Phorest at the heart of the salon

Zinc Hair & Beauty Streamline Payments with PhorestPay

Lisa Eccles, owner of Zinc Hair & Beauty in Kilmainham, Dublin 8, has been serving the local community for 15 years with Phorest by her side. With PhorestPay, financial reconciliation, client payments, and financial management are easier than ever.

With PhorestPay, card details are securely stored for the client. So even when a client has come in and forgotten their card, the details are there, and we’re able to take [the payment] like that. It’s been brilliant for [taking] deposits and [no-show] payments in the case of somebody not showing up.

Lisa Eccles

Owner, Zinc Hair & Beauty

Using PhorestPay, Zinc Hair & Beauty Have...

Significantly reduced no-shows

Saved time on financial reconciliation

Enhanced the client experience

The Headache of Third-Party Payment Processors

Zinc Hair & Beauty has been in partnership with Phorest for over a decade, first implementing the system when they opened in 2009. While the team loved their Phorest salon software system, they faced challenges using a third-party payment system. One of these issues was the tedious process of trying to balance the numbers on the card machine with their system at the end of the day.

Lisa recalled how small errors could take hours to resolve, especially on busy days; “it took quite a time to figure [discrepancies] out… certainly on long days, where we could be here until 8pm because we’d have so many appointments to go through to find any issues.” Operating like this was costing the salon time and money, and was frustrating for everyone working in the business.

Implementing PhorestPay for Streamlined and Safe Payments

As soon as the Zinc Hair & Beauty heard about PhorestPay, they knew that they had to have it. Lisa remembered: “With PhorestPay, [financial reconciliation] was never going to have to be an issue again… this was going to be a game changer for us.” As well as the time-saving benefits that PhorestPay offered, its secure payment processing features (including safe card storage) ensured both streamlined and safe payments for clients.

Lisa explained: “With PhorestPay, card details are securely stored for the client. So even when a client has come in and forgotten their card, we’re able to take [the payment]… It’s been brilliant for being able to take deposits and [no-show payments] in the case of somebody not showing up… no-shows are really detrimental to our business… I think it’s really important that salons adjust their mindset to [charge no-shows], because it’s a loss of earnings otherwise.” With PhorestPay allowing deposit collection, no-show charges, and cashless payments, Zinc’s finances are protected, and financial losses are significantly reduced.

Providing a Better Payment Process for Clients

In any salon or spa, the customer experience is everything. It starts from the moment they walk in your door and continues until the moment they pay for their appointment and leave. With PhorestPay, the Zinc Hair & Beauty team has enhanced the customer experience by providing sleek, swift, and simple payments. For the Zinc team, this looks like:

The ability to quickly process payments after appointments, whether by bringing the card terminal to the client or using stored card details
Paperless receipts, which can be emailed to clients to reduce clutter and enhance environmental friendliness.
Stored card details for future bookings, making appointment scheduling and payments even more efficient for clients.

“Clients quite like how easy it is to use. It’s very clear to see,” said Lisa.

Making Things Easier for Front of House

When asked how her team are adapting to PhorestPay compared to their previous payments provider, Lisa laughed: “Oh it’s night and day! They find it very easy to use. Front-of-house certainly loves it because it cuts down on their end-of-day duties of trying to reconcile card machines. It’s very convenient for them… it’s not something that’s interfering with their day… that’s a positive!”

This ease of use, combined with the time-saving benefits of PhorestPay, ensures that the team can finish work on time and more accurately track finances, boosting overall job satisfaction as well as efficiency.

Going Forward with a Payments System Made For and By The Salon Industry

Having discussed all the time and money-saving benefits of PhorestPay for Zinc Hair & Beauty, it’s understandable that Lisa responds “I’d be absolutely devastated to lose it!” when asked how she’d feel if she couldn’t use the system in her salon any more.

Her advice to other salon owners considering making the move? “Don’t even give it a second thought; just do it. Just go for it. You won’t regret it… Even if there are any initial little kinks that you have to iron out, they’re very quickly solved. The customer support team in Phorest is so good at getting back to you in a really timely fashion, and they’re so willing to [get to] the bottom of any problems that you might have…anything that makes our life easier in the salon, we should just be going for it 100%.”

We couldn’t say it better ourselves. Thanks, Lisa and the Zinc Hair & Beauty team!