Three reports, two calculators and a barber who thinks it is wrong
Sunday evening. The owner exports the week's sales from the till, which lists every transaction but not always the right barber, because the apprentice rang through some of the senior's cuts. The booking app has its own report of online prepayments. Retail sales are on the till but at a different commission rate. One barber is on a guaranteed minimum that week because she was training the new starter on Tuesday. Another did a wedding party on Saturday that was paid by bank transfer and is not on either system.
Two hours later there is a spreadsheet with a number per barber. On Tuesday one of them says it looks low. Going back through it takes another hour.
The rules are simple. The data is scattered
- Sales are recorded in more than one place: the till, the booking app, bank transfers for group bookings.
- Transactions are keyed under the wrong barber when whoever is nearest takes payment.
- Services and retail have different rates, and some products used on the customer are deducted.
- Guaranteed minimums, training days and holiday pay change the calculation some weeks.
- Refunds and redone cuts are handled differently each time they happen.
Nobody is doing anything wrong. The calculation just has to be rebuilt from scattered pieces every week by the one person who understands it.
Evenings lost and trust dented
Commission is how barbers are paid, so errors land in someone's rent money. Mistakes in either direction cause problems, and repeated corrections make barbers suspicious even when the owner is being careful. The owner also becomes a single point of failure: when they are ill or on holiday, nobody else can run payroll.
One calculation from every source
- We connect to your till and card terminal provider, your booking app and, where needed, your bank feed through their APIs, and bring every sale into one list with the barber, service, retail flag and payment method.
- Mis-keyed transactions are caught by matching against the booking: if the booking was with one barber and the payment was keyed by another, it is flagged for a quick check.
- Your commission rules are written down and set up once: rates per service type and per barber level, retail rate, product deductions, minimums, and what happens with refunds.
- Group bookings or payments outside the till are added from a simple form with the barber's name and the service.
- Each barber gets a weekly statement on their phone with every line that made up their pay, before payroll runs, and can raise a query against a specific line.
- The owner approves the totals and exports them to your payroll or accounting software, such as Xero or QuickBooks.
| Pay element | Where it comes from | How it is checked |
|---|---|---|
| Service commission | Till and booking app | Matched to booking |
| Retail commission | Till retail lines | Separate rate applied |
| Product deduction | Your rule | Shown on statement |
| Guaranteed minimum | Rota and your rule | Applied when earnings fall short |
| Group or transfer payments | Owner's form | Visible to the barber |
The commission structure itself, and anything to do with minimum wage, holiday pay or employment status, is for you and your adviser. We apply the rules you give us.
A Sunday evening back
On a normal week, the owner opens the dashboard on Monday morning. Two lines are flagged: a cut keyed by the apprentice under his own name when the booking was with the senior, and a refund with no barber. Both are fixed in a couple of minutes. Statements go out. One barber queries a retail sale that she thinks was hers; the line shows who keyed it and the owner moves it. Payroll is exported before lunch.
Barbers stop wondering whether they have been paid properly, because they can see how every figure was made. And someone other than the owner can run the week if they have to.
Is this your weekly routine?
- Working out commission takes you hours every week.
- Sales come from the till, the booking app and elsewhere.
- Payments are often keyed under the wrong barber.
- Barbers query their pay regularly.
- Only one person in the shop knows how the pay is calculated.