E47. Booking System Price Hikes: Should You Stay or Switch?

Welcome to the Beauty Business School podcast. [Music] Beauty Business School is proving beauty therapy is more than just a hobby. With your new beauty besties, your partners in crime, your ride and die crew, with a sprinkle of Regina George's confidence but none of the drama. Picture us as your personal cheerleaders, the BFFs you've always wished for as we tackle the beauty industry together. Beauty training taught you how to be really good at treatments and Beauty Business School is here to teach you how to attract your dream clients by creating a beauty business that stands out in a busy industry. Navigate Salon owner life and talk about the mindset shifts that you need to thrive in the beauty industry. It's time to become the CEO everyone is trying to marry. Let's get into the podcast with me, your host, Kimberly Howard. [Music] Welcome back to the Beauty Business School podcast. I feel like it's been a long time. I feel like I say this every time I batch the next month's content. I'm like, I feel like it's been a long time since we chatted. I miss you guys. I really do miss you guys and I don't think I have spoken about Expo yet. I think the last time they did the recordings, hoping I'm right here, the last time I did the recordings, I was on my way to Expo and wow. Expo, I haven't been in years. So my husband and I lovingly decided to get married on Expo weekend and this year has landed on not our anniversary weekend. So we decided to actually go and I had the best time. My itinerary was crazy. I actually made the executive decision on the Friday to not go to any industry event. So I was invited and I was like, I'm going to respectfully decline and spend some time with my husband. And I had so much fun exploring Sydney with him. I've never been a tourist in Sydney. It's always been for work. He'd never been to Sydney. So we just kind of walked around town and we had the best time exploring it. Sydney's actually a lot cooler than I gave it credit for. Now I am originally from Melbourne and there's like a rivalry there. So I apologize to Sydney because I did not give you enough credit. It is actually full of incredible culture. And there was all these ruins where we were staying. We were staying at the rocks and I was like, this is honestly so cool. So that was a lot of fun. Then on the Saturday, I was at the circadian event. So I went to their event and to their Gala night and I learned so much there about creating such a strong, incredible brand. They have a community like no other. They celebrate their community like no other. And honestly, it was so incredible to watch. It was so incredible to be a part of, to really just be a guest and be able to watch how they ran their conference, how they managed their team, how their team worked, the room. They made sure that every single one of their incredible guests felt welcomed, felt like they could approach people. They were introducing me and others to people left, right and centre. And Zacadia really nailed the epitome of, I suppose, community in a nutshell. Like it just was so amazing to watch and they can throw one hell of a party. There was this violinist that came in and she was incredible. And then they had sparklers going up in the air and I was like, oh my gosh. So I'm here for next year. It was honestly, it was so much fun. I had the best time. And then on the Sunday, I was an emcee for the expo and that was just so much fun. I had the best time getting up there and introducing everyone and meeting people. And there was people that came up to me and they were like, hey, I follow you on Instagram. Actually, cool story. My husband and I, he came for the first half of the day to take some content for me. So I was like, I don't have anyone to take content. Can you please, please? He was like, this is not my job, but okay. And he actually did a really good job. But we sat down to have lunch before he headed off for the second half of the day. This beautiful lady stopped us as we finished our lunch and we were putting our rubbish in the bin, which by the way, expo has quite the organizational system for their bins. There were so many bins and to the point that the guy was standing there and he's like, I'll dispose of your rubbish for you because you won't know what bin to properly put it in. I was a bit like bewildered by that. I was like, okay, here is my rubbish. I'm so sorry. Like I honestly was like, I can put my rubbish in the bin, but whole nother story, guys. But she stopped me and she was like, I just wanted to say I love your outfit. And I was like, oh my gosh, thank you so much. And then she said, I follow you on Instagram and you really are your brand, aren't you? And that was such a powerful moment. I had so many people stop me, although I feel like I got to speak to absolutely no one. Because I was in my brand color and I was representing who I truly am here, who I truly am on Instagram. And it was just such a powerful moment that I was like, yeah, okay, I'm doing it right. I'm doing it right. People are recognizing me. People are stopping me. And if you are listening to this podcast, you made my day. I like skipped away from that conversation. I was like to my husband, like, I was like, it's working. Like it's never for me. Actually, I'm going to be really honest with you guys. I said this to my beautiful friend, Emily today had just recorded a podcast. I don't know if it'll be up for you guys yet, but I recorded a podcast with her and I said to her before the podcast. It's changed so much for me in my career. When I first started in this industry, I wanted the stage. I wanted the spotlight. I wanted to be the one everyone looked up to. And that's