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Salon Systems Builder – Setup Guide
The Biz Tool Boutique

Salon Systems Builder

Build any system your salon needs — with AI & Trello

Running your salon out of your head? It’s not your fault — but it’s costing you. Hook Claude up to your Trello and you can build any system your salon needs: hiring, apprentices, client experience, marketing, education — straight into Trello, while you sip your coffee. Already own Front Desk Manager? You’ll also see how to customise it to feel 100% yours. New here? Try a few prompts below to see what’s possible — then grab FDM as your easiest first system.
Get Set Up
Quick note: If you’ve already set up Claude and connected Trello (e.g. for Front Desk Manager), skip the next 3 steps and jump straight to The Prompt Library below.
Step 01

Download Claude for Desktop & open Cowork

Claude is a free AI tool. You’ll need the desktop app (not the browser version) because Cowork mode — where you connect Trello — is desktop-only.

  1. Download the Claude desktop app: claude.ai/download
  2. Open it and sign in (or create a free account).
  3. Look for Cowork in the sidebar and click into it — this is where you’ll be working.
Already have Claude? Just make sure you’re in Cowork mode before moving on.
Step 02

Get your Trello API Key & Token

This lets Claude connect directly to your Trello so it can build boards for you. Sounds technical — takes 2 minutes.

  1. Go to trello.com/power-ups/admin
  2. Click New to create a Power-Up. Give it any name (e.g. “Claude AI”), select your workspace, and click Create.
  3. Open the Power-Up you just created — you’ll see your API Key. Copy and save it somewhere safe.
  4. Click Token next to the API Key → click Allow → copy the long token that appears and save that too.
Keep these private. Your API Key and Token are like a password — don’t share them with anyone.
Step 03

Connect Trello inside Claude Cowork

Easier than it sounds — you don’t need to install anything. Cowork connects itself when you hand over your API Key and Token.

  1. Open a new chat in Claude Cowork.
  2. Type: “Please connect to my Trello account. Here’s my API Key: [paste your API Key from Step 02] and my Token: [paste your Token from Step 02].”
  3. Cowork will use those to connect to Trello directly. It’ll confirm when it’s done.
  4. That’s it — you’re ready to build!
⚠ Important — keep using the same chat! The Trello connection lives inside this specific chat. Every time you want to build a new board, come back to this same chat and paste your next prompt here. If you start a fresh chat, Cowork won’t be connected to Trello anymore and you’ll have to paste your API Key and Token in again. Save yourself the hassle — bookmark or pin this chat.
Tip: If anything goes wrong at any step, just ask Cowork. Tell it what’s happening and it’ll walk you through fixing it. Cowork is your built-in support.
The Prompt Library
These are example prompts — ideas to spark systems for your salon. You don’t need them all. Use one, mash two together, or read them and think “actually, I need a system for [X].” That’s the whole point: get your brain firing on what your salon could systemise.

How each prompt works

  1. 1. Open the SAME Cowork chat where you connected Trello in Step 03. Always use this same chat — new chats won’t be connected to Trello.
  2. 2. Copy a prompt below and paste it into that chat.
  3. 3. Answer the questions Cowork asks you, one at a time.
  4. 4. Cowork builds the board directly in your Trello account.
  5. 5. Ask Cowork for changes — add cards, rewrite, restructure — until it’s right.
  6. 6. Hop into Trello to add your final touches: colours, labels, photos, team members, attachments.
Featured · For Front Desk Manager Owners

Customise Your Front Desk Manager Board

The best thing about this one? You just paste the prompt and answer Cowork’s questions — it builds out your entire board as you go. No writing, no overthinking, no staring at a blank screen. Allow about 45 minutes to an hour from start to finish.

