When I owned my salons, I learned quickly that there were only so many hours a day to do services and focusing on building a loyal product buying clientele was a great way to increase revenues. Once I figured out how to do that, I focused all of my Salon and Spa promotions around retail products to expand our number of product purchasing clients.

I never made a cent from a service client unless a service was performed, but I made a bit of profit with each product sold. There is time involved in the first sale of a product, but repeat sales do not typically require service time. Multiply this effect across your clientele and you may be surprised at how much money can be made if you stopped discounting services and focused on product promotions.

From my perspective, one of the great things about this rush to social media has been the way that it has opened a dialogue with Salon and Spa professionals about how using technology tools can be very effective for service providers.

These "broadcasting" tools can be great, but every salon and spa professional should be implementing online business management with day-to-day business-building tools like the automated and on-demand email marketing available in VirtualSalons and VirtualSpas.

Everything from appointment confirmations and reminders to our "Thank You's" and "We've Missed You" email provide the opportunity for you as a service professional to offer custom product-centric promotions and make a closer digital media connection with each of your clients.

I will be excited to watch for creative new promotions via Facebook and Twitter. If you come up with a great product promotion share your success with me and our subscribers on our Facebook page.

Results: Testing VirtualSalons & VirtualSpas App with Cloud Browse on iPhone 4

We spent several hours with Cloud Browse using the 99cent download version of the app from the iTunes App store. Here are hints and tips based on our experiences:

1. The 99cent download provides you access to 3-5 minute sessions on the iPhone or iPad to our application. We found this to be ample time to log-in take a look at an individual professional's schedule and make an appointment or check a client record. We never had a session cut out on us in the middle of performing a process, but the browser session did time out after 3-8 minutes displaying an offer for a subscription for unlimited access browsing sessions. The monthly subscription is $6.99 per month.
2. Cloud Browse appears to work by streaming content to the iPhone or iPad through a browser technology that has flash-player embedded.
3. The free version will suffice for quick schedule reviews or performing quick tasks, but to manage a business online daily through the iPhone or iPad, a subscription would be more convenient.
4. When using the 99cent download version, we suggest that you log-in at www.VirtualSalons.com or www.VirtualSpas.com rather than the home page of the online application because those URL's are easier to remember and shorter to type into the address bar. The "free" version access does not allow for bookmarking.
5. System performance was a bit slower than on a desktop or laptop, but overall speed was good whether we were using a 3G network or tapped into the Wi-Fi connection. They were about the same. Of course, this can vary regionally, time of day and which mobile service you have.
6. On the iPhone, we found that using the Zoom View for individual professionals in the Salon/Spa account was the best way to get in and make appointments rather than attempting to use the View Schedules screen where you can load multiple calendar columns in one screen.
7. It also seemed that many functions and drop downs that require only one click of the mouse in the application were requiring two clicks or a second try. (Although that happened mostly only to me and could have been caused by my fingernails)

We want to hear from our subscribers as you are working with Cloud Browse and accessing your account on iPhone or iPad. Please email your feedback to support@virtualsalons.com.

Mobile technologies are experiencing the same growing pains we experienced with early Internet connectivity. Mobile carriers are scrambling to try to get 3G and 4G networks to be reliable and Smartphone manufacturers are working to make devices flash-enabled. We are monitoring this technology struggle on a daily basis and want to continue to provide unparalleled value and service as we work to optimize our technology for mobile use.

Follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter to get regular updates on mobile progress and to be notified when our iPhone video demo comes online.

New technologies and third party companies are popping up everyday to enable Flash on Apple devices and the majority of Android models are now being shipped with Flash-Player pre-installed. For an updated list on Flash-enabled devices including Smartphones, Tablets and Digital Home Devices go to:

Dermalogica: Leading the "FITE" for women entreprenuers worldwide - Please Join

I'd like to invite you to read an amazing article about Dermalogica's role in helping found and facilitate "FITE" (Financial Independence Through Entreprenuership).

FITE is a global empowerment platform powered by Kiva.org, the nonprofit leader in microfinance, that is designed to foster Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship for women in the developing world.

I first discovered Kiva at a tech conference last year and have to say that I was very moved by their passion and genius. Dermalogica has taken it to the next level by bringing this opportunity into mainstream retail and it is very exciting! Please read and JOIN FITE

Jet Rhys Salon: Why use VirtualSalons and VirtualSpas?

SWITCH & SAVE - Get money back for your old software

One of the most common things we hear at VirtualSalons and VirtualSpas from potential clients is that they would love to switch to our system, but they have so much money invested in old software (or systems they hate) that it is hard to justify making a change. You don't have to be a hostage any longer...

WE HAVE A SOLUTION: For a limited time*, we are offering to return ALL of the money you've previously invested in business management software.

Whether you bought a software program 10 years ago for $15,000 or if you've recently signed up for another online service that you hate, you can get all of that money back.

LEARN MORE >>


* This offer applies to BOTH Independent Contractor / Booth Renters and Salon & Spa subscriptions created through January 31, 2011.