How is this good for AVEDA salons?

How is this good for AVEDA salons?

 

Another “Professional Product” line making the leap into mass merchandising and competing with salon distribution.

Read the article at Behind the Chair: http://behindthechair.com/displaysection.aspx?ITID=7

Want to get a grip on your Social Media? We’d like to introduce you to this series offered by Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz. This new series is going to

Want to get a grip on your Social Media?

We’d like to introduce you to this series offered by Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz.

This new series is going to be filled with tips and tricks to help you get a grip on your social media. From stopping random acts of marketing, aligning with business goals, measuring success to date to setting a plan to succeed going forward we’re going to provide you with tips, tricks, reminders and guidance along the way.

Click Here to Learn More

8 more days until the Online Marketing Summit

8 more days until the Online Marketing Summit – Silicon Valley. We can’t wait!

The Online Marketing Summit connects marketers with the knowledge, experts and technologies that are transforming digital marketing and business.

http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/

Gearing up for the Online Marketing Summit - Oct 23-26 in Santa Clara

We will be participating in the Online Marketing Summit and will be pleased to bring back lots of online marketing secrets to share.

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

CLEARING YOUR CACHE

Weekly is Good - DAILY is BETTER!

Why must you clear your cache?

In order to speed up web browsing, web browsers are designed to download web pages and store them locally on your computer's hard drive in an area called "cache". The cache contains records of the items you have seen, heard, or downloaded from the Web, including images, sounds, Web pages, even cookies. Typically these items are stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder.

When you visit the same page for a second time, the browser speeds up display time by loading the page locally from cache instead of downloading everything again. This sometimes results in less than current versions of web pages being displayed. When the cache fills up, performance can slow down and your hard drive may run out of space.

Working with an online system on a daily basis like VirtualSalons and VirtualSpas, that provides a constant exchange of information between your computer and the Internet, means you should clear your cache as often as possible.  Weekly is good, daily is better.

Make clearing your cache part of your daily routine to ensure the best performance of your computer using the VirtualSalons and VirtualSpas system.  Clearing your Cache often is also a good safety measure for your system security.  It also improves overall function for every task you will use your computer to do on a daily basis.

How to "Clear Cache"

In Mozilla Firefox: (our recommended browser)            

1. Go to "TOOLS" in the upper left of the browser window
2. Next, select the "CLEAR RECENT HISTORY" option from the list 
3. A new pop-up will open.
4. In the top of the box, select "EVERYTHING" in the drop down for Time Range
5. DETAILS should allow you to display checkboxes.  You want to be sure the following check boxes ARE checked - Clear Cache, Cookies, Form and Search History. (All other options can be unchecked)
   
6. Click the "CLEAR NOW" button and you're done.  
7. Open a new browser session and log-in to VirtualSalons / VirtualSpas.

In Chrome 

1. Click the "Wrench" icon in the far right of the browser window.
2. Next, select the TOOLS option in the list
3. Select "CLEAR BROWSING DATA"
4. In the drop down, select from "THE BEGINNING OF TIME"
5. Be sure the following items ARE checked:  Empty the Cache, Delete Cookies and other site plug-in data, and Clear saved Autofill form data.
6. Click the "CLEAR BROWSING DATA" button - and you're done.
7. Open a new browser session and log-in to VirtualSalons / VirtualSpas. 

In Internet Explorer: 

  We don't suggest anyone use this browser - but we know you do.

1. Go to "TOOLS" in the upper left of the browser window
2. Next, select "INTERNET OPTIONS" from the list 
3. A new pop-up will open.  You will be in the GENERAL TAB - this is where you want to be.
4. The area called BROWSING HISTORY will have a button labeled "DELETE"
5. Click the DELETE button  (Note: nothing will be deleted from your computer as you click that button)
6. In the next pop-up window display, you want to be sure the following items ARE CHECKED - Temporary Internet Files, Cookies and Form Data. 
7. Click the "DELETE" button at the bottom of that box - and you're done.  
8. Open a new browser session and log-in to VirtualSalons / VirtualSpas.

