An award-winning beauty salon on the rise
Lois launched Si Belle in 2019 as a part-time side hustle, run out of her mum’s kitchen. Since then, her business has gone from strength to strength, opening not just one but two of her salons in Essex, and being awarded best beauty salon in Essex in the England’s Business Awards in October 2023.
With the clients rolling in, Lois needed a comprehensive software platform that could take payments, manage a loyalty programme and, most importantly, provide a stellar booking system to keep her appointment schedule full. So she turned to Square – and hasn’t looked back since.
– Lois Williamson, Founder & Owner, Si Belle
How Square helped Si Belle’s expansion run more smoothly
- Easily booking appointments: For Lois, appointments are “the bread and butter of business”. She loves how easy and seamless the process of taking reservations is with Square and how simple it is to manage cancellations and use waiting lists to ensure those spaces are always filled with the next client.
- Streamlining marketing: Lois loves how easy it is to use email marketing with Square, automatically compiling mailing lists through the booking system. Whereas it used to take her 2-3 hours to put together a marketing email, she’s now able to get one out in under 30 minutes.
- Reducing no-shows: With automatic booking confirmations, clients are always reminded of their upcoming appointments. However, since they also put in their card details to secure appointments, Si Belle is financially protected from no-shows and last-minute cancellations.
- Managing staff rotas: Being able to easily access sales and performance reports means Lois can monitor busy days periods and adjust how many staff she has accordingly. Seeing the breakdown of each employee’s performance also helps her to be able to motivate individual team members and give them personalised goals to grow further.
- Tracking sales and stock levels: Lois also finds it useful to track her inventory and see which are her highest-selling products. That way, she knows what to order more of and what to promote. With stock alerts, she can also keep on top of reordering and avoid selling out of what she needs.
“Square Appointments allows me to take a step back, unlike taking bookings by email or messaging. Booking just happens behind the scenes without us having to lift a finger”
– Lois Williamson, Founder & Owner, Si Belle
Getting up and running with Square was a breeze
Lois recognises the challenges of training employees on new systems. But fortunately, with Square, it’s quick and easy to do. She’s been able to get her beauticians and therapists comfortable and confident using Square in no time. She even admits that not a single member of her team has had an issue implementing and understanding the software. This allows them to get on with their good at; providing the best beauty treatments.
From strength to strength: How Si Belle achieved an almost 400% increase in business using Square
- Increasing appointments: With Square appointments, Lois can use waiting lists as a way to quickly fill appointment spaces in case of cancellations. The integration with Instagram and other online platforms also makes it much easier for clients to make bookings whenever suits them. This means she gets appointments coming in at all times of the day and night, leading to more bookings than if clients could only contact the salon during working hours.
- Boosting revenue: And all these extra appointments and full schedules translate to more revenues for the business and, in turn, more growth. To put that into numbers, so far this year, Si Belle has seen a hugely impressive 397% increase in business.
- Synchronising all aspects of business management: For Lois, one of the biggest impacts of switching to Square has been its suite of integrated features and products, including Hardware, Marketing, Loyalty and Appointments. This has helped her feel in control of her business and equipped her with the tools to focus on expanding and growing.
- Tracking progress and motivating staff: Being able to see and compare reports from both her salons in one place allows Lois to get a friendly competitiveness going between the two locations. This helps push employees to work that little bit harder. She admits that if she had to do it manually using two different systems, she wouldn’t be able to provide this sort of motivation and see the subsequent boost to sales it generates.
“I wanted a complete service with a booking system, a card reader, and marketing so I could do email blasts. With Square, everything is aligned and seamlessly syncs. It’s saved me because it runs so smoothly”
– Lois Williamson, Founder & Owner, Si Belle
Impressed by Lois’ success and keen to emulate it? Find out what Square can also do for your business by getting in contact with us below:
