sam1400

I am looking for some advice!! I am a new owner of an old tanning salon with one location and 8 tanning beds and I would like to convert all the old paper files to a computer system but I am completely lost when it comes to the best program to do this with. I purchased insight salon software and I have 30 days to decide if I like it or not but so far it doesn't seem right for me and I've never been more confused. So if anyone has any input as to what software you have had good luck with please please let me know!! Thank you!

movieking

First thing to realize with software is that none of them are perfect but some are much better than others. For me Sunlync was the best choice and 4 years later I still feel it was the right choice (Helios user previously). There's a reason some of the biggest chains are using Sunlync. It's also the most costly at about $80 per month but again well worth it IMO. Software is probably the most important part of my business. Without it I'd be doing a lot of things blindly so the fact that you're ready to ditch the cards is a good first step.

One of the things we liked best about Sunlync is they don't simply send you the software or have you download it leaving you to figure out how to use it. They schedule several sessions with you over about a 30 day period to set up the different parts of the software to work the way you want it to for your particular way of doing business. At the end of the setup period you are ready to go live with it and are pretty comfortable with how to best use it.

Also important is that a tech person more often than not answers the phone if you have a question or an issue. They slacked on this for a while but seem to be back on track now.

parrot head

Sunlync Is way overkill for a small outdated salon such as yours. If you are planning to expand to multiple locations, In the near future, then I would consider Sunlync. Correct me if I'm wrong but Sunlync will cost upwards to $4000 for the software. Support is extremely important for you, but step back and think, do I need someone holding my hand, through the conversion, or can I do it with a little effort on my part. I am a one location salon, and use Tantrack; been using it for seven years, and find it quite simple to use. Tantrack has good support and it'll cost you about $800, and you own it.

movieking

Sunlync was $500 or less for the conversion I believe and I don't "own" the software.

parrot head

^^^I know a former salon owner, who purchased Sunlync in 2006, and he told he bought it for $4000. That's all I'm going on; maybe they've revised their purchase plans since then.

SteveO

I use Sun Touch. Very happy with it and it is easy to use.

BuyersGroup

I use salontouch in multiple salons. It is very effective in virtually every way. Never crashes costs zero to keep updated etc you pay only the origination fee to "buy" the software. If it ever does have a hitch I get responses in an hour or less this time of year right away offseason. although I have not called on any salons system in about a year. I do pay I think 70 bucks an hour just to pick up the phone with them but who cares I never call them.

Overall it's very stable. Costs about I guess a grand for software and card swipes and you are done. Use any bank for EFT's blah blah.

The main thing I like about it is the reporting functions dwarf helios by a magnitude and I am a number cruncher so its good for me.

The kids like it because you can tan more people faster than helios and that's important this time of year.

I had helios multistore prior and currently maintain another chains multistore helios setup and it frequently has issues and more often then not helios doesn't know how to fix them.

Esglow

I was a tantrack user for almost 4 years then I had 8 beds as well. It was a good fit for me when I first opened the salon it was affordable, easy to use, and the tech support was decent. In the last year I started realizing it was time to upgrade my software as I wanted to do more promotions, added value and better reports the software just couldn't support it. So I went with Sunlync in Oct 2011 and have been very happy since. I paid $1,200 for Sunlync ( i do not own it) and that was for 1 workstation and 1 server. I also pay around $85 with taxes for the Gold member tech support which is Mon-Fri 8am-6pm and that pays for upgrade verisons as well. I can say the thing I love most about Sunlync is that I do not have to leave a voicemail and wait for a return call - 99.9% of the time someone answers when I call. So far in the 6mos of having Sunlync there hasn't been any random breaks in the software as with tantrack whenever something would be fixed it would break something else. I paid $500 for tantrack in 2007 and $200 for yearly tech support. You can try a demo of tantrack I am pretty sure if you call them. Good luck :)

__________________
Erica/Love My Tan

delany

I am using suntouch, but switching to salontouch to network my salons. Really easy to use (I taught myself since the former owner of my old tanning salon didnt offer any training) and it seems to be employee proof ;)

J2Tanning

We originally had one salon. We bought a copy of SalonTouch. We now have 3 locations networked together paying $80 a month per location. Seems kind of high, but people LOVE being able to tan at any location. It also allows you to pull global reports. SalonTouch even setup a free connection for me at home so I can run EFT's and check reports, etc.

I feel that they have great support. And above it all, the girls at the 2 new salons we purchased love it way more than Helios.