Holiday Gift Card ideas for your Salon or Spa from Fred Dengler

With the holiday season a lot of people are asking ways of how to promote business. One way is to give employees gift cards to give out to new people they meet that are not current customers. A gift card for their first visit. This allows the employee to get new customers at a very low marketing cost. Another way is to select the top 4 or 5 customers for each employee and give them a special gift of 4 gift cards that they can give out to friends. Conditions on the card are the friend must be a new customer who has never been into the salon/spa. Create the following inventory items 1. GCARDE – GIFT CARD PROMO EMPLOYEE 2. GCARDC – GIFT CARD PROMO CUSTOMERS DONATIONS ITEM TYPE XA – GIFT CARD SALE PRODUCT CATEGORY – 4? GIFT CARD SALE THE CARD NUMBERS FOR EMPLOYEES WILL BE STARTING AT 900000 IE CINDY – WILL HAVE CARDS 900000,900001,900002,900003,900004 JILL - WILL HAVE CARDS 900020, 900021, 900022, 900023, 900024 DEBRA - WILL HAVE CARDS 900040, 900041, 900042, 900043, 900044 This way you can track the cards by numbers and if you decide to have different ranges for cards or different cards for employees (ie $5 card, $10 card, 5% card, 10% card) each employee will have 20 available numbers and leave plenty of room of future expansion of employees and termination of employees For the customer Christmas cards or any card you would give away as a promotion I would use numbers starting at 700000 Ie Cindy top 5 Customers #23506-Debbie would get cards 700000, 700001, 700002, 700003, 700004 Customer #1257 – Elise would get cards 700005, 700006, 700007, 700008, 700009 Customer # 14971 – Laurie would get cards 700010, 700011, 700012, 700013, 700014 Customer # 1098 – Sherri would get cards 700015, 700016, 700017, 700018, 700019 Customer # 19305 – Donna would get cards 700020, 700021, 700022, 700023, 700024 Cindy’s top customers would get these cards to give as gift to friends who have never been into the salon. As they are redeemed keep the cards and re-use them for next year. Also for any school, church, organization you can use the 700000 numbers This way you can run reports by gift card numbers and also track promotion dollars for your cpa/accountant/bookkeeper and financial reports Call us for more Gift Card ideas at Mikal 513-528-5100 ALSO – don’t forget we can set up on-line gift card purchases for you that integrate with Your Mikal system automatically! All electronic – save 99% of the work and make $$$