okay. Like honestly, if you're sitting there being like, I want that, that's okay. But it's not who I want to be anymore. I, of course, I love validation. I tell you guys all the time. But I love when those sparks happen for people that the reason that they give a shit about who I am is because I've helped them change something. I have been a positive light in their life, in their business. And it was that moment that I was like, oh my gosh, like it's, it's landing and it's working. And it's not being recognized because I'm like, yes, I'm somebody. It's so different now. When I was younger and I was earlier in my career. Yeah, right. I was like, he recognized me. I remember being recognized on a plane and I felt like a celebrity. I was sitting in an economy, but these people were like, you're Kimberly. And I was like, yes, I am. And I honestly thought I'm the coolest person. Now I think how cool is it what I'm doing? How cool is it that we're having this impact? How cool is it that our brand is reaching this many people, whether you are in our course or you're watching or listening to our podcast. It's having an impact. And I just think that that was such a cool moment for me to be like, wow, I'm doing the right thing. I'm in the right place. And I just think that that is so powerful. I got to see so many of my amazing industry friends. I could missed so many of my amazing industry friends. I really need to make sure that I have both days available to really network at the expo next year because I definitely missed seeing so many people that I was genuinely looking forward to catching up with. So when you MC, you don't have a lot of time. I don't know if you guys know this, but you are on stage and when you're not on stage, you're watching the presenter. And I really try to make sure I'm present as an MC at the event, whatever the event may be. So it's hard to get around and see everyone. And I really want to make that something that I prioritize next year. I think I'll be dragging my beautiful husband along. Oh, and then the amuse. Your girl is not a winner. Well, you know what? I'm such a winner. Let's be really honest. I don't need awards to tell me I'm a winner. No, I'm a winner. But I did not win the award. It went to Rebecca Miller and it was really, it was such a beautiful moment. She got us all to stand up. She got us all to basically be like, you are all, what did she say? She said, you are all my inspiration every day. You're all doing incredible things and we all get to change this industry. And I just thought that's, that's what it's about. Like that is what it's about. It's super interesting because I think people often would think that there would be angst between coaches, given that maybe you can name 10 to 20 off the top of your head. But honestly, that's not really how it rolls. Like we really are a united front in that we're like, we're changing the industry. And when one of us wins, all of us wins because then the industry, it grows, it progresses, it becomes a better place. And it was just a really cool moment to celebrate her and to celebrate everyone that was in that category and not just our category. It was an incredible night to see the amazing things that people were doing in our industry. So here's the one thing that I was like, hmm, about the weekend, because I know you guys love the tea. The one thing that I noticed throughout the weekend was an extremely heavy skin focus. Now, if you're a skin clinic, you're like, yeah, yummy, yummy. I love that. And it was really incredible to see the devices, the technology that I did see. And I'll be honest, I didn't get to see everything because she, your girl was busy. But it was very skin heavy. And I don't just mean an expo. I think there's a lot of room for an equal division of skin lashes, brows, nails. I think we definitely could have that expo be more divided and evenly divided. But I do also understand they're running a business and they do need to get bums in seats. And it really is who has the money and then who is willing to step up to the plate there. But I also noticed that a lot of the people who won at the aviars were skin clinics. And I was like, wow, is it because lash and brow clinics don't think that they have the reach, the financial availability. They don't think that they're doing as much. Like it was just so interesting to see that it really was a skin focused event. And that is not a criticism to mock a group or anything like that. It just kind of left me with lots of pondering questions of like, whoa, how do we expand these other areas of the industry to be as fierce, to be as big. Because people kept saying to me, yeah, but people like the skin companies have the money. And I'm like, but what if we could get the lash and the brow companies to have the money as well as well as. And I don't really have the answers for that. But I just found it a really interesting thing to observe as someone who is not a skin specialist. I'm definitely, I'm diving into skin at the moment. I am actually doing some skin courses because I was like, you know what, I want to know. I want to know all the things about all the things. But I am a lash and a brow expert by trade. And it was so interesting to feel small business and outside of skin businesses were not heavily recognized at the events. Now, this is not a negative thing. This is just like a, how do we change that? How do we shift that? Can we change that? Can we shift that? It's something that I'm definitely playing with in my own head. And I just wanted to say it. I just wanted to tell you guys that like it's living rent free in my brain right now. There you go. So today we're going to talk about something that always gets the forums up and about. And