Hi Claude! I’m working with you inside Cowork and you’re connected to my Trello. I’ve purchased the Front Desk Manager template from The Biz Tool Boutique and I need your help customising it for my salon. My Front Desk Manager board already exists in my Trello. Your job today is to be my onboarding assistant — ask me questions one at a time, then update the cards directly on my Front Desk Manager Trello board so they’re fully customised to my salon. Please follow these steps in order: ================================= STEP 1 — GET TO KNOW MY SALON ================================= Ask me one at a time: 1. What’s the name of my salon, and where are we located? 2. How many staff do I currently have (or will be using this board)? 3. What booking system do I use? (e.g. Timely, Fresha, Kitomba, Phorest, or something else) 4. Is there anything I want my front desk to do or say differently — anything non-negotiable for me? ================================= STEP 2 — COLLECT MY DOCS & POLICIES ================================= Say to me: “Now I’d love to learn how your salon actually runs so I can make this board feel like YOU. Please share any of the following — don’t stress if it’s not all written up, just tell me what you know:” Then ask for any of: - Employee handbook or staff policies - Opening & closing checklists - Cleaning / hygiene checklists - How I like phone calls & enquiries handled - Cancellation & no-show policy - Service menu - Onboarding notes for new staff - Anything else I want built into the board Wait for everything, then ask: “Anything else before we start building?” ================================= STEP 3 — UPDATE THE BOARD IN TRELLO ================================= Using everything I’ve shared, go through each section of my Front Desk Manager Trello board and update the cards directly with fully customised content. For each section: - Warm, practical tone — like a real salon owner wrote it, not a corporate manual - Use my salon name, booking system, and specific policies throughout - Clear and easy for front desk staff to follow - Flag any gaps where I gave limited info Update each section in Trello, then ask: “Happy with this section, or want me to adjust anything?” before moving on. ================================= STEP 4 — FINAL CHECKS ================================= Once all sections are done: 1. Give me a clean summary of what we’ve customised 2. Ask if there’s anything I want refined, rewritten, or added 3. Remind me to jump into Trello to add my final touches — colours, labels, team member assignments, photos, attachments ================================= Let’s go! Start with Step 1, Question 1.
✓ Copied! Paste it into Cowork.
Don’t own Front Desk Manager yet? Skip this one and browse the example prompts below — then check out the FDM pitch at the bottom of the page.
Build From Scratch — Example Prompts

Each of the prompts below builds a brand-new system board from scratch — directly in your Trello. Use them as starting points, edit them, or let them spark your own.

Team & Leadership

Salon Team Structure & Career Pathways — Roles, Responsibilities & KPIs

Clear roles. Real KPIs. Career pathways. Stop being the only one who knows what everyone should be doing — and finally delegate. Finally.

Hi Claude! I’m working with you in Cowork and you’re connected to my Trello. I want you to build a new Trello board called “Salon Team Structure & Career Pathways” directly in my Trello account. The objective: give me clear, strong role definitions for every position in my salon, with KPIs they actually own, so I can delegate confidently and stop being the one doing everything. I also want a visible career pathway so my team can see where they can grow. Before you create anything, ask me one question at a time: 1. What’s the name of my salon and how big is my team? 2. What roles do I currently have, and which ones am I planning to add? 3. What does career growth look like in my salon — what can someone progress towards? 4. Are there any responsibilities that always seem to fall through the cracks (or that I’m still doing myself)? Then create the board in my Trello with these lists: - Leadership - Senior Stylists - Stylists - Apprentices - Front Desk - Shared Responsibilities - Career Pathways (what each role can grow into) For every role, create a card with: role title, daily responsibilities, weekly responsibilities, KPIs they own, who they report to, who reports to them, what success looks like, and what they can progress into next. Tone: warm, salon-owner-to-salon-owner. Not corporate HR. Make this feel like a roadmap that makes everyone want to grow. Once the board is built, ask me: “Want me to adjust anything — add cards, rewrite, restructure?” Keep iterating with me. When we’re done, remind me to jump into Trello for final touches — colours, labels, photos, team assignments. Let’s start with Question 1.
✓ Copied! Paste it into Cowork.
Team & Leadership

Hiring & Onboarding Pipeline

A hiring & onboarding system anyone can run. Get new team members making money fast — without ever dropping your standards. No more bad hires. No more guesswork.

