Am I supposed to drop my prices?

[ChelleConnor]

Hi Geeks,

Im sure your all facing the same problem of people undercutting you and offering crazy prices for beauty services! Your probably all sick of hearing about it!
There are many many young girls who have started offering Gelish in my area (im talking two new people every month at least) and are only charging £15 - £18, this price includes glitters, accent fingers, nail art, diamonds. All sorts. Not only that but their work is fairly good and they are getting the customers in.
I charge £20 for a plain colour, £22 for accent fingers and £25 for glitter or french. I would say my work is very good, my Gelish lasts and my clients nails always look in good shape. I however am not getting the customers in.
I dont really advertise a whole lot, I only use facebook and twitter and word of mouth. At the moment I only have 5 regular customers. 1 is irregular, 2 only come every 3 weeks and the other I haven't heard from since Christmas as money is tight for her.
I work 9 - 5 in an office but I love doing my beauty on the side which is why this is so upsetting to me.
It now seems that the going rate for private Gelish is £15, which now makes me feel I need to drop my prices in order to keep up or just give it all up entirely.
I charge £15 for a spray tan which takes about 20 minutes I just cant justify charging £15 for Gelish which takes 45 minutes! But I actually feel forced into dropping my prices.
I know the normal argument, the girls who charge less usually don't have high quality work but from what I can see their work looks good to me!
I really am stressing over this and just dont know what to do! Before it was fine as it was just a few girls but now it seems everyone is using Gelish, and no one is coming to me anymore, I perhaps wouldnt mind as much if they were using different brands.

Help!

x

 

[exceptionail]

I don't think you should drop your prices as how low can you keep going. It's harder to bring them back up.

Maybe drum up some extra attention by offering incentives to entice them back in. Loyalty cards. Book a Spray tan & gelish together on Monday-Thursday and receive 20% off.
Maybe think of sending 20% off evoucher for customers bday.

I think it's better to do temp offers rather than slash prices. Or let the customer feel they are getting a special deal. The girls can't keep doing them at £15 a pop surely. They will either quit or bring up prices.

Maybe think of offering reduce rates for block bookings? I know all discounts are still reduced but you are protecting your price whilst looking after and securing regulars. Just try not to do too many offers at once. The customer needs to feel it's limited and they can't miss out.

Hope this helps

 

[DaintyDoll]

Hi Geeks,

Im sure your all facing the same problem of people undercutting you and offering crazy prices for beauty services! Your probably all sick of hearing about it!
There are many many young girls who have started offering Gelish in my area (im talking two new people every month at least) and are only charging £15 - £18, this price includes glitters, accent fingers, nail art, diamonds. All sorts. Not only that but their work is fairly good and they are getting the customers in.
I charge £20 for a plain colour, £22 for accent fingers and £25 for glitter or french. I would say my work is very good, my Gelish lasts and my clients nails always look in good shape. I however am not getting the customers in.
I dont really advertise a whole lot, I only use facebook and twitter and word of mouth. At the moment I only have 5 regular customers. 1 is irregular, 2 only come every 3 weeks and the other I haven't heard from since Christmas as money is tight for her.
I work 9 - 5 in an office but I love doing my beauty on the side which is why this is so upsetting to me.
It now seems that the going rate for private Gelish is £15, which now makes me feel I need to drop my prices in order to keep up or just give it all up entirely.
I charge £15 for a spray tan which takes about 20 minutes I just cant justify charging £15 for Gelish which takes 45 minutes! But I actually feel forced into dropping my prices.
I know the normal argument, the girls who charge less usually don't have high quality work but from what I can see their work looks good to me!
I really am stressing over this and just dont know what to do! Before it was fine as it was just a few girls but now it seems everyone is using Gelish, and no one is coming to me anymore, I perhaps wouldnt mind as much if they were using different brands.

Help!

x

I too work in an office and have my own beauty company on the side - i charge £15 for gelish and an extra £3 for any nail art required.
I also charge £15 for spray tans.
I feel that my work is very professional and the reason i do not charge as much is that my customers are not getting the full salon experience - they are in my living room or im in theirs (charge extra £5 for mileage).
I understand how hard it is with customers going else where for lower prices (i have people in my area charging £10 for gelish - mental) x

 

[ChelleConnor]

Thanks for both of your replies!
Yes I could do offers thats a good idea! I know this may sound bad but I already do offers for my regulars, such as £5 off your 5th manicure etc, if I do offers on facebook obviously I would have to do offers for them as well which means I would be making less. Especially if I dont get any new clients in for it!
I did a giveaway before Christmas, a free Gelish manicure, only 7 people got involved, the person that actually won has never booked in with me!

Dainty Doll can i ask how long you have been trained? How much did your trainer advise you charge?
I was advised to charge £25 which I just couldnt justify in my area? Its good to hear the other side. I want to ask some of the girls in my area why they charge such a small price for good work but I am worried about how I would come across! x

 

[411]

I too have a full time job and my home nail salon business in evenings and weekends.

All the salons around me charge less than me, but I refuse to drop my prices. I use quality products and I've had very good training. I will not compromise.

Like the other geeks said do offers from time to time. I didn't have more than 2 regulars for almost 8 months. Partly due to me having a fall at work and sciatica kicking in. I could do much,

Now I'm back on it with a passion, advertising on local selling pages, every day, gained 2 new clients!

