5 Document Management Tips to Keep Your Business Running Smoothly
May 23, 2022
Your front desk team is the first face of your business—they are your ambassadors. A team that is professional, friendly and resourceful can make a big difference to how customers feel about their experience with your company and brand.
Beyond being your ambassadors, your front desk is likely expected to help with a variety of administrative tasks, including supporting—or even managing—your Mindbody software. Here are a few tips that might help you improve how you manage documents in your business—and help your front desk team excel at what they do best.
Standardize formats, naming structures and file locations
If you don’t already do this, it’s a good place to start. Select standard naming conventions for files, create file or folder structures and identify what the preferred format is for certain documents (e.g. PDF vs Word document). Be sure to document your process so that it’s easy to train new team members when they come on board.
Go paperless
We might be a little biased when we tell people to go paperless because that’s what WaiverKing is all about. But the truth of the matter is, when you eliminate paper, you make things a lot easier. Your onboarding form or waiver is a prime example of where you can use a paperless form and a tablet to let a customer enter their information and sign a document. Your reception team doesn’t have to be involved in the process because the information can automatically populate the Mindbody fields and save the signed document as a PDF in the customer’s Mindbody profile.
Keep the user interface simple
When you add processes or technology to help manage documents, keep it as simple as possible for the user. If there are too many steps for your customers or your staff, you aren’t saving anyone time—and you’re less likely to improve the experience. The goal is to automate or eliminate steps that were previously a manual process.
Capture information as close to the source as possible
When your team transfers information from printed forms or documents into Mindbody, the more likely it is that you’ll find an error. Letting your customers enter their information into a form or document that automatically populates the corresponding Mindbody fields is faster, easier, more accurate and far less error-prone. The same applies to your staff who can use fillable documents to capture treatment or appointment details, and the information goes directly into the system and creates a PDF record.
Prioritize what business processes can be improved
If someone is spending a disproportionate amount of time managing how documents are filed and where data is being saved, evaluate what part of those processes have the biggest impact and prioritize them for improvements. It might mean you have to invest in technology or make wholescale changes to a process, but if you tackle the most inefficiencies first, you’re likely to see big gains for your team.
