How much to charge for a spray tan

[claire1976]

I have just done my spray tan training with sienna x and was looking forward to doing parties and mobile tans around the town that i live in. I was planning on charging around £20-£25 but just before i went on the course and after i had payed out over £600 on equipment one of the salons in town droped their price to £10. this has had a knock on effect on all the other salons and they have followed suit. now i dont know what to do, do i start off by charging £10 a tan and then run the risk of not being able to put my prices up or do i charge £20 and hope i get some bookings your advice would be apreciated xxx

 

[Carron]

oh dear, thats not to good everyones prices are dropping.

what about doing something like a introductory price so you can put it up

are the other salons doing parties? you might be able to charge more for that

 

[frankey67]

This happened in my town too. Although there is only one salon doing this for £10.00, the others are still at between £20 and £36.00 - one high street lots of prices! I'm mobile and advertise at £20.00 for one person £15.00 for 2+ and parties at £15pp with host free at 6 or more. I think that people like to have the privacy of their homes sometimes so try and use this to your advantage to not have to go in at ten pounds. Try some refer a friend deals for your existing customers too

 

[julesgems]

HiI have had this happen in my village. One person offers her tans all the time for stupidly low amounts.Forget them - charge your set price for mobile (mine is £25.00 for a single tan) and only offer lower prices on tanning parties and groups. My business has not suffered because of her low prices, on the contrary - people come to me because they know I use quality products and give a good tan.

 

[claire1976]

thank you girlie's I think I will charge what I originally planned and hope that it takes off at least then I can put it on special offer if need be, I have not seen anyone offering spray tan parties so I am going to push that side of the business fingers crossed I am sure it will be fine xx

 

[Violet Star]

When your starting out i would suggest to charge a lower price just to get experience and confidence behind you, and then bump up when you feel your at a good standard and feel confident within your tanning.

DONT EVER drop to the price as other salons to compete because it will never work out good in the long run. The best you can do is better your service and do a great job despite the price clients will still come to you for spray tans. Only drop price to benefit your own business & wage.

When i first started out 2 years ago i charge 10.00 for the first 2-3 weeks and then went upto 20.00 in which people still didnt mind paying. 3 months ago i decided to drop my price to 15.00 as i wasnt busy enough and now i am extremely busy. But this is just my area and my decision. If you find when you are charging 20-25 pounds that you are not bringing in enough money then perhaps drop to 15.00 but no less.

Some will say this is a silly move but this is has bought in 5x more wages than 20.00 per tan did.
hths x

 

[SunSpray]

I'm increasing my prices from September. I do lots of single spray tans and it's these prices that will be affected most. My regular clients, although being charged more for a single tan from September, will benefit from my new reward scheme, so in the end they won't be affected too much.

I'll also continue to offer discounts for party bookings although at a slightly higher rate. So it really is only the 1-offs who will suffer, and seeing as lots of extra work goes into the "first" or "1-off" bookings (pre-treatment advice, record cards, perhaps giving an incentivising sachet of something, explaining things over and over etc) I'm pretty comfortable with it. At the moment ....

 

[~Jenny~]

I charge £20 per tan, I sometimes do an offer of £15 if spray tans are quiet but I pick a quiet day in the week, I don't tend to run offers on thursdays fridays or saturdays as this is when a lot of people have tans anyway

xx

 

[lushtan&beauty]

I started out in April and started with my prices at £10. the other salons round the area charge 15-20 pounds. At the moment i still have them at £10 as i get a lot of custom because of this. (bare in mind the area, not everyone can afford £20.) I get a lot of regulars who get them every week because of the price.
not to sound big headed but ive been told ours are the best around town as there a nice colour and never any patches or streaks. (this is what customers have said) so I know i would still get the customers in if i upped the price to say £15, but i think for the time being i will keep it at £10 till we get more new customers in as well as regular.

 

[Lynne Baker]

There will always be people who choose who to go to based on price and there's room in the market for them. There's also room in the market for those who perceive that if it's cheap it can't be that good. We have Lidl/Netto at one end, and M & S/Waitrose at the other - and in the middle there are people who will choose the own brand/value ranges, and those will choose the Finest/Taste the Difference ranges.
My facials are certainly not the cheapest, neither are they the most expensive, but I won't be persuaded to lower my prices just because someone sets up down the road from me and offers a cheaper one.
Not all [insert treatment] are created equal. Just make sure that your customer care is second to none, and make a big song and dance about offering a money back guarantee. Sing the praises of your tan over the others, and watch your book fill up.