FIVE STEP plan to ReStart your Salon or Spa from MIKAL

5 Step Plan Turn your Reluctant and Skeptical Clients into Super Stalwart clients! Do you have the tools in place to not just reopen your business but to resume and grow your business in this challenging new business environment? Okay – so we have reopened. The rush of clients was amazing but now the client flow has slowed. Salons seem to have a clientele divided into three segments. The Stalwarts are the clients that are getting services just like always – the ones that could not wait to get back to the (new) normal. The Skepticals are the clients who are coming in with concerns, limiting their time at the salon, and are reluctant to reschedule when leaving. The Resistants are the group that has just not felt comfortable enough to come back yet. It is rough enough that our hours and staffing are limited. So we have split shifts, expanded hours, done price increases or service charges and other strategies to keep the doors open. These strategies have helped but more has to be done to really resume your business and start to grow your business again. We need to engage the Skeptical and Resistant clients to create visits and increase sales. Here are the 5 Steps and strategies Mikal Software salons are using to resume business and grow their businesses. First let’s make sure we are rewarding our Super Stalwart clients – the one who would risk life and limb to get those services done by you. Fire up your client Loyalty and Rewards program for these clients. Here is how one of our salon/spas restarted the points program when reopening: The Spa Owner says… We instituted our program in June on reopening and the clients LOVE it! We give 10 points for every service dollar and have our flyer posted all over the Spa. We also have emailed 7000 people on our Mikal email list about the new Points program. (Note the support that the spa gives the program with flyers, posted info, and direct email marketing to customers.) We have a program called “Pamper Points”. The first reward is a haircut. This is the department we are building. We printed a Mikal Customer Ranking report for the 6 months before lockdown, and worked out the average dollar amount spent by our clients per year. The rewards are to encourage clients to spend more in addition to rewarding our “big spenders”. Redemptions include: - 10 facials generate enough points for a complementary shampoo, conditioner, style and waxing. - 10 massages generate enough points for a complementary hot oil scalp treatment and paraffin hand and foot treatment. (Pedicure and Manicures are extra) We pay our staff for the services rendered. We also introduced a Couples Night Out. It is a great way to get clients to bring in a second potential client to the Spa. We have this deal on our website and in Mikal software have put in a client type for “Couples Night” so we can mail Text or email them with future specials and events – i.e. makeup events. We are building our makeup division. We emailed this info to clients, too. The Couples Nights are held on our slow nights to control numbers in the salon/spa and also build our slow evenings. We also are now open on Sundays for Couples Afternoon Affairs (lol) and were never open before on Sundays. We are working on teen workshops for the Winter/Spring. They are a great untapped market with disposable income for cosmetics and makeup! Some marketing rules for your Loyalty Points program: - Do not expect the staff to describe the points program to customers. You need to market the points program with a sign in the waiting area, on the stations, with direct mail to customers, and information on your service menu and at the front desk. - Do not allow points to be redeemed for popular services that customers are buying. If you are a full service salon do not allow points to be redeemed for haircuts and hair color. If you are a spa don't allow points to be redeemed for facials or pedicures. Pick services or retail items that you want to move or build along with staff you want to build and set them up as items that can be redeemed. - Have a BIG item that customers who accumulate a ton of points can have. One spa has a special deal for 10,000 points (that's right ten thousand points) that a customer can redeem a morning make over with a limo pickup, flower bouquet, champagne brunch, salt glow massage, make up touch up, and styling service - all done on a weekday morning by 10:00 a.m.! For a customer to get this package they have to have spent $1000.00 on services this year (points are cleared each year) and each service dollar is worth 10 points. The limo and flowers are bartered with local merchants and the salt glow and style costs the spa in payroll $40.00. The service is done on weekday mornings only (slow times for the salt glow and the limo company) and the customer goes off to work or whatever feeling and looking great! - You may want to allow points to be partially redeemed for service or retail items, or you may not. Decide up front if the customer needs all the points or can make a partial payment. - Have the rules and items that can be redeemed printed out and make sure the front desk is scripted on how to describe the program. Role play with the front desk on different questions the customers will ask. Come up with off the wall questions and role play them (your customers will ask some strange questions). If you only allow redemption for certain services at certain times and days make sure that is spelled out in writing. If you can redeem points for retail items be sure to identify the items or lines that are available for point’s redemption. The more time and effort you put into the program up front the easier it will be to administer and the better the staff and customers will like the frequent buyer/points program. So think about how to reward those Stalwart clients. Give them Double Points on slow days/times, Give them points for prebooking the next appointment before leaving. Mikal software executes all these strategies seamlessly and without any effort on your part. Set up the Loyalty Points program in with Mikal if runs automatically!

On-LIne Giftcards with MIKAL - Easy way to make cash

25% of your clients have already done their Christmas shopping - get going on selling on line Gift Cards with MIKAL You will be able to put a button on your web site and FaceBook page so clients can order electronic or plastic gift cards on-line without going to a 3rd party vendor. - Charges will be minimal - just the credit card processing fee percentage - we are amazed at the high rates charged by some of the companies who process the cards. - The module will work with your web site, Google places page, FaceBook page....anywhere you want to put a BUY GIFTCARD button! - Clients can request a plastic card be mailed. You can charge a mailing fee and even add a rush fee for those last minute buyers. All this means more revenue for you. - Mikal does all the set up, integration and you just start checking your bank account for money. So...................... Sale income goes into your salon/spa account directly and is not held for redemption by the gift card provider. You can change web site providers, app providers and others and take your gift card shopping cart with you. All information is generated for you automatically. The gift card is sold, sales in tracked in Mikal, buyer and recipient info is captured and gift card sales and redemption history is updated. You are selling with 24/7/365 availability. Cost is $200 on sale now for option and complete set up Monthly maintenance is $35 Give us a call or Email sales@mikal.com or 513-528-5100

MIKAL Salons and Spas - Use Holiday Giftcards to Grow the Biz!

