{"id":3391,"date":"2019-09-23T15:00:56","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T19:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conversational.com\/?p=3391"},"modified":"2024-10-22T03:32:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T07:32:12","slug":"can-a-salon-survive-without-a-receptionist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conversational.com\/can-a-salon-survive-without-a-receptionist\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a Salon Survive Without a Receptionist?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The salon industry is one of many that regularly employ front desk receptionists to take calls and manage appointments. If you own a beauty salon or barber shop or are in the process of opening one, you\u2019re probably concerned about cutting costs wherever possible without sacrificing the quality of your services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You might have assumed that hiring a receptionist is the only way to \nconsistently manage your calls and appointments \u2013 the cornerstones of \nyour business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a way, you\u2019d be right. Managing your own appointments and answering calls yourself (as well as having your other stylists answer their own calls) is undeniably an inefficient way to run your salon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If going without a receptionist isn\u2019t a smart decision for salon owners to make, but hiring one is too expensive to make financial sense right now, what is the solution? We\u2019ll outline how you can avoid this conundrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea of a receptionist-less beauty salon brings up some important questions. We\u2019ll go into more detail below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Salons have an interesting advantage that many other businesses that \ntypically employ receptionists may not \u2013 most salons have an open design\n that allows customers to enter without requiring them to be \u201cbuzzed in\u201d\n or directed to the proper hallway or room number. In a salon setting, \ncustomers can walk in, take a seat in the waiting area at the front of \nthe salon, and simply wait for the stylist to signal them over or lead \nthem to their chair without ever thinking, \u201cThis place needs a \nreceptionist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, to answer the question of who will greet your customers if you don\u2019t have a receptionist \u2013 anyone in the salon can. It only takes seconds to call out a friendly hello when someone enters and invite them to take a seat in the waiting area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you don\u2019t have a receptionist, you\u2019ll be on phone duty. Even if you and your stylists share the duty by answering calls whenever one of you isn\u2019t busy (answering the phone is tough when you\u2019re elbows deep in shampoo), every second spent on the phone acting as your own receptionist is time stolen from your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s also a disorganized arrangement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think of this scenario: The phone rings in your salon and there are 4 stylists working, all busy at the moment. Everyone glances around, waiting for one of the other stylists to stop what they\u2019re doing and answer the phone. By this time, the phone has rung 5 or 6 times. Finally, you shut off your blow dryer and hurriedly grab the phone to answer, only to realize the caller just hung up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without a receptionist, this would be your situation every day. We think that\u2019s frustrating and that\u2019s one of the reasons we started this business. If you\u2019re not familiar with Conversational, we offer virtual receptionist and call answering services for small businesses, like salons<\/a> and doctor\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our solution to the receptionist conundrum (they\u2019re too expensive to hire, but too valuable to forgo) is simple:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, a beauty salon can survive without a traditional receptionist \u2013 in fact, it can thrive. But skipping a receptionist altogether isn\u2019t the way to make your salon thrive. Instead, opt for a virtual receptionist that costs around $5\/day and aptly handles your calls and appointments. Your clients will thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The salon industry is one of many that regularly employ front desk receptionists to take calls and manage appointments. If you own a beauty salon or barber shop or are in the process of opening one, you\u2019re probably concerned about cutting costs wherever possible without sacrificing the quality of your services. You might have assumed that hiring a receptionist is … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrepreneurs","category-virtual-receptionist-information"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n