Can You Believe This

[xtremities]

I was so shocked yesterday. I phoned a client who I hadn't heard from in a while.

Asked her if she still wanted her nails done. She said she had found someone much cheaper. I presumed it may be a NSS salon, but to my surprise she said "it is an english girl who has done a course like you" and since her kids have gone back to school works from home.

I was so offended. I told her that I hadn't just done a one day course, in fact I had 6 years experience, was a Creative Nail Technician and also NVQ qualified and kept up with training, education etc.

Do you know what she said to me. "Well you are both good nail technicians and as she uses the same products as you, decided to go for the cheaper option.

Apparently this other tech charges £25.00 for full set and £12.00 for infills.

I then told her that I couldn't possibly do them for that price, I would be selling myself short and working for peanuts. What a cheek. I told her to go the cheaper one and ALL THE BEST. Can you imagine how angry I was.

Aaaaaaaah.

Sam
Nothing But Nails

 

[Fab Freak]

I was so shocked yesterday. I phoned a client who I hadn't heard from in a while.

Asked her if she still wanted her nails done. She said she had found someone much cheaper. I presumed it may be a NSS salon, but to my surprise she said "it is an english girl who has done a course like you" and since her kids have gone back to school works from home.

I was so offended. I told her that I hadn't just done a one day course, in fact I had 6 years experience, was a Creative Nail Technician and also NVQ qualified and kept up with training, education etc.

Do you know what she said to me. "Well you are both good nail technicians and as she uses the same products as you, decided to go for the cheaper option.

Apparently this other tech charges £25.00 for full set and £12.00 for infills.

I then told her that I couldn't possibly do them for that price, I would be selling myself short and working for peanuts. What a cheek. I told her to go the cheaper one and ALL THE BEST. Can you imagine how angry I was.

Aaaaaaaah.

Sam
Nothing But Nails

Sorry to tell you this Sam but I do sets for £25 now I know is a different area....but I am new as in one year and I feel I can't charge more as yet.

How do you know this girl did a one day course? Maybe she is saving to do her next course like me.....

I am not trying to aggrivate you but to let you know that there are other technicians out there not charging £30 £45 or £50 per set and for me its not to undercut, but my area will not stand that and neither to my sets warrant that yet...

I have so far only done 6 courses but hopefully next year I can raise my prices to match my skill levels but untill then i feel that as a mobile/home technician that £25 is a fair price to charge....

Dont be sad as I bet your nails are far more elegant with all your experience and I bet she comes back to you in time...

Iam sorry if this upsets you more as I dont mean to... :Love:

 

[Kellyc]

Hi Sam i too dont mean to offend you here but i only charge £22 a full set - admittedly locally there is a lot of competition and that is about the average price to pay but unfortunately the whole nail generation seems to be coming very more competitive - i am not Creative trained and havent got 6 years experience behind me but am slowly becoming very confident with what work i do. I imagine your a fantastic nail technician and i wouldnt let this make you angry as no doubt we will all come across this regularly unfortunately most general public look at price not quality - this may not be the same for everyone but certainly local to me the nail bars are so busy some are NSS and we have to bite our tongues and hope we can educate the clients we do have x x x

 

[marie111]

I also charge £25 for a full set. I understand where sam is coming from though.

I don't think she was getting at how much she charges I think it was more of the fact that her customer (or ex) was implying that the other lady was charging cheaper than her for the same service but as Sam said she is probably more experienced etc.
I wouldn't let it worry you though Sam because hopefully she will come back with her tail between her legs eating humble pie for someone with more experience.
I haven't been doing nails for long but if I had as many courses etc as you under my belt I would have a lot more confidence in my work and charge more.
At the end of the day we all try cheaper brands of shopping etc only to find out that it's not the same so you can't really blame someone going elsewhere who's cheaper.
I hope that's what you meant Sam.

