Running a salon in London: commuters, high streets and many languages

Commuter rhythm: before work, lunch and the evening rush

Much of London still moves in and out of the centre on the Underground, the Overground, the Elizabeth line and National Rail. Shops near big interchanges and office districts such as the City, Canary Wharf or King's Cross tend to see two peaks: people squeezing in a cut at lunchtime, and a queue after six as commuters head home. Further out, in places where people live rather than work, Saturdays and weekday evenings carry most of the week.

• Near offices, make short services such as a cut, a fade or a beard tidy bookable online at lunchtime, and think about keeping long colour work out of that window.
• Lunch-hour customers mostly want to get out fast. On the quick sale screen you pick the barber, the service and the payment method, and the ticket is closed in a few taps.
• In the after-work rush, spread bookings across the team. Each person has their own column in the day view, so it is easy to see who still has room.

When the Tube lets your clients down

Signal failures, engineering works and the occasional strike day are why a client turns up twenty minutes late or not at all, and one late arrival can knock the whole evening out of shape. A few habits help:

1. 1

   Leave a little slack at peak times

   Rather than booking back to back all evening, leave a short gap every few appointments. A slightly longer service duration for your busiest slots does the same job.

2. 2

   Time reminders for the journey, not the day before

   In Makastam you choose how many hours before the appointment the reminder goes out. For after-work clients, a reminder that arrives while they are still at their desk gives them a chance to tell you they will not make it in time.

3. 3

   Let people cancel without phoning

   Clients who book through Telegram can cancel there themselves while there is still enough notice, so the slot opens up for a walk-in instead of sitting empty.

Missed appointments are marked as no-shows and add up on the client profile, which tells you who keeps doing it. For more on this, see our guide to reducing no-shows.

A city of many languages

On most London high streets you will hear several languages, and salon teams are just as mixed. In Makastam each user picks their own panel language, so an owner can work in English or Turkish while a barber uses German, Russian or Arabic. Your online booking page opens in the client's browser language where it is available (English, Turkish, German, Russian or Arabic) and the client can switch it on the page. Messages to clients go out in the salon's language.

If a regular prefers another language, note it on their client profile.

December, party season and the quiet weeks after

From late November, office Christmas parties, nights out and family visits pile into a few weeks, and the last Saturdays before Christmas fill early. Then many Londoners leave the city over the holidays and January can feel slow. Some ways to plan for it:

• In early December, extend how many days ahead online bookings are open, so regulars can secure their pre-Christmas slot well in advance.
• Add a short announcement to your booking page with your holiday opening hours.
• In January, a "We miss you" message can go automatically to clients who gave marketing consent and have not been in for the number of days you choose.

Several shops across different boroughs

A successful London shop often opens a second site in another part of town. In Makastam each location is a branch: bookings, tickets, the till and stock are kept per branch, and products can be transferred between them. Staff tied to a branch only see that branch's records, while the owner can switch between branches or view them all together. The barbershop page explains how a typical shop day runs in the software.