A hairstyle, a simple haircut, a treatment, highlights, dye…. how much do they cost separately and together in your salon?
One of the biggest mistakes everyone makes in pricing is to charge based on what they see their competitors charging. Specifically, you look at what others are charging, take an average and come up with a price… somewhere in there. But basing your price on what others charge is a basic mistake, since you don’t know the costs, whether they are VAT included or not, the area of the salon and most importantly the time it takes to do a service.
As salon owners, you need full control of your income, expenses, to be able to objectively set your price lists correctly and thus make every service profitable.
The two main things to keep in mind when setting your prices are the balancing costs, i.e. the cost of being able to trade, and of course your revenue targets.
Once you have set your goals, you can reverse them to find out what profit you need to make, how much money you need to put per week and per employee in your till and based on this pricing you can set the price of each service, per hour.
This way you will not only achieve the goals you set for your revenue, but also your final profits.
When it comes to selling a product, it is common practice to know the cost of buying that product and certainly to sell it to customers at a profitable price.
It is known that, as the cost of the product increases, the price you sell it for will increase, if you don’t, your profits will decrease. The same applies to your services, however many people, depending on their region, find it difficult to charge what they need in this area of their billing.
Quality is expensive to buy
Meaning, it’s not always about giving something at an extremely low price to be bought.
In fact, in some cases if you have a price low enough, it can be misunderstood as to the quality of what you are offering. We see this to be true, since many clients like to “travel” from their local area to a more “in” area to get their hair done at “top salons”.
Some customers pay a premium and want to pay what it takes for a high level of service, enjoying spending to pamper themselves.
In some cases, the higher the price, the more attractive it is to the customer, as they believe they are buying the best.
Pricing and whether your price list will seem expensive or cheap to some people is a subjective opinion and is related to the financial situation of each individual. So if you want your salon to have “high quality” clients you have to learn to attract this demographic as well. If you rely on lower prices or discounts, you attract discount hunters looking for lower prices.
If customers can see the value in what they get, they will definitely pay more. When you demonstrate confidence in the services you provide, the talent you have and of course your team, your clients really do take advantage of it!!
The key is, to make the client’s simple visit to your salon a nice and special experience, so that even if you price your service higher, the client feels good about paying you.
People remember how you make them feel above all else… and not the cost of it!!!
In conclusion… find out your goals, consider your costs and then set your price, with the aim of profit of course!
Don’t forget that costs increase every year, so your prices need to follow suit.
Value in local salons
For better or worse, many young talents prefer to train in salons that may have a name and are certainly in a particular area. But although this is a belief, it is not objectively correct, since the level of hairdressing has nothing to do with aristocratic or non-aristocratic municipalities and counties. This view exists and has created false norms regarding the values of local salons and services.
