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For salon owners · Front desk and inquiries

Answer a walk-in question from today's book

A quick reply to 'do you take walk-ins?' that offers only the gaps you really have today and says plainly which services need a booking.

By Aaron Byrne, KeenHand

The prompt

Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and fill in each part in [BRACKETS]. Whoever answers the salon's phone, texts and messages.

I run a salon. People ask all day if we take walk-ins. Some services fit between appointments and some never do, and I want the answer to match what is really open today.

What I have:
- Their message, word for word, or what they said on the phone: [CLIENT MESSAGE]
- Which services we take as walk-ins, how long each takes, and which always need a booking: [WALK IN RULES]
- Today's open gaps from the booking app, with the stylist and the start and end of each gap: [OPEN GAPS TODAY]
- How I sound with clients: [MY TONE]

What I want:
1. Work out which service they want. If it is not clear, write one short question to ask them instead.
2. Check it against my walk-in rules. If it always needs a booking, say so kindly and give them the next step from my rules.
3. If it is a walk-in service, find the gaps today that are long enough for it and offer no more than two.
4. If nothing fits today, say so plainly.
5. Write the reply in my tone, short enough to read on a phone.

Rules:
- Write a draft for me to read. Do not send anything.
- Use only what I gave you. If something is missing, ask me instead of guessing.
- Never offer a gap that is not on my list, quote a price or claim anything I did not give you.
- Do not say a gap is held for them. Say it is open right now.
- Leave out the client's full name, card details and anything about their health.

Give me back:
- The reply, ready to edit
- Which gap you matched to which service, so I can check it

When to use it

Someone texts, calls or stops in to ask if they can be seen today, usually for a cut, a bang trim or a blowout.

When not to

Do not use it to fit color or another chemical service into a gap, or to give away a stylist's break without asking them first.

What to paste in

  • [CLIENT MESSAGE]: What they asked, as they asked it, without their last name or phone number.
  • [WALK IN RULES]: The services you take without a booking and how long each takes, plus the ones that always need a booking, such as color.
  • [OPEN GAPS TODAY]: Today's gaps copied from your booking app: stylist, start time and end time.
  • [MY TONE]: Three or four words for how you sound, or a text you sent before that you liked.

Never paste

  • The client's full name or phone number
  • Card details

A filled-in example

Sample. Fictional business, fictional client.

CLIENT MESSAGE: hey do you guys take walk ins? need a quick trim, my bangs are in my eyes lol
WALK IN RULES: Walk-ins for cuts (45 min), bang trims (15 min) and blowouts (45 min) when there is a gap. Color, perms and extensions always need a booking.
OPEN GAPS TODAY: Maya 11:15 to 11:45. Dana 2:00 to 3:00. Maya 4:30 to 4:45.
MY TONE: Friendly and quick, no exclamation points.

What you should get back

  • A short reply in your tone that answers the walk-in question
  • No more than two gaps that fit the service, taken only from your list
  • A kind no and the next step when the service needs a booking
  • A note showing which gap matched which service

What stays with you

The prompt writes a draft. You decide what happens to it, and nothing should reach a client until you have read it. Decisions about money stay with a person every time, and so do health questions and complaints. When KeenHand builds a routine like this, every message carries the same four decisions: Automate, Approve, Revise, Reject.

More: every prompt for salons, front desk and inquiries, and AI for salons.

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