Mates rates!!!

[EMMA AT ELITE]

I just wondered how/if you all charge your friends?

Do you give them a % discount?

 

[sarahpoppy24]

I tell you what mates rates cause no end of problems- what happens if you have a week when half your clients are friends. I have had a problem with people taking the micky and I only have myself to blame with giving them discounts! I would charge them all the same amount tell them if you dont then your books wont balance or your accountant will ask where the excess product has gone then there will be no problems with favouratism etc! On a birthday I will do my very closest friends a set of nails as a gift but thats it- hope this helps xx

 

[Missy G]

I would charge your normal price,at the end of the day you dont get your stock any cheaper and I explain Im running a buisness now.

I will not charge them only if I want to practice something new,like Popits Ive recently trained in, but told them if they want to keep the maintenance up they will have to pay .

Also if you do them cheaper you may find they take less care of them and theyll be on the phone all the time,aw Ive chipped one, aw Ive broke one, can you come and fix it!!!

My niece recently broke one of her nails doing up her jeans,I think she expected me to repair it for free, when I told her I charge for repair, she said ok ...and heard no more from her.

 

[RedAdmiral]

I give my friends and family 30% all treatments except special offers. Over the years I have called in rent-a-crowd so many times that they sometimes have been my ONLY clients so to reward them they get the discount. They are always handy when I want to test something out or need a room filled for a fund raiser or charity night.

 

[nailzoo]

I give mates rates .... about 20% discount, and they do the same for me when I use their services, I guess that's what real mates do.

Although I don't have to do it, nor do they expect it, I just do, again, thats what real mates do, (what goes around comes around).

I guess it depends on your definition of mates.

I may only offer a service of a small value, but some of my "mates" have services in the $thousands worth and if I get a discount (although I never expect it), I still appreciate it .... but that's what mates do.

I guess it depends on your definition of mates.

"Mateship" is a very important part of Australian culture, a culture we treasure.

We don't have a culture of tipping here (that's American and we don't particularly want to adopt it, although other cultures wish to (it's convenient for some).

I have a price ....... and that's "MY" price to do what I wish with.

I appreciate a discount and much as I appreciate a "tip", but in reality I expect neither.

The site of an ugly tip jar .... outside of America makes me think of begging with a tin cup, and that tip jar (no matter how glamorous), may as well be a tin cup or an upturned cap on the pavement, they have the same effect on me.

If you have a jar labelled "tips", you may as well have a tacky cardboard sign that goes with it (it's practically begging), or a reminder of apparent hardship.

Boths "discount" and "tips" do have a relationship .... and it's one of expectation.

Expectation (just like beauty) is in the eyes of the beholder.

 

[hippy-chick]

I dont discount my friends, never have.
I do discount the hairdressers 10% and I get 10% off my hair treatments. Funnily enough, they always tip me, so usually get the asking price anyway.

Since I've been training people, I ask my friends first if they want to be a model for a free treatment before I ask clients.

I also ask my friends if they would like to be a model if I'm practising something new.

 

[Lynne Baker]

Like Hippy Chick my rates are my rates. The only people who don't get charged are my mum and my husband. Everyone else gets charged the going rate, and I expect the same when I go to them for treatments.

 

[kylieb]

I tell you what mates rates cause no end of problems- what happens if you have a week when half your clients are friends. I have had a problem with people taking the micky and I only have myself to blame with giving them discounts! I would charge them all the same amount tell them if you dont then your books wont balance or your accountant will ask where the excess product has gone then there will be no problems with favouratism etc! On a birthday I will do my very closest friends a set of nails as a gift but thats it- hope this helps xx

I could not have put this better myself and TOTALLY 100% agree with you here hun.
It has caused no end of problems for me. Ive even had to go to the extreme of telling them that my wax pot has smashed down the stairs! Just for the pure fact of them taking the mick!
I just really cant believe people could take the p like that. I would never dream of just expectng things for free and not even offering people anything!
The only person i do treatments on for free is my sister. But even SHE comes to the wholesalers with me and buys all the stuff that i have to use on her.
xxx

 

[tigi]

I have one very very close friend and she has her things done for free as am training on her ( but she is doing no end of things for me to get this new venture up and running), but she would never take the mikey either. I have decided to offer my other girlie friends a membership card, they will pay normal rates but get a sticker each they come and get a half price treatment ( they get to choose one of four treatments that wont cost me a fortune) once they have collected 10 points.

I think this will help to curb the no end of problems i can envisage. I do it with my other businesses and it works well and i hope it will work for this one.

 

[Martin Duffy]

I don't give a discount to anyone! If I want to offer a free/discounted treatment I do so at my own discretion, there's nothing worse than friends discounted treatments clogging up appointments that could be used for full paying clients. The only free treatments go to my partner, my mother & my partner's mum.

It's the bane of the service industries that people expect you to do their plumbing, building, painting etc cheaper as they're friends, but nobody expects it of other careers.

 

[Kim Lawless]

I don't charge my mates and never would, although they know they can rarely get booked in with me so it's not that much of a problem.

I don't care how stock I use....they're my mates and I love them so I'd never charge. They have their areas of expertise, for example advertising and design and they don't give me a bill every time the conversation turns to that.

 

[number1kitty]

I charge every one full price INCLUDING MY MOTHER!!!

At the end of the day I have bills and overheads to pay!

I will do swops with people for their services, but I prefer to usually pay outright and know where I stand. I dont have to worry about upsetting one friend because the other had more treatments and got more off etc.

Some hate me for it cause they think its a god given right to get freebies. Do I care = Nope!

 

[Tracey Park]

I don't charge my mates and never would, although they know they can rarely get booked in with me so it's not that much of a problem.

I don't care how stock I use....they're my mates and I love them so I'd never charge. They have their areas of expertise, for example advertising and design and they don't give me a bill every time the conversation turns to that.

so when you gonna fit me in for my lips then !!!! :hug:

 

[Jen Smith]

I don't charge my mates and never would, although they know they can rarely get booked in with me so it's not that much of a problem.

I don't care how stock I use....they're my mates and I love them so I'd never charge. They have their areas of expertise, for example advertising and design and they don't give me a bill every time the conversation turns to that.

so when you gonna fit me in for my lips then !!!! :hug:

After my mate Kimmi has fitted me in for my eyes lining hehehe... :hug:

I don't charge my daughters or mum for their treatments and give a large discount for friends, most of my friends would not come to me if they couldn't pay; I have tried in the past to let them have their treatment as a treat from me and they seemed quite offended at me saying they would be embarrassed not to pay. My daughter doesn't seem to be 'affected' by getting her treatments though lol!!!

 

[Katelisa]

Im with kim on this one. I dont charge my close mates, I love my job, its not like its a chore to me. If i wasnt doing a treatment for them we would only be sat around doing nothing, so its no biggie. i like treating them, its only the same as buying them little pressies. I dont think they have ever asked, i always offer or invite them to come to the salon when im finished for the day. and i would never ever dream of charging my mom!!!! lol. not for all the meals she had cooked me and washing and ironing she has done for me and things she has bought me and the roof she has put over my head for the last 24 years!!! lol.

 

[sarahpoppy24]

Oh god no id never charge my mum she gets what she wants for free every time!!!! And I do my bros hair cuts obviously!!!

 

[sian1979]

most of my mates only have one off sets tbh, so i charge them 1/2 price. But i do ones friends for nothing as she does my hair for nothing, fair trade off as far as im concerned.
I do my mums for nothing as well if she wants them, she has great natural nails so its usuall only a mini mani and paint.

 

[EMMA AT ELITE]

Wow! Thanks, it is really interesting reading all your replies and views.

I always do FREE treatments on my mum,sister, and best friend of 11 years.- who none of which have things done that often!

I have 2 friends who have treatments done every now and then to who I usually give about a 30-50% discount, depending on treatment and time taken.
I dont have a set % discount as a mate rate.

I would just like to add I personally think it is disgusting that anyone could ever charge their mum, especially full price.
For me if it wasnt for my mums help- financially, support, and everything else my parents have done for me all my life I wouldnt be where I am today, and I could never put a price on that.

 

[Florriedee]

I do trades with my family (they walk my dog while I am at work) and I wax/tan/eyelash tint or perm etc...the only thing I do really charge for is massage cos it bores me rigid frankly. Everyone else I charge nearly full price for or I give it as presents for birthdays and christmas but really it is no hardship cos I like doing it and really product is not too expensive and I'm mobile so I haven't any real overheads except petrol and I'd use that getting to theirs to see them anyway if you see what I mean. Lx
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Lynne Baker]

I would just like to add I personally think it is disgusting that anyone could ever charge their mum, especially full price.
For me if it wasnt for my mums help- financially, support, and everything else my parents have done for me all my life I wouldnt be where I am today, and I could never put a price on that.

Not everyone's mum has either been asked for help, nor would have given it had they been asked. Some people have got where they are despite their parents, not because of them.