No money in nails anymore?

[nixnewcastle]

Anyone else finding that nails and eyebrow waxing have very little profit as everyone is trying to under cut everyone?
I'm needing to put up the cost of my nails and waxing and I'm nervous to as I feel clients won't be willing to pay what I need to charge to make a decent profit from to make them worth while doing

 

[vitality]

If you want to higher your prices you could maybe target higher earners if your current customers aren't willing to pay. Everyone understands inflation happens as prices have gone up on almost everything, if you have notice explaining the price change I am sure they won't be bitter about it.

 

[Janny]

Hi nixnewcastle!

You'rew right, there will always be someone out there who can do a job for less but that can only go on for so long! At the end of the day you're running a business and if it doesn't pay there is absolutely no point. It's got to pay the bills as well as be a great hobby!

Remember people are paying you for your experience as a therapist as well as your time, your products used, lighting, heating etc etc. and Vitality gave a good suggeston about targeting the right market too.

Everything else has gone up, we all expect things to go up even if we don't like it! If your business needs it it must happen, and the recent VAT increase is a good reason to do so.

Good luck!

 

[Susie H]

Around here the going rate for a forever french is £20 I point blank refuse to do them for this price. Every now and then I get a call from a shrieker, you know the ones, HOW MUCH!! then they rant on about how it's only £20 in town and I point out that the most they can hope for is a bit of air brush art with that and only pink and white, where as with me they can have any colour they like, glittered or not and I have a host of different nail art options and that all of this comes with no damage to the natural nail.
The chavs hang up when they realise I really mean it and wont budge on my price and the rest get really interested.
Same goes for waxing, there are a couple of places that do eye brow wax for £2.50 I charge £6, I use hot wax and again point out that if a client combines waxing services I do a package price, but not many places offer hot wax and once a client has that, they don't go back to warm wax.
What I'm saying here is be different, be the best at what you do, give a relaxed setting use the best products and you can charge realistic prices, let the cheap places have the clients that want cheap, you chase the clients who want quality. You'll be far more relaxed and word of mouth will see more clients through your door then any amount of cheep gimmicks:hug:

 

[Serenity Beauty]

It's tough out there, with bio nails for £15, cheap nasty spray tans (with tan that no one has heard of) going at silly prices, eyebrow threading I'n most shopping centres for £5, what chance do any of us have?? But we have to draw the line somewhere and if we drop our prices too rock bottom we will all end up out of business! We have to hope that with sensible pricing and excellent service and standard treatments, we will stay I'n business long enough to ride it out and see all those undercutting us go into liquidation! And then eventually these people will have the brains to realise it's just not possible to run a business on those prices! X

 

[craftygrrl]

I know what you mean. Im still a student (NVQ L2 nail services) and I live in a small town with alot of nail salons. Theres some new ones opening up though and some charging as little as £15 for a full set of l+p :/ It makes me worry as Im still training and I charge £15 for a full set...I have already had people say they would go to the salon as they are fully qualified and im still training

I thought £15 was a fair price for a student, as I still use good products (EzFlow) but now am feeling like I need to lower it to compete with them which is so annoying. (I dont know what products they use or what the standard of work is like so cant comment on that)

Its abit scary for me though, and Im sure alot of other trainees and qualified nail techs feel the same when some salons offer stupidly low prices, I agree though, with the VAT increase and costs for premises etc, I cant see how they would last.

 

[MissJulesBeauty]

Perfect!

I am working in my small Salon in an Indoor Market so have to charge Market prices. I am at the bottom of my ladder and plan to work up to what you are talking about here... Thank you for being an inspiration...

Around here the going rate for a forever french is £20 I point blank refuse to do them for this price. Every now and then I get a call from a shrieker, you know the ones, HOW MUCH!! then they rant on about how it's only £20 in town and I point out that the most they can hope for is a bit of air brush art with that and only pink and white, where as with me they can have any colour they like, glittered or not and I have a host of different nail art options and that all of this comes with no damage to the natural nail.
The chavs hang up when they realise I really mean it and wont budge on my price and the rest get really interested.
Same goes for waxing, there are a couple of places that do eye brow wax for £2.50 I charge £6, I use hot wax and again point out that if a client combines waxing services I do a package price, but not many places offer hot wax and once a client has that, they don't go back to warm wax.
What I'm saying here is be different, be the best at what you do, give a relaxed setting use the best products and you can charge realistic prices, let the cheap places have the clients that want cheap, you chase the clients who want quality. You'll be far more relaxed and word of mouth will see more clients through your door then any amount of cheep gimmicks:hug:

 

[gemsie1983]

I understand 100% where you are coming from but your business is what you make it.

Set standards if you believe your work is good enough then charge for it, if we all start lowering prices to undercut one another where does it end?

Decide where you want to be in the marketplace and make a stand, set yourself apart. Don't be put off by the HOW MUCH? type of customers, set your prices and stand your ground. It is scary but be brave.

Believe me there are people out there who will pay it.

 

[bevi]

how long will it be before the ones charging next to nothing start thinking about how much money they are losing doing cheap services put their prices up to match the better techs and then lose their clients to the better techs due to standards of service. charge what you are worth & let the others hang themselves

 

[nixnewcastle]

how long will it be before the ones charging next to nothing start thinking about how much money they are losing doing cheap services put their prices up to match the better techs and then lose their clients to the better techs due to standards of service. charge what you are worth & let the others hang themselves

Love this!
I think the thread on here about working illegally sits nicely with this thread as to explain why genuine qualified, experienced and insured beauty therapists and nail techs are having problems with charging what we're worth

 

[elliebee]

I know this thread is about nails but just wanted to add a point that I think is important.

I live in a fairly small town with high unemployment.

We are absolutely saturated with hairdressers and nail techs and most of them are at the low end of the price bracket.

However, we have one (yes, only one) posh salon that charges 3 or 4 times what the other salons charge. They also have a nail technician who charges more than anyone else in town.

Both the hairdresser and the nail tech are really busy.

Why? Because they have a gorgeous salon, make the client feel pampered and, most importantly, are great at what they do.

There are always those people who are willing to pay for a premium service. You just have to make sure you
1) Target those clients
2) Give them what they expect EVERY TIME to make sure they stay loyal and don't jump ship every time a cheaper offer comes along.

Hope this helps a wee bit
E x

 

[nicolaluise]

I totally agree with elliebee, I'm a mobile hairdresser and consider my prices to be very reasonable, yet a few people tell me I'm much more expensive than other hairdressers they've had .... But they still stick with me! People will pay for good quality, I pride myself on excellent service, top notch products and reliability (although I'm lying in bed sick as a dog as a type this) I also base myself in an area of high income, I choose the type of clientele that I want, my clients like to be pampered on a regular basis, have busy lifestyles so crave convenience and all live about 10 miles from me ... So yes I do a motorway run every day I work, but I'm always fully booked so it's well worth it

 

[geeg]

I have never dug myself into a hole price-wise and never let what anyone else was doing influence what I do price-wise.

I set my prices according to what I needed to make to EARN enough to pay the bills and pay me. I always provided a lovely place to do my job and gave/still give the best service I'm capable of giving. Never targeