4 Expert Receptionist Training and Hiring Tips to Enhance Your Front Desk

Your front desk staff is the first line of contact for the outside world, including both your existing clientele as well as prospective new clients. The individuals you have manning this area of your office are responsible for cementing first impressions, which means you need the best of the best representing your company. This is why creating a plan for receptionist training, hiring and management is so important.

Sadly, many business owner or office managers often fail to place enough emphasis on these front line employees, who essentially serve as ambassadors of the brand and play a significant role in the customer experience. One unpleasant interaction can not only cost you the client involved, but could easily result in negative word-of-mouth, costing you even more business in the future.

If you’ve admittedly neglected the front desk and are ready to take charge, turn things around and get things moving in the right direction, this article will provide some free tools, best practices and other resources to help you turn your receptionist training, hiring and management into a well-oiled, revenue-boosting machine.

Be strategic in your hiring process.

The best way to get your front desk operating at peak performance is to hire the right people right from the start. You may or may not have already discovered that front desk positions can be challenging to fill. Getting it right takes time and due diligence. Don’t settle. Keep looking until you find the right individual. In particular, look for someone who embodies your company culture. Receptionist training can get them up to speed skill-wise.

Characteristics of a Good Front Desk Receptionist

• a.) Warm, friendly but professional demeanor
• b.) Knowledge and experience with technology
• c.) Excellent communication skills (verbal and written)
• d.) Ability to multitask
• e.) Strong critical thinking skills
• f.) Eagerness to learn

A lot of these things can be taught through receptionist training, but some – like personality and communication skills – cannot. Be thorough in your candidate screening process. Rushing to make a decision can leave you in a worse situation than you were already in.

Interview Tips

You can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation in the hiring process by being strategic during the interview phase. Knowing what things you are looking for and prioritizing the must-haves ahead of the nice-to-haves can help you narrow your selection and improve your chances of hiring the right candidate for the job. Here are a few more tips to keep in mind:

• 1.) Take note of how the candidates communicate with you. This can be indicative of their communication style while working.
• 2.) Start with brief telephone interviews to filter through some of the basics, like language skills, availability and salary requirements. If a candidate doesn’t seem engaging or make a great first impression, they’re probably not the right person for the job.
• 3.) Once you’ve narrowed the list down to the top few candidates, have them meet with some of your other staff members to get a second opinion.
• 4.) Always check references. All the receptionist training in the world won’t fix a bad attitude or change a mediocre employee into a top performer. Previous work references will give you a better idea of what to expect and whether or not a person is worth investing your time, money and resources in.

This may seem like a lot of work, but it will improve your chances of hiring the right person. Frequent turnover is far more time consuming and costly than the extra effort it takes to hire right the first time.

Designate a front desk manager.

One of the reasons many businesses have lousy front desk performance is because these individuals are often left to their own vices and not adequately managed. Despite the fact that these employees are directly responsible for customer experience and subsequent revenue generation, they are often left to make up their own rules about what constitutes good customer service simply because the business owner is too busy to be bothered.

To avoid this in your company, designate a trusted staff member who emulates your work ethic and values to oversee the front desk team. If the individual you choose to take on this responsibility is a high-performer but doesn’t necessarily have experience managing staff, provide them with training.

Create a receptionist training and service agreement.

Receptionist training is essential in getting your front desk team to understand and respect how you want things done. Furthermore, a service agreement can help cement your receptionist training by serving as a binding contract between the company and its front desk employees. Here are a few tips and best practices for this:

• a.) Never assume your front desk team knows what to do and what’s expected of them. Instead, provide them with clear guidelines for all front desk processes, policies and procedures. This removes ambiguity and sets your front desk agents up for success right from the start.
• b.) Your service agreement should include certain key elements, such as your customer service philosophy and best practices. Have all front desk employees read, sign and commit to this agreement.
• c.) Make your receptionist training as comprehensive as possible. The goal should be to arm your front desk employees with everything they need to do their jobs independently. They should have access to all the information they need and be empowered to apply their critical thinking and problem solving skills to resolve issues quickly and improve the customer experience.

Don’t be afraid to cut ties.

If you’ve done your due diligence in hiring the right people, have supplied those new employees with adequate receptionist training, and have made your expectations abundantly clear, you’ve done all you can to set the stage for success. The rest is up to your front desk agents. Experts recommend implementing a probationary period following the receptionist training process so you can carefully monitor performance. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• a.) If you’ve made a hiring mistake, chances are you’ll be able to tell within the first month, if not sooner.
• b.) Listen to your gut instinct. If you feel as though someone isn’t quite as good a fit as you were hoping, address the situation right away. Decide whether additional receptionist training and coaching might work, or if it’s better to cut ties and move on.
• c.) Letting staff go can cause temporary pain, but that’s nothing compared to the difficulty you’d experience if you kept a toxic or poor-performer on board for the long term.

Of all the departments that keep your business running, your front desk is arguably the most important. After all, without happy customers, your other teams wouldn’t have a purpose. By investing a little extra time and effort into receptionist training, hiring and management, you can transform your front desk into a place where new and existing clients are consistently delighted.

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