Why It’s Vital to Train Your Front of House Staff

As a trained, experienced, aesthetic practitioner I’d encourage you to ask yourself the following questions… 

Would I treat someone using a product I’m not familiar with?

Would I treat someone using a product I’m not trained to use?

Would I feel comfortable talking to a client about a product I do not know of?

If you’re a practice manager would you expect to be able to juggle the demands of the day-to-day business without the appropriate experience?

It’s my sincere hope that your instant response to these questions is ‘of course not!’.

I’m sure you’ll agree that appropriate training and experience are essential to achieving success in any role, so why is it that many clinic owners do not focus on training staff who are in a patient-facing role?

Often inexperienced staff members are left to meet and greet high-value clients, answer client calls and respond to new enquiries, ultimately resulting in lost new business opportunities and client retention issues.

Recruiting staff who’ve worked in an aesthetic clinic previously should ensure that you’re in a strong position. They’ll have relevant experience that’s enabled them to build essential skills including exceptional customer service, relationship building, and broad product knowledge, all assuming of course, they’ve been well trained in their previous role. When recruiting someone from a different sector you cannot simply assume that you will be able to throw them in at the deep end, entrusting them with your valued clients from the get-go – this could be damaging for the person you have recruited, for your client relationships and ultimately your overall business. Whilst some people may thrive at being thrown in at the deep end, most people need to feel their way into a new job role, ensuring that they feel confident and knowledgeable.

Here at Aesthetic Response we recruit from a wide variety of customer service backgrounds, we then embark on an extensive training program to ensure that we equip each team member with the knowledge needed to provide the service our clients have come to expect from us. We must ensure that anyone who calls our clients’ clinics is connected with an advisor who’ll be able to answer questions, and provide reliable information about treatments offered, the clinic, the practitioner, prices, down-time, and anything else that can be discussed outside of a consultation! To secure new enquiries, it’s vital that your staff can do the same, which means you’ll need to spend some time training them in their enquiry handling skills. This will greatly benefit your practice and will enhance your staff’s skill set – remember your receptionist is your brand ambassador!

Ensuring that your staff have sufficient knowledge of you, the practitioner, and the treatments offered, will enable them to answer any questions posed by either clients attending the clinic, enquiries over the phone or via email and social media. In terms of phone calls and online responses knowledge of your skills, training and background, along with the treatments and products that you offer, are crucial to overcoming any objections that potential new enquiries may have before making any booking. Not only does this help callers feel at ease, enabling them to make informed decisions, but it also reflects on you, demonstrating the skills and professionalism that patients can expect from your clinic. Consider as well, that by upskilling and building your staff’s knowledge they will be able to fully service enquiries without disturbing you for answers, allowing you to get on with your treatments.

First impressions are critical in establishing relationships - a poor start could mean that prospective new clients turn to another clinic, or even worse you lose a valuable existing client because a member of staff has left a poor impression. Educate your staff so that they know exactly what first impression you want them to deliver to callers and visitors in the clinic alike.

Remember your staff won’t know what you want them to say or do unless you spend time training them and equipping them with the tools for the job!

Here at AR, we don’t assume that new staff members are going to be equipped with this knowledge simply due to a previous job role – we make it our priority to offer training right from day one to ensure that we are offering the best possible experience for the many callers that we speak to. If you are struggling to find the time to train your staff or feel out of your depth, we offer an online training course that’s designed to give your staff great foundational skills.

Training your staff to an excellent standard will ensure that you see rewarding outcomes both for your practice and your staff. With staff using exceptional customer service skills, your conversion and retention rates are sure to increase, whilst your staff will be motivated and confident in their role!

About us: With over 13 years' experience, Aesthetic Response is the sector's leading provider of call handling and lead management services and was the first to offer dedicated aesthetic clinic support. We’ve used this extensive customer service experience to create our online training course, Building On Success for front-of-house clinic staff.

To find out more email clientservices@aestheticresponse.co.uk or call us on 0191 720 3000