it is when salon software raises their pricing. Now, this is going to air a couple of weeks after everything has happened. But recently a couple of salon software systems have raised their prices. And as a result of that, well, the industry has gone through outrage, justification. Some people are fine with it. Some people are absolutely gutted by the announcement of these software companies raising their prices. And I've seen this cycle happen now over several years that I'm like, oh, okay. This is so interesting that we are seeing the same conversations happen every, let's say even every year, but every couple of years when there is a significant price increase on salon software. So I thought this would be a really cool conversation for us to have today for you to get my insight, but also because I have bought a expert in. Now, honestly, I get it. I have been a very small salon and I've also been a smallish salon. I'm like, just three team members. What does that count as? But honestly, I have seen the price rises come through of softwares and been like, are you kidding me? Like another sting, another burn. And I will say, I mean, I'm going to get into this, but people often say things like, oh, Coles and Woolworths don't let you know about their pricing. And yet when we see something very similarly replicated in our industry, we go into a very triggered response, right? There is such a great parallel of like, I raise my prices and I don't tell anyone because Coles and Woolworths don't. But then when your salon software does it, all of a sudden roles reversed doesn't feel so good, does it? So I think that this is going to be a controversial, respectful conversation that I want to have today with you guys. And I really want you to dig into your heart and dig into your mind and hear me out on this one. Now, it's a big decision to decide what salon software you're going to go with. And I get it. It is the backbone of your business. It is now our systems, our processing. It is our customer CRM. It's where we store everyone's details. It's often how we contact our clients. So it's a really big decision on who gets your money and who deserves your money because I'm going to be honest with you. You're hard on money. Yes, it is something that people should work for. Just like when our clients come in, we should be working for their hard earned money because it is about us seeing the perceived value of that product and service. So in this episode, I'm going to cut through the noise and help you think about this in a calm, strategic and a value based way. By the end of the episode, my goal is to help you feel clear on why price rises happen, why salon owners react the way that they do, what lessons that we can take into our own businesses and how to make smart long term choices that actually support your growth and don't stem from reactivity. So let's start with the big question. Why do software companies raise their prices? And honestly, I can see two reasons that they raise their prices. The first reason is that they are running in the red and there is absolutely no choice. Quite simply, the software company has been running at a loss to try and gain market share and we see this quite often. They've spent years offering low prices, maybe even free plans to get salons on board to try and get as many people as possible in their doors. But at some point that model has to stop because it's not sustainable. They obviously have to start charging a realistic amount of money or the whole business is going to fold. I kind of want you to think about this like when you started out, you probably started by charging cheaper prices to get clients through the door. Because honestly, you were just like, get in my door, I need some money, I need the practice and I know I'm just starting out. At some point, you gain skill, you gain expertise and you're like, do you know what? Actually, my services are worth more than this and you do begin to gear for new clientele or your clients grow with you. This is exactly the same thing that is actually happening with our software companies. The second reason that I see is they want to grow. We have this really big issue with people wanting to have profit. Now, Salon software isn't static. It creates development, servers, customer support and that all costs money. That means price rises often fund improvements. Now, I know that some of you are triggered right now being like, but what if they don't improve it? I hear you, I'm getting there, I promise you. But essentially, most of the time they are trying to raise their prices so that they can improve their software, get new features and help companies stay competitive in the market. So the truth is, yes, sometimes they're raising their prices so they have more profit. Sometimes they're raising their prices because they're actually struggling to stay in the market and maybe they made mistakes years prior that they now have to rectify. Again, this is what we do when we actually put our prices up in Salon. When we are investing in advanced training, bringing on new technology, or we switch to a higher quality product so you can raise your prices. This growth requires investment. And if you want to invest in your business, you need to have the money there to do it. So often because of our experience, the client experience that we can give, and because we want to do new and amazing things in our businesses, we do have to raise our prices. Can you see that I'm trying to give you some parallels here so you might actually look at why they are doing it very differently? I will genuinely say very rarely is it being money hungry. There is normally very strategic reasons that people put their prices up, whether it be in Salon