With the holiday season a lot of people are asking ways of how to promote business. One way is to give employees gift cards to give out to new people they meet that are not current customers. A gift card for their first visit. This allows the employee to get new customers at a very low marketing cost. Another way is to select the top 4 or 5 customers for each employee and give them a special gift of 4 gift cards that they can give out to friends. Conditions on the card are the friend must be a new customer who has never been into the salon/spa. Create the following inventory items 1. GCARDE – GIFT CARD PROMO EMPLOYEE 2. GCARDC – GIFT CARD PROMO CUSTOMERS DONATIONS ITEM TYPE XA – GIFT CARD SALE PRODUCT CATEGORY – 4? GIFT CARD SALE THE CARD NUMBERS FOR EMPLOYEES WILL BE STARTING AT 900000 IE CINDY – WILL HAVE CARDS 900000,900001,900002,900003,900004 JILL - WILL HAVE CARDS 900020, 900021, 900022, 900023, 900024 DEBRA - WILL HAVE CARDS 900040, 900041, 900042, 900043, 900044 This way you can track the cards by numbers and if you decide to have different ranges for cards or different cards for employees (ie $5 card, $10 card, 5% card, 10% card) each employee will have 20 available numbers and leave plenty of room of future expansion of employees and termination of employees For the customer Christmas cards or any card you would give away as a promotion I would use numbers starting at 700000 Ie Cindy top 5 Customers #23506-Debbie would get cards 700000, 700001, 700002, 700003, 700004 Customer #1257 – Elise would get cards 700005, 700006, 700007, 700008, 700009 Customer # 14971 – Laurie would get cards 700010, 700011, 700012, 700013, 700014 Customer # 1098 – Sherri would get cards 700015, 700016, 700017, 700018, 700019 Customer # 19305 – Donna would get cards 700020, 700021, 700022, 700023, 700024 Cindy’s top customers would get these cards to give as gift to friends who have never been into the salon. As they are redeemed keep the cards and re-use them for next year. Also for any school, church, organization you can use the 700000 numbers This way you can run reports by gift card numbers and also track promotion dollars for your cpa/accountant/bookkeeper and financial reports Call us for more Gift Card ideas at Mikal 513-528-5100 ALSO – don’t forget we can set up on-line gift card purchases for you that integrate with Your Mikal system automatically! All electronic – save 99% of the work and make $$$

Come to Camp MIKAL for Salon and Spa owners and managers in September

Camp MIKAL Book Now and Save! Saturday Sept. 19 thru Monday Sept. 21 Enjoy Camp – Learn – Share – Try out options – Meet experts! Camp MIKAL starts with advanced registration at 1pm Saturday Sept. 19 and a Boot Camp system review session from 2pm to 5pm and ends Saturday with a welcome mixer in our Resource room from 5pm to 7pm. Then you can Oktoberfest! Sunday officially starts Camp MIKAL with registration and a hotel buffet breakfast at 8am and Camp Kick-Off at 9am. In the Kick-off we will cover the new SEVEN features and all new Marketing and E-Marketing strategies that will increase sales and build retention. At 5:30pm we will host a party “Stop Wine-ing and Eat Some Cheeze!” with tons of networking, awards, and conversation. Then it is Oktoberfest time! Monday starts with a hotel breakfast and more classes and breakout sessions from 9am to 1pm. There is a box lunch provided and our Resource room will be open till 2pm for hands on work and any final questions. Optional Success Club Tuesday! Call for details – only 10 spots available for the Club Tuesday. Also enjoy ZinZinnati OKTOBERFEST* Dates: September 18 - 21 Location: Downtown Cincinnati - Times: Friday night, Saturday and Sunday Also – Reds Baseball game Sunday 4pm Newport Aquarium – Kings Island – Old Coney d The ZinZinnati Oktoberfest is the most authentic Oktoberfest in the country. The event will be in the Munich Oktoberfest style of large Fest Tents sponsored by our German Beer Breweries. Each tent will have food, beer and music. Rides and Games. There will also be continuous live German entertainment. Free admission. Largest Oktoberfest outside Germany! Bring the family!

Confirm your salon and spa appointments post pandemic

MIKAL Salons and Spas Make sure your Appointment Reminders and confirmations spell out your new Safe Services policies. As we prepare to ReOpen lets make sure we have the emarketing, signage, scripting, and staff all on board for safe and smart operations. Here is an example of the Appointment confirmation/reminder message. THE STAFF AT MIKAL SALON & SPA WOULD LIKE TO REMIND YOU OF YOUR APPOINTMENT..... We have a new Safe Services policy. Please help us create a safe place for you to enjoy your services. When you are parked in our lot please call the front desk and tell them you have arrived. Your stylist will sanitize their station and prepare for your service. Please do not come into the salon until the front desk tells you your stylist is ready and waiting for you at our front door. Please wear a mask and if you like gloves and eye protection. It will not hamper our performance of your service. If you do not have a mask one will be provided that you can take with you after the service. We will also check your temperature at the door. Our staff gets a temperature check 3x a day for your safety. If you have a high temperature your service will have to be rebooked. If you do not wish to pay after the service you can give us your credit card information before or during the service and on completion of your visit you can simply exit the salon. Thank you for your cooperation. Your safety and satisfaction are our primary concerns. Call MIKAL for set up and ReOpening Ideas. You will need to think about opening your book, how EBMA will work, On-Line booking for clients, and other reopening ideas. Also you will need to start a new day and week. There might be a month end and quarter end to do. Check you UpDate log or give us a call. We are available (as always 9am to 9pm Mon-Fri and 9am to 4pm Saturday. Your MIKAL Support Team 513-528-5100 www.mikal.com

