Removing the Front Desk

One of the first things we work on with any student in the Destroy the Hairdresser coaching program, also known as Coach'd, is removing their front desk.

"We have found that most salon owners we work with pay more annually to their support staff than they take home themselves. This is not sustainable." – David Bosscher

Removing the front desk is not just about saving money; it is also about removing a piece of furniture that creates reactive salon culture. The front desk can become a place of anxiety, stress, and laziness. It is the place that houses essential tasks such as checking in, cashing out, scheduling, and client management. At the same time, it is the place that also houses the most blame.

"Everyone says they love having a front desk, but when you poll salon staff and owners privately, you see that all of their issues stem from the front desk. The same place that is supposed to alleviate pain, pressure, and chaos is now the place that produces the most pain, pressure, and chaos. So we thought – let's remove it and replace it with technology." – Cyd Charisse

The next question you may be asking is "who greats the client?" or "who answers the phone?" or even "who dusts the shelves?". The answer to all of these is technology. Yes, even for dusting the shelves, you'll learn more about it here.

Technology is a cost-effective way to streamline a salon. Using iPads to have clients check themselves in, using our phones to cash clients out, or even using text messaging and online booking to manage clients is a much more powerful way to maintain consistency and flow in a salon environment.

"Removing the front desk and streamlining our support staff is the fastest way to increase a salon's profitability. We have helped hundreds of salon owners instantly make larger paychecks through this exercise alone." – David Bosscher

Another thing to note about the front desk

The front desk was originally a place to house your cash drawer and scheduling book, yes, an actual book. This is why we call our schedule our "book." But over time, product companies began exploiting the front desk to increase product sales. The front desk became more important to the product sales side of the salon that it almost became more necessary than the hairdresser. Product companies began to see hairdressers and salespeople, and the size of the salon floor became smaller while the size of the front desk and "boutique" became larger and larger.

"Now is the time to remove retail and retail shelves, remove the front desk, and increase the salon floor. We must employ people, not products." – Cyd Charisse