or it actually is a software company. Okay, so let's talk about the cycle of reaction that I see for Salon owners. This is normally how it goes. The price comes into your inbox or you open your app and you get the price. Sitting there looking at you, shocking you in that moment. We go into shock. We normally go to Facebook and chaos and carnage actually plays out there. Someone will post and be like, "What are your thoughts?" Or maybe a friend in the industry will message you and say, "What are your thoughts?" And then we do what I call the value check. Do we believe the value of the product that we are receiving is worth the proposed increased price? Finally, we then have the decision to stay, compare or switch. If the value feels really clear, then of course Salon owners will stay and this is exactly the same for your clients. If the value feels really clear based on the price increase, then they are going to stay with you and if it doesn't, if the value has felt like it's lacking, it's getting worse, there's lack of communication. Well then, that's when the comparison starts to come in and you start to look elsewhere. Now, I really wanted to give you a peek behind the curtain. So before I continue on on my merry way talking about this, I have bought industry expert Tamara Reid from Inside Industry to have a little bit of a chat to you and give you a peek behind the curtain of what it looks like for these price increases to actually be rolled out. Keep your ears open because this next four minutes is so valuable. Besties, I cannot believe that I am saying this but we are celebrating one year of the podcast in October and I want to give back to you because you are the reason I've been able to do this for a whole year and continue for the next year ahead. But here's the thing, while hundreds of you are listening, I don't actually know who you are. So to celebrate, I've organised with Divinely Me Diaries to give away two of their diaries at the end of October. These are valued at $59.95 each and they have literally changed my life. They are perfect for organisation, goals setting, my home set work and you can do it in as little as five minutes a day. So here is how you enter. Leave us a five star review on Spotify and share the podcast to your stories and tag us. A little note on this, that if your account is on private, we won't see it so make sure it's public. And then that's it, you're in! And honestly, I can't wait to see who is joining the celebration and who has been watching and listening this entire time. I can't wait to finally meet you all. Now let's get back to the podcast. Price rises in software or any company for that matter are never simple and I say this as someone who's been on all three sides of the coin. I've been on the brand team communicating the increase. I've been the salon owner on the receiving end and as a consultant nowadays, I've also told brands when they need to lift their prices. So I thought it might be helpful to give you all some insight as to what actually happens before that message lands in your inbox. Firstly, the business owner decides that there is need to lift the plan pricing and usually it's one of three reasons. One is to level the old and the new plans. So for example, if you join the software in 2010 and the salon owner down the road joined the software in 2025, you're probably paying different rates. So the rise is often used to bring everyone onto the same level. The second reason for a price increase is a packaging change and this is where the brand might shift from monthly to annual plans or maybe they re-bundle features so that the pricing better matches how the product is actually used. The third reason is revenue growth. So let's be adults about it, brands do need to grow, reinvest and obviously stay competitive in the industry landscape. Now, once the why for the rise is clear, then the marketing team is briefed and the marketing team asked the question, "How do we deliver this message in the most palatable, respectable way for the salon owners?" And there are drafts, there are edits, there are meetings, there are approvals all flying around the place and this can take weeks or even months to just try and land the language that is clear without being cold. You don't want to be too fluffy about it because, hey, you want to tell people that there is a price increase but you don't want to be cold about it either. Then there comes two questions. One is what notice period is fair so that the salon owners can understand the price impact and then the timeline. And then two, where should we deliver this so that no one misses it? And that's why you'll see a combination of like email or in-app pop-ups that will appear on your screen or sometimes even social because if you skip your inbox and let's face it, most of us do, then you'll see it inside the software instead. Now, on the other side of the coin, this is how it feels when you receive it. First comes the shock because you weren't expecting a price increase and then this is what you'll see just chaotically rippling through the Facebook groups. Next is the value check where you ask yourself, "Have I actually received enough value in the past year to accept the price increase?" Now, if your answer is yes and you think, "Hmm, the software has had no problems," when I call for support, they're really quick to answer or they get back to me and the features that I've been requesting have actually been delivered, then you usually end there. You might kind of grumble a bit but you stay on the platform that you're using. On the flip side of that, if you answer no and you think, "Actually, do you know what, the software has been really glitchy lately, it's been down when I've tried to