Smart Ideas for ReOpening Your Salon/Spa

We hope this message finds you, your team and families all safe and well. As we reopen or plan to reopen here are ideas to consider with you Mikal system: - Staff scheduling: many states are limiting staff and clients in the salons and spas. Remember that you can have alternate week schedules in MIKAL. Schedule half The staff for each Saturday and be open 80 hours a week with 2 shifts. - Automatic Client Service charge: set the system to put a one line service charge on every sale. System Info, Point of Sale, Auto Service Charges – suggest Flat $ rate, per ticket, credit house account – should not be commissionable - Appointment reminders/confirms: change the message to reinforce your new policies for masks, etc.. - Campaigns: set up a new ALLCUST list of email clients and a standard campaign to change a few times a week and blast out to keep clients informed. Idea: use ^fname^ and other embedded commands to personalize the emails and text messages! - Activate the email to assign All Clients credentials to be able to book on-line. Coordinate with MIKAL so you can activate on-line booking in conjunction with your reopening. - Retail generates 40% profit per dollar and services generate 10% per dollar so…have a BIG sale on retail the month you reopen – sell the shelves empty! - If you get PPP and want to rehire desk staff have them remote into MIKAL and work from home confirming client text numbers, phone carriers, and email addresses. Note you can use Windows Remote Desktop to set this up so staff can take control of a computer at work from home. There may be a charge to set up this process. - This is a great time to activate the automatic Up$ell option and have add on services pop up When the clients call or book on line. Get that extra revenue with the influx of clients. We hope these ideas help. We are here to help you with support 9-9 Mon-Fri and 9-4 Sat. Also – you could use this down time to upgrade to Mikal SEVEN and open with our new look! Call us to look into the monthly rental option for our new version, support, on-line booking and Employee mobile app all rolled into one low monthly price. No extra costs – always be updated! Stay safe Your MIKAL Support Team 513-528-5100 www.mikal.com

Ideas for ReOpening your Salon or Spa

Re-Opening ideas from MIKAL Automatic Add-On Charge for MIKAL Point-of-Sale Mikal has a feature that allows the automatic add on of a charge on each sale or each service line item on a sale. This charge can be set up as a flat dollar amount or as a percentage of the service/ticket. Enter a Sale and the Service Charge will appear as an additional line item and also show as a special amount on the payment screen in SIX. Do you need to clear some gift cards to resell them? You can clear All zero balance gift cards in Mikal. Give us a call for details. Staff scheduling: many states are limiting staff and clients in the salons and spas. Remember that you can have alternate week schedules in MIKAL. Schedule half The staff for each Saturday and be open 80 hours a week with 2 shifts. This is a great time to activate the automatic Up$ell option and have add on services pop up When the clients call or book on line. Get that extra revenue with the influx of clients. Appointment reminders/confirms: change the message to reinforce your new policies for masks, etc.. Campaigns: set up a new ALLCUST list of email clients and a standard campaign to change a few times a week and blast out to keep clients informed. Idea: use ^fname^ and other embedded commands to personalize the emails and text messages! Activate the email to assign All Clients credentials to be able to book on-line. Coordinate with MIKAL so you can activate on-line booking in conjunction with your reopening. Retail generates 40% profit per dollar and services generate 10% per dollar so…have a BIG sale on retail the month you reopen – sell the shelves empty! NOW is the time to upgrade your systems and activate the features in Mikal that will help jump start your business as it Re-Opens. Give us a call to get these features going! 513-528-5100 Please note: if you are on a support contract your calls are FREE – if you have chosen per call you will need a credit card when you call us. One call/charge can handle multiple questions – give us a call! Stay safe and thank you for your support – your Mikal Team

