As I stood in our tradeshow booth at the end of the Premiere show, Orlando, a tired looking woman approached and said “You all suck! I’ve been to every software company in this place and you’re all the same.” I was taken aback as I was certainly not expecting that introduction! So I laughed and said “well some of us suck, that is true. But I’d love the opportunity to take a few moments of your time and show you why we don’t suck.” She gave me a quick once over and said “well you’re going to need to make it quick.”
She told me she had already had ProSolutions and hated the way she was being treated, “Just a couple of days ago I was on the phone with someone who you could tell didn’t care and was just overall rude to me.” “That’s not all,” she continued, “all of these programs, including my current one, are outdated. Nothing is automated and they constantly breakdown, forcing me to call technical support. And they all outsourced their marketing functions to the same 3rd party company! How can they say they’re better than any other company when they are all using the same system for appointment reminders and marketing?”
“My current software company actually charges me to train any new staff I get and I can only call them 4 times a month. Their system breaks down at least 6 times a month and I’m only allowed to call them 4 times a month?!?!? That’s outrageous…. You shouldn’t have gotten me started!”
I gave her an obligatory chuckle, but the sad truth is this woman’s issues are all too familiar to us. Business owners are busy and with so many salon software options on the market, it’s hard to get the truth. So, here were my quick responses to her complaints:
Issue 1: Poor customer service.
We’re the only family owned and operated software company in the industry. When you speak to someone you aren’t going to get a technician that doesn’t care about his job. The attention you receive when you’re part of the ProSolutions family is unparalleled.
Issue 2: Old technology.
Most companies use old software simply because they don’t know new technologies and are unwilling to learn. ProSolutions’ Transcend software is written in SQL and updates are free and downloaded automatically so you’re never behind the times.
Issue 3: Automation & Marketing.
ProSolutions is the only company with DARCI. DARCI automates most of your daily functions such as appointment reminders, client follow-ups, promotions and even notifies the owner of suspicious user activity to help prevent theft. The rest of the competition outsources to a 3rd party company that handles all of their marketing the same way. You can’t be better than everyone else if you’re the same as everyone else.
Issue 4: Training & Support.
We’re the ONLY company to offer completely free live webinars every week for beginners and advanced users. We also offer completely free training videos while some companies can charge up to $600 each and we’re the only company with a ‘live chat’ function right in the software so you can instantly speak to a live technician as often as you would like at no additional charge. While most companies limit how many times you can contact them each month, we love to hear from you. After all, it’s our customers that make us great!
After hearing me out, she replied, “thank you for this and giving me hope. I’m sorry I said ‘you all suck’ because you clearly aren’t like the rest.” She took our pamphlet and said she would be contacting me the following week. I’m happy to say that she is now a member of the ProSolutions Family!
About the Author
Stephen is Head of Product at ProSolutions Software and has worked exclusively in the salon and spa industry for over 20 years. He teaches classes at ProSolutions’ annual workshops and is always available to listen to client requests and suggestions that make Transcend the most robust salon and spa software on the market.
