A simple discovery of integrating technology into the beauty business

At age 27, Hollie completely changed tack in her career and opened Forever Gorgeous, a thriving Bournemouth, UK salon.

“Hollie isn’t a beauty therapist, and she doesn’t pretend she is.”

Hollie’s background is in recruitment, sales and marketing, and real estate. She’s a woman of many passions, but the beauty industry was always particularly appealing because it allowed her to be creative with her talents.

Hollie isn’t a beauty therapist, and she doesn’t pretend she is. Instead, she hires the best therapists and sees it as her role to promote and manage the business. This arrangement has worked out well, as she brings in clients and her stylists work with them.

Forever Gorgeous started with three rooms in a hotel basement. Hollie began by reading hundreds of books on the beauty industry and discovered that many beauty businesses struggle with self-promotion. This being Hollie strength’s, she married her expertise to her new business venture, and the results so far have been prosperous.

The business soon grew to incorporate nine rooms, including a double and triple suite, and two lounges. Hollie has also managed to increase Forever Gorgeous’ turnover by 20 times since it started and has won the Employer of the Year award.

In August 2015, Hollie signed up for Timely and integrated the booking button into her website. It’s been a welcome change from the previous pen and paper system the therapists were using but took some getting used to at first.

“It was hard work convincing the team to make the transition – they felt safe with a book,” Hollie says. “But we also all knew it was the way forward for the business.”

“Fortunately, the system is clear and easy to use – so technically it wasn’t hard. However, psychologically, the change took more time – everyone was so used to grabbing a pencil, not a mouse when someone wanted an appointment!”

The team have come to love the system, calling it a “simple way to integrate technology into the beauty business.” For them, it means spending less time taking bookings and more time with clients.

“I love that clients have the opportunity to book with us 24/7.”

“I love that clients have the opportunity to book with us 24/7,” Hollie says. “Communication can be a barrier as, without Timely, a booking would depend on two-way conversation – either phone, email or Facebook. This of course then depends on the business being open and therapists being available at the time.”

With online booking, Forever Gorgeous customers can book their favourite treatments whenever they like. There’s a “Book Now” button right next to every treatment, as well as a “Buy Gift Vouchers” button for customers to gift the treatment to their friends.

All sales and bookings are captured instantly and displayed for Hollie on the business dashboard, which she can manage from wherever she is while attending to her busy schedule. It’s this that Hollie likes the most about Timely.

“Now, I can log on from anywhere in the world and see how this business is operating – and for me, that is a huge leap in operating this particular business.”

“For me personally, I run the business off-site,” she says. “I’m only there one or two times a week and would otherwise depend on my team keeping me updated with the business verbally. Now, I can log on from anywhere in the world and see how this business is operating – and for me, that is a huge leap in operating this particular business.”

This allows her to run her beauty salon marketing consultancy, which gives other businesses the valuable resources Hollie has used to grow Forever Gorgeous so quickly while keeping Forever Gorgeous growing quickly. She can market Forever Gorgeous from anywhere too, and see what the results of her efforts are. Measurement and communication is everything in salon marketing, so Timely’s business management tools are a welcome addition to the booking system.

“We know first-hand the importance of communication and marketing,” Hollie says. “Timely has given us another way to communicate with previous customers that we previously couldn’t do using paper. It’s also a much smoother experience for our customers and a much more efficient way to manage their details!”

Would Hollie recommend that other businesses use Timely?

“Absolutely!”