Top 12 Salon Manager Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today’s beauty market, a salon manager has to juggle people, numbers, and the buzz of trends. A resume that blends leadership, operations, and client-centric finesse can lift you out of the stack and into the interview chair.
Salon Manager Skills
- Leadership
- Scheduling (Booker)
- Inventory Management (Salon Iris)
- Customer Service
- Sales Expertise
- Marketing (Hootsuite)
- Financial Reporting (QuickBooks)
- Staff Training
- Conflict Resolution
- Hygiene Standards
- Trend Awareness
- CRM Software (Zenoti)
1. Leadership
Leadership, for a salon manager, means setting a clear direction, energizing the team, and keeping standards sky-high while the day moves fast and clients keep coming.
Why It's Important
Strong leadership keeps service consistent, morale high, and the business humming. It anchors customer satisfaction and fuels growth.
How to Improve Leadership Skills
Communicate clearly and often: Daily huddles, quick check-ins, and transparent updates reduce confusion and build trust.
Model the standard: Be on time, detail-obsessed, and client-first. Culture copies the manager.
Coach, don’t just correct: Give specific feedback, set goals, and follow up. Celebrate wins loudly.
Delegate smartly: Match tasks to strengths. Grow future leads by sharing responsibility.
Invest in yourself: Regular training in leadership, service, and operations keeps your edge sharp.
How to Display Leadership Skills on Your Resume
2. Scheduling (Booker)
Scheduling (Booker) covers appointment flow, staff rosters, and resource planning so chairs stay filled, wait times shrink, and service runs smooth.
Why It's Important
Smart scheduling boosts productivity, reduces gaps, and lifts revenue per hour while protecting the client experience.
How to Improve Scheduling (Booker) Skills
Enable online booking and waitlists: Offer 24/7 booking with buffer times for turnarounds and consultations.
Automate confirmations and reminders: Cut no-shows with texts and emails; add easy reschedule options.
Staff to demand: Use booking data to align shifts with peak hours and match specialists to service mix.
Standardize service durations: Keep timing realistic; add extra time for complex services.
Track no-shows and late cancels: Enforce clear policies and offer standby fills.
Train the team: Everyone should know how to check, modify, and flag appointments cleanly.
How to Display Scheduling (Booker) Skills on Your Resume
3. Inventory Management (Salon Iris)
Inventory Management in Salon Iris tracks products, sets par levels, and automates reorders so shelves stay ready and waste stays low.
Why It's Important
Right-sized stock prevents lost sales, avoids cash tied in dead items, and supports consistent service delivery.
How to Improve Inventory Management (Salon Iris) Skills
Use par levels and auto-reorder: Set minimums by product; let the system prompt orders before you run short.
Audit routinely: Monthly cycle counts catch shrink, mis-scans, and misplacements.
Analyze turns: Identify fast movers, slow movers, and seasonals; trim poor performers.
Tighten usage at stations: Track backbar consumption; standardize dispensing to reduce waste.
Streamline suppliers: Consolidate orders for better pricing and predictable lead times; record terms and histories.
Train checkout accuracy: Ensure every retail item and service add-on gets scanned properly.
How to Display Inventory Management (Salon Iris) Skills on Your Resume
4. Customer Service
Customer service is every touchpoint: booking, greeting, consultation, delivery, checkout, and follow-up. It’s the heartbeat of retention.
Why It's Important
Happy clients rebook, spend more, and tell friends. Reputation grows one experience at a time.
How to Improve Customer Service Skills
Frictionless booking: Simple online scheduling, easy reschedules, transparent pricing and timing.
Personalize: Keep notes on preferences, sensitivities, and style goals; revisit them each visit.
Consult with intent: Clarify desired outcomes, budget, and maintenance; set honest expectations.
Communicate proactively: Confirm appointments, alert on delays, and send aftercare guidance.
Invite feedback: Quick surveys and in-person check-ins; fix issues fast with service recovery steps.
Comfort matters: Clean, well-lit space; beverages, charging stations, and music at a reasonable volume.
Reward loyalty: Points, tiers, or perks for rebooking and referrals.
Protect wait times: Keep clients informed, offer alternatives, and honor the clock.
How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume
5. Sales Expertise
Sales expertise blends product knowledge, timing, and trust. It’s about recommending the right service or retail, not pushing the wrong one.
Why It's Important
Better consultations, higher tickets, and stronger retention—sales done right is service, not pressure.
How to Improve Sales Expertise Skills
Know your menu cold: Ingredients, performance, time, cost, and who benefits most.
Consultative selling: Ask, listen, recommend. Tie suggestions to client goals and lifestyle.
Bundle smartly: Offer add-ons and packages that genuinely enhance results.
Merchandise with intention: Clean displays, testers where appropriate, and clear benefits on shelf-talkers.
Set targets and track: Rebooking rate, retail per client, average ticket, service add-on rate; review weekly.
Roleplay and refresh: Short, regular team practice beats occasional marathon sessions.
How to Display Sales Expertise Skills on Your Resume
6. Marketing (Hootsuite)
Marketing with Hootsuite means planning, scheduling, and analyzing social content that shows your work and attracts the right clients.
Why It's Important
Consistent social presence builds awareness, fills the calendar, and keeps your brand top-of-mind in a visual industry.
How to Improve Marketing (Hootsuite) Skills
Define your audience: Students, professionals, bridal, textured hair—dial in the persona and speak to it.
Lead with visuals: High-quality before/afters, short reels, and authentic stylist spotlights; simple edits via tools like Canva.
Run a content calendar: Mix education, promos, testimonials, and behind-the-scenes; schedule at peak times.
Engage daily: Reply to comments, ask questions, and repost user-generated content.
Promotions with purpose: Limited-time offers tied to slow periods; track results and refine.
