The Data Game

7.25.07

“Software company number 1: If you were a flavor of ice cream would you be Vanilla, Rocky Road, Peaches & Cream or Tooti Frutti?” I’m sure you’re wondering how on earth is “he” going to parallel software with dating and when I say “he” I’m not talking about Jim Lange either.

At the end of the day it’s not always the prettiest girl who you take down the isle, but rather the one you think you are most compatible with. However if you are as fortunate as me, you’d get the best of both worlds – happy anniversary, Honey!

Every salon owner struggles with the issue of data regardless of if you are on the latest and greatest technology out there or if you are still using those 3” x 5” index cards. Unfortunately the word “Data” has a tendency to conjure up some frightening thoughts. Once you can overcome those fears you will be giving yourself the best opportunity to not only stay in business, but thrive in the ever competitive tanning industry.

The undaunting task of deciding to computerize your salon or evaluating your existing software to make sure it is providing you the essential tools to continue managing your business is much like dating. There are the “gotta have”, “those are cool” and “can live without” features that should be considered when doing your software due diligence.

Salon professional should call and get a demo from the 3 or 4 major vendors in our industry, but should not stop there. As you receive the demos you should begin reviewing them immediately while writing down any questions that you come across for each product. When you finish the review process, call each vendor’s sales department and have them answer the questions that you came up with and give you a walk through of their product before making your decision.

And by all means do yourself a favor and give yourself plenty of time to get acclimated to the new technology before you start using it in your salon. Too many people either wait until the day before they open and want the software overnighted in time for their grand opening or don’t expect any hiccups along the way. Without the proper phase-in time or training period the software, whosever you choose, is set up to fail from the very beginning.

Unfortunately, software parallels dating in another area too when you get to the discomforts of the relationship and begin to have “irreconcilable differences”. The good news is that changing software is a relatively simple task because at the end of the day you are talking about data and data is nothing more than bits and bytes.

Is the grass any greener on the other side of the fence? You will have to be the one to decide that, but at least you shouldn’t be afraid of it if you ever decide you might need a change. Knowing that you can always convert your data to a different program if the one you initially choose does not end up meeting your needs should provide the confidence to pull the trigger on finally bringing your salon into the computer age.

As the old saying goes, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained!”

PEACE!