Got my first design acrylic client, I should have charged for infill but I didn't simply because through her and her Facebook and friends I will generate further business. And the price I gave her I told her it's only for you, not for anyone else.

I know sometimes you feel like I charge more will I get clients or will they come back, but if they like your work the definetly will.

Advertise takes time, I'm on my phone all evening. Posting and interacting with people.

 

[exceptionail]

Maybe consider pamper parties too.
At least this way you can guarantee a minimum of say 4 people. Even if it's at a reduced cost or host is free it's less traveling plus you have them all there together. Plus it's fun too!

Recommend a friend discount is always a good one too. Or double the bookings. Buy one and friend goes half price. Stipulate they have to make the booking together.

 

[DaintyDoll]

Thanks for both of your replies!
Yes I could do offers thats a good idea! I know this may sound bad but I already do offers for my regulars, such as £5 off your 5th manicure etc, if I do offers on facebook obviously I would have to do offers for them as well which means I would be making less. Especially if I dont get any new clients in for it!
I did a giveaway before Christmas, a free Gelish manicure, only 7 people got involved, the person that actually won has never booked in with me!

Dainty Doll can i ask how long you have been trained? How much did your trainer advise you charge?
I was advised to charge £25 which I just couldnt justify in my area? Its good to hear the other side. I want to ask some of the girls in my area why they charge such a small price for good work but I am worried about how I would come across! x

I have been trained in Gelish for just over 3 months - still kind of a newbie but using my skills daily on customers and swatches.
I was advised by my trainer £20 but i decided to go lower since i am mobile and have a lot of cheap competition around me - refuse to go any lower than £15 though.
Feel free to check out my buisness page: www.facebook.com/DaintyDollAberdeen X

 

[maddynails]

Times are hard and people are looking for cheap, its soooo sad, what happened to 'people buy people'? I have the same problems, i want to give regulars special discounts but i find myself giving drop ins better prices just to get their bottoms in the chair! Keep on

 

[LolliDolli]

We charge £25 for gelish and don't have any problems. I think £15 is underselling yourselves (if your any good )


Laura xx

 

[Balance Andover]

Remember if it's a second job you NEED to take into account 25% of your earnings for income tax and nat insurance.

Also factor in product costs, insurance, sundries and time and then you'll see exactly what you are earning.....

 

[ChelleConnor]

Thanks girls! It's a real struggle! A catch 22 to either drop prices or offer discounts! But I literally feel like if I don't get clients in soon then there is no point in continuing to offer these services. I buy colours which I think clients would like which is pointless if I'm not getting clients in the first place!

Balance Andover! I understand exactly what your saying & I do everything by the book, this is why I don't know if it would even be worth it if I dropped my prices. I just don't know how people can charge so little!

 

[Balance Andover]

Thanks girls! It's a real struggle! A catch 22 to either drop prices or offer discounts! But I literally feel like if I don't get clients in soon then there is no point in continuing to offer these services. I buy colours which I think clients would like which is pointless if I'm not getting clients in the first place!

Balance Andover! I understand exactly what your saying & I do everything by the book, this is why I don't know if it would even be worth it if I dropped my prices. I just don't know how people can charge so little!

So perhaps some of your competitors are not doing everything by the book! this means they have to limit themselves as far as marketing goes as they have to stay under the radar.

But, you can market yourself far and wide and not have to worry if that next client is someone from the Inland Revenue

You have your day job to support you financially which means you can be more selective about what you do. There are people that will pay £25 for a gel polish manicure. That's what I charge and I'm a full time home based therapist and I've got the £10.00 prices all around me.

 

[Steph86]

In my honest opinion Facebook & twitter although useful, don't really hit your target market.

My target market are ladies with disposable income, not really those who are always on social media.

Business ladies who need/want evening appointments during the week when salons aren't open. Id say my client base is mainly 35 & older.

I am on Bio sculptures recommended salons list which is where most of my new clients come from. I also come up on google for other treatments such as tanning, due to being on google places.

Hope that helps a little. Xx

 

[sonia@ashdene]

Hi chelle - what can you add for little or no outlay?? If you drop your rates it's hard to get them back.

I'm in the same boat - started trading last year in June but still working my other job as some weeks are busier than others / you aren't alone even tho it feels like it some days - I dropped 500 leaflets out today and have 2000 more to get out if the rain holds off!!! Lucky for me I have 2 completely free days :-(((((


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EmmaLF]

My boss has just decided to drop our CND shellac prices to €15 permanently as every other salon in the area is only charging this. Makes me feel a bit crappy. I didn't mind when we had it at €15 as an offer but I feel like it's making my work seem less good because of the low price. Then on the other hand I suppose I'd rather have clients at €15 than charge €20/25 and have none!

 

[ChelleConnor]

I trained in acrylic last year to try and boost my client range but I didn't like it too much.
I am now thinking about training in brisa hard gel to be able to give clients with paper thin nails the chance to grow with some support!
I used to be able to market on using the worlds number 1 gel polish but now everyone uses it it's pointless! X

 

[Sarah-j-g]

Try loyalty cards or introduce a friend don't drop prices as it's easy to drop but hard to put bk on plus then you don't have any leeway for special offers also try groupon or itison to bring in new clients as you only have to do it once also try a little flyer drop xx