Salon and Spa Ideas for the REBOOT of 2020

2020 REBOOT is HERE! We are starting the Half New Year! Don't think New Year's Resolutionsor ReOpening Resolutions, think New Half Year's EVOLUTION Resolutions don't work. The average person keeps them for less than 2 weeks (remember the gym membership, fruit diet, juicer machine etc…). So the wheels will fall off the Resolution train............. Why don't resolutions work? Because it is our human behavior. It is our habit. It is easy. It might even be satisfying. So instead of trying to change behavior why not change the environment, the process, or the system and the behavior will change. So instead let's EVOLVE! Let's look at every system and process in our business and figure out how we can make it simpler, faster, better for staff and clients, and of course more profitable. A few examples: The front desk is an area of on-going frustration. Turn over of staff, poor client service, down time is not used to clean, organize, do confirmations, and retail and rebooking is not a priority. So do we resolve to put as much time into the front desk as needed to change these things? Do we clean house and hire new receptionists? Is that our Resolution, to have a Revolution? Ready to go all Tabitha on the desk? Or the idea from MIKAL.... How about activating EMBA so the future appointment is booked before the client even comes up to the front desk to check out? The Employee Mobil Booking App lets your staff book the client's next appointment on their smart phone with the client at the end of the service! How about embedding the Surveymonkey surveys into the automatic new client and reminder emails and texts MIKAL sends out for you for immediate feedback and ideas on what needs to change to improve the client experience? How about putting in message on hold and call queue option on the phone to auto hold calls if not answered in 2 rings so the front desk can finish sales, rebook, and close retail without interruptions on putting people on hold? - Support system involves giving the upsell offers in your message on hold. - Education needs to happen so staff knows how to handle the call queue option. How about giving a bonus when the receptionist rebooks a client, upsells a service, converts a price call to a booking, and sells NEW retail items to a client? The desk would be rewarded to do the things you want them to do. Sales would increase, retention would go up, and the bonus would increase wages so they would not leave over a fifty cent pay increase from a company down the street. - Support system involves setting spiffs for rebooks, upsells, add on sales in MIKAL. - Education needs to have scripting in place to deliver the offers. - Support system needs to give clients loyalty points for rebooking automatically. How about setting up the receptionist goals so every week they get a report on how they are doing compared to your expectations? If the present desk staff can't embrace these positive steps how about hiring people that are going to embrace your systems? So we Evolve with changes to the systems and the process allowing the people to change their behavior. You can manage the process instead of the people. Why not do this for other areas? Retailing - what can be changed to make retail easy? Professional inventory- what can be put in place to track and fine tune inventory? Stylist behaviors - what can be put in place to reward positive behaviors? Social marketing - what can be put in place to make it automatic and effective? Let's think through these areas and enhance the process and systems. Come to Camp MIKAL Cincinnati Jan. 19-21 and brainstorm these areas - make a plan - make the changes..... There are 5 "slots" left for the seminar. Call and register now 513-528-5100 MIKAL Salon Software

2020 is half over so Salons and Spas lets get going and make some money!

So 2020 is half over. Can you believe it? Wow – business is restarting. Investment is happening. Everyone is back to work and making money. Most important the Frugality Fatigue has kicked in the people are spending. Are they spending with you? Are you enjoying the expansion? Are your profits up? Are sales on the rise? Are you increasing staff and working on productivity? Have you raised your prices in the last 6 months? If the boom has not caught up with you here are some sure fire ways to get on track and make sure you get your slice of the profit pie: First look at your numbers – your Shop performance report should show an increasing trend in average ticket for the last 2 months and 2 quarters. Look at each product class and see where you are having an increase and where you need to concentrate on an increase. Example: if haircuts are trending up but color is not so get the Xris-Xross feature going in the system to cross market the color services to your cut clients. Set up 3 Xris-Xross campaigns to get more business going with your present client base. Now look at staff – your Employee ranking report and especially the Management pages option. Who has the lowest average ticket, the lowest retail numbers and the lowest request rates? Do these employees still have the “we are in a recession” mind set? You need to get them out of it. Do they low performers all cluster in one area of the salon/spa? Relocate them to be next to the top performers. Let them and their clients hear and see what your best performers are up to. Look at each person’s individual sales. Where can you help them with average ticket, or add on services, or better rebooking scripting? Don’t forget that your MIKAL system can also help with these things. Set up MIKAL to offer the pop-up upsells when rebooking, make sure the reminder autopilot marketing is happening to get the clients back in, activate EMBA so staff can rebook clients right at their stations and take some of the pressure off the front desk, Set retail goals and run retail specials to get clients engaged in buying product from you/your staff again. The year is half over – and there is still a half a year to go. Let’s make 2018 a great year. How about your expenses? Have some costs been creeping up? Have you shopped insurance lately? Many business policies have had cost reductions. Are you paying for magazine subscriptions? All you clients surf their smart phones while waiting. Are your distributors giving you their BEST price on products and do you take advantage of the free shipping most offer with minimum orders? Are you carrying products that are not selling? Run your MIKAL Inventory Ranking report and eliminate the slow movers. Have a BIG summer sale! Call MIKAL 513-528-5100 for more money saving and income producing tips and ideas. We can help. Come to Camp MIKAL Vegas at the end of this month July 29-31. Get your business on track. Share, learn, network. Plus it is VEGAS! Call MIKAL for a reservation. There are a few spaces left. Book your $69 room at the Tuscany Casino Resort www.tuscanyLV.com.

