Home based salon membership

[Brandywine]

I'm thinking of having a membership scheme to try and get my non-peak times (9-3) fuller. As this is when my kids are at school this is when I would like to work the most, but still have evening appointments for those that need them.

Clients could have £25, £35 and £45 membership, which will then entitle them to have a certain amount of treatments in a month at the non-peak times. They will save between 25% and %10 depending what treatments they have.

Has anyone else done anything similar and how did it go for you?

The biggest stumbling block is how to take payment for this. I don't have a card machine, so can't do direct debit. I wondered about setting up standing orders, are these easy to set up and would I need a business account to do so (at the moment I just have a separate bank account)

Any thought would be greatly appreciated.x

 

[Ruth Mills]

How about taking Paypal payments (or similar) over the Web? You should be able to use Paypal just fine with a personal account, so that would avoid the hassle of setting up a business account specially. Another alternative worth investigating might be Google Checkout.

Both systems should be possible to integrate with a web site too, so clients visiting your site could be given the option to sign up to membership then and there (from the comfort of their own home via their web browser). If you were also able to integrate Paypal etc in with online booking, then you could be on to a winner.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Ruth Mills]

What might be even better is a system that could automatically apply member discounts to a booking too, so if a member signs in to book a treatment, they automatically get shown both the discounted members price and the original price, and a message saying "As a member, you save x% off this treatment" or something like that.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Ruth Mills]

In terms of setting up standing orders - it would be the client that would have to set up the standing order with their bank - so you are in the hands of the client as to whether you get paid or not. If you do that, best that the clients pay for membership at least a month in advance, and you pay very close attention to your bank statements!
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Ruth Mills]

Also, I don't think that having a card machine is a pre-requisite for being able to charge people by direct debit - but a business bank account almost certainly would be!

Incidentally, PayPal does support recurring subscriptions. Payment for Premium Geek membership for this site makes use of that facility, incidentally...
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Brandywine]

Hello Ruth you were quick off the mark, thank you!
Sounds good to me.
Would all of these be easy to put on my website, which I made myself with web easy professional 6? My computer skills are fairly basic, so would I need to get someone else to do it do you think?

 

[Ruth Mills]

If you just wanted a PayPal payment facility for subscriptions, and were happy to handle the subscription side of things manually (e.g. every time someone subscribes or unsubscribes, you make an entry on paper or in an Excel spreadsheet or whatever), then yes, that should be relatively straightforward to set up with a basic website.

But if you wanted advanced features like online booking, automatically showing discounted prices to members, etc, then you would need a fair bit more than just a basic site; you would definitely need some sort of database-driven system that would be able to store details of memberships and bookings automatically. And whoever offered that for you would need the relevant software engineering skills, as well as needing to be registered with the Information Commissioner's Office for the purposes of the Data Protection Act, as they would be storing personal details on a computer system for business purposes.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Brandywine]

Oh goodness loads of info, thanks.
I think I'll have to have a good think about all the options.

 

[Natalies Nails]

Hey hun from what I can gather :idea: you need the system I've just signed up for, have a look at Appointment-Diary.com - Online Appointment Diary and Scheduling Software you can set discounts up for members and everything and it's only £10 a month but you can sign up for free to try it. That's what I'm doing now! I'm not teccy and I can use it, it's simple!

Good luck xx

 

[Ruth Mills]

Hey hun from what I can gather :idea: you need the system I've just signed up for, have a look at Appointment-Diary.com - Online Appointment Diary and Scheduling Software you can set discounts up for members and everything and it's only £10 a month but you can sign up for free to try it. That's what I'm doing now! I'm not teccy and I can use it, it's simple!

Good luck xx

Do you know if that system offers direct integration in with Paypal or Google Checkout for taking online payments? If that functionality wasn't available, would the developers of the system add it for no extra charge (on top of the the monthly subscription)?

 

[The Pink Orange]

Hi,

I am just wondering if it needs to be that complicated?! If you are home based and you have no employees could you not take cash when they have the treatment before payment due? yes, some peeps could pay by direct debit into your current account. As you will be keeping records of treatments, and payments I imagine that it wouldn't be that much more work?! or maybe do quarterly payments?

I do have a couple of questions tho, Are you aiming this at existing clients? if so are they available during the day? If you are targeting new clients..You will need a way of letting them know...for example leaflets..if you are spending money on them would it not be possible to get the same result (daytime appointments) by doing an exceiting promo- new treatment-Minx or intro new range of retail products...doing some free gifts, but aim at a different target market. Students? Mums-target schools and nurserys? Retired people? You may need to market different treatments to each new demographic also. E.g my older clients prefer manicure to enhancements. They would like an intensive mask with heated mitts as a free gift!

Just some ideas chick...good luck

 

[jes]

Hi Faye,

Yes, it does sound rather complicated. I also think clients won't be keen to pay in advance, would they trust you enough to hold their money, what happens if your fall ill for a while etc

Why not just do a simple 5 or 10% off for appointments between 9 and 3.

Jes

 

[Brandywine]

It does sound a bit complicated maybe, I'm just not keen on obviously discounting treatments and rather add vallue, if you see what I mean. I was thinking along the same lines as a gym membership.

I'm aiming it at some existing clients and hopefully new ones. I recently did a questionnaire and quite a few clients are interested. I'm hoping to get some people coming more regularly, during the day.

Thanks for everyone's ideas.

 

[The Pink Orange]

Hello,

Sorry, when I said complicated I was refering to the complicated web system thingy! Not your idea...and if you are trying to get sporadic daytime clients to book more regularly it could work really well...Good luck and let use know how it goes!

Sara

 

[Ruth Mills]

Hello,

Sorry, when I said complicated I was refering to the complicated web system thingy! Not your idea...and if you are trying to get sporadic daytime clients to book more regularly it could work really well...Good luck and let use know how it goes!

Sara

Aye, I think I was getting a bit carried away earlier; it's definitely a better idea to try something simple first instead of getting over-complicated too early with too much tech! :hug:

 

[Brandywine]

Hello,

Sorry, when I said complicated I was refering to the complicated web system thingy! Not your idea...and if you are trying to get sporadic daytime clients to book more regularly it could work really well...Good luck and let use know how it goes!

Sara

Don't apologize, I didn't think you were being funny.
Thanks for your input.:hug: