Handling High Call
Volume for Beauty and Fitness Businesses
For many businesses, the Tuesday following Labor Day weekend marks the highest call volume of the year. In fact, the call volume is so high for this day that the analytics firm Marchex refers to it as “Telephone Tuesday.” For some industries, such as automotive services, cable, insurance sales, and healthcare, this could mean an increase of 65-80% higher call volume. In fact, there are more callers on Telephone Tuesday than on either of the two biggest shopping days of the year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Only the call volume following the 4th of July holiday weekend comes close to rivalling the phone traffic of Telephone Tuesday. Beauty and fitness businesses may not see a call volume spike on Telephone Tuesday. However, it’s important to have a business plan to avoid abandoned or missed calls. The upcoming holiday season is a reason to prepare your business and staff for seasonal fluctuations in caller traffic. Here are some ways to use Telephone Tuesday to plan for the upcoming holiday rush, and make sure your customers aren’t hanging on the telephone!
Create an On-Hold Message That Helps
Studies show that over
60% of customers on-hold generally hang up after waiting for one minute.
When your beauty or fitness business experiences higher than average call
volume (such as the holiday season), use customized hold messages to your
advantage.
- Use the
hold message to provide answers to the most common questions, such as
business hours and location.
- Refer
callers to your website or app as a source of answers to common questions,
such as operating hours, directions to your location, menu of services and
classes, online store, service providers, and online booking.
- Direct
callers to your FAQ page in your hold message, so a hang-up isn’t a lost customer.
- Provide
callers an alternate means of contacting your business, such as callback
service, email messaging, or your website.
- Use a
business line to create menu options for callers so when someone answers
the call, they’ll have an idea of what information the caller needs.
Sample Script
“If you’d like schedule an appointment, press 1. You can
also visit our website, www.acmestudio.com to use our online booking service or
visit our “FAQ” page for answers to some of the questions you may have. For
hours of operation, press 2, or visit the “Business Hours” tab of our website.
For a schedule of today’s classes, press 3, or visit the “Today’s Classes” tab
on our website. For directions to Acme Studio, press 4,
or visit the “Directions” tab of our website.
For billing questions, press 5, or visit the “Billing” section of our
website. For any other questions, please stay on the line, and someone will be
with you shortly. Your call is important to us. If you prefer a callback,
please press 6, and record your name, telephone number, reason you’re calling,
and best time to reach you after the beep. You can also contact us via email
through the “Contact Us” tab on our website. Thank you again for choosing Acme
Studio. We can’t wait to serve you!”
Identify Peak Call Times & Plan Staffing Needs Accordingly
Can your business handle the usual Monday to Friday call volume, but suddenly you get swamped on Saturdays? Can you keep pace with call traffic until the holidays hit? Once you can pinpoint trends in your business call volume, you can be proactive about making sure your scheduling meets the need. For example, during an average Monday to Friday workweek, your usual staff might take turns answering the phone. But on Saturdays, your business might be more active than it is during the traditional workweek, so fewer staff are available to answer phones. This is an early indicator that you might need to hire on a weekend front desk clerk or receptionist. With an extra staffer dedicated solely to customer experience, you’ll ensure phones are answered in a timely manner and checkouts are expedient.
Automated Booking Means Less Time on Hold
The easiest way to prevent long call hold times, abandoned calls, or missed calls is to use salon and fitness software with online booking capability. With a salon or fitness scheduling app, you can decrease the number of call-ins by making it simple and convenient for clients to book themselves. They’ll receive confirmation of their appointment or class reservation without ever having to hold on the line because you’re busy in the shop! Then, you can include your Vagaro online booking portals on your outbound or hold messages. That way, callers who just want to book a service or class can do so without having to remain on hold.
Don’t keep customers on-hold when they could be on-line instead! With Vagaro’s all-in-one-software for salon, spa, and fitness, you can reduce call volume through automated services that’ll help customers get what they need—no more hanging on the telephone!
Header Image: Giorgio Trovato via Vagaro
Salon Hanover,
Walnut Creek, CA
Ringing Phone icon by Icons8
Customer Support icon by Icons8
Touchscreen icon by Icons8