transact or whatever that might look like," you think the support actually hasn't met my expectation, no one calls me back, it's hard to get a reply from them or I've actually been asking for features for years on years and they've not been launched, then you're going to go into comparison mode and this is where you start looking at alternatives to switch to and you ask for others' opinions and the ultimate question is, "What software can deliver what I need at the price that makes sense for me and my budget and my profit?" Now, what is always interesting to watch from my point of view is the response from salon owners in regards to the price increase because if we as salon owners raised our prices for browse and lash services, how would we expect our clients to act? Now, we would hope they say, "I value you and your service is enough and I'm going to stay loyal, it's a no-brainer, I'm not going anywhere, I love what you do for me." Now, I don't have all of the answers here and I always think everything should be on the table for conversation, but I do think that there's merit in businesses charging or changing or increasing their prices where appropriate and I also think there's cause for shock and your right to switch platforms, but if the increase doesn't reflect the value that you're about to pay for, then that's a question mark too and I hope that helps. I just want to thank Tamara for that incredible insight. It really is so valuable to have someone who has been in every level of this experience to share their perspective on why and how it happens and also be so relatable in the fact that, you know, it's okay to be upset and sometimes the value, the perceived value doesn't match the perceived putting up of the price. So thank you so much, Tamara, for coming in and sharing that. I really want to talk about the two perspectives here, guys. There is one perspective and it is the side of the frustrated selling owners and I've read all the forums. I put a poll up on our stories to really understand how the industry is feeling about price increases and a lot of people will say on one side, they're frustrated, you know, I don't feel supported. It feels like the features haven't improved. Why am I paying for the same thing but at a higher price point? And then on the other side, we have had selling owners who are saying, you know, it's only a few dollars or it's only X amount of dollars. It helps with my reminders. It cuts down no shows. It makes my life easier. It's my email tools and it helps me make money. Maybe they have a marketplace that also brings clients in. It's too much hassle moving. And honestly, it pays for itself. This price increase is fine, justified and valid. Or in some cases, I've done the research and it's actually no cheaper to go anywhere else even though this price increases happened. So neither one of these perspectives are wrong. They are exactly that. They are a perspective of perceived value. And perceived value is exactly where selling owners need to hold a mirror up and they really need to think about what is coming up for them. Now, there are so many things in business that are extremely triggering, extremely triggering guys. Business is like one big self development course on a constant basis. But I'm going to run through a few things that may be coming up for you and maybe dysregulating you in the booking system price increases that you could learn something from. So the first thing is are we triggered because we ourselves haven't raised our prices, maybe aren't in profit and we feel like we can't afford it. The truth is that's not the responsibility of a software company. That is your responsibility to look at your numbers, to know your numbers and to raise your prices. And if you're thinking I can't do that, I'm at the top of the market or I can't do that, my clients will leave. You need to have a game plan to increase these. If anything, then putting their prices up is a permission slip for you to put your prices up because your software prices have gone up. It's a non-negotiable. If you're not going to be in profit anymore, you really need to make sure that you are raising your prices. But if this is triggering you, how dare they put their prices up? How dare they want to make more profit? I think that you really need to have a look at your money mindset and why is this triggering you so much? They raise their prices, you raise your prices. It's pretty simple. But I can and do understand why this might feel like a personal attack if you yourself do not have prices that are in profit. It is an extremely triggering thing to feel like you can't afford it or like you're having to go back over your budget and penny pinch. This tells me that you are not priced for profit and you absolutely need to look at it. Everything I say, guys, everything I say is with so much love, but you need to hear this. So the next one is that you don't feel like the value has increased. This is a big conversation. I think I could do a whole podcast on these individual ones. But when people say things to me like, "Oh, you know, the value has increased, why should I pay more?" I really think, "Okay, but do you think that your value has to increase every time you put your prices up? Do you have to be giving more every time you put your prices up?" Or is it simply that you give an incredible experience, that you truly are worth more money at what you do, that you can raise your prices because the service reflects the price point? Now, again, if you're like, "But they're not giving me more. It doesn't reflect it." Or the communication isn't there. Totally different conversations. But when people put their prices up and you are happy with that service, then it should be, "Okay, well, the