Scott Buchanan grew from five people to 220 and found he could not be in every conversation. So the manager's real job became the systems: the phone, the greeting, the shampoo, the daily list. Here is what that looks like in salons that work.
A salon manager's duties come down to keeping the systems running so the salon works the same whether or not the owner is on the floor: the daily list, the booking rules, consultations, ordering, price conversations and stylist reviews. The front desk runs those systems with clients. Below is how the owners I have interviewed set this up, in their own words, with a sample duty list at the end.
1. The manager runs systems, not people
Scott Buchanan bought a five-chair salon in Manhattan and grew it to five locations. His conclusion about managing at that size:
"I started with five people, my company grew to 220 at one time. You're not around every minute for every conversation, for every observation. So as a leader, you have to start to think of systems that you can put into place so that people can follow them."
Scott Buchanan
He wrote systems for answering the phone, greeting a guest and doing a shampoo. When something goes wrong, the conversation is about the step that was missed, not the person, which takes the sting out of correction. He also warns that systems have to grow with you: what works for five people breaks at twenty.
Wendy McCown, who ran a 16-stylist commission salon with two managers, says the same thing more simply:
"everybody kind of has to know responsibilities, what needs to be done, you know, you need to have a good front desk system"
Wendy McCown
2. Write the daily list, and do not let anyone leave until it is done
Lensi White, who opened her own studio after 16 years at Wendy's salon, says the first thing she would tell a new owner is to write a task sheet, because hourly help without one does not know what to do. Her list changes all the time, and that is fine:
"It's not just a one and done. It's like if you make something and it's okay if you add something to it or take something off Like just get it up there"
Lensi White
At Wendy's salon, the closing list had to be finished before anyone went home, so the morning shift never walked into dishes in the sink or laundry not done. The manager owns that list: writing it, posting it, and checking it.
3. Set the booking rules that keep the book full
When Wendy's stylists moved to a three-day week, every slot started to matter. Her stylists worked a rotating schedule, Monday, Wednesday and Friday one week and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday the next, and they made the short week work by double booking while color processed. Whoever does the booking, the stylist or the front desk, has to know those rules.
Shelly Malizola built a service around the same idea. Her layback foil highlighting is fast enough to let a stylist take a second client during processing:
"And it's a technique for highlighting that enables you to highlight very fast, very efficiently and double book and not be overly stressed as you have two clients at one time."
Shelly Malizola, Allure Designs
Lensi adds the other half of the rule: running on time. On a short week, she did not want even a ten minute gap, and she did not want to run late either. A manager's booking rules should cover both.
4. Hand every new client a consultation form
Vivienne Mackinder uses a written consultation form for new clients, because some questions are easier to answer on paper than out loud:
"if you're a new client, I would have you fill out my consultation form, because there are certain questions on that consultation form that can be a little awkward to ask in person, but they're not in a form."
Vivienne Mackinder
Her example is budget. The form asks how important budget is, with three choices: somewhat important, very important, not important. A client who says very important gets recommended color that lasts longer between visits. The form also asks how much time the client wants to spend on her hair each day. The front desk hands it out at check-in. The manager makes sure it gets read.
5. Own the price conversation
When Wendy's salon raised prices, the stylists did not just change the menu. They told clients why, starting with the extra education the team was taking. Her rule:
"we have to be able to have those conversations"
Wendy McCown
A manager makes sure every stylist and the front desk can explain a price increase the same way, so no client hears it for the first time at checkout.
6. Run reviews against clear goals
Becky Dobbs runs a level system at Elleven Salon, and each level has its own numbers to hit. The manager's review is a conversation about those numbers, not a feeling:
"So what are their service goals? What are their retail goals, their retention, their booking or their reviews or what are they posting on social media?"
Becky Dobbs, Elleven Salon
Shelly Malizola holds quarterly reviews and used her last round to add one-on-one retail training. She also keeps ordering close. One of her team places the orders, but the two of them review how many of each product should be on the shelf and how fast it sells, because product on the shelf is cash.
7. Treat the front desk as a career, not a cost
It is easy to treat the front desk as an entry job. Becky Dobbs sees it differently. One of her shareholders started at her front desk:
"Honestly, one of my shareholders was at the front desk, started with me at the front desk, and she was awesome people skills."
Becky Dobbs, Elleven Salon
She also points out that salon coordinators who run the front can own part of a salon without doing hair at all. Lensi White started at Wendy's front desk as a child, checking clients in on a paper book, before she ever went to hair school. A front desk with a future attached to it does not quit after six months.
Scott Buchanan includes the front desk in decisions too. When he calls a team meeting about a problem, he invites someone from the shampoo area, someone from the front desk, maybe the bookkeeper and a manager, not just stylists, and gives each of them five minutes to speak.
A sample salon manager and front desk duty list
Use this as a starting point and change it as Lensi says, often. The manager owns the list. The front desk runs most of it.
Manager
- Write, post and update the opening and closing lists, and check they are done.
- Keep the written systems current: phone, greeting, check-in, consultation, shampoo, checkout.
- Set the booking rules: double booking, buffers, running on time.
- Read new-client consultation forms and make sure stylists do too.
- Hold regular reviews with each stylist against service, retail, retention and booking goals.
- Review inventory and orders against how fast each product sells.
- Make sure the whole team can explain prices and any increase the same way.
- Run team meetings that include the front desk.
Front desk
- Answer the phone and greet guests the way the written system says.
- Book to the salon's rules and keep the day on time.
- Hand new clients the consultation form at check-in.
- Check clients out, rebook them, and offer the retail their stylist recommended.
- Finish the closing list before leaving.
For the team side of this, see salon culture: what six owners do to keep a team. If you are still setting up, start with how to open a hair salon.