Measure what matters: Reach, saves, clicks, and bookings attributed to social; double down on what performs.
Use relevant hashtags and geotags: Help locals find you and showcase neighborhood credibility.
How to Display Marketing (Hootsuite) Skills on Your Resume
7. Financial Reporting (QuickBooks)
Financial reporting in QuickBooks turns daily transactions into clean statements and dashboards—sales, costs, profit, and cash—so decisions aren’t guesswork.
Why It's Important
Accurate, timely numbers guide pricing, staffing, inventory, and marketing. Clarity in the books equals control of the business.
How to Improve Financial Reporting (QuickBooks) Skills
Customize your chart of accounts: Separate service categories, retail, backbar, tips, and discounts for real visibility.
Sync POS and bank feeds: Reduce manual entry and errors; reconcile weekly, not just month-end.
Use classes or locations: Track performance by service type, team, or site to pinpoint opportunities.
Memorize core reports: P&L by month, sales by service, retail margins, labor % to sales, and cash flow.
Budget and forecast: Compare actuals to plan; adjust staffing, promos, or pricing quickly.
Close with a checklist: Reconcile accounts, review anomalies, accrue major expenses, and lock the period.
Partner with a pro: Quarterly reviews with an accountant keep everything compliant and optimized.
How to Display Financial Reporting (QuickBooks) Skills on Your Resume
8. Staff Training
Staff training is the engine behind consistent service. Teach the “how,” the “why,” and the “what good looks like.”
Why It's Important
Great training lifts quality, safety, sales, and retention. It also gives your team a reason to stay.
How to Improve Staff Training Skills
Assess needs: Map current skills vs. service standards; target gaps with specific learning goals.
Blend methods: Hands-on demos, microlearning videos, and quick reference guides beat one-and-done sessions.
Leverage brand education: Use manufacturer classes to deepen product and technique mastery.
Create a playbook: SOPs for consultations, sanitation, add-ons, and checkout keep service consistent.
Mentor and shadow: Pair juniors with seniors; rotate skill focuses each month.
Measure and reward: Track rebooking, reviews, ticket size; recognize growth and certify milestones.
Keep records: Log sessions, competencies, and renewal dates for compliance and planning.
How to Display Staff Training Skills on Your Resume
9. Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution is spotting friction early, hearing both sides, and guiding people to a workable path forward—clients, staff, vendors alike.
Why It's Important
Calm, fair resolution protects culture and keeps service on track. It preserves relationships and your brand.
How to Improve Conflict Resolution Skills
Listen first: Let each party speak without interruption; recap to confirm understanding.
Use neutral language: “I” statements, facts over blame, and clear boundaries.
Seek common ground: Define the goal both sides can accept; brainstorm options together.
Agree on actions: Document who will do what by when; follow up to ensure closure.
Know when to escalate: Bring in a neutral lead or owner if bias or policy concerns arise.
Log incidents: Track patterns to adjust training, policies, or staffing.
How to Display Conflict Resolution Skills on Your Resume
10. Hygiene Standards
Hygiene standards cover cleaning, disinfection, and personal protection so clients and staff stay safe, day after day.
Why It's Important
Good hygiene prevents infections, meets regulations, and signals professionalism the moment someone walks in.
How to Improve Hygiene Standards Skills
Follow local/state rules: Align protocols with cosmetology board requirements and health codes.
Sterilize and disinfect: Use approved disinfectants on surfaces; sanitize and, when required, sterilize tools with proper equipment and dwell times.
PPE and hand hygiene: Provide gloves and masks when appropriate; enforce handwashing and sanitizer use.
Clean on a schedule: Checklists for stations, restrooms, reception, and high-touch points; log completion.
Single-use discipline: Dispose of items immediately; store clean and used tools separately.
Improve air quality: Increase fresh air where possible; consider HEPA filtration and safe chemical handling.
Train and review: Onboard thoroughly and refresh quarterly; audit compliance and correct quickly.
How to Display Hygiene Standards Skills on Your Resume
11. Trend Awareness
Trend awareness means tracking styles, techniques, and products that clients ask for next—not just what was hot last season.
Why It's Important
Staying current keeps your menu relevant, your staff excited, and your pipeline full.
How to Improve Trend Awareness Skills
Watch the platforms clients watch: Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for real-world inspiration and technique breakdowns.
Attend education: Trade shows, brand academies, and workshops to test tools and refine methods.
Read and share: Trade publications and stylist group chats; discuss what to adopt or skip.
Mine your data: Spot rising services, color palettes, and seasonal spikes in your own bookings.
Pilot, then scale: Trial new services as limited-time offers; price for time, product, and expertise before a full rollout.
How to Display Trend Awareness Skills on Your Resume
12. CRM Software (Zenoti)
CRM software like Zenoti ties together bookings, client history, marketing, loyalty, and reporting so you can personalize at scale.
Why It's Important
One source of truth for clients and operations means smoother days, smarter decisions, and better retention.
How to Improve CRM Software (Zenoti) Skills
Streamline booking: Add website and social widgets; enable deposits, reminders, and easy reschedules.
Enrich client profiles: Notes, formulas, photos, and tags for segmentation and service consistency.
Automate marketing: Targeted email/SMS based on visit cadence, preferences, and spend.
Drive rebooking and loyalty: Automated prompts, referral rewards, and tiered perks.
Manage on the go: Use mobile features for schedules, approvals, and alerts.
Track the right KPIs: Retention, rebook rate, average ticket, retail attach, and client lifetime value.
Connect inventory and forms: Sync backbar usage, retail sales, and digital waivers for clean records.
Coach with data: Use dashboards to recognize wins and target training where needed.
How to Display CRM Software (Zenoti) Skills on Your Resume
