Carla Zebrowski, former BHBA winner, current BHBA front of house team of the year nominee and an all-round front of house whizz takes us through her top 5 Great Tips for Salon Receptionists
The following tips may seem obvious and so easy but if you follow them,your salon reception will be a huge success!
Carla explains “a superb front of house team is essential, as front of house is the key to high retention, loyal customers and a profitable salon. You could be missing out on 5 figures because of your team’s lack of front of house skills. Your Front of House etiquette should tie your salons professionalism, talent and success together”
Here are 5 great tips for salon receptionists:
1) Organisation
Planning daily, weekly, quarterly, yearly is the number 1 key to being organised. Once you get organised, everything will start falling into place and will make your job seem so much simpler.
At Ego Hair Design:
“We have a desktop diary, an online diary, and a closed team Facebook page. This makes life very simple as everyone is up to date with all the latest salon news, and we’re able to track holidays, events, team meetings or illnesses…”
Being 100% organised can also really help with sharing information with the rest of the team as you will know exactly what’s going on and when. This also means that nobody will be left out of knowing information, therefore will save you so much time as you won’t have team members always checking for information.
This also makes your customer care better than ever because if you are organised, mistakes are less likely to happen so will make the customer experience even more enjoyable.
2) Delegate
You may feel as though you can do every job yourself but sometimes this is not possible. Sometimes it is best for you to delegate even the smallest of jobs to take a little bit of pressure off yourself.
Your team is there for a reason and are just as capable as you are. This will give you more time to focus on the bigger, more important jobs that need doing. Getting your team to help you with jobs will also make them feel more responsible.
Here at Ego, we have a rule of working on tasks in the order of
- Most Urgent
- Highest Earning
- Highest Impact
The best way to do this is to work on the most urgent task yourself while delegating some of the longer term tasks to your team.
3) Take the role of a host
One of the main roles on reception is taking the role of a host. This means you welcome everyone that comes into the salon, always be friendly and also professional. You’re there to make everyone feel welcome and make sure they will want to return to your salon. You need to make sure that you remember to treat your regular clients the same way you would treat a new client.
Carla states that “…just because Susan has been coming to you for years doesn’t mean you should give her any less attention! Service should be on the same level for all your customers. Earn your guests trust at every visit”
A lot of salons take their regular clients for granted and forget to treat them the same way they would treat a new client. One of the most common reasons a salon will lose clients is because they start to treat their old clients differently to their new clients so they don’t feel as welcome anymore. You need to make sure everyone feels welcome.
4) Teamwork
Teamwork is key to tie everything together! Carla highlights that managers and team leaders should “lead the team by example and not just manage”!
One thing you can do to build teamwork is to show your team how things should be done instead of just telling them what to do. This will make sure that everyone is on the same page and if you need to help one team member more, you can do so. This will also mean that everyone is on the right track.
It becomes so easy to lose track of what’s going on in your salon but with the right teamwork, it allows things to run more smoothly and keep track of what’s going on around you.
5) Exceed client expectation
One thing you should always aim to do is exceed your clients expectations. Every client comes into your salon for different reasons, Maybe they have heard of your work or your brand. Whatever the reason is, you need to exceed their expectations of what they believe about your service and make them want to come back.
Another tip I have for you today is to be vigilant. Make sure you are there to greet every client, offer to take their coat and offer them a refreshment. This will put a huge smile on the clients face and will make their experience that little more enjoyable so they come back again and again.
Extra tip – every so often freeze the moment, stop and look around. Is there anything wrong with this picture? Have your clients’ needs been met? Do they have refreshments? Is the salon clean? Do your staff look professional?
Freezing the moment is a great way to look at the current situation – it paints a clear picture of what needs doing. The team is there for the clients, make sure it is a priority for them to receive the best service possible!
Do you need more great tips for salon receptionist?
Book a free discovery call with former BHBA winner, current BHBA front of house team of the year nominee and an all-round front of house whizz Carla Zebrowski
