5 Tips to Boost Your Barber Business Post-Pandemic

There are a few service businesses that can cope easily with restrictions on access and periodic mandated shutdowns, and the haircare industry is no exception. That’s why barbers - and the whole personal care industry - are hurting in 2020. According to McKinsey, after 15 years of steady growth, the $532 billion personal care industry is expected to decline by up to 35%.

But with barbershops reopened in most states and news of a Covid-19 vaccine giving hope of a 2021 turnaround, many barbers are thinking ahead on ways to recover that lost business and make the most of any new clients they’ve gained.

The mobile business app PocketSuite has these tips to share based on what’s working for the hundreds of barbers using its platform.

1. Consolidate Business Apps to Reduce Your Overhead

Controlling costs is the name of the game. Too many barbers make the mistake of cobbling together a bunch of different apps to run their business which results in paying way too much and wasting a ton of time getting the apps to talk to each other. One way to reduce overhead and work more efficiently is with a mobile business app like PocketSuite that provides a unified “business-in-a-box.”

As an independent barber, it means you have all your business tools at your fingertips, so you can book appointments, take payments, communicate with clients, and sell products all in one place.

Better yet, you don’t have to rely on someone to help you run your business!

2. Shift Lead Generation Online

People who are spending more time at home are looking for information about safe businesses online.

With an app like PocketSuite you can create lead generation forms, add them to your social media and website, and easily collect information about potential customers in one place. That’s a big help when you’re ready to market and build your community, which you can easily do with another PocketSuite feature.

3. Send Smart Campaigns

When it comes to effective marketing, segmentation is key to can send the right messages to the right people at the right time. With PocketSuite’s Smart Campaigns feature, you will have leads and clients in the app and be able to market to them using specific criteria.

Want to let customers in a particular town know you’re offering a special deal? Or give a discount to first-time customers? You can do that through the app, helping you retain existing clients and get new ones to boost your income.

4. Offer Curbside Pickup For Kits and Products

For customers who still don’t want to come to your premises, many hair care professionals have found that curbside pickup is a useful addition to their business.

Many haircare professionals have found that curbside pickup useful for their business. Customers who are more cautious about coming inside your business will appreciate having this option.

You can create kits and product bundles and let people collect them safely and securely - and they can purchase those through the app, too. Keeping customers safe will show them you care, which will keep them connected with you.

5. Offer Advice Online

A pivot many beauty professionals are making, and barbers can too, is to offer consultations online. OK, so that won’t get people’s hair cut, but for conditions that require specialist care, a video conference can go a long way to helping your customers.

And it helps you build your client community by maintaining contact for when business recovers. PocketSuite, for example, has built-in video conferencing capability that makes it super easy to schedule a virtual consultation without the need of relying on another video service such as Zoom.

Now, more than ever, it’s important for barbers to be able to change direction in an ever-evolving situation.

While McKinsey expects the beauty and personal care industry to recover, it’s hard to say exactly when that recovery will stick. Use the tips in this guide to innovate and keep income coming in while you wait.