How Should a Hair Salon Manage Stylist Commission and Walk-In Queues?

Salons pay in different ways. Some pay a share of each service billed. Others pay a fixed amount for a haircut and another for a shave. Some add a salary on top.

Write down the rule for each person, as it stands today. A rule that only exists as a spoken agreement will be argued about at month end. Rates can differ by stylist, by service or by category.

Decide whether an assistant who helps with a colour or wash shares the credit. The software can split it, but the owner sets the split.

Commission should follow services the stylist finished, not services booked. The stylist marks each service done on her own screen. Those entries flow into the invoice and into her total for the month.

A service begun but not finished is not counted. A cancelled service drops out of the total unless the owner’s rule says otherwise. Refunded bills need a rule too.

Tips can be entered on the bill and credited to the stylist. How tips are shared is the salon’s own policy. The software records the policy and does not set it.

Salary has more inputs than commission. Attendance, leave, half days and weekly offs change what is payable. An advance has a date and a recovery plan.

Attendance can be marked at the front desk or taken from a biometric device if the salon already has one. Advances are entered with their date and recovered at month end as the owner decides.

The stylist sees services completed, commission earned, advances and attendance for the month. That view answers most questions before they reach the owner. Statutory dues on salary are a matter for the salon’s accountant.

A walk-in is given a token and the service wanted. The queue lists tokens in order, with the stylist each client is waiting for. The front desk can answer how long it will be without guessing.

Booked clients sit on the calendar and waiting clients sit in the queue, on one screen. A booked client who arrives early can be moved ahead by reception.

When a walk-in asks for a busy stylist, the token waits against that name. Reception can offer another stylist, and the token moves to the new column if the client agrees.

The queue does not decide how many walk-ins a salon takes in a busy hour. The owner sets slot lengths and which services need a patch test first. Whether a no-show is charged is also a policy.

A salon with one barber, one rate and no appointments can manage with a notebook. The case for software begins with several stylists on different rates, or with a queue and bookings competing for the same chairs.

Walk the salon’s rules through the free technology audit before deciding that software is needed.