 

[Prionace]

Well, i'm also charging something very similar to 25£ in Euros, and i agree with most of the things siad above. I want to do nails to get more practice, and i simply can't charge more than this cause even thow i use good product, and produce fairly good nails, i work from home. I can see 2 thing that can happen:
1. This other tech is just starting, and she's faily good, in time she will get more practice, probably open her salon, or rent a spacein one, and defenetly raise her price with time to the point her fees match yours. By this time your clent will fell that she shouldn't of left just to save some £'s.
2. She's really not very good, and after a while your client wil understand that you have to pay for quality, cheaper isn't normaly better!
Either way don't worry, even if she doesn't come back i'm sure you won't have a hard time getting another client. Win some loose some

 

[Lellipop]

I wouldn't worry to much about one client deserting you Sam, You are an experienced tech with alot more knowledge under your belt. What clients don't always realize is that with a more experienced up to date educated tech you will have a lot less problems(SUCH AS LIFTING ETC).
I feel that its the clients loss at the end of the day, personally I would perfer to pay more and be safe knowing that I will have a very good and lasting set of enhancements.

 

[geeg]

This pricing thing interests me.

Almost 18 years ago when I started my salon in Leeds, I was charging 35.00 (pounds) for a set, and 28.50 for a RB. 18 years ago!!

When I left the salon, as the senior stylist (as it were) I was charging 50.00 for a FS and 38.50 for a RB. (and had a full book), and that was almost 10 years ago!! What the heck has happened??

How is everyone determining their prices, by what the guy next door charges or by realistically doing a costing for time, product and all the other things? I can see for a newby in the first year to go lowish, but all these low low prices seem VERY low to me.

I realize that Leeds is a very wealthy city, and we attracted all the wealthiest to our salon but 22/25 seems way below what the Price should be. How do your prices compare with say for instance hair colouring in your area? Or a restyle for hair??

Are you all cutting your own throats??

 

[Fab Freak]

My price of £25 for full set, £20 rebalance and £18 for infills is the same cost as my salon competitors but more than my local mobile competitors....

Plus the area I live in has a quite a low social demographic DE as opposted to ABC1 so the main area is not very affluent and this is reflected in vertually all the Hair and beauty salons....

My prices will increase as my skills do but the maximum I would have thought I could get away with is £30 per set and the same prorata for infills..

If I could charge £50 a set beleive me I would....caaachingg

So hopefully I dont think I am cutting my throat - well I hope not anyway :sad:

 

[bimbogeri]

I think unfortunately a lot of clients, not all, but probably a lot, will base their decision to chose a salon or technician on price. I'm not saying it's right, but it's an unfortunate fact of life.
Unlike with hair stylists, where often you'll have a very hard time finding one who gives you just the right cut, and then when you find them you stick with them forever, a lot of people seem less picky with their nails. Maybe they don't see what a trained tech's eye would when looking for problems, or they seem happier to put up with lifting, cracking etc and frequent visits back to their tech than people would with a hair stylist.

With so many salons and techs around, often it just isn't possible to charge what you feel you are worth - if all the locals are used to paying £25 for a set then sometimes, regardless of how good you feel you are, your experience and products, you just can't charge £40 for a set. It's a case of having to 'sell yourself short' in order to get any customers at all. You could say better a low wage than no wage at all.

All the salons in my area charge £40 a set, with prices for manicures and rebalancing varying, but I noticed when I went to Bluewater the prices there were higher. Presumably that's because people were willing to pay that amount, but in small towns or less wealthy areas you have to keep up with the competition or die out.
In the same way that some people will always be willing or want to shop at Gucci or Versace, or even Next and Oasis, others will never be prepared to go further than New Look. Not anything against New Look - it's where I shop, but you see the economic analogy?

Not the best thing from a nail tech's POV, but a case of simple marketing economics unfortunately.
Personally I'd never undercut a standard local price by more than say £5-7 (unless you are just starting and seriously can't match their standards), because if you go too far then some people will switch to you, but just as many others would (hopefully!) be suspicious of the price difference and see it as getting an inferior service rather than a better price.

 

[Jaffacake]

I kept doing my price sheet then going back and altering it cos i thought it looked too dear compared to the price lists i collected from local salons in the area, I eventually settled on a price list that i think is fair but not too dear/cheap. As I am mobile i think people expect me to be cheaper but as i have read on here often it shouldnt be that way, people are paying for the convenience of me visiting them at home for a personal service etc etc so i haven't undercut the salons, If anything my prices are a bit higher!

