The phone stopped ringing, but the calls still mattered
Simon Grigg has spent a long career at the top of hairdressing. He has worked everywhere from Daniel Galvin to Toni & Guy, where he ran a group of franchises with dozens of staff, and his chair has seen its share of well-known names over the years, among them Sir Michael Parkinson, Anna Friel, Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones and footballer John Terry. These days he has scaled right back to a single boutique salon on Eton High Street, with a handful of self-employed stylists and a clientele that runs from locals to Eton students.
Online booking changed the rhythm of the place. Where the salon once took hundreds of calls a day, most clients now book late at night from the sofa. The phone rings only a few times a day now, but those few calls are the ones worth catching: appointment requests, colour skin-test questions, the occasional new client. With a four-day week and stylists busy on the floor, Simon could not count on the phone always being answered. On top of that, a growing share of calls were scam and nuisance ones, from sales pitches to licensing chasers.
From sceptical to sold in one test
Simon first came across Cyberstaff on social media. The received wisdom in the trade was that customers want a human, not a robot, so he was unsure it was ready. Then he tried the test line, and his view changed on the spot. He was impressed enough to recommend it to others in the industry.
Getting started was the easy part. Setup took minutes, and once it was live he began shaping it around how the salon actually runs.
Trained by a few lines of text
Day to day, Simon uses caller ID to decide what to take himself and what to pass over: a local number he might pick up, an unknown one he lets the AI Receptionist answer. It handles the routine questions and, just as usefully, the time-wasters. When a music-licensing company kept chasing the salon, he simply added a note that it uses royalty-free music, and the AI dealt with the calls without him lifting a finger.
Keeping it current is just as simple. He types in what he wants it to say, seasonal offers, Christmas opening hours, a deal on highlights, and it picks them up straight away, with no need to brief busy stylists or hope a message lands on the right day. He rates how natural it sounds, too: it does not come across as robotic, and younger clients in particular take it in their stride.
Convenience, without the interruptions
The result is a salon that runs without being chained to the phone. The calls that matter get answered, even on the days Simon is not in, and the nuisance and scam calls are quietly absorbed. By his own estimate, around nine in ten of his customers are happy with it, the exceptions tending to be clients who would rather speak to a person, much as they prefer not to book online.
Asked to sum up the benefits, Simon keeps it simple: convenience, less stress, and far fewer interruptions. His advice to other owners weighing it up is just as direct. Give it a go, but think about how it fits your particular business.