Clients get both their first impression and final impression of your salon from the front desk staff, so you’ve got to do everything you can to bookend their experiences with positive interactions. Here’s what you need to know about training a friendly, efficient front desk staff.
Set the tone.
You want clients to feel welcome the moment they walk through the door, so let your staff know how important it is to warmly greet each person who comes in. Have employees ask guests who their appointment is with and get the process moving. If their stylist is running behind, let them know the situation (and make sure to offer them a beverage while they’re waiting). With the Square Appointments’ client notifications feature, this shouldn’t be as much of an issue because you can alert clients to any changes in the booking, plus you can add a personal message to provide details about the situation. After all, they’re expected to be punctual, so show that you respect their time, too.
Stick to a script.
Everyone has a different definition of proper phone etiquette, so remove any ambiguity by providing front desk staff with a script. And because phone conversations are about more than preventing staff from answering with “’Sup?,” make sure they’re well-versed in the types of services that your salon and stylists provide, plus any special offers. Also, Square Appointments offers a quick, at-a-glance view of the schedule, so staff can easily answer any questions about scheduling.
Encourage sales.
The front desk staff has the potential to bring in a lot of sales, whether it’s by suggesting additional services to a client on the phone or selling retail products. It’s also a great opportunity to sell Square gift cards. So, determine your current sales priorities (like gift cards or stocking-stuffer retail products around the holidays), and train your staffers on how you would like them to pitch each offer. Another thing you should make sure they’re up to speed on is collecting customer information so you can engage with them even after they’ve left. Square Customer Directory — which automatically syncs up with Square’s email marketing service — makes this super easy.
Help them deal with difficult situations.
It’s a fact of life at every business (and especially beauty) that sometimes clients will be unhappy. So, provide staff with various scenarios and a guide for how to deal with each one, including when to elevate the issue to a manager. The goal isn’t necessarily for the front desk staff members to solve the problem, but you also don’t want them to make the situation worse by handling it incorrectly.
Show them how to sell.
Before your staffers can sell shampoo or gift cards, or even charge for a blowout, you need to train them on your point-of-sale systems. With Square’s products for beauty professionals, you can choose the products that will best fit with your salon’s workflow, whether it’s a Square Stand at the front desk or Square Readers for everyone on your team. And when you adopt new technology, like Square’s nfc reader, conduct a training session so that everyone’s up to speed on the new system.