I havent done my conversion yet and i am reasonably new to the business but i dont want to charge too little and then have to increase prices later, so ive set the prices higher now.I know what you mean Geeg about cutting our throats but i think if my prices were any higher i wouldnt get any business at all

I think its everyone trying to undercut each other thats made the prices so low, i drove past a salon charging £20 for a full set of gel yesterday! I couldnt do it for that mobile! god knows how much a rebalance is? about a tenner probably!

 

[geeg]

I think unfortunately a lot of clients, not all, but probably a lot, will base their decision to chose a salon or technician on price. I'm not saying it's right, but it's an unfortunate fact of life.
Unlike with hair stylists, where often you'll have a very hard time finding one who gives you just the right cut, and then when you find them you stick with them forever, a lot of people seem less picky with their nails. Maybe they don't see what a trained tech's eye would when looking for problems, or they seem happier to put up with lifting, cracking etc and frequent visits back to their tech than people would with a hair stylist.

With so many salons and techs around, often it just isn't possible to charge what you feel you are worth - if all the locals are used to paying £25 for a set then sometimes, regardless of how good you feel you are, your experience and products, you just can't charge £40 for a set. It's a case of having to 'sell yourself short' in order to get any customers at all. You could say better a low wage than no wage at all.



All the salons in my area charge £40 a set, with prices for manicures and rebalancing varying, but I noticed when I went to Bluewater the prices there were higher. Presumably that's because people were willing to pay that amount, but in small towns or less wealthy areas you have to keep up with the competition or die out.
In the same way that some people will always be willing or want to shop at Gucci or Versace, or even Next and Oasis, others will never be prepared to go further than New Look. Not anything against New Look - it's where I shop, but you see the economic analogy?

Not the best thing from a nail tech's POV, but a case of simple marketing economics unfortunately.
Personally I'd never undercut a standard local price by more than say £5-7 (unless you are just starting and seriously can't match their standards), because if you go too far then some people will switch to you, but just as many others would (hopefully!) be suspicious of the price difference and see it as getting an inferior service rather than a better price.

Well said and I understand your points and point of view but I would rather do 2 clients at 40 than 4 at 20 if you see what I mean. I would rather place myself apart from the competition. Of course thee was less competition inthose days, but there were 12 or so salons (quite good ones) in my area. No NSS to deal with. TG

When I put my price up to 50 I was hoping just that ... to do less clients but not loose any money ... it did not work out that way and rather than slow down I was as busy as ever. Finally when I left the business I just left .. cold turkey. Told the clients my leaving date from 3 weeks before and gave them the chance to get booked in with the other technicians before I left. It was easier than trying to back out slowly.

 

[Jaffacake]

I think the only way I could charge more would be to target the really rich ladies of leisure who spend loads of money on themselves, go to the gym everyday, have nannies, hair done everyweek etc......unfortunately there appears to be a lack of them in Basilon? LOL

 

[dee]

i am the first to admit i charge really low but i only do family and friends, so i charge them £18, and i feel bad charging that , i couldnt justify charging anymore coz my nails arnt up to what i want them to be , granted they arnt totally horrendus but i have in my mind how i want them to look and they dont look like that yet , i shall be stood watching sam on sunday :green: ,

 

[Betty Boo]

In my area we have mobile tech's charging £20.00 for a full set.

But they are doing me a favour because they dont last as they dont do any prep and I have heard that one girl can do a full set mobile in 50 mins.

When people see the quality of my brisa gel nails they see the difference and some how the £ 32.00 I charge seems good. Plus my salon it clean friendly and because of the quality they come to me for other services e.g. hair and beauty.

So while they may keep going for a while their reputation does catch up with them.

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Pricing is so difficult to guage, but I find that people who start off paying full price of £40 for a set with me as an Advanced Technician remain more loyal than when I do cheap offers in lean periods.

