24 Expert Ways to Make Your Front Desk More Efficient

As a manager, you know your front desk is the face of your business inside the corporation. In this space, the most crucial actions take place with your “customers” through your fellow team members. Simply put, your front desk represents just how well your business is functioning. An organized, well-run front desk almost always points to an organized, well-run business.

This space is one of the easiest places to lose time and money. But it’s also one of the best places to see major gains occur. As a manager, you have the potential to make those gains happen and set the tone for a productive work environment. In this post, we’ll show you just how to do so by focusing on efficiency. Be ready to discover how to get the most done for the least amount of time and money.

The Essential Checklist for Managers

Paring down your to-dos to an essential checklist isn’t easy. You’ve got a lot on your plate and plenty of nagging tasks ready to derail your efficiency train. To save you time, we’ve compiled a checklist for you, focused on priorities and making your front desk more efficient.

• Make your corporation’s vision and culture an integral part of your management plan.
• Train staff on procedures first, equipment second.
• Use scenario-based training to brainstorm and solve common front desk problems.
• Use training videos and hands-on demonstrations for new equipment and programs.
• Provide feedback to staff during and after training.
• Focus on people first practices that make your customers the highest priority.
• Communicate with corporate employees and executives about logistics, updates, goals and improvements.
• Select a designated area for storing and organizing mail.
• Design an open and close routine for your mailroom staff.
• Create a special Monday and post-holiday routine to avoid package pile up after a few days away.
• Provide a designated package pick-up time for corporate employees whenever possible.
• Create electronic workflows to reduce paperwork and storage needs for physical documents.
• Log-in reports through EZTrackIt for easy and secure access.

Tips for Front Desk Staff

When sharing these tips with your front desk staff, be sure to set an example first. Your employees will, of course, follow your lead so make it as positive and instructive as possible.

The following tips will keep your staff feeling upbeat, productive and efficient:

• Greet customers immediately and make eye contact.
• Use customers’ names whenever possible.
• Make positive interactions a priority.
• Keep packages and other types of mail out of the reception area.
• Store mail close enough for fast retrieval.
• Approach complaints by understanding the concern first and foremost.
• Communicate how problems will be resolved and provide a reasonable timeline.
• Immediately label any items that arrive unlabeled.
• Keep paperwork organized and out of view.
• Finish paperwork by Friday for a fresh start on Monday.
• Log packages in and out immediately.
• Use existing devices for package tracking software.

For more advice on how to make your front desk run like a dream, click below to download your free front desk kit today.

Source: HubSpot