An AI front desk for hair salons
Most calls are one of three things: a time, a price, or reassurance that you can handle their hair. Your agent knows the difference.
No card to start · answers on your site before you add a number
what the phone is costing you
Three missed calls a week, at a $160 color, is about $9,600 a year — if 60% of those callers wanted to book and 60% of them never ring back.
That is arithmetic on your own numbers rather than a claim about salons in general — put yours into the missed-call math and see. What makes it worse in a salon specifically is that the caller who could not reach you is not comparing you on price. They are booking whoever picked up, because a color appointment is a decision people want settled in one phone call.
Do it on your own numbers →It already knows how your callers talk.
- “Color”
- Roots, a full head, highlights, balayage, babylights, a toner, going blonde, covering gray. If your list separates them, it asks which rather than guessing.
- “A trim” vs “a restyle”
- Both are haircuts, and one is a much bigger job. It asks which your service list is closest to instead of booking the cheap one.
- “Keratin”, “Olaplex”, “a treatment”
- Chemical smoothing and conditioning work are different appointments. It books the one they meant.
- “Is Maya in on Saturday?”
- Where the diary keeps a column for each stylist — Harkbell's own diary does, and so does Square — it checks the stylist they named and offers only that stylist's own times. If her calendar cannot be read just then, it stops offering her rather than guessing, and if it cannot find the name on the diary at all, it says so before offering times with whoever is free. Where the diary is one shared column, it notes who they asked for and passes it on rather than inventing a stylist's hours. It never reels off two stylists' times at once, because it only asks about the one the caller named.
A call it takes while you are busy
“Hi — how much for a balayage, and could I get in Saturday? With Maya, ideally.”
“Balayage starts at $180 and takes about three hours. Maya has 10:15 or 2:00 on Saturday — which suits you better?”
“10:15, please. My hair is box-dyed dark, is that okay?”
“I have noted that down for Maya so she can look before you start — she will confirm what is achievable when she sees it. You are booked with Maya for Saturday at 10:15.”
What is waiting for you afterwards
- The booking in your diary, against Maya, for the right service length.
- A contact record with the box-dye note attached, so the colorist is not surprised.
- A transcript, in case the client says something different when they arrive.
What it writes down without being asked
- Which stylist they asked for — booked with that person where the diary keeps a column per stylist, noted and passed on where it does not.
- For color, chemical or extension work: whether they are new, and anything they volunteered about their hair — box dye, previous color, length.
- One gentle question at most. It does not interrogate somebody who wanted to book a blow-dry.
A reaction to a product or treatment
Burning, itching, swelling, hair breaking — it stops booking, takes a message marked urgent, and offers no remedies.
the part nobody else prints
What it will never do
- Promise a color result, or a price for one. The stylist confirms both when they see the hair.
- Tell somebody a corrective color can definitely be fixed. That always goes to the stylist.
- Declare whether a patch test is needed when you have not said.
These are hard limits in the brief your agent runs on — not a tone setting you can turn off by accident.
The questions your callers actually open with
- “How much is a balayage?”
- “Do you have availability this Saturday?”
- “Can I book a bridal hair trial?”
- “What treatments do you offer for damaged hair?”
Whatever your diary is
Salons run on Square Appointments, Fresha, Vagaro, Booksy or a paper book. It books directly into Square. Fresha, Vagaro and Booksy sync out to Google Calendar, so connecting that stops the agent selling a chair that is already taken, and one-tap requests cover the booking half — the request you confirm lands in Harkbell and on that calendar, and you add it in Fresha, Vagaro or Booksy yourself, because they publish outwards and take nothing back. While a request waits it holds nothing: the chair stays bookable until you confirm, and a confirmation another booking has overtaken says the slot has gone rather than double-booking the stylist.
Questions owners in your industry ask
Will it book the wrong color service?
It asks which one your list is closest to rather than guessing at the cheap one. “Color” means roots, a full head, highlights, balayage, babylights, a toner or gray coverage, and if your service list separates them, it separates them too.
Can it promise a client will go blonde?
No, and that is a hard limit rather than a tone setting. It will not promise a color result or a price for one — the stylist confirms both when they see the hair. It also will not tell somebody a corrective color can definitely be fixed.
What about patch tests?
It says what you have told it to say. If you have not written a patch-test policy, it will not invent one — it takes a message rather than declaring whether a test is needed.
Can it book a particular stylist?
Yes, wherever the diary keeps a column for each stylist — Harkbell's own diary with a column per chair, or Square, which books by team member. Name a stylist and it checks that person's own times, books them, and reads back who they are booked with. Point each column at its own Google or Outlook calendar and it reads that too: a stylist whose calendar does not answer stops being offered until it does, rather than looking free. Two stylists who share a name, it asks which; a name it cannot find on the diary, it says so before offering times with whoever is free. On a diary that is one shared column it takes the name down and passes it on rather than guessing when somebody is in. Either way it only ever asks about the stylist the caller named — it will not read out two stylists' times as a menu.
Put a voice on your website this afternoon.
Start free, add your services and prices, and hear it answer on your own site before you decide anything.
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