Hot Topic

Front Desk Staff Constantly On Their Phone! HELP

The front desk is the med spa’s first impression, not a phone charging station with a pulse. As owners, if we let scrolling replace selling, we shouldn’t be surprised when our schedule starts to look like a before picture.

The real problem (and the punchline)

When the schedule is empty and the front desk is still glued to their phones, that’s not “downtime,” that’s a very expensive spectator sport. A front desk team on Instagram while your books are bare is like having a personal trainer who only works out their thumbs. The job in a med spa is not to exist near a phone; it’s to protect the brand, fill the schedule, and make every guest feel like they just walked into a five‑star hotel.

Family, phones, and “free” labor

There’s a special place in business-owner purgatory for “all my front desk staff are family members.” You can’t run a high-performing med spa on Thanksgiving-dinner rules. Family or not, the minute someone sits at that desk, they are representing your license, your reputation, and your revenue. If they want “family treatment,” great, treat them like the cousin who keeps borrowing money: clear boundaries, clear expectations, and consequences when they don’t deliver.

Scroll energy into revenue energy

If they love their phones so much, weaponize it. Turn that scroll addiction into: reactivation calls, membership outreach, review requests, DM follow-ups, and social content creation. “If you’re going to be on your phone, at least make it profitable” should be the unofficial med spa front desk motto. There is always something to do in a med spa: retention, lead follow-up, cross-promotion, inventory, and tightening up systems.

Policy, consequences, comedy

At some point, “many repeated discussions” turns into “I’m training you to ignore me.” Front desk needs a written phone policy, a task list for slow times, and a very un-funny reality: if you choose TikTok over tasks, you also choose fewer hours and a lighter paycheck. As an owner, the most loving and professional thing to do yes, even with family is to protect the business first. Your med spa is not a co-working space for people and their notifications; it’s a performance stage, and everyone at the front is either filling seats or clearing the room.

Read the community comments for this post here https://www.facebook.com/groups/medicalspaowner/posts/924068929819674/