MIKAL 7 released at Camp MIKAL

This coming Camp MIKAL Vegas! Mikal salon and spa clients will be treated to the release of MIKAL 7 software. MIKAL 7 in the seventh major upgrade to the software system since it's creation in 1982. Java based with cloud and multi-platform capabilities the new salon and spa software is a leap forward in technology for the beauty industry. Attendees to the 32nd annual salon and spa software customer meeting, Camp MIKAL, will be amazed and excited about the new capabilities and look of MIKAL 7 software. The new JAVA based product is just in the release phase for hundreds of salons and day spas around the United States. Bob Iles, head programmer for Mikal, stated that “the new version has been in development for over four years and represents thousands of hours of programming time and input from our salon client base”. Reactions from the clients attending Camp Mikal were positive and salon owners were eager to get on the upgrade list. John Fong of La Luna Salon in Toledo said “Mikal has a winner with 7” and Jacob Brickman of Rene Delyn Salon in Dover Delaware said his staff “will love the new graphics and fast reporting abilities of 7”. MIKAL 7 is a complete point of sale and booking system for salons and spas and includes interfaces to QuickBooks, ZeeZor, WebAppCloud, Demandforce and other industry software partners. See more details at the Mikal web site and read the blog at www.mikal.com . Contact MIKAL at 513-528-5100 or sales@mikal.com.

Make $67,000 using ideas from Camp MIKAL!

Are you ready to make an extra $69,750.00 from what you will learn at Camp MIKAL this July? Maybe you are satisfied with your sales and growth this year. If you are then Camp MIKAL may not be for you (except to fine tune systems and procedures). But if you would like to find out how other salons and spas are using their MIKAL system to make some serious money this is the year to come to Camp! A few examples: Are you using the autopilot automatic unattended e-marketing system to send thank you,reminder, appointment confirms, and birthday e-mails every week? If MIKAL could get just 3 more clients in a week for a $40 service with this easy to set up and self running system you would make an extra $6000 this year. Are you using the pop-up upsell system in the appointment book? If you could do one up-sell or add on a day at $15 you would make an extra $3750 this year. Are you doing Just In Time appointment e-mail blasts to fill cancellations in the book? If you did this and filled one cancelled appointment a day you would make an extra $10,000 this year. Do you use the Daily Activity Report to meet with your best clients each day to present them with a Friend of a friend gift certificate package? If your top 100 clients could get 100 best friends to become regulars spending an average of $500 a year you would make an extra $50,000 this year. Just these ideas would generate an extra 69,7500.00 this year. Plus there is more……………… Call MIKAL at 513-528-5100 for a phone reservation - plus get up to speed on the all new MIKAL SEVEN!

Camp MIKAL - All New SEVEN Software and more!

Camp MIKAL 2018 Saturday July 28 registration and classes July 29-31 Join your MIKAL team for the 32nd Annual Camp! Camp MIKAL starts with advanced registration at 5pm Saturday July 28. You can dial into your salon/spa system during the class and check/update your information in real time. Many attendees say they learned more and really tailored the system to their needs during this class. Sunday officially starts Camp MIKAL with registration and a quick group breakfast at 8am and Camp Kick-Off at 9am. In the Kick-off we will cover the new SEVEN software and all new Marketing and E-Marketing strategies that will increase sales and build retention. Classes will continue from 9am to 1pm on Inventory control, Staffing with goal setting and payroll set up, Front Desk operations, and much more. Two classrooms will be running for your choice of topics. At 1pm you are FREE to do Vegas, network poolside, meet with MIKAL vendor partners or see the CosmoProf show that is in Vegas. Monday and Tuesady starts with a group continental breakfast and more classes and breakout sessions from 9am to 1pm. Then more VEGAS! NEW LOCATION Tuscany Suites and Casino resort - 23 acres, $69 a night *** king or double*** Sun-Thur. In room frig, WIFI, safe, coffee maker, free parking /pool /exercise room MIKAL room block rate Fly from Denver, San Francisco, Orlando, Phoenix, NYC, Philly round trip for about $200. Bangkok to Vegas only $828 BOOK TODAY! REGISTER TODAY!Only $285 per attendee.

Salons and DaySpas get your Beauty Bowl going for Super Bowl weekend!