 

[SunSpray]

Just make sure that your customer care is second to none, and make a big song and dance about offering a money back guarantee. Sing the praises of your tan over the others, and watch your book fill up.

Offering mobile spray tans, I very much try to offer a fabulous service and receive comments all the time about how little the clients' previous spray tanners advised them and how no disposable items were offered etc etc.

However, I stop short of offering a money back guarantee. The only reason is that many parts of the spray tan process are completely out of my control. I just feel offering a money back guarantee might give clients a false sense of security and the naughty ones who don't take good care with skin prep or aftercare might get all demanding.

Do any other spray tanners offer a money back guarantee...?

I guess I can guarantee their spray tan will be applied perfectly, but most of the time the rest is up to the client...... tis a tricky business ... xx

 

[Lynne Baker]

OK, if someone got all snotty with you about a tan, how would you deal with it? Would you try to shift the blame to them, or would you offer to respray them/refund them? I know which way I would go, even if I thought it was their fault. Rather that than have them bad mouth me (and they surely will!)
So your money back guarantee is going to be your last choice, but that's what you'd offer, so why not advertise it. You can always have some caveats in the small print.
I make a big thing about my money back guarantee, using it to reassure potential clients that coming to see me is a risk free venture. It's how M & S built a business and it's how I'll build mine!

 

[Violet Star]

Regarding the money back guarantee. This is something i will not offer for my clients as i use products and time to spray tan them. And you will find many of them wont prep before hence why it goes belly up!

With regards to offering them a re-spray this is something i will part with on the terms that it was my fault, and would fully own up if i could see i was at fault.

But you will find that some will come back and complain that they want to be darker when they realise they colour percentage they chose wasnt dark enough, in which i wont re-spray because they chose that specific colour.

Some clients you have to be so careful with as they will go down every single avenue to pick fault or pass the blame when it was infact their fault.
I.e someone going home and washing with dove when you clearly told them not to.

People say the customer is always right, i beg to differ

 

[Lynne Baker]

People say the customer is always right, i beg to differ

Mine are always right.

 

[Violet Star]

If yours are always right, then when something does go wrong, it must be your fault and not theirs?

 

[Lynne Baker]

It's a moot point. Firstly, rarely does anything go wrong. Secondly, I will put right anything that the client believes is wrong, no matter whose fault it is. It's about offering superlative treatments and customer care. For instance - a client came to me for a manicure and she insisted (nicely!) in dashing off before her nails were even touch dry. I slathered them in Solar Oil and impressed upon her the need to take care with them. Sure enough she called the next day to say that her enamel was "ruffled". I had had a cancellation so I invited her to come back right then and I would repaint them. It cost me pence in terms of product, my time, and rewarded me with a tip, a client referral and a repeat booking.
Mistake always happen, but what marks you out as a peerless professional is the way you deal with those mistakes, whomever is culpable.

 

[Natalies Nails]

The salon you speak of must be using spray tanning as a loss leader to bring in extra clients in the hope that they will start having other treatments, be bold and start at your planned price.

You are mobile and they are a static salon so I'm sure you will attract clients for that reason alone, not just on price.

Good Luck!

 

[tigi]

we offer spray tans of fake bake and la tan and we offer a guarantee. our guarantee says that should they notice any patches or their clothes rub the tan in any way, then we will happily respray that area for them

In four months we have had to do that 3 times. so, its not really an issue. of course we are going to get people who dont prep properly, of course we are going to get people who dont follow our after care advice, but to be truthful, its not an issue really. we do 20-30 tans a week and so to have 3 come back is not too bad.

our price is average for our area. we have set it at that price as we make plenty from it and we do use it as a way to encourage people into the salon.

tigi

 

[angelina221]

The salon you speak of must be using spray tanning as a loss leader to bring in extra clients in the hope that they will start having other treatments, be bold and start at your planned price.

quote]


A loss leader?!
Spray tans can generate a 1150% mark up or a 92% gross profit margin, hardly a loss leader!

 

[ruthemma]

If you are thinking of offering parties try and join forces with a jewelery or anne summers / avon type thing - I do it with a jewelery lady and get more bookings than i want sometimes - that way yes they are mainly just one offs but i go set up - spray 6-10 people take their £15 if more than 6 of them or £20 if less - pack up and off home - easy days work!!!