value is there. It makes my life easier. The value is there." If it triggers you and they do have great communication and they are a great product, it's a really great time to look at, "Okay, do I feel like every time I put my prices up, I have to give more value. I have to justify it." Because these are all mindsets. They're all limiting beliefs and they're all roadblocks. And this is such an incredible opportunity for us to look internally to be like, "Hmm, is there something more to this trigger? Is there something I can learn and take away from my own business through this?" And I think a really cool thing to think about is, when you receive price increases, do you model how you would like your clients to react? Or do you react in the way that you are literally like, "I would die if my clients reacted like this if they ran to the forums and started talking about me?" Would you think, "Oh my goodness, that's really triggering for me?" Because we often have double standards in how we react versus how we expect our clients to react to pricing. And then it's that question of, "Is this a mirror for you?" Are you showing up in a way that you would never want your clients to show up or you ground it in making a really firm and educated decision for your business? The next one is, "Did it feel like a sneak attack?" Now, if the software company has rolled it out and you're like, "There was no notice, it feels like a sneak attack. They've put a time mark on it. I really want you to flip this and put yourself in your client's shoes if ever you've raised your prices without telling them." I have a controversial opinion here. People often say, "I don't need to tell my clients, calls them always, don't, as I said earlier." I disagree. I find it very dysregulating when people don't tell me about price increases and so do many clients. In fact, if you have reacted to being sent an email and being told you have X amount of time until that price increase happens before you lose your software and you have done this yourself, maybe you do need to look at your client experience. Maybe you do need to look at how you roll out price increases. Because our triggers, guys, are our mirrors. And this is obviously a conversation about selling software, but it's also a conversation about what is triggering you, why it's triggering you, and how the lessons can bloody help you. This conversation is so powerful if you allow it to be. Because it's one thing to say, "This is how I'm running my business. Here's all my boundaries." But when someone has boundaries and runs their business that way, what does it bring up in you? Because we cannot hold one standard in one area of our life and a different standard in a different area of our life. It's important that we really understand where businesses are coming from and come from a regulated state, just like we would want our clients to come from. Now, all these things I've gone through, this is the level of communication and clarity we would want from our software providers, right? So can we ourselves look at these and practice what we preach and put this into our businesses? Now, on the flip side of this, I kind of want to talk to the software companies as well, because we're talking about all these lessons that selling owners can take about how they react and how they look at things. But software companies, this is your absolute call to action. You need to be transparent. You need to tell people why, maybe even do some sort of breakdown, avoid surprises and give longer time periods for people to adjust to your pricing. You need to give adequate notice and respect, just like any of us would expect in any area of our lives. You need to provide value receipts. People feel more calm when they do see that there is perceived value. Now, this could be, we know we've been dropping the ball. We understand we're putting our prices up, but it's going to allow us to do X, Y, Z. The biggest mistake I see for software companies is the lack of communication on what is happening in the back end. What are you working on? What are you doing? How are you advancing forward? I really, I want to know the ins and the outs because of that. That is going to make me so much calmer in my decision to stay with you when you do have a price increase, particularly if you've been dropping the ball or it is a significant price increase. I also would love to see more support from real humans in these businesses. The biggest feedback that I have received when I was asking everyone about why they were so upset about these price increases was the lack of communication, the lack of support, the lack of understanding what is happening in the next steps forward for these businesses. If you start treating your community like a community, then they are going to start respecting you and want to pay you more. And this is such a prevalent conversation. I'm not here to tear any particular platform down. I'm here to tell you I am polling and listening to your audience. And this is what your audience is saying. They want to see the roadmap. They want to see the upgrades. They want to have clear communication. They want their data to be easy to export. And I know that doesn't feel good as a provider of a software. But as a provider of a software, they want to be able to get hold of their clients' notes, forms, reviews without them being hostage. They want to be able to make an executive and regulated decision rather than stay from a place of resentment because they feel trapped. And it's really important that someone is having these conversations. So here I am. Hi, I'm Kimberly Hallis. And I am having these conversations on behalf of your market. I represent the largest portion of the market, which