A week of eyebrow tidies, course sessions and serums
A therapist does a lot of short treatments in a week: brow shapes, lip waxes, lash lifts, a few facials, some course sessions and a couple of gel manicures when the nail tech was off. She sold serums and SPF. Some treatments were redeemed from courses bought months ago, one was a free redo, and she was credited for a retail sale that another therapist recommended.
Your commission scheme has one rate for treatments over a target, another for retail, a rule for course redemptions and a deduction for product used on expensive facials. At the end of the month the manager exports reports and spends an evening in a spreadsheet. A therapist then questions a number, and nobody can easily show how it was reached.
Many small items and several rules
- Beauty treatments are short and numerous, so the number of lines per therapist is large.
- Course sessions were paid for long ago, and the rule for commission on redemptions varies between salons.
- Retail is often credited to whoever was at the till rather than the therapist who recommended it.
- Redos, complimentary treatments and staff treatments need handling differently.
- Targets and thresholds change the rate part way through the month.
Time lost and trust tested
Spreadsheet commission also bends the behaviour of the salon. Therapists who cannot see how retail is credited stop recommending products. Therapists who think course redemptions earn them nothing are less keen to sell courses. A scheme designed to encourage the right things does not work if the people it is meant to encourage cannot see it working.
A long monthly calculation takes the manager away from the salon floor. Mistakes affect people's pay, which erodes trust quickly. Therapists who cannot see how their pay was calculated assume the worst, and some leave for a salon where it feels clearer.
Commission calculated from every line, with a statement
- We connect to your salon software and till through their APIs and pull every treatment, course redemption, retail sale, redo and discount with the therapist attached.
- Retail sales can be credited to the recommending therapist where recommendations are recorded, or split under your rules.
- Your scheme is written out and set up once: rates for treatments and retail, thresholds and targets, course redemption rules, product cost deductions and exclusions.
- Each therapist gets a monthly statement, and if you like a running weekly view, showing every line, the rate applied and the total.
- Therapists can query a line from their statement, and the manager can correct it with a note.
- Approved totals are exported to your payroll or accounting software.
| Item | Your rule decides |
|---|---|
| Treatment | Rate, and whether it counts to target |
| Course redemption | Commission at sale, at redemption or split |
| Retail | Rate, and who gets credit |
| Redo or complimentary | Excluded or included |
| Facial product cost | Deducted before commission or not |
Your commission scheme, and questions about minimum wage, holiday pay or employment status, are for you and your adviser. We apply the scheme exactly as you give it to us.
Pay the team can check
On a normal month-end the manager opens the calculation, sees that two lines are flagged, a retail sale with no therapist and a complimentary redo keyed as a paid treatment, fixes both and approves. Statements go out. A therapist queries a course redemption; the statement shows the rule applied and the date the course was sold, which answers it. Payroll is exported the same day.
Through the month, therapists can open a running view and see where they are against their target, which lines count and which do not. That tends to settle most questions before the statement ever arrives, and it makes the scheme do what it was designed for: encouraging the treatments and sales you actually want more of.
Could your commission use this?
- Calculating commission takes hours each month.
- Treatment, retail and course rules are applied by hand.
- Retail is credited to whoever was at the till.
- Therapists query their pay regularly.
- Only one person understands the calculation.