Service records for businesses that sell time and skill

Why services aren't just sales with no stock

It's tempting to record a haircut as a sale of an item called "haircut". It nearly works — until you want to know which stylist earned what, or a client has three treatments from two people in one visit, or a job is started today and paid for on Friday.

So services are their own kind of record. Each line carries the work done, the price actually charged, and the person who did it.

Everything else follows from that: commission, staff performance, top treatments, and a weekly ranking that puts service income alongside product income rather than in a separate book.

How a visit is recorded

1. One visit, several linesA client having a wash, a colour and a manicure is one record with three lines — each with its own price and its own staff member.
2. Tag the person on every lineThat's what makes commission and per-staff earnings answerable later without anyone keeping a private tally.
3. Charge what you actually chargedThe list price is a starting point. If the client paid less, record less — otherwise the margin you see isn't the margin you got.
4. Save as draft, finalise when paidWork started but not settled sits as a draft. Drafts don't count as income until you finalise them, so today's total stays honest.

Drafts exist because work and payment aren't the same moment

In a garage the car arrives Monday and leaves Thursday. In a salon a client books a treatment and pays at the desk afterwards. If the only way to record work is to record income, you either enter it too early — and inflate the day — or too late, and forget the details.

A draft holds the job with everything already filled in. When the money comes, finalising it takes one tap and it lands in the day's takings on the right date.

A week in a two-chair salon

Grace did more services; the interesting question is whether they were the better-paying ones. Because every line carries a price and a person, that's a question you can answer.

What you get out of it

1. Earnings per staff memberOver any period, from the records themselves — which is what most businesses use to work out commission.
2. Which services actually fill the dayRanked by what they earned, not by how often they were done. Those are usually different lists.
3. Services and products ranked togetherThe Monday summary shows both, so a salon selling retail products can see where the week's money really came from.
4. Nothing lost when the network dropsRecords are kept on the phone and sync later.

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Questions about service records