is small business. They make up the biggest buyers in the industry, and they are feeling hard done by. They are feeling like you don't see them and you don't get them. And this is your opportunity to truly listen to your audience. What's the roadmap? What's the plan? Where's the added value? Can you communicate with us like we deserve to be communicated with? Now, to continue this, if someone's moving to your software program, can you make it easier? Can you make it easier for people to move over? They need checklists. They need onboarding. It needs to be simple. The amount of times I have conversations with people who are like, I'm moving my whole software over and it is literally like pulling teeth. What can you do to make this more easy? That was terrible English, but more easy for them to actually move over to your software. Is it onboarding them? Is it that you actually have very clear, simple ways to do it? Is it, you know, if they export to a certain type of document, it's easily uploaded. The biggest thing that I do here is like moving over all of those appointments and the glitches that happen in that transfer create a real problem for business owners. They do think twice about leaving who they're currently with because of how much the hassle it would be to move. I think if you mitigate that problem, then all of a sudden you'll have more people wanting to move over more regularly. Now, looking back to my salon owners, I really want to tell you this loud and clear. Start how you want to finish. Do not keep moving softwares because a better deal comes up. Do not keep choosing to move your entire world around because you actually are losing trust with your clients. Every time their appointments get mucked up. Every time you're like, "I'm swapping booking systems," you actually lose the trust because it's a part of client journey. So when you look at moving, I really want you to ask yourself these questions. Can I take my reviews with me or are they locked into a platform? Now, I'm going to go into a deeper conversation about this in a second. How easy is it to export my data moving forward? What are the fees, subscriptions, SMS, transactions, the percentage that's taken, deposits, charge bags, all of that information? Have it before you move. Understand what you are truly in for. Now, I know that's hard when people are raising their prices along the way and they are changing what they're doing along the way, particularly if they promise to always be one thing and maybe they move to a different thing. But you have to do your best to truly understand and I find people move before they do understand what they are truly signing up for. Who owns the client relationship? You or the software/marketplace that you are working with? Do the features actually match what you need right now in your business and where you want to be in the future? Because often people outgrow their software and they're moving two or three times because they haven't really thought about how they want to finish their thinking about the right now. Do the features actually match what you need? And how strong is the support, the reporting and the roadmap? I think that's a question that not many people ask in our industry. You can ask what is the roadmap for your business? What is your plan for the next six to twelve months of new things you're going to be implementing, things you're going to be working on? And I know this with my own software companies, they literally tell us in quarter one we're working on this, on quarter two we're working on this, on quarter three we're working on this, quarter four we're working on this. They give us updates every month. What changed, what's been updated, what are they working on? Software companies, are you listening? Are you listening? Updates create a calm and regulated nervous system and I love getting those emails. I love seeing what's changed. I love seeing what's been working within the community. And I'm sure there are some out there that are doing this, but I don't see it consistently or regularly enough. I always often feel blindsided because they feel like they don't have that support there. Guys, don't just look at your monthly fee. Look at the total ecosystem of your business, where you are, where you want to be, and see how this actually supports your business. One of the biggest things that I see let down is reporting systems. More than reporting systems, understanding them. The amount of times I've said to people, "Okay, but what does client retention mean?" I don't know. Okay, but like, how often do people need to come in for you to have retained them? Is it once a year, once every 12 weeks, once every six months? And people don't have that information, they don't know. In fact, I have sent clients off to get that information and they couldn't get it from their service provider. You need to be able to ask these questions. You need to be able to have contact to be like, "Hey, what does this mean?" "Hey, what does that mean?" Again, I am not saying one company or another company does or does not have this. These are things as a salon owner you need to think about. When you go to ask a question, is there someone to answer it? I would say the same thing about insurance companies. When I go to my insurance company, I want to be able to get answers. And if I can't get answers, I'm out of there. I probably wouldn't have signed up with them in the first place because I'm very big on asking these questions beforehand to be like, "Right, if I have a question, can I get an answer easily?" It's part of the reason I use a broker for my insurance. Okay, I promise you I was going to circle back to when your platform owns your reviews. This is a sensitive one, and I'm