We here are having a lot of fun using the promotion ideas that Jill has suggested. We have done the Business of the Week and the Gift Bag Drop, so far. We are seeing new guests from them and are enjoying the benefits. The new guests I have seen have been very excited to be able to take part in the services we have to offer. I can really see how doing them salon-wide could result in quite an influx of new guests. We are going to keep doing these promotions with our skin and nail departments and we are also going to try the “Team Colors” promotion. I look forward to our continued growth.

First impressions … Well I think we have all been somewhere and had a negative impression left of the place. I know that I have been to retail stores and other businesses that have left a less than favorable memory of their service. I know that it is extremely important to have a good front desk procedure and that if you don’t, the entire business suffers.

I have worked in salons that were great at this and at some that really struggled. It is wonderful if you are lucky enough to work somewhere that has a receptionist to answer the phone and book appointments for you.  This is the system in the salon I currently work in and I feel that it lets me focus on the guest service the whole time with no interruptions.

There were a couple of years, though, that I worked in a place where I would be the only person there and basically had to answer the phone every time it rang, taking time away from the person in my chair. I wore a headset so that I at least could be hands-free and answer questions and book appointments with minimal disruption. I would excuse myself with the client I was working on and answer the phone. I always tried to make sure that I met both of the clients’ needs — the one in my chair and the one on the phone. Guests were usually very understanding about this. However, on a busy Saturday it would seem like I might never get off of the phone.  I had to be very careful to book extra time to do the service because on average it would tack on 10 minutes to the time it took to actually do the service to stop, answer the phone, book the appointments, answer questions, etc.

I feel like that experience was a mixed bag. On one hand it taught me to keep calm and multitask. On the other, I feel that it restricted me from giving the best service I was able to give and that I wouldn’t leave the best impression of my services.

— Sandy