Salons
Direct answer
Salon guides are about the diary and the phone you cannot answer with wet hands. A booking page should offer only real gaps. A receptionist may take a name and a callback. Cancellation rules must come from your own written policy, not from a model. Social posts should describe work you actually did.
Hair, beauty, and barber businesses where the diary is the business and a wrong cancellation rule becomes a complaint.
Write the cancellation rule down before any agent explains it. Clients will ask, and a fluent wrong answer is worse than "I'll check and text you".
A booking page that matches the chair hours beats a chat that negotiates times. If you answer missed calls with an agent, it collects a name and a service. It does not move the diary.
Playbooks that fit
- Social post repurposingGoogle SheetsOne sitting to make the sheet, then a note when the work is done£0 on the free plan/mo
A month of social posts planned in a sheet
Plan social posts on a private Google Sheet: one row for the date, the network, and a caption taken from work you actually did. ChatGPT can draft the caption from that note. You publish it yourself. Buffer is the separate queue. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026. This has not been live-tested.
- Meeting and job schedulingChatGPT30–45 minutesabout £0–£15/mo
A scheduling agent that does not touch the calendar
Set up a free Google Calendar appointment page so people book a real gap in your diary, then use ChatGPT only to draft the reply that sends the link. Do not let an agent create events from incoming email without you. This has not been live-tested.
- AI receptionist and missed callsSmith.aiAbout an hour, plus test calls£0 for 25 real calls, then about £2 a call/mo
AI receptionist for a small business with Smith.ai
Smith.ai can answer a small business line on a free plan of 25 calls, then stop. The script takes a name, a number, and the job. It does not quote a price or promise a visit. Confirm callers can reach a normal UK number before you divert. This page has not been live-tested.
- Meeting and job schedulingCalendlyAbout 45 minutes£0 on the free plan/mo
Appointment booking with a Calendly link
Appointment booking for a small business should be a page of real gaps, not a chat that invents a time. Calendly's free plan, on 25 October 2026, was one event type and one calendar. You send a link. An agent may draft that email. It must not create events. This setup has not been live-tested.
- Customer FAQ repliesChatGPT1–2 hours, mostly writing the policyabout £0–£15/mo
Customer replies from a written FAQ, drafted in ChatGPT
Put your real refund, price, and booking rules into a ChatGPT Project and let it draft customer replies from that page only. You send the email. If the answer is not in the page, the draft should say you will check, not invent a policy. Not live-tested yet.
- Customer FAQ repliesChatGPTOne sitting with the questions written down first£0 on the free plan/mo
Draft the public FAQ page from questions you already answer
Write a public FAQ by listing questions customers have already asked and drafting answers only from rules you supply. ChatGPT can arrange that page. You publish it. The email-reply guide and the website chat come after the page exists. The free plan was listed on 25 October 2026. This has not been live-tested.
- Google review repliesChatGPTAbout 30 minutes to write the rules, then a few minutes a review£0 to try, or about £15 if you pay for Plus/mo
Google review replies drafted in ChatGPT
A reply to a Google review should use the customer's words and your own policy, then be posted by you. ChatGPT can shorten the tone. It must not invent a visit, a refund, or a discount. Google's help page is how replies are managed. Nothing here posts overnight. This guide has not been live-tested.
- AI receptionist and missed callsLindy1–2 hours, plus test callsabout £38–£60 before call minutes/mo
Missed-call answering for trades with Lindy
A Lindy phone agent can take a missed-call message for a tradesperson: name, number, address, and the job. It must not quote a price. Only buy a number if customers in the UK can dial it without an international code. This page has not been live-tested.
- Social post repurposingClaude20–40 minutes for the first note, then lessabout £0–£15/mo
Repurpose one work note into social posts with Claude
Take one true note about finished work and ask Claude for a Google Business post, an Instagram caption, and a short LinkedIn post. You approve every word and you only use photos you have the right to publish. Nothing is auto-posted. Not live-tested yet.
- AI receptionist and missed callsSmith.aiHalf an hour to read the pricing tableabout £113 a month for 75 real calls/mo
Smith.ai answering service: what a call costs
Smith.ai's answering bill is a bundle of real calls, not a flat receptionist wage. On 25 October 2026 Free was $0 for 25 real calls and Pro started at $150 a month for 75. Extra calls and spam rules change the invoice. Read them before you divert. This buying guide has not been live-tested.
- Social post repurposingBufferAbout an hour to connect the channels and write the rule£0 on the free plan/mo
Social posts queued in Buffer
A social scheduler for a small business should queue posts you have already approved. Claude can turn one true note into a Google post, an Instagram caption, and a LinkedIn post. Buffer's free plan, on 25 October 2026, held three channels and ten scheduled posts each. You press publish. This has not been live-tested.
- Customer FAQ repliesTidioAn afternoon to write the page, then an hour for the widget£0 on the free plan, with Lyro's paid meter left off/mo
Website support chat with Tidio
A support chatbot for a small website should repeat a page you wrote and stop when the page is silent. Tidio's free plan was $0 for 50 billable conversations a month on 25 October 2026. Lyro's first 50 AI conversations were a lifetime allowance, not a monthly refill. You handle the rest. This has not been live-tested.
Questions
Should the bot book the colour appointment?
Not in these guides. A booking link can. An agent that guesses duration will stack the day. You set the event length.
What about deposits?
If you take one, the rule belongs on your booking page in your words. Do not let a chat widget invent a deposit amount.
Which playbooks fit a salon?
Scheduling, missed calls, FAQ replies, review replies, and social posts. The list on this page is the filter.