Open workshop in Mumbai · Also in-company · Frontline and client-facing teams
Client-Facing & Front-Office Etiquette: the standard your customer meets first.
Grooming and service etiquette for the people who greet, serve, sell and answer the phone. Scoped to your sector and the situations your teams actually face, delivered in cohorts at your premises, on the Sabira Merchant curriculum.
Next open workshop in Mumbai
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20Nov2026Register
Client-Facing & Front-Office Etiquette
The open workshop is for individuals who book their own seat. For a team, the programme is scoped to your sector, as described below. For the fee, talk to our L&D consultants. Register by email at register@princetonacademy.co.in or on WhatsApp.
Register online
Choose the programme and the batch. An L&D consultant sends the fee, the venue and a payment link, and your seat is confirmed on payment.
Who it is for
The people your customers actually meet
A brand is judged at the counter, the desk, the ward and the doorstep, not in the boardroom. This programme is for the teams who carry that judgement every day.
- Bank branch staff and relationship managers
- Hotel, restaurant and hospitality teams, front of house and guest relations
- Luxury, jewellery and premium retail sales advisors
- Hospital and clinic front office, patient coordinators and reception
- Pharma and medical representatives who call on doctors and hospitals
- Field sales teams who visit customers at their premises
- Receptionists, executive assistants and front-desk security who receive visitors
By the end of the programme your team will be able to
- Greet, seat, guide and see off a guest or customer to a consistent standard
- Present themselves to the organisation’s grooming and uniform standard, every shift
- Handle a complaint or a difficult customer without losing composure or the customer
- Speak on the phone and write on messaging channels in the organisation’s voice
- Manage waiting, queues, interruptions and VIP visitors with the same courtesy
- Know what to say, and what never to say, in the situations their sector produces
Built around your sector’s situations
The modules are the same. The role-plays, the dress standard and the difficult moments are taken from your floor.
BFSI
Bank branches and relationship managers
The walk-in customer, the high-value account holder, the KYC conversation, the declined request, and the visit to a client’s office.
Hospitality
Hotels and restaurants
Arrival and welcome, the guest who is unhappy with the room, the table that is running late, and the standard the uniform is supposed to signal.
Luxury retail
Luxury and jewellery stores
Reading the client who does not want to be approached, presenting a piece, discussing price with grace, and the customer who wants to return it.
Healthcare
Hospitals and clinics
Anxious patients and relatives at the front desk, waiting-time conversations, privacy at reception, and courtesy under pressure at the busiest hour.
Pharma
Medical representatives
The two minutes with a doctor, waiting-room conduct, the chemist visit, grooming on a long field day, and follow-up that does not become a nuisance.
Field and front desk
Field sales, reception and executive assistants
Arriving at a customer’s premises, the receptionist’s first sentence, screening calls, managing a senior visitor, and the message that goes out under the organisation’s name.
What the programme covers
Six modules, each demonstrated, practised in role-play and corrected in the room. Usually one full day per cohort, or two half days around shifts.
01
Grooming standards
Hair, skin, hands, fragrance and hygiene as the customer sees them. A standard your team can hold through a double shift, and a way to check it before the floor opens.
02
Uniform and dress standards
Wearing the uniform or the dress code as it was designed to be worn. Fit, footwear, accessories, name badges and what is not part of the standard. Written up as a one-page reference the team keeps.
03
Greeting and handling guests
The first sentence, eye contact, names and forms of address, seating and guiding, waiting time, handing over to a colleague, and the farewell that brings the customer back.
04
Complaints and difficult customers
Listening without defending, the language of apology and of a firm no, when to escalate and how, and staying composed with the customer who raises their voice. Practised with your real scenarios.
05
Phone and messaging conduct
Answering, holding, transferring and closing a call. Tone in WhatsApp and email replies, response times, what may be said in writing and what must not, and the organisation’s voice across channels.
06
Sector-specific situations
The moments your floor produces that a generic course never covers. Collected during scoping, scripted with faculty and rehearsed until the response is natural.
How we scope it
No two floors are the same, so the programme is not sold off a shelf. It is scoped, then delivered, then reported on.
- Discovery callRoles, headcount, locations, shifts, and the behaviours you want changed
- Observe the floorFaculty visit a branch or store, or review a sample of recorded calls and messages
- Tailor the modulesRole-plays, dress standard and scripts written from what was seen, signed off with HR
- Deliver in cohortsCohorts of twelve to twenty, at your premises or a venue, scheduled around shifts
- Assess and reportEvery participant assessed on the rubric, certificates issued, a faculty report to HR
What HR receives
- Attendance register for every cohort
- A per-participant assessment on the Sabira Merchant rubric
- Certificates of completion on the Sabira Merchant curriculum, issued through Princeton Academy
- A short faculty report: what was observed, what improved, what to reinforce
- The one-page grooming and dress standard written for your team
- A phone and messaging conduct guide in the organisation’s voice
- Transparent per-cohort pricing, stated in the proposal before anything is booked
Enquire
Tell us about the team
Roles, headcount, cities and the behaviours you want to see change. Use the form below or write to inhouse@princetonacademy.co.in. Princeton Academy will come back with a discovery call and, after it, a scoped proposal.
Questions
Who conducts the sessions?
Every programme is designed and overseen by Sabira Merchant. Sessions are delivered by faculty she has trained and certified on her curriculum. Depending on the format, batch and schedule, Ms Merchant may conduct part of a session personally. The content, the standards and the assessment are hers in every case.
Can this run around shifts and across branches?
Yes. Cohorts are scheduled around rosters, and a one-day programme can be split into two half days. For a branch or store network, faculty travel to each city and the same modules, scripts and assessment are used everywhere, so the standard does not drift between locations.
Is it in English?
Sessions are conducted in English, with Hindi support in the room where a cohort needs it. Scripts for greetings and phone conduct can be prepared in the language your customers use.
Can it be booked as a single open seat?
Yes. It runs as an open workshop in Mumbai on the date listed above, where an individual books a single seat. For a team, the programme is scoped to your sector and the situations on your floor, as this page describes.
What does it cost?
Pricing is per cohort and depends on headcount, cities and whether floor observation is included. It is stated transparently in the proposal that follows the discovery call, with no per-head add-ons afterwards.
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Raise the standard at the front line.
Tell us about the team and the floor. We will scope a programme around it.