Customers & Automation
Coach (AI Business Advisor)
Last updated 19 May 2026
Coach (AI Business Advisor)
Get personalised business advice tailored to your role and metrics. Coach is the legacy name for advisor-style conversations inside OpenChair Assistant, helping Owners grow revenue and manage teams, and helping Staff improve rebooking rates and client experience.
Where to find it — Web: Sidebar → Assistant (Coach redirects to the Assistant page). Mobile: Assistant tab.
TL;DR
- Coach is the conversational AI advisor inside OpenChair Assistant, it is not a separate feature.
- Owners and Managers see marketing, growth, and team topics; Staff see consultation, skill development, and client experience topics.
- Automation Recommendations is a separate feature on the Automations page (Owner-only).
- Each chat message costs 1 Spark and requires a PRO subscription.
Overview
Coach lets you:
- Ask business questions in natural language and get advice based on your actual venue data
- Receive role-specific guidance. Owners see marketing, growth, and team management topics; Staff see consultation, skill development, and client experience topics
- Get data-aware starter questions when your metrics indicate areas for improvement
- Use the same conversation to transition into Assistant actions (gap fill, reconnect, reviews, etc.)
Note
Coach is part of OpenChair Assistant and requires a PRO subscription. Each message costs 1 Spark. See Understanding Spark.
How Coach works
Coach is not a separate feature, it is the conversational advisor aspect of OpenChair Assistant. When you open Assistant and ask a business question, you are using Coach. When the conversation shifts to an operational task, Assistant may suggest actions.
Accessing Coach
- Web: Click Assistant in the sidebar. (The old /coach URL redirects to the Assistant page.)
- Mobile: Tap the Assistant tab. (The old Coach tab redirects to Assistant.)
What Coach knows about your business
Coach has access to your venue's data and adapts its advice accordingly:
For Owners and Managers:
- Revenue and occupancy metrics
- Rebooking rates
- Today's schedule
- Service list with pricing
- Business context and history
For Staff:
- Personal performance metrics (bookings, rebooking rate)
- Service list
- Business context
Coach uses this data to provide specific, actionable advice rather than generic suggestions. For example, if your occupancy is low, Coach can recommend specific strategies based on your actual schedule gaps and client base.
Starter questions by role
Owner and Manager topics
Coach suggests questions across four clusters:
| Cluster | Example topics |
|---|---|
| Marketing | Social media content, colour trends, seasonal promotions, content calendars, before-and-after galleries |
| Client relations | Google reviews, re-engagement strategies, cancellation handling, aftercare advice |
| Team operations | Team meetings, staff retention, performance reviews, onboarding, KPIs |
| Growth | Upselling techniques, pricing strategy, referral programmes, loyalty, increasing ticket value |
Staff topics
| Cluster | Example topics |
|---|---|
| Consultation | Colour consultation scripts, managing expectations, handling unhappy clients, pricing conversations |
| Skill development | Balayage techniques, toner explanations, retail recommendations, colour correction, blow-dry speed |
| Client experience | Upselling naturally, building loyalty, increasing tips, special gestures, time management |
| Productivity | Between-client activities, column efficiency, preparing for tomorrow, filling gaps, daily goals |
Data-aware questions
When your metrics indicate an area for improvement, Coach prepends specific questions:
| Condition | Question shown |
|---|---|
| Occupancy below 60% (Owner) | "How do I fill my empty appointment slots?" |
| Declining revenue (Owner) | "What can I do to boost revenue this month?" |
| Revenue concentrated on one staff member (Owner) | "How do I reduce my dependency on one team member?" |
| No-show rate above 10% (Owner) | "How do I reduce no-shows at my salon?" |
| Low rebooking rate below 60% (Staff) | "How can I improve my rebooking rate?" |
| Gaps detected tomorrow (Staff) | "I have gaps tomorrow, how do I fill them?" |
Cluster-aware rotation and follow-ups
Coach picks starter chips with cluster affinity: clusters you've explored before (based on prior session titles) get preference, while one discovery chip from an unexplored cluster is always kept in rotation so you don't get stuck. The static pool rotates daily.
After each reply, Coach surfaces two personalised follow-up questions at the bottom of the message. Reopen the session later and those two follow-ups appear as chips so you can pick up where you left off without retyping.
Automation Recommendations
Automation Recommendations is a separate feature that appears on the Automations page (not in Assistant chat). It analyses your venue data and suggests up to 3 automation improvements.
How it works
- Go to Automations on web.
- Click "Get recommendations" (or recommendations generate automatically for the page).
- The AI analyses your venue's automation settings and customer data.
- Up to 3 recommendations appear as cards, each with:
- A title describing the recommendation
- An explanation of why it would help
- An "Apply" button to enable the setting
- A "Dismiss" button to hide it
Who can use Automation Recommendations
Only Owners can generate, apply, or dismiss automation recommendations. Managers and Staff cannot access this feature.
Fallback behaviour
If the AI is unavailable (Spark balance empty, API timeout), the system provides deterministic recommendations based on rule-based analysis of your current settings, no AI required.
Role access
| Action | Owner | Manager | Staff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat with Coach (Assistant) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| See Owner-level starter questions | Yes | Yes | No |
| See Staff-level starter questions | No | No | Yes |
| Transition to Assistant actions | Yes | Yes | Yes (limited) |
| Generate Automation Recommendations | Yes | No | No |
| Apply Automation Recommendations | Yes | No | No |
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Cannot find Coach in the sidebar | Coach has been merged into Assistant. Click Assistant in the sidebar, it is the same feature. |
| Coach gives generic advice, not specific to my business | Coach uses your venue data for context. New venues with fewer than 10 bookings have limited data, so advice may be more generic. As your booking history grows, Coach becomes more specific. |
| Data-aware starter questions not appearing | These questions appear only when specific metric thresholds are met (e.g. occupancy below 60%, no-show rate above 10%). If your metrics are healthy, you will see general topic suggestions instead. |
| Automation Recommendations not showing | Automation Recommendations appear on the Automations page, not in Assistant chat. Only Owners can access this feature. |
| "Upgrade to PRO" message | Coach requires a PRO subscription. Owners can upgrade from Settings → Billing. |
FAQ
Where is the Coach feature in OpenChair?
Coach is now part of OpenChair Assistant. Click Assistant in the sidebar on web, or tap the Assistant tab on mobile, the old /coach URL and Coach tab both redirect automatically.
Why is Coach giving generic advice instead of advice specific to my business?
Coach uses your venue's booking data for context. New venues with fewer than 10 bookings have limited data, so advice may be more general. As your booking history grows, recommendations become more specific to your actual schedule, clients, and revenue patterns.
Who can use Automation Recommendations?
Only venue Owners can generate, apply, or dismiss Automation Recommendations on the Automations page. Managers and Staff cannot access this feature. Owners see the feature when they visit Automations on web.
Does Coach require a PRO subscription?
Yes. Coach is part of OpenChair Assistant and requires a PRO subscription. Each chat message costs 1 Spark (1 cent). Owners can upgrade from Settings → Billing.