FRONT DESK – FINDING QUALIFIED PEOPLE (Part One)

 

As we know, the salon industry is changing! We need to think of creative ways to up sell our services, offer different opportunities throughout the salon, prebook our guests more frequently and sell more retail!!! The front desk is an untapped resource that can help your salon generate thousands of additional dollars in salon revenue with the guests you already have! First question being, how?

 

The first step is to find a qualified front desk sales consultant! One of the challenges in our industry is we are hiring inexperienced people who have limited previous customer service or sales experience. Stop giving a high school student their first job! Look for someone who has “sales in their blood”, someone who has had sales experience, sales charisma, and truly loves engaging people in sales conversations.

 

Finding your front desk member is a crucial part in establishing a successful, profitable front desk. We recommend putting an ad in the SALES SECTION, not the RECEPTIONIST SECTION of the newspaper, or Craig’s list, etc.

 

The Interview… After you find your “sales consultant”, the interview process is a crucial component in insuring that this person can actually put forth the tasks you ask of them. Ask questions like, “How do you plan your day?” How someone plans their day in their personal life is important. Do they plan ahead, do they make a list to accomplish for the day, etc. This is an important quality, and this skill will be useful behind the desk to look at the day ahead, locate different opportunities and make an action plan on how to fill these spots.

 

Another great interview tool would be some sort of “Interview Interaction”. Find out if sales is in their blood! THE FRONT DESK DOCTOR TRAINING KIT (see below for more information) recommends two different interview exercises. One exercise is called, “Sell me this Pen”. This is where the owner would hand their pen over to the potential employee and ask them to literally try and sell them the pen that is in their hands. They should tell the owner what it is, why they would need it, how to use it etc. The owner will be able to quickly quiz sales experience, and sales charisma on the spot!

 

SALON SUMMIT ENDORSED RESOURCE: THE FRONT DESK DOCTOR TRAINING KIT is a complete guide to the front desk from hiring, training, and firing, to how to implement a custom goals and rewards systems. It also details scripts (what to say, and how to say it) and instructions on the importance of selling retail and how to do it! All related solely and primarily to the front desk personnel! The FRONT DESK DOCTOR TRAINING KIT has 8 chapters. The first 4 chapters are for you, the salon owner, and the last 4 for are for you and your front desk staff.