Hi Claude! I’m working with you in Cowork and you’re connected to my Trello. I want you to build a new Trello board called “Hiring & Onboarding” directly in my Trello account. The objective: get new team members up and running and making money while upholding my salon’s standards. AND give whoever does my hiring (now or in the future) a clear playbook for selecting the right people, running great interviews, hiring with confidence, and onboarding properly. Before you create anything, ask me one question at a time: 1. What roles do I usually hire for? 2. What’s my interview style and what’s non-negotiable in a hire? 3. How long is my onboarding before someone is fully on the floor and making money? 4. Have I had a hire go wrong before, and what did I miss? Then create the board in my Trello with these lists: 1. Role Open & Job Ad 2. Application & Screening 3. Interview & Trial 4. Decision & Offer 5. Pre-Start Paperwork 6. Week 1 Onboarding 7. 30-Day Check-In 8. 60-Day Productivity Review 9. 90-Day Standards Review 10. Fully Onboarded Each card should be a step with a checklist of exactly what needs to happen, plus template messages or scripts where useful — job ad template, screening questions, interview scorecard, friendly rejection email, Day 1 welcome message, 30/60/90-day review templates. Tone: like a salon owner who’s been burned by bad hires before and knows the value of doing it properly. Once the board is built, ask me: “Want me to add, rewrite, or restructure anything?” Keep tweaking with me until it’s right. When we’re done, remind me to jump into Trello for final touches — colours, labels, attachments, automations. Let’s start with Question 1.
✓ Copied! Paste it into Cowork.
Team & Leadership

Apprentice Journey — Day 1 to Qualified

Apprentices that earn their own wages back. Turn nervous Day 1 juniors into valuable stylist-supporters — with a system you can hand off so YOU stop personally managing every apprentice. Your time. Back.

Hi Claude! I’m working with you in Cowork and you’re connected to my Trello. I want you to build a new Trello board called “Apprentice Journey” directly in my Trello account. The objective: build a system that takes apprentices from nervous Day 1 to valuable stylist-supporters who earn enough to cover their own wages — AND a system I can hand off to a senior team member or educator to run, so I’m not personally managing every apprentice. Before you create anything, ask me one question at a time: 1. How long is the apprenticeship in my country / state? 2. What qualifications are they working towards? 3. What skills do they need to master, and in what order (especially the ones that make them genuinely useful and revenue-earning quickly)? 4. Who do I want to hand the management of this over to — a senior stylist, an educator, a mentor? Then create the board in my Trello with these stages as lists: - Month 1–3 (Foundations & Salon Floor) - Month 4–6 (Skill Building & Stylist Support) - Month 7–12 (Service Confidence & Revenue Contribution) - Year 2 (Solo Work) - Pre-Qualification - Graduated — Welcome Stylist! - Manager Handover (clear instructions for whoever runs this) Each card should be a milestone, skill, or check-in. Include the big revenue-affecting ones — first shampoo solo, first colour assist, first solo client haircut, first paid service. Add space for senior sign-off and notes. Build in regular checkpoints for the apprentice manager to review with them. Tone: like a mentor, not a manager. Encouraging, clear, and proud. A journey worth celebrating. Once the board is built, ask me: “Want me to add milestones, restructure, or change anything?” Keep iterating with me. When we’re done, remind me to hop into Trello for final touches — photos, colour labels, member assignments to whoever’s managing the apprentice. Let’s start with Question 1.
✓ Copied! Paste it into Cowork.
Client Experience

The Client Experience Map

Every client. Every team member. Same beautiful experience. Hand it to a marketer, use it for onboarding, protect your brand. The “wow” isn’t an accident anymore.

