Discount for friends/family

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Hiltonbeauty this exactly how I feel it's not just 1 treatment now and again it's all the time & I also give products for free too

I think I'm going to set aside a day each week and if family and friends want a free or discounted treatment then that's fine however if they want an appointment on a busy day then they will get say 25% off I'm moving from a home salon to working with in a great tanning salon this why I would like to sort this out before I get in2 a rut with it

Thank you for you advice
 
Yea i am going to carry on doing very close family for free as they are fantAstic help. I also have one friend that does my hair so we exchange treatments and With my other 2 close friends il give discount and thats it other wise im gona end up giving to many people discount!! Need to be more strickt or im not gona make any money!! Xx
 
I Find this a difficult subject and have recently become stricter because people start taking the Mick. I don't charge family apart from my sister who started taking the Mick and wasn't looking after her nails and tan, my mum bought me a few bottles of shellac so I can do her nails whenever she wants them and I can use the colours on clients too :) but friends I don't give any discount anymore xx
 
Since you're moving to a salon with a lot more overheads its an ideal time to sort it out. That way you can tell everyone at once. Good topic though, and good luck with the salon x
 
I dont charge family, friends get same discount as everyone else I do a bring a friend second treatment half price. One friend I barter with as that works well but mostly she pays full price. I don't expect my friends to do work for me for nothing so goes both ways. One friend lent me car when mine broke down for 3 days her whole family got free massages as she helped me out. She never asked nor expected it though.
 
When I lived in Bristol near my mum & gran I always did their hair and nails for free and when I come up to visit I always do some free treatments for them.

Friends I charge the same rates as normal clients, unless its something new I'm adding to my treatment list and need a bit of practice on.
 
My mum and sister are the only family that get anything done - they are free. My mum has bought me so much product and so many supplies over the years and actually paid for my diploma so she will never pay for treatments lol.

As for my friends, I have one that's been a loyal client for years now, so she gets a discount but not really a set one, just whatever I think is fair - might be $5 or $10 off. If she's having several treatments or quite expensive ones it might be $20 off.

Everyone else gets full price. I find it SO tempting to just hand out discounts willy-nilly, "oh her daughter works with my partner, maybe I should give her a discount" or "this lady is really nice, I feel bad charging her full price" - I feel almost guilty if I don't give discounts but I have to make something out of it.
 
I give family free treatments and have had no problems with that todate. My bestie I give free, i get her to wax my legs etc in payment and she knows I'll never accept money from her so shouts me coffee or a bottle of wine etc

Ive found when I was training or introducing a new treatment the same friends will volunteer to be guinee pigs and then I never see them again (as clients) until the next freebie! Now I've put my foot down and offer them to loyal clients that I'm comfortable/familar with (more relaxed but not less professional) instead.

In my head I always battle the "I should discount her because" syndrome but I know that I can't or my home salon wouldn't survive. Im fully aware that just because I'm a friend of someone's I would never expect them to give me discounts or freebies from their line of work no matter what it is. Unfortunately I'm not financially wealthy enough to pay for everyones luxuries or needs from my own pocket! Not yet anyway ;)
 
I don't give anyone discount. Not even my mum and my beauty room is in her house! Lol! I did try to start with but they were not having it. My friend and I do each others nails but it's a proper appointment and we pay each others prices. No hassle.
 
I give my mum treatments for free whenever she wants,also my dad and stepdad when they need their feet sorting etc,but the rest of my family and friends get a discount,I tend to round down the price's,so a shellac I charge 22 so I just do it for 20,eyebrow wax is 6 so I charge a 5a etc...this is my own time too and I love spending time with them so again its a social thing too :) xx

Essential Bliss Beauty Therapy
 
I give my husband a pedicure once a year and in return he pays the bills and mortgage. (it's a luxury pedicure:D).
 
But where does it stop when it comes to friends? Just close friends? I consider a lot of my friends too be close, so I feel guilty charging when we have such a good catch up when they come over! So I always end up discounting alot! Making pence out of quite a few people who are friends! It's so difficult where to draw the line...

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I think the only way you can draw the line is by not starting with discounts in the first place :( unless it's across the board like a promo etc. I think if you've started with friends maybe then you could just say next time youre all together or when you see them individually, sorry but I can't offer discounts anymore and maybe offer a loyalty scheme instead (like every 5th treatment get 25% off etc) or something like that? Theyre still being recognized but your not loosing out all the time either plus if they are good friends they should understand. It's a hard one once you've started :) x
 
I think the only way you can draw the line is by not starting with discounts in the first place :( unless it's across the board like a promo etc. I think if you've started with friends maybe then you could just say next time youre all together or when you see them individually, sorry but I can't offer discounts anymore and maybe offer a loyalty scheme instead (like every 5th treatment get 25% off etc) or something like that? Theyre still being recognized but your not loosing out all the time either plus if they are good friends they should understand. It's a hard one once you've started :) x
definitely agree with this sammic xx

i found that when i was training in new treatment/product i would heavily discount or do for free on friends but then when i was qualified/happy with product and wanted to charge more friends didnt want to know and instead went elsewhere where they could get cheap nails!

start as you mean to go on!i have and everyone knows where they stand lol
 
My mum, sister and best friends (2) are free for nails and certain treatments, if they want spray tans then they buy a bottle of solution that I label as theirs and they get a free tan from me whenever they like, my friends always offer money for stock or swap for the odd take away etc I wouldn't accept money from my mum because she has done so much for me, my sister is my sister so wouldn't ever ask but if she wants to offer then I wouldn't say no!! Lol x
 
I give a small discount to friends but would never dream of charging family anything! They have all done so much for me over the years I personally feel I would be insulting them if I made them pay me.

Obviously if it was a relation that I wasn't close to it would be different but immediate family, never. My partners mum has regular treatments with me and wanted to pay but I suggested a babysitting swap instead :)

I'm exactly the same. I couldn't and wouldn't dream of charging my family. It's my little way of saying thank you back to them for everything they've done for me over my lifetime.

I don't charge my closest friends anything but they don't live near me so I don't have a problem with constant requests.
Other friends pay a percentage which I work out on the day depending on what they are having done.
 
I had a nightmare with discounts - I have a HUGE family who expected it free (and then told their friends I would do them a gud deal!!!) and when I couldn't fit them in they where quite happy to go pay full price a another salon:sad: I am in the middle of increasing prices to start September and am going to introduce a traffic light system for select treatments only; RED = 10%, AMBER = 15% and GREEN = 20%, and they can only book in at certain times. One thing I have learnt is it is hard to get out of discounts so be careful who you offer too x
 
I give my husband a pedicure once a year and in return he pays the bills and mortgage. (it's a luxury pedicure:D).


Lol like like like!!! Made me smile :)

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I had a nightmare with discounts - I have a HUGE family who expected it free (and then told their friends I would do them a gud deal!!!) and when I couldn't fit them in they where quite happy to go pay full price a another salon:sad: I am in the middle of increasing prices to start September and am going to introduce a traffic light system for select treatments only; RED = 10%, AMBER = 15% and GREEN = 20%, and they can only book in at certain times. One thing I have learnt is it is hard to get out of discounts so be careful who you offer too x

I aggree! Iv been a bit stupid really at giving discounts so it has to stop!! X
 
I don't charge my family, most of them force money in my till, my mum tends to give me £10 per trip. She has her nails filed and painted every 2 weeks, an eye brow wax every 6 weeks, legs waxed and callus peel every so often. She's bought products from me I've charged her cost price. My sisters are the same, I couldn't charge them. My nan came over for an eye brow wax and rocked £20 in my hand!

X
 

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