Hair salon: when the phone interrupts your services

A hairdresser who answers during a cut stops, wipes their hands, looks for the appointment book, then starts again. During a colour or a shampoo, it is more restrictive: to prevent allergies, the INRS, France’s occupational health and safety research institute, recommends wearing gloves suited to the products used. Picking up then means taking them off, then putting on a clean pair.

The INRS also lists stress among the risks of the profession and advises organising work so that everyone knows their tasks, from welcoming the client to seeing them out. A phone that rings without anyone designated to answer it runs counter to this organisation: everyone hesitates, and the service in progress suffers.

Calls to a salon concern, for example, an available slot, the price of a service, how long it takes, rescheduling or cancelling, opening hours, a product sold in the salon. Some of these answers already exist somewhere in the salon.

This is particularly true of prices. According to Entreprendre Service Public, the French government’s official site for businesses, price display is compulsory in a hair salon in France: a display visible from outside in the window, another inside near the till, and a list of services that can be consulted at any time. There must be at least 10 prices in a salon serving only women or only men and 20 in a mixed salon, including VAT, and a breakdown of the services included in a package. This public information can serve as the basis for the answers given on the phone.

Online booking handles simple requests well: a cut, a blow-dry, a slot known in advance. It frees the phone from these calls, provided the online calendar is kept up to date and the service durations in it are realistic.

The phone keeps the calls that a booking form handles poorly: a first colour, a major change of colour, a service for an event, a client who doesn’t book online or who wants advice before choosing. These requests deserve a real conversation, but not necessarily at the moment the hairdresser has their hands in a basin.

Rather than picking up at every ring, set two or three times in the day to call back: before opening, in the midday lull, at the end of the day. Designate who handles each slot, and announce these times in your greeting message so that clients know when they will be called back.

For these callbacks to be quick, each message must contain the client’s name, number, the service wanted and their availability. A vague message (“call me back”) means a first exchange to understand the request, then a second to deal with it.

A voice agent can answer questions with fixed answers: opening hours, displayed prices, indicative service durations, address, payment methods accepted in the salon. Connected to your calendar, it can offer a slot and book it. For a request outside that scope, it takes down the contact details and the reason for the call for your next callback slot.

Diagnosis stays with the hairdresser: the condition of the hair, whether a colour is feasible, precautions for a client who reports a reaction to a product. The agent can collect the request, not answer it.

Alyas answers the phone 24 hours a day from the information you provide, such as your list of services. Once connected to Google Calendar or Cal.com, it can book appointments (it does not connect to salon-specific booking software); it collects clients’ contact details, transfers the call to your number if the client asks and puts a transcript and a summary of each call in your customer area. The free ten-day trial, with no credit card required, lets you measure how many calls you no longer have to pick up during services.