Hi Claude! I’m working with you in Cowork and you’re connected to my Trello. I want you to build a new Trello board called “Client Experience” directly in my Trello account. The objective: capture every single touchpoint a client has with my salon so the experience is consistent every time, regardless of which team member they see. I want to use this board for marketing handover, new staff onboarding, and to make sure my team always knows what good looks like with clients. Before you create anything, ask me one question at a time: 1. How do clients usually find me — social, word of mouth, walk-ins? 2. What booking system do I use, and what happens between booking and arrival? 3. What does my consultation look like, and what’s my non-negotiable for how my team treats clients? 4. What’s the moment in a client’s visit I’m most proud of? What feels the weakest? Then create the board in my Trello with these lists: 1. Discovery (where clients first find us) 2. Booking 3. Pre-Appointment 4. Arrival & Welcome 5. The Service 6. Post-Service 7. Becoming a Regular 8. Standards (the non-negotiables across every touchpoint) Each card should describe what happens at that touchpoint, who does it, the standard expected, and any scripts or message templates I can use — confirmation message, post-service thank-you, rebooking nudge, referral ask, how my team should greet, how they should consult. Tone: premium and personal, like the kind of salon that gets remembered. Warm, intentional luxury. Once the board is built, ask me: “Want me to rewrite any touchpoints, add standards, or add scripts?” Keep iterating with me. When we’re done, remind me to jump into Trello for final touches — colours, labels, member assignments, attachments. Let’s start with Question 1.
✓ Copied! Paste it into Cowork.
Growth

Salon Marketing Engine

Get your marketing OUT of your head. A complete content + promo system you can hand to a content creator or digital marketer. Stop being the bottleneck of your own brand.

Hi Claude! I’m working with you in Cowork and you’re connected to my Trello. I want you to build a new Trello board called “Salon Marketing Engine” directly in my Trello account. The objective: simplify my marketing into a complete, repeatable system I can hand off to a content creator or digital marketer. Stop having marketing live in my head — get it into a system anyone can run. Before you create anything, ask me one question at a time: 1. Which social platforms do I use, and how often do I post? 2. Besides services, what do I sell — retail, courses, gift cards? 3. When are my busy and quiet seasons? 4. What kind of content do I love making? What do I avoid (so a content creator can take it over)? Then create the board in my Trello with these lists: - Brand Voice & Pillars (so a marketer knows how to sound like me) - Weekly Content Plan - Monthly Promotions - Seasonal Campaigns - Captions Library - Hashtag Sets - Idea Bank - Marketing SOP (handover guide for whoever takes this over) Fill each list with at least 5 practical examples I can adapt — not generic templates. Include caption hooks, promotion themes, content prompts that can be shot in 10 minutes, and seasonal hooks tailored to a salon. The Marketing SOP list should have clear instructions for someone running this on my behalf. Tone: fun, on-brand, a little bit cheeky. Not corporate marketing speak. Once the board is built, ask me: “Want me to add more captions, swap themes, or restructure anything?” Keep iterating with me. When we’re done, remind me to hop into Trello for final touches — colours, labels, due dates, attachments, member assignments. Let’s start with Question 1.
✓ Copied! Paste it into Cowork.
Team & Leadership

Team Education & Career Pathways

Performance-based tiers. Education calendar. Built-in growth. Your team knows exactly what they need to deliver to level up and earn more — no more awkward “why am I not getting a raise?” conversations.

