Salon Today
MenuMENU
SearchSEARCH

How to Turn Your Front Desk Into a Profit Center

Front desk employees are one of the most valuable aspects of your business. Your front desk should do more than just answer phones, book appointments, and ring-out clients. If that’s all that they do, then they are a cost center: an ...

April 13, 2016
How to Turn Your Front Desk Into a Profit Center

How do you turn your front desk into a profit center?

Sponsored by
3 min to read


Front desk employees are one of the most valuable aspects of your business. Your front desk should do more than just answer phones, book appointments, and ring-out clients. If that’s all that they do, then they are a cost center: an employee whom you pay to perform tasks. A productive front desk employee is a profit center: an employee who generates revenue for your business. But, how do you turn your front desk into a profit center? The answer is easy: education.

You must educate your front desk on business growth. And no, that does not mean to educate your front desk on sales. In order to generate more sales, they need to know HOW. How do salons and spas grow? They grow by using a forward focus on the growth indicators. If you haven’t heard of them before, you are in the right place. The following six growth indicators are all that you need to focus on in order to see your bottom line drastically increase:

Ad Loading...
  • New Guests Per Month

  • New Guest Retention

  • Repeat Guest Retention

  • Frequency of Visit (FOV)

  • Average Ticket

  • Productivity

Below is a summarized action plan for your front desk that includes important tasks that they can perform every day. For a detailed and hugely informative version that can be printed, please click here to download. If followed and executed weekly, this plan will drastically improve the health of your business. If you are using Millennium software, these methods and reports are already built into the system. Provide this to your front desk and educate them on how growth using these strategies is possible.

TUESDAY

  • Up-sell Tuesday – Up-sell at least 5 items (e.g. suggest a 90-minute massage instead of a 60-minute massage).

  • Call clients due in this week and book their appointments.

  • Call clients who cancelled last week and reschedule them.

  • Pre-book at least 50% of appointments – pre-booking is key!

WEDNESDAY

Ad Loading...
  • Cross-sell Wednesday – Cross-sell at least 7 items (e.g. add a pedicure to a manicure appointment).

  • Send “We Miss You” emails to clients who have not been in for 3 months.

  • Send new client welcome emails, which helps client loyalty.

  • Pre-book at least 50% of appointments – this should be done every day.

THURSDAY

  • Add-on Thursday – Aim to add on at least 8 services (e.g. add aromatherapy to a massage).

  • Contact clients who have gift cards about to expire.

  • Pre-book at least 50% of appointments.

FRIDAY

  • Package Friday – sell at least 5 packages & book corresponding standings.

  • Missed opportunities – a report to see why clients could not be scheduled.

  • Call new guests to verify their experience and remind them of your referral program.

  • Pre-book at least 50% of appointments.

Ad Loading...

SATURDAY

  • Bundle your top selling products with your worst selling products.

  • Cross-sell market to your guests – which departments have they not experienced?

  • Follow up on no-shows.

  • Follow up on pending or waitlisted clients.

  • Pre-book at least 50% of appointments.

For a more detailed and printable version, please CLICK HERE.

Originally posted on Modern Salon

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

More Salon Management

Paul Petrowsky, manager of Impressions

The Constant

Starting at Impressions front desk in 2006 when he was 19 years old, General Manager Paul Petrowsky is a seasoned professional who owner Sarah Taylor says is responsible for much of her own success.

Ad Loading...
Headshot of Sophie Galabru

How Women are Rewriting the Rules of Grey Hair

At a panel discussion hosted by L’Oréal Professionnel in Paris in early July, French Philosopher Sophie Galabru explored the cultural shift where women are increasingly choosing natural, personalized color results over traditional grey coverage. In an exclusive interview with SALON TODAY, Galabru and L’Oréal Professionnel Colorist Pierrick Beringer discuss this shift and how salons and colorists respond.

Ad Loading...
Cover of whitepaper

How AI Is Closing Revenue Gaps for Salons and Spas

The beauty and wellness businesses pulling ahead aren’t just working harder—they’re using AI to capture demand, personalize pricing, and convert more of every guest interaction into revenue. Here’s what the benchmark data reveals about the growing gap between AI adopters and everyone else.

Sponsored by Zenoti

copy of the whitepaper cover

The Premium Talent Magnet: The Modern Salon Playbook for Attracting Six-Figure Stylists

Stop chasing recruitment ghosts on generic job boards and start curating an elite team. Discover the framework that top-tier salons use to bypass phone tag, automate visual portfolio vetting, and attract high-earning, culture-first beauty professionals directly through real-time messaging. Turn your recruitment process into an exclusive brand invitation that keeps your highest-ticket chairs permanently filled.

Sponsored by Beautista

Cover of the whitepaper

Five Revenue Leaks Hiding in Your Salon

Your calendar looks full, but is all of that demand actually converting to revenue? From phantom rebookings to underpriced peak hours, the 2026 Benchmark Report exposes five revenue leaks that most beauty and wellness businesses don’t even know they have.

Sponsored by Zenoti

Nicki Wenz (above) and Allison Stock of Zandi K Salon

The Heartbeat of Zandi K's Success

After moving to Colorado and teaching at a cosmetology school, Allison Stock joined Zandi K as a stylist, eventually becoming part of the Leadership Team, Education Team and Master Bridal Team. Today, as Director of Operation, Stock is Owner Nicki Wenz's right hand, managing human resources and operations, education and career development, and coaching and culture.

Ad Loading...