Some people are prepared to pay for quality, a good consultation, and educating the client with your knowledge - gained over time through extensive education, reading, Geek time etc. Others are happy to shop around with no sense of loyalty or what is best for them, just the cheapest they can get. I don't even try and compete for these guys, I give an all round quality service for which people have to pay the right price.

I know my nails are good now, took me a long time to believe this, and constantly going on refresher courses keeps my work fresh and of a high standard. Have belief in your work - just because you haven't been doing it for long doesn't mean your work is substandard (your techniques and products will be the latest technology), just as someone who has been doing it for 20 years is not necessarily the best in the industry (they may have never been on a course since their initial training and use outdated techniques and have countless bad habits).

Once you get good you will then be loathe to put your prices up as you will fear losing your clients - some will stray to cheaper places when you do, but most will value your super duper work - less lifting, breakages, more even application, better finishing etc.
BUT SON'T SELL THE INDUSTRY CHEAP - set your prices at your geographical rate, and discount this price to reflect your experience ie Full sets £40, but currently at model rates of £25. You can then explain to your clients that you are still improving your speed and techniques but once fully qualified you will have to charge the FULL rate. It will make it a lot easier for you to increase them, and they know you are serious about your trade and you want to give them THE BEST NAILS YOU CAN!

Finally, Isn't it great when a client says my friend had her nails done and they were dreadful, not half as good as yours.

 

[jacqui]

i am the first to admit i charge really low but i only do family and friends, so i charge them £18, and i feel bad charging that , i couldnt justify charging anymore coz my nails arnt up to what i want them to be , granted they arnt totally horrendus but i have in my mind how i want them to look and they dont look like that yet , i shall be stood watching sam on sunday :green: ,

reading this reminded me of one day when i walked passed a nail salon, my sister-in-law noticed they were doing a full set for £20.00 and then she said "well, at least when you start doing our nails, you wont be charging that much, how much you charging? about £8 to £10 for family and friends." i was stunned i just said i hadn't worked out prices yet.

i know i havent long passed, and i have no idea what to charge especially for friends and family, but, i think my work and time is worth more than £8 to £10,
i am going to be mobile and work from home but would like to practice more on family and friends, but just dont know what to charge, do you think £12 to £15 is ok until i get a bit more experience and confidence.

 

[Fab Freak]

Adding onto to this I thought I would mention that I have no problem increasing my prices and have done 3 times so far since last May as my skills have improved...

And as these improve (next course on 22nd) i will be renewing my price list again ready for the Christmas rush....

My clients seem to accept small increases okay so far so fingers crossed they will still be happy come November...then hopefully I can remain the same as my skills will be better than the local competion and I can settle at a price higher than the rest but not pricing me out of the market.. :o ...

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Adding onto to this I thought I would mention that I have no problem increasing my prices and have done 3 times so far since last May as my skills have improved...

And as these improve (next course on 22nd) i will be renewing my price list again ready for the Christmas rush....

My clients seem to accept small increases okay so far so fingers crossed they will still be happy come November...then hopefully I can remain the same as my skills will be better than the local competion and I can settle at a price higher than the rest but not pricing me out of the market.. :o ...

That's the daft thing, Louise, MOST people WILL pay more for your added experience and skills ...... but it took me a long time to realise this, and was so reluctant to charge the right price, and if I'm honest I still get embarrassed when it gets to the bit when I have to ask for money ..... just have to think of my mortgage and it makes it a lot easier lol!!!

 

[dee]

when i am better i definatley will be putting my prices up , will have to give myself a slap and get practising more

 

[talented talons]

I think you have to consider what is available in your area and what they charge so you can be competitive and also not to be seen as cheap either. In my area they charge anything from £25 to £45 for a full set, so mine are about in the middle.

I too have had people say to me well you must be cheaper as you are mobile. I just say no because its the convenience of having me come to you, use my petrol and do a more personal service that you pay what you do. When people think abot it i think they realise then why some mobiles will charge the same as a salon. Too right too i say.

I do agree with Geeg in the respect i would rather do two clients for the same money as four. I also understand you have to charge less when starting out, but just make sure you raise your prices once your confidence grows and you do more training.

I would rather pay more for experience and knowledge than just for someone who says they are good without the training behind them.