Hi Claude! I’m working with you in Cowork and you’re connected to my Trello. I want you to build a new Trello board called “Team Education & Career Pathways” directly in my Trello account. The objective: a clear education calendar for my whole team for the next 12 months, plus performance-based career tiers so each team member knows exactly what outcomes they need to hit to move up to the next level and earn more. Before you create anything, ask me one question at a time: 1. Who’s on my team and what tier/level is each of them at right now? 2. What does career progression look like in my salon — what are the tiers (e.g. Apprentice → Junior → Senior → Lead → Educator)? 3. What outcomes/KPIs need to be hit to move up a tier (column $, retention %, retail %, productivity, etc.)? 4. What courses, training, or education have I already invested in or want to roll out in the next 12 months? Then create the board in my Trello with these lists: - Education Calendar (next 12 months, month by month) - Career Tiers & Outcomes (each tier with clear criteria to reach it) - Skills Library (every service we offer) - In Progress (who’s training in what right now) - Recently Mastered - Internal Training (run by me or seniors) - External Training & Courses - Goals by Team Member For the Education Calendar, lay out each month with the training focus for that month. For Career Tiers, create one card per tier with the KPIs and standards needed to reach it. For each team member, create a personal card with their current tier, next tier goal, and a checklist of what they need to tick off to get there. Tone: motivating and visual. Make it feel like a growth chart, not a to-do list. Once the board is built, ask me: “Want me to add tiers, restructure, or change any criteria?” Keep iterating with me. When we’re done, remind me to hop into Trello for final touches — member assignments, due dates, photos, colour labels. Let’s start with Question 1.
✓ Copied! Paste it into Cowork.
Want a system that’s not on this list? Make one up. The prompts above are starting points — you can tweak them, mash them together, or invent your own. Try: “Hi Claude, I’m in Cowork with Trello connected. Build me a board called [name] that does [thing]. Ask me questions one at a time, then build it directly in my Trello, then ask if I want any changes.”
Haven’t Grabbed Front Desk Manager Yet?

Here’s why FDM is the easiest place to start

No stress — every prompt above works without it. But here’s the thing: Front Desk Manager hands you a complete, ready-to-customise system on day one. You see exactly how a great Trello system is structured, what makes it actually work in a real salon, and the kind of detail that takes a board from “nice idea” to “runs my business while I’m at the beach.”

Once you’ve seen one done properly, every other prompt in this library makes more sense. You’ll know what good looks like — and you’ll build better systems from scratch because of it.

Check out Front Desk Manager →
Troubleshooting

If something’s not working

Golden rule: ask Cowork. Whatever the issue is — can’t connect, weird error message, Claude isn’t doing what you expect — tell Cowork what you’re seeing and it’ll help you troubleshoot in plain English. That’s genuinely the fastest way through.

A few quick things to check first:

“Cowork says it’s not connected to Trello — but I already connected it!”

  • You’re probably in a new chat. The Trello connection lives inside the specific chat where you first pasted your API Key and Token.
  • Go back to that original chat and paste your prompt there instead.
  • If you’ve lost the original chat, just start fresh and re-paste your API Key and Token at the top.

“I can’t find Cowork in Claude.”

  • Make sure you’re using the desktop app, not the browser version — Cowork is desktop-only.
  • Try signing out and back in, or restart the app.

“Cowork says my API Key or Token is invalid.”

  • Go back to trello.com/power-ups/admin and open your Power-Up.
  • Make sure you copied the API Key (shorter string near the top) — not the Power-Up ID.
  • Click Token again, click Allow, and copy the long token from the page that appears.
  • Paste both freshly with no extra spaces.

“Connected but Cowork can’t see my boards.”

  • Make sure you used the same Trello account for both the Power-Up and your boards.
  • Tell Cowork: “Please list my Trello boards” to confirm the connection.

“Connected but it won’t create or update the board.”

  • Be explicit: “Please create this board directly in my Trello account now.”
  • Cowork may ask you to confirm before making changes — just say yes.

When all else fails — the no-connection fallback.

  • You don’t actually need Trello connected for these prompts to work.
  • Run any prompt anyway — Cowork will generate the full board content in chat.
  • You then copy-paste it into a new Trello board by hand. Slower, but works every time.
Still stuck? Head to support.anthropic.com or ask inside Cowork — that’s the fastest way to sort any technical issue with Claude.

Salon Systems Builder is a product of The Biz Tool Boutique