Salon software

[nats]

Good morning all,

As some of you might know, I was in the IT industry for 15 years before discovering I wanted to do nails and beauty.... :shock:
Anyway, to cut a long story short.... Was having a chat with hubby last night (yes, it does happen... ) and was saying that I wasn't sure there was a small salon software available to home/mobile/small salon workers. So he kindly asked if I was after something fairly complicated, and we started wondering if we could write it ourselves :shock:
We have already put down a few ideas, but my questions to you guys are:

• what would you expect to find in a salon software?

• Would you want it to do your PAYE, Tax, stock control, accounts, web booking?

• what price would you expect to pay for it? Maintenance?

Basically, just throw everything you think of and I'll see what we can come up with... You never know...
Bad habits DO die hard!! Can't stay away from that computer!!

 

[Debs]

Thats a brilliant idea if you have the know-how, they are quite expensive to buy.
It would need to have all what you said and something to keep track of bookings, client info, stocktaking, etc
Let us know how you get on and what sort of price you`d do it for.

 

[Nailsinlondon1]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm what would I like well...............
The price would depend on the package lol.............

Online booking
Appointment book
Client Data Base
Client Service Menu
Stock control including low stock reminder
Suppliers listing for Stock and Order Control
PAYE
Tax
Accounts
Salon Locator for out of the area clients

I am sure i will think of more lol
Love Ruth xxxx

 

[nailtech]

Hi Natalie
My husband did just that for me when I owned my salon, he called it Salon One. Had everything except the salon locator (nice one) that Ruth has mentioned.

As it was a full service beauty salon we did a lot of different treatments as you can imagine & it allowed us to see how each of us was doing & what services were the most popular etc. It worked out everyones commissions, logged appointments, stock control, etc. And when I decided to sell the business, it was a great selling tool, gave the prospective buyer a great overview of how the salon had done over the years & the size of the client base.

He's also done me a very user friendly Accounting Package. But remember, its only as good as the person thats putting in the information - rubbish in, rubbish out - so you'd have to write a good user manual & offer user support by phone or email.

Best wishes
Karen

 

[nats]

Debbie, Ruth and Karen, thanks for the feedback.
Both hubby and I have the knowledge to design and write the software, and we have an accountant friend who will help us with the tax, paye side of it. It doesn't mean I won't keep asking for help!!
When we have a beta version, we might ask for some people to "test drive" it for us!!!
Karen, yoou and I will have to meat one day!! or is it simply that great minds think alike???