 

Now we Wait...

Thank you to all of our friends and subscribers who voted for us in the Mission Small Business Grant contest sponsored by Chase and Living Social.

We joined the competition in the last three days and were still able to get all the votes!  We know that is because of our great clients and their great clients!

The Grant Recipients will be announced mid-September.  We'll let you know the outcome.  Again, sincere thanks from the VirtualSalons & VirtualSpas team.

Access the VirtualSalons / VirtualSpas Web App with an Android Tablet

Android Tablets can access the VirtualSalons & VirtualSpas WEB APP using the system browser as long as you have installed Flash Player on your tablet.

To be sure Flash Player is installed, you can visit the "Play Store" to download the latest version of Flash Player.  This is a free download.

The Android tablet we use to test our application is a very current model with the latest operating system.

If you are using older versions (or newer) versions of Android operating systems or Flash Player, your experience with using the system will vary.

When you access your account on the tablet, your views of the system are scaled down to accommodate the smaller screen size automatically and all of the "click" functions become "touch" functions.  This means all of the tabs and links are smaller in size and the areas you usually click with a mouse will require you to touch the screen.

The nice thing about being able to access the system on your tablet is that you can review your schedule and access client records, the not-so-great thing is that every tablet employs different touch technologies and some tablets work better than others allowing you to navigate the web app.

We are in process of developing true "mobile apps" and the Android version of our professional app will launch July 2012.  These apps will be designed for the smaller screen and will give easier access to all of the daily functions for appointment booking, client records management and editing today's hours.

We appreciate your feedback about your experiences with all tablets and devices.  We know you want the mobile apps as soon as possible and we are working as fast as we can to bring them to you! 

What 4G is and What 4G isnt...

This article by Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal is the best I've seen about the specific of 4G capabilities.

He also does a very good job of presenting information in such a way that it is easy to understand why so many consumers are confused about which systems and devices will be their best pick.  In the midst of today's mobile web mahem, many consumers do not understand that there are so many variables in equipment, Internet Service Providers and Wireless Carriers. 

We have daily conversations with beauty professionals and consumers who think that since everything is accessing the Internet - it should all be the same. 

If only...CLICK HERE to read this article.

MANAGE - MARKET - MONITIZE with VirtualSalons & VirtualSpas

MANAGE

As a service business - time is your most precious commodity. Using smart technology to "virtually" extend your business hours and multiply your retail efforts is the best way to increase your income without working more. With our patent-pending "INTELLIGENT BOOKING"™ tools you can, and should be, making money when the doors are locked and the lights are off.   If you aren't using VirtualSalons & VirtualSpas to automate many tasks that must be done daily (but will never increase your profits); you are allowing yourself to be robbed everyday! Eliminating small "time-wasting" tasks in each day is key to great management.

MARKET

Whether you need new clients or want more ways to engage your existing clients with additional products and services, our system is intuitively designed to do both of these things as part of the daily business processes. Our unique custom Ecard features pair information your clients need with images and text you can edit and change as often as you like. The ability to create Email communications, focused on both service and retail promotion, means no more limits on your marketing efforts because of time and budget restraints. In fact, for many of your repetitive marketing needs, just set your preferences and the system does the work for you! 

MONETIZE

When you manage and market well, money follows. But, if you don't know where you are, you can't know where you are going. Our trademark administrator features with "QUICK-VIEW STATS"™ and our signature "PROFIT CLUES"™ automatically provide you unprecedented statistical information about your business every day.  It's like having a built-in business manager and personal success coach without the hefty fees. You can keep a constant pulse on the health of your business to measure progress without having to run reports and analyze them for hours. Let us do the work for you.  We invite you to see for yourself...

Sign up for your Free Trial today at www.VirtualSalons.com or www.VirtualSpas.com