going to tread very, very lightly here. And I think it's really important to note here, guys, I do have to be careful. It is very easy for someone to come out me and to be like, "Hello, public enemy number one. We've decided we don't like you." I'm not here to bash platforms. I'm not here to say, "Go with this one," or, "Don't go with that one." I like to be a neutral party. I like to sit here and give you all the options. What I'm going to say to you guys, though, is if a platform owns your reviews, I wouldn't be fostering my reviews in that platform because when you leave, you will lose them. You will lose every single one of them. And if you decide to leave because a platform no longer suits you, and that is okay, and it does happen, I don't recommend doing it a lot, but it does happen, and sometimes new things come out and you do want to move. You do not want your entire database of reviews to be held hostage. You need to be fostering reviews outside of your platform. That doesn't mean that people can't leave reviews on your platform, of course, but I'd be trying to foster them over onto Google because Google reviews are yours. I mean, Google, of course, can take them away, but they don't. Those reviews actually are yours. So treading carefully here, but honestly, you want to own your reviews. And if you're a software company who does have all of the reviews, I could not encourage you enough to allow people to take them with them. It would create so much more trust, and it would create a database of less frustrated clientele. At the end of the day, guys, I could actually go on and on about this conversation, and this is probably the most planned podcast I've done, and I'm still like, am I communicating this well enough? Am I doing this justice? Am I going to piss someone off? Probably. But at the end of the day, I want you to ask yourself this, does this software save me time, cut down no shows, grow my revenue, and improve my client experience? If the answer is yes, it is an investment. If the answer is no, then it's time to research alternatives. Using that checklist, then I went through above, below, before. I really want you to think about this. You want a company who supports you. You want a company who has incredible, incredible data that you can download, that you can access. Your reporting is crucial to the success of your business, and if you don't look at it, please don't beauty business school. We'll help you know how to look at it. But that is the make or break of your business. I truly think having a great salon software, whether it goes up $50 a month or not, if it is servicing your business, if it is giving you everything that you need, value add or not, then it's an investment. And it's worth keeping, it's worth staying with. If you don't feel supported, and you don't feel like you have communication, you're not seen, you're not heard, it's not giving you the benefits you want for your business. Then it's an easy decision. It's time to look around. What one salon software will be perfect for someone? It will be terrible for the next person. But start how you want to finish. So my big takeaway, and what I'm hoping you are taking away from this, is don't react from rage or being triggered, because we've learnt today that triggers can be replicated in our own business. Our reactions can be the exact opposite to how we want our own clients to react. I want you to regulate your nervous system, really think about why it's bothering you, really think about if it's serving you or not serving you. Work from strategy and values, and make sure that you actually aren't just looking at the price because that is more of a money wound, then truly looking at why you don't want the software. Like I said, if you lead from value and you're getting value, you're less likely to be triggered by a price point, unless you yourself are having feelings and emotions around pricing. And that's very much a real situation in our industry. I always try to think when prices are raised or someone comes to me with maybe a quote even on something, "How would I want my clients to react?" "Hey, that is for me. Thank you. I can't wait to work with you." Or, "Do you know what? That's a no thanks." You know, here's my feedback from a regulated place. I don't see the perceived value. I'm not sure that I want to continue due to communication. That is constructive feedback. Running to the forums and everyone being triggered together, it doesn't really help anyone. The company who needs the feedback, it needs to be passed to them. And you need to think about what's right and best for your business. It's not that it's not okay to ask people in the forums, but what I see in the forums is everybody collectively being triggered together. And that's not helping anybody's business. So I hope that you are walking from today with a bit more clarity around why and how prices are raised for these platforms. What to look for in a platform so that you feel like you're making the right decision. But also, lessons for you as a salon owner on what you can actually change, adapt, or work on in your own business. And if there's any software companies out there, I truly hope you are listening. Your market is screaming at you. Communication, transparency, a roadmap to what is happening in the next 12 months. Could be an absolute game changer for you. And with that, I hope I've left you in a regulated state and I absolutely cannot wait for our next episode. Thanks for joining me. Remember, we're more than just beauty business besties. We're here to help you build a business that turns heads and breaks the rules. Until next time, keep shining, keep thriving, and keep showing the world what a beauty boss really looks like.