CRM for barbershop

Barbershops are men’s beauty salons, in which the quality of customer service is always in the first place. And it’s not even about high competition – customer focus is part of the ideology of this business, so you can’t do without high-quality CRM.

Such a system will help your company improve interaction with visitors, automate internal processes and control the work of masters, and therefore allow it to grow faster and expand its customer base.

Up to a certain threshold, companies can still work “the old fashioned way” and keep track of customers in a Google spreadsheet or using boxed CRMs. For example, if the number of visitors per month does not exceed 20 people, these tools may be quite enough.

However, if you have multiple craftsmen, a range of material suppliers, and a steady stream of clients with unique needs, a custom CRM system is indispensable. With its help, you can automate most of the internal processes and build an individual approach to each visitor.

CRM-systems for barbershops have wide functionality and help to make the process of customer service and administration easier and more convenient.

The main functions of such systems include:

• Automation. Many routine tasks of a barbershop can be easily automated, for example, sending reminder notifications to clients about a visit, informing the master about a new appointment, mailing with promotional offers or new services, and so on.
• Planning. The planning system synchronizes all channels for receiving applications: on the website, in social networks and by phone. Thanks to this, you will exclude the possibility of recording clients at one time.
• Maintaining a client base. CRM stores information about all visitors and the history of interaction with them. Thanks to this, the client does not have to explain to the master every time what kind of haircut he wants – all this information is already in the database.

In addition, if a person has not visited the salon for a long time, you can try to “return” him with the help of promotional offers.

• Accounting for the working time of masters. Helps to control the workload of staff and distribute orders more efficiently.
• Accounting for materials. The inventory control system will help you control the level of materials and consumables in each salon.
• Collection of analytics. Up-to-date analytical information about the work of the barbershop will demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the company and help determine the optimal growth points.

In each barbershop, work is built in its own way, and the main advantage of an individual CRM is that it is created for the business needs of each specific company. Therefore, for different salons, the functionality may differ.

The technology stack affects many factors: the performance of CRM, the speed of its implementation, the ability to integrate with third-party services, and so on. Therefore, in order to choose the optimal technologies, specialists need to carry out certain preparatory work:

• study the client’s experience in using third-party software;
• get to know the processes within the company;
• form the concept of the project and top-level documentation.

In addition, an important role is played by the devices on which your barbershop staff will use CRM. For example, administrators will be comfortable working in the desktop version, and barbers in the mobile application, since they are not constantly near the computer.

At the same time, the web version of the project will be able to function on both smartphones and PCs at the same time.

Given these features, the technology stack can be as follows:

• for mobile applications: Swift programming language for IOS and Java/Kotlin for Android, or Flutter framework and Dart language for cross-platform development;
• for desktop applications: Python language and Django/Flask frameworks, PHP language and Yii2/Laravel frameworks or C++ language.
• for web applications: static HTML/CSS/JavaScript or reactive Vue.js/React.js technologies for the frontend part, and Python/PHP/Node.js for the backend.

There are different software development methodologies, but when creating CRM, we prefer to use SCRUM. Its meaning is quite simple – the entire amount of work is distributed among the team members and is performed in short sprints. At the same time, each sprint has clear deadlines and a goal, thanks to which the customer always knows what kind of work is currently being done and what the result should be.

Another advantage of the iterative approach is that it provides flexibility during development. This means that new ideas of the customer or team can be easily implemented at any time during CRM production, which positively affects the quality of the result.

In addition to the methodology, there are 6 more main stages of development. Consider what work is performed on each of them.

Stage 1. Gathering information

Before starting technical development, experts conduct research. To create an effective product, they need to study the business processes in your company, marketing cycles, existing IT infrastructure, as well as the experience of using similar software. To get answers to these and other questions, we organize meetings or online meetings with client representatives.

Stage 2. Design, documentation and technology selection

After receiving all the necessary information, the project moves to the design stage. Here, the specialists are faced with the task of creating a prototype of the future CRM and determining its functionality. Typically, a prototype includes:

• mockups of pages and interfaces of the system;
• detailed description of functions;
• navigation system between pages;
• technology stack;
• development plan.

Next, the team needs to align their plans with the client’s vision. To do this, we make a presentation of the work done and, in case of new ideas, we integrate them into a prototype.

Stage 3. Design development

Despite the multitasking nature of the CRM system, its interface should remain simple and user-friendly. This is important because by working in a comfortable environment, your staff will be able to quickly adapt to new software and will be less likely to make mistakes in customer service.

To achieve this goal, CRM design is often developed individually, taking into account the functionality and features of using the system in a particular company.

Stage 4. Programming

The programming stage is not only the most time-consuming, but also the most difficult in terms of understanding the client. Therefore, to ensure reliable communication, team leaders take part in the delivery of such sprints. They can answer any customer questions and make recommendations, if necessary.

In general, the development of the software part can be divided into two components:

• Frontend. Creation of the client part of CRM, with which end users interact.
• Backend. Implementation of the server part, which is responsible for all “internal” processes – data storage, function processing, interaction with external services, and so on.

Stage 5. Testing

To ensure the correct operation of CRM, QA engineers, quality assurance specialists, also participate in sprints.

They test and determine how the actual behavior of the functionality corresponds to the expected.

Stage 6. Technical support and development

Even with the most thorough testing, it is simply impossible to foresee all scenarios for using the system in real conditions. Therefore, in the first time after the release, users may still encounter errors that were not previously identified. In this case, developers are again connected to the project, who determine the nature of the problem and promptly eliminate it within the framework of technical support.

You also need to understand that CRM is a tool that stimulates the growth and development of business. Accordingly, over time, your barbershop may need new, more advanced functionality, and in order to translate new ideas into reality, the development cycle is repeated: specialists study the requirements, design a solution, develop and test on a production server. After that, the update as a separate patch is installed in an already existing environment.

Using CRM, you can get to know your customers better, improve the quality of service and start launching more effective marketing campaigns. This will give your barbershop a significant edge over the competition and help take your business to a whole new level.

Some salons may think that the development of an individual CRM is too expensive. However, in fact, these are not expenses, but an investment in development, which, as practice shows, quickly pays off.

CRM development is one of the main directions in AVADA MEDIA. To implement such projects, we use only innovative technologies, and also represent already formed teams of specialists with experience in working together. This allows us to guarantee the high quality of the result, regardless of the complexity of the task.