Beauty Bowl Party - "throw" it together for some xtra $$$$ Are you taking advantage of the opportunity to service clients who are not Football fans and don't give a hoot about the Super Bowl? Also the clients who are fans and want to spend Sunday afternoon getting their game face and game hair on for the BIG Super Bowl game? Don't "fumble" around with this great idea! The Super Bowl #51 is on Sunday February 4, 2018. Act TODAY! Have a Super Bowl Sunday BEAUTY BOWL at your salon. -Do an e-mail blast, tweet, and facebook post telling your clients that you will be open for a pre-game beauty bowl at your salon/spa. -Offer retail specials, do football nail art, have a make-up contest for the best game face, have a jersey or costume contest, and have hair service deals good Super Bowl Sunday only. - It is the 52nd Super Bowl so are there any 52% off deals you can do for the Beauty Bowl? Are there any $52 service or Giftcard deals you can offer? -Have the staff dress for game day. -Go to the Dollar Tree Store and buy the paper plates, napkins, football shaped dishes etc.. for your pre-game treats. Order your items from Oriental Trading on-line for great prices. Be sure to blast out the treats you will be serving. Have a "bring your own snack for a 20% discount on retail deal" and the clients will help provide the treats! -Bring in a few flat screens and have the pregame on. Run the past games from YouTube videos. -Start the pregame Beauty Bowl Sunday at 11am or noon and wrap up by 5pm so everyone can be home for the game. Or just keep your party going! How about starting the party on Saturday before the game for more fun and coverage! Turn a non-income day or a day you are closed into a MONEY MAKER! But you have to start the "ball rolling" today. - E-mail blasts every day this week - Sign at the front desk and at the stations - Decorate asap - Tweet and post everyday to facebook - Have the staff also use their social media MAKE SOME MONEY AND HAVE SOME FUN! Tell us how your Beauty Bowl goes! From Fred at MIKAL - superior software for salons since 1982 www.mikal-salon-software.com fredd@mikal.com 513-528-5100

Salons and Spas Get Your Piece of the Holiday Pie!

fresh Salon and Spa Holiday Ideas

It’s Holiday Time! Don’t be late getting your holiday specials and ideas out there. Stores, catalogs, and web sites are already going after your clients. Salons and spas generate up to 40% of the sales for the year in the last 3 months of the year and up to a third of the profits for the year! Here are some ideas to jump start your merchandising and holiday sales: Put up your table and shelf talkers promoting products and gift cards for the holidays. Do a staff meeting to get the ideas flowing. Call MIKAL for a FREE PowerPoint presentation that is full of great ideas. Run and discuss the slides in a brainstorming meeting with the team. Call us for the slide show at 513-528-5100 or sales@mikal.com Your retail area needs to sell the holiday gift idea. Have a sample gift basket showing 3 or 4 products and a special price. Have clients order (and pay) for pickup in the next few weeks. Offer to include a service gift card with the retail basket. Offer to ship the baskets for a handling fee plus shipping. Are you using the MIKAL Giftcard system so you don’t pay any fees to a gift card or credit card processing company? Don’t waste your money call MIKAL and save 513-528-5100 or sales@mikal.com Have a self service gift wrap station. Get some paper, tape, ribbons and set up a table for clients to wrap their own gifts. Offer to wrap them for them while they are getting their service. Buy in bulk Google gift bags in bulk and get 250 bags for $50 and matching paper for another $20. Pick a bag that is unique and can hold 4 products. The frosted bags are very nice. Always put a service menu and first visit gift certificate in the gift bag. Make sure the free gift certificate states it is for service only and has no cash value. Start blasting out emails to clients about your Gift baskets, your gift cards, your free gift wrapping station, put a picture of your sample gift basket on your web site and offer custom baskets and configurations. Now is the time to launch your client loyalty program. Do you have the MIKAL Points program activated? Call us for a Roll Out Plan and samples at 513-528-5100. You will see up to 70% of your clients the last 2 months of the year. Make the most of this visit! MIKAL Salons and Spas – remember there is a $50 off deal for Halloween good until the 31st on options and that includes the Points program, GiftCard option, and Tablet App. Get your software, get a plan, and get some profits! See our blog at web site www.mikal.com for more ideas. Fred Dengler CEO MIKAL Salon and Spa Software fredd@mikal.com 513-528-5100

Salons: Easy way to get TONS of Google reviews

Beauty Salons and Spas Now Have a Powerful Tool to Generate Google Reviews MIKAL Salon and Spa Software now has the capability to embed an easy link into the powerful MIKAL AutoPilot program so clients who want to leave a review or feedback are just a click away from the Google review. Cincinnati, OH, October 18, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Beauty Salons and Spas now have an easy way to generate Google reviews. Everyone goes to Google for…everything. That includes checking out salons and spas for hair, skin, and nail services. Google reviews are critical to moving the prospective client into the booked client column. MIKAL Salon and Spa Software now has the capability to embed an easy link into the powerful MIKAL AutoPilot program so clients who want to leave a review or feedback are just a click away from the Google review. Every new client, repeat client, and referred client to salons and spas using MIKAL software receive an automatic email or text with a thank you and an offer. Along with that the email or text will have an easy way to post a quick Google review. The first MIKAL salons and spas to try out this feature doubled and even tripled the number of reviews immediately. Jill Wiltberger of Perfections Salon in Cincinnati stated, “We get 90% of our new clients from the Internet and without the reviews our marketing would not be nearly as effective.” Mr. Brickman of Rene Delyn Salon and Spa commented that “All of our new clients look at our reviews and then go to our web site. The reviews are critical to our success.” MIKAL manager Diane Lowe said that comments like these from MIKAL clients are common. MIKAL has a simple document that walks the salons and spas through how to set up the Google review integration and then the AutoPilot marketing makes it happen automatically every week. This consistent marketing is the key to the success of the program and the MIKAL software runs itself. For more information go to the mikal.com web site or call 800-448-5420. You can also drop them an email at sales@mikal.com and ask for more information on this hot topic.

Raise your salon prices NOW

Who says there is no inflation so we can’t raise prices? Price Hikes are happening. As reported in Money Magazine Updated in 2016 Inflation is at 4% and some products are even higher: Fuel oil +22% Gasoline +11% Coffee +16% Milk +13% How are people responding? 39% cutting back on spending 28% adding more to retirement/savings 17% paid down/off credit cards 20% gave more to charity 16% gave less to charity 14% refinanced the house 14% changed health insurance So as salon and spa owners we need to raise prices (or quit serving coffee) at least 4%. Plus we need to have a small increase each year so clients don’t get sticker shock when we have to raise prices 20% because we have held the prices down for 8 years! We also need to appeal to the frugality of people by offering unbundled services and price levels. Packages, series, and memberships also help people justify spending while feeling like they are cutting back. Don’t rule out the new trend of Frugality Fatigue with the more well off. They have been good for EIGHT years saving, refinancing, cutting back and NOW many of them are ready to spend – just in a reasonable way. Fred Dengler MIKAL See more at www.mikal.com contact me at fredd@mikal.com

MIKAL and Demandforce create sales and profits for salons

DemandForce, our Social Media marketing partner, has made a BIG impact on MIKAL clients sales and profits! First off, I want to share some of the great results Mikal salons using Demandforce are seeing: - 188 Mikal customers using Demandforce! - Average no. of visits generated by Demandforce per month: 242 - Average no. reviews generated by Demandforce per month: 32 - Average revenue generated by Demandforce per month: $26,081 This is available on a very cool metrics page you have access to as a Df user. Also LOOK at the reviews THIRTY TWO average per month. This creates business with NEW clients! PLUS: if Demandforce does not perform that month you don't have to pay.............they guarantee performance. See a demo at Camp MIKAL Cincinnati Sept 23-25 and get special deals. Meet with Demandforce one-on-one at Camp and also see a demo at www.demandforce.com See how Demandforce works with MIKAL at Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bksYt871siE Select the DemandForce MIKAL video Your MIKAL Team MIKAL 513-528-5100 sales@mikal.com www.mikal.com

Loss for the industry and the MIKAL Family

We lost a great friend, client, and supporter this past week. Kenneth Collopy left this world and will me missed. Kenneth R. Collopy March 15, 1943 - June 12, 2017 Kenneth was a 58-year veteran of the cosmetology industry who learned European cutting techniques and much of his trade from Antoine Cierplikowski, the world's first celebrity stylist. Kenneth founded two separate salons in Cincinnati; cut and coiffed countless beautiful women from Cincinnati and across the country; taught nationwide from platforms at hair shows for major professional product manufacturers such as Helene Curtis and Zotos; produced and hosted a regular fashion segment for the locally produced and regionally syndicated Bob Braun Show; served as professional educator of hair care and advanced cutting techniques for one of the country's most successful major contract manufacturers of hair care products; was named one of the country's ten best hairstylists by a leading consumer publication; designed, manufactured in FDA-approved laboratories and marketed his own line of professional hair care products; partnered with Procter & Gamble's Salon Education Division in its earliest endeavors to educate and prepare cosmetology students for the real world of salon work; served as consultant to Fortune 500 companies; developed advanced educational programs for many salon companies; taught advanced haircutting techniques for Mark D. Foley's long-running Sail to Supernatural Salon Success educational cruises; was an ongoing consultant for Mikal Corporation, Cincinnati-based developer of the industry's leading and longest running salon and spa software; was an independent national educator for his own dry cutting techniques, developed and perfected over nearly half a century; and launched countless successful cosmetology careers. He loved and promoted Olaplex every chance he got, calling it a total game changer for the industry. Kenneth was a past president of the Blue Ash Retail and Professional Association, has been a longtime member of The Salon Association and The Professional Beauty Association and achieved the highest office in McMillan Lodge 141, a local Cincinnati Masonic Lodge known for its philanthropic support of the Greater Cincinnati community. Right up to the end, on oxygen 24/7, Kenneth worked three days a week because he loved and was devoted to his wonderful clientele and was passionate about cutting hair and helping women discover their very own individual beauty.