10 MINUTES WITH SANDY CARTY FROM PHOREST

By Louise May

As the Australian Managing Director of Phorest, Sandy Carty feels incredibly lucky to work alongside a passionate, onshore team that’s dedicated to supporting salon, spa, and clinic owners in every step of their journey. For them, it’s not just about software, it’s about people, relationships, and helping businesses reach their full potential.

At the heart of everything Phorest do, is a simple but powerful mission: to uplift, empower, and inspire salon, spa, and aesthetic clinic owners to build thriving businesses, attract and delight loyal clients, and create workplaces where great talent loves to stay. They know the passion and dedication it takes to run a service-based business, and they’re here to be more than just a software provider, they’re here to be a true partner in that journey.

Sandy’s role is all about making sure this mission becomes a reality for the businesses that trust them as their partner. That means growing their footprint in the industry while delivering real, hands-on support. Whether it’s guiding a smooth migration of a salon’s data to their new system, helping teams get started with the software, or providing ongoing coaching and education, great software is only the beginning. It’s the knowledge, confidence, and support behind it that unlocks its full potential; that’s where they come in and it’s his job to make sure the team has everything they need to make that happen.

He also places huge value on building strong, genuine relationships with industry bodies and communities, which forms a big part of his role. These connections not only help shape who they are as a brand, but also ensure they’re always listening, learning, and growing alongside the businesses they serve.

Mocha Hair Editor Louise May, chats with Sandy Carty about his role and the Phorest brand.

Can you share the history behind Phorest and how it became a global salon software brand?

Phorest was founded 22 years ago by Ronan Perceval, originating from a need to reduce noshows in a Dublin salon where he first worked as a receptionist. What started as a simple software tool to send text reminders to clients quickly evolved to become a complete salon management system. Phorest now supports over 11,500 businesses in 10 different regions globally.

How has Phorest evolved since it first entered the Australian market, and what has that growth looked like from your perspective?

Phorest started its Australian operations in 2018, and the journey since has been remarkable. Over the past seven years, we’ve grown from a small presence to becoming the trusted software partner for nearly 1,000 of Australia’s top-performing premium salons, spas, and aesthetic clinics. In 2020, we faced unprecedented challenges alongside our industry.

We were fortunate to be able to pivot quickly to support Australian salons through those tough times with technology innovation, but also provide meaningful, human support to our customers. It was a defining moment for us as it reaffirmed our dedication to being more than just a software provider. It strengthened our relationship with our clients, but also with the industry as a whole. It helped us understand better than ever how we show up as a partner invested in our clients’ success.

From a technology perspective, we’ve kept our momentum strong. Over these years, we’ve introduced some of our most innovative features while also completing a comprehensive “under the hood” overhaul to ensure our solution is faster, more accessible and reliable, and better equipped to meet the evolving needs of salon owners.

As we reflect on how far we’ve come, it’s a proud milestone for our team; it’s a testament to our shared vision and relentless pursuit of excellence.

What would you say sets Phorest apart from other salon software systems available today?

I believe what sets us apart is the magic mix of our powerful platform and the heart behind it all. We have built this incredible product and have an innovation team that can anticipate and exceed the evolving needs of salons, spas and aesthetic clinics and deliver the best tools on the market when it comes to streamlining operations, having the best integrated marketing and payments solutions and event tools to help you build a motivated and high performing team within your business.

But I think what really sets us apart is that we get it. Under the thoughtful leadership of our founder and CEO, Ronan Perceval, we’ve stayed grounded in the values that matter most: care, collaboration, and community. Every feature we build and every update we roll out comes from a deep understanding of what it means to be in this industry—and how we can make your day-today just a little bit easier. And of course, the real magic of Phorest is the community of people that use it every day. You’ll hear it best from our customers what it feels like to be part of the Phorest family - I’m very proud to be a part of it.

Phorest talks a lot about empowering salon owners to run better businesses –what are the core tools or features that help achieve this?

Phorest touches all areas of daily salon life, from attracting new clients and scheduling appointments to streamlining checkout processes and driving retention through targeted marketing. Designed by and for hair and beauty professionals, our system is, most importantly, simple to use and reliable.

Our PhorestGo app ensures easy & convenient access to everything you need to run your business on the go, so it’s a core tool for salon owners and their staff. It is also home to one of our newest and already best-loved features that helps create, track and celebrate performance goals with your team. The results are incredible.

A lot of people will know Phorest for its sophisticated marketing suite. With everything from new client advertising through to clever reporting, you accurately track and measure your campaign ROI without the need for multiple subscriptions with different vendors.

The Phorest Ads Manager is the industry’s first in-built Social Media Marketing integration that lets you build and publish your ads from a simple, easy-to-use interface within Phorest. With all of your client data at your fingertips, salons can now attract and engage new, current and lost clients, tracking both online and offline conversions with unparalleled precision.

The other tool that is having an increasing impact on growth, client retention and salon efficiency, is the Salon Branded App; a fully branded customer facing app that allows salon, spa and clinic clients to book appointments, buy products and gift cards, refer friends and earn and redeem loyalty points from their phone. With new client benefits being frequently added to this tool, our customers are raving about this.

If I had to pick my two favourite tools for busy salon owners, it would be the PhorestGo app for efficient and effective day-to-day operations, and the Salon Branded App for increased client engagement and generation of referrals.

What do you consider to be Phorest’s unique selling proposition (USP) in such a competitive space?

From a software perspective, we understand that it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain good quality staff and clients alike. So the tools that set us apart are:

1. PhorestGo App (internal salon team app that keeps your team organised, engaged and accountable).

2. Our Salon Branded App (customer-facing app that simplifies booking engagement, transactions and referrals) www.phorest.com @phorestsalonsoftware

3. Phorest Ads Manager (social media marketing tool that helps salons find new clients and reengage existing clients).

From a customer service perspective, all Phorest packages offer on-shore 6-day-aweek phone support and on-demand software training/coaching. All you have to do is go onto the industry social pages to see that our clients consistently rave about our service being second to none.

From a community perspective, it’s knowing that you’ll be heard by our development teams and be part of building the software of the future, that you have a business partner to call on to help you grow and a network of other likeminded, high-performing professionals ready to treat you like family.

You’ve worked closely with salons across Australia – what challenges are you seeing in the industry right now and how does Phorest help address them?

The challenges we hear from salons across Australia mostly relate to staff retention and motivation, finding new high-quality clients, and retaining them. Phorest has seen these needs grow and built features specifically to address them, with tools like our New Client Finder and Staff Goals. And we have those technology offerings backed up with personalised service to ensure you’re correctly utilising Phorest to tackle these obstacles head on.

How important is community to the Phorest brand, and how do you stay connected with your salon clients?

Connection to the salon community is the backbone of Phorest. We stay connected with our clients through our ongoing free and unlimited education and local support. It’s important to us that our clients can reach us by phone or jump on a training session. We see ourselves not as a software solution, but as a software partner. The human touch is what the hair and beauty industry is all about, and we’re no different! We connect every business with their own dedicated Client Success Manager, who is a committed partner for helping salon owners achieve their business goals through software utilisation.

Plus, you will always find our team at industry events, and me, on the microphone at karaoke at our Salon Owners Summit in Dublin every January.

What’s next for Phorest in Australia? Are there any new developments, features, or goals on the horizon for 2025 and beyond?

We have some really exciting feature developments in the next few months. But to give you a sneak behind the curtain, we have a comprehensive lead nurture and management tool launching very soon, a new and improved Memberships platform coming, and a refreshed new look overall.

www.phorest.com @phorestsalonsoftware