Who it is for / Barbers
Mid-fade is no time to answer the phone. While You Work answers the calls you miss in your shop’s name, finds out what the customer wants and when, gives your prices if you have set them, and sends you the details a minute later.
Founding members pay £49 and their line switches on as soon as they finish the set-up form. The first week on a live line is free.
On every call
Urgent jobs
Everything else is sent to you as a booking request within a minute.
Real calls
A barber's phone rings while the clippers are running. Most calls are a quick booking or a "how long is the wait", and the receptionist can answer both from what you tell it.
The maths
Say you miss 5 calls a week and two in five of those callers would have booked a cut worth about £20.
5 calls × 40% × £20 = £40 a week. × 52 weeks ÷ 12 = £173 a month of work going to someone else. An example: put your own numbers into the missed-call calculator.
One missed cut is £20. One missed new customer is a cut every three weeks for years, and the barber round the corner is happy to take him.
Timing
Saturday mornings, Friday afternoons, and the days before school goes back. All while you are mid-fade with a queue watching the door.
What callers hear
The receptionist asks one thing at a time, checks the number back and never makes up a price. The details reach you by email a minute after the call, and by text straight away when it is urgent.
What reaches you
Ryan (new customer), 07700 900736. Skin fade tomorrow morning. Told £18.
Receptionist: Hi, you’re through to Kings Barbers. Ali can’t get to the phone right now, but I can take your details so he can get back to you. Calls are recorded so nothing gets missed. What’s your name?
Caller: Hi, it’s Ryan. Have you got anything for a skin fade tomorrow morning?
Receptionist: Thanks, Ryan. Have you been in to Kings Barbers before?
Caller: No, first time. How much is a skin fade?
Receptionist: A skin fade is £18.
Receptionist: And what’s the best number for Ali to ring you on?
Caller: 07700 900 736.
Receptionist: So that’s 07700 900 736. Is that right?
Caller: Yes, that’s right.
Receptionist: Thanks, Ryan. Ali will ring you back to confirm a time tomorrow, and I’m sending you a text now to confirm.
Set up
A short form made for barbers:
One code on your mobile sends calls you do not answer within 20 seconds to your While You Work line. Turn it off whenever you like.
Every caller is greeted in your business name. You get the details a minute later, and the caller gets a text saying you will ring back.
Questions
Yes, with the Voice Booking and Pay module. It offers the caller your real free times, books the appointment and texts them a confirmation, with your deposit link if you take deposits. Without the module it takes the details and tells the caller you will ring back.
Only if you add them in the set-up form. If you leave prices blank, callers are told you will confirm the price yourself. It never makes up a price.
It answers in your shop’s name with a natural British voice. If someone asks, it says it is your automated assistant and carries on taking the details.
£49 a month including VAT for founding members, locked for as long as you stay, with no contract and the first week free once your line is live.
Yes. It answers from what you put in the set-up form: walk-ins welcome, appointments only, or a mix, and your usual wait on busy days if you add it.
Only if you have listed them and the caller asks. It reads them as written and never rounds or guesses.
More detail: what a missed call costs, UK call answering prices and how we compare.
Founding price locked for as long as you stay. No contract. Your line switches on as soon as you finish the set-up form.
Also for salons, clinics, cleaners, beauty therapists, dog groomers, personal trainers and every other kind of business.