Home salon - Too many competitors? Should I?

[Miss Sylk]

10 competetors within 3 mile radius seems a hell of a lot to me.
I am starting a business from home, wonder if it was such a good idea now. They are mainly all in hairdressers, so they already have the clientelle. :-( its guna be soooooooooo hard getting them in. The salon down the road is really smart, amazing in fact, but the service isnt very good, they spend a lot on promotion and events, how am i going to compete? i wont have overheads (much) i will be doing it mostly part time and my partner will have a good wage very soon, but i actually want to make a profit.

Ive spent about £600 now and am at the stage of thinking should i???before i spend more time, stress and money.

I know though, if i dont, i will always wonder....

Any advice from home salon owners, or a kick up the backside would be helpfull.

 

[xxclairexx]

Hi, I started at home in January (just nails & tanning since May) and now have more work than I ever expected, I did the leaflet drops and have a web site and did a little local paper advertising, I don't expect to be busy every week but having said that I have been chocca for several weeks now. I have plenty of competiton but there are always people looking to try somewhere new or who have never been anywhere before any way so you have lots of opportunity, it comes to a time when word of mouth is the best form of advertising and a few happy clients can multiply over night. Any ways thats my tupence worth. If you never try it you will never know just don't expect it all to happen over night you need time to build on it. hope this helps, Claire x

 

[Lady_Nightshade]

A lot of people like the privacy of a home salon rather than going to a busy main street one. Also you can give them a lot more one on one attention.
Dont let other competition get you down hun, you say they look good but dont give great service, well theres your opening... give a better service and people will come to you.
:hug:
Best of luck to you.

 

[Susie H]

A lot of people like the privacy of a home salon rather than going to a busy main street one. Also you can give them a lot more one on one attention.
Dont let other competition get you down hun, you say they look good but dont give great service, well theres your opening... give a better service and people will come to you.
:hug:
Best of luck to you.

Nightshade has put it perfectly.
Leaflet drop, have a smart web site and don't under price your self.
One, it attracts the client who only wants cheep.
Two that type of client is gone the moment the next cheep deal appears and
Three good clients will dismiss you as 'no good'
Be the best at what you do and you will soon be turning them away because your book is full:hug:

 

[Carole.B]

Hi, i am just about to open my home salon i live in a village with a small market town a mile away. There are seven beauty salons not including hairdressers all offering nails but its something i'm passionate about so hoping people will give me a try. I did mobile for awhile and really got stressed out lugging all my equipment so life has to be easier, plus if your doing it from home you haven't got all the overheads.
Give it ago and than you can say at least you tryed. Good luck..xx

 

[Miss Sylk]

About the "undercutting" well i am slightly cheaper for example £1-2 on a full leg wax than my competetors, in general i am slightly cheaper, was i wrong to do this? The reason i did it wasnt too attract people with cheaper prices, it was because my overheads are so low i can afford to pass that on to the clients, i still have time to re-adjust my prices...

any ideas there? perhaps il start a whole new thread on that one lol

Thanks guys. xx

 

[Susie H]

About the "undercutting" well i am slightly cheaper for example £1-2 on a full leg wax than my competetors, in general i am slightly cheaper, was i wrong to do this? The reason i did it wasnt too attract people with cheaper prices, it was because my overheads are so low i can afford to pass that on to the clients, i still have time to re-adjust my prices...

any ideas there? perhaps il start a whole new thread on that one lol

Thanks guys. xx

No hun, slightly less because your over heads are less is reasonable to do.
I've done the same, I'm about the same as Angel fingers, my nearest competitor :lol: but I'm less then the beauty salon in town, I don't have to pay Northampton councils ott rent
What I meant was the misguided fools who charge half of everyone else forgetting, or not realizing that they need to be paying themselves a wage for what they do.
They get every cheep skate in the area and these are the ones who moan the worst too.

 

[Carole.B]

I wouldn't lower my prices, its really hard to put them up again. You could do some promotions. Plenty of ideas if you look in search..xx

 

[beautiful babe]

Don't drop out go for it, one thing i have learn since doin this (which isn't that long) is people are always looking for beauty therapists, and believe or not they like home salons as many people find beauty salons vey daunting and overpowering, i have decided to go for a homesalon in my garden which is due to be finished soon and i can't wait, also about the pricing fair enough our overheads arn't much but we offer as a good a service as anyone else why shouldn't we charge salon prices?? if you are good people will be willing to pay :lol:

Well good luck with it and keep us posted on how it all goes
:hug:
good luck xxxx

 

[hannajadem]

I've recently opened a home salon, and am struggling to build up clientele, it's all about letting people know you are there. Don't worry about competition, someone will always want your services, whether it be because you charge a little less than the competition, or for the personal service, or for the flexibility that a salon can't give. Once you find that person, you'll find you get a lot of people through word of mouth.
I got my first client from leaving leaflets in a hairdressers (they don't do nails lol), and I've gained another two regulars from her.
Still slowly building it up, but I'm hoping that once my little boy goes to nursery I can put more hours into it, as I've turned a few people down who want appointments in the daytime, which I don't really do at the mo.
hth

 

[abeautifulu]

Wow that's all brilliant advice so I don't really need to say much more apart to give you encouragement and say GO FOR IT!! It's the best thing I ever did and would do it again and again!

Look to offer that something different, something new, even something small just to catch attention! I started to offer online booking from a company called Appointment-Diary.com - Online Appointment Diary and Scheduling Software and it's been amazing how many new clients register through my website!

I have current clients that book more regular now too as they can do it themselves at their own leisure, it was like offering a new treatment but not!! :lol: If you want a website they even sort that for you too and it's only a £10 a month, check out my site if you like?

Good luck hun xx :hug:

 

[Miss Sylk]

Whats your website abeautifulu?

Thanks to everyone who replied there appreciate it.

Another thing is though, that i cant use most the hairdressers as they already have either nails or beauty and i am also offering wedding hair styling so they wouldnt want me to advertise with them :-( i know i would get a fair few clients that way too.

Guess its florists and gym's?! any more ideas as ive lost the chance of the major one.

Hanajadem - Exactly one of the reasons i was going to wait till my boy turns 3 in feb, but im too impatient o it will be hard work till then! Cant wait for free childcare @ nursary! xx


Thanks guys. x