Ever feel like you finally have the front desk operators trained to book you exactly as you want your day to look like, only to have them quit? Ugh…it can be so frustrating. Whenever there’s a lot of turnover in the front desk, schedules and bookings take quite a hit. Adrienne has been feeling that hit lately.

One of the biggest pieces to making this the career choice for working moms is the fact that you can pretty much design your own schedule. With that schedule, you can design which services to perform and how much income you want to bring in. What an opportunity! Not many careers offer that. However, a few things have to work together in harmony to make that happen.

First off, always go back to the initial consultation. Before you start with each client, a “perfect consultation” must be completed. Inspiring Champions has a wonderful CD and book for that, or create your own. The questions must be open ended and focus on how you can best serve their needs. You’ll need to determine the client’s schedule, when she’ll need to come back for proper maintenance, and how she can pre-book.

I cringe whenever a salon owner tells me how busy her phones are and how overwhelmed her front desk is. That tells me that the client wasn’t properly pre-booked at her last visit, causing her to call in when she’s ready. And that my friends, starts with the nail tech.

By educating the client on how to properly take care of her enhancements, manicure, pedicure, etc. at the beginning of a relationship, you set both of you up to win. Pre-booking is the key to that success. To keep the phone calls at a minimum means less stress for the front desk. Not having as much front desk turnover means a ton less booking mistakes, and so on.

Now that those great receptionists have left, Adrienne has the opportunity to teach these new girls how best to serve her needs. We started by coming up with a cheat sheet. Anytime a new receptionist is hired, give them your cheat sheet. “How to Book Adrienne” can be just a page of bullet points and guidelines. Stick it on the clipboard or inside to door of the desk. Make it easy for them to find and follow. Spend some one-on-one time with them to answer questions. Adrienne had seven pedicures in a row last week. Though the money was great, her arms were about to fall off! Five is her limit for a day and they need to be somewhat spaced out. It’s easy for the front desk to just book a spot unless they understand your needs.

When setting up your client’s future appointments, take heed of how the day should look and develop an appointment rotation that already spaces those services out for you, taking the guesswork from the front desk away.

I know this isn’t rocket science folks, but these little reminders of setting up your day can make all the difference for you, your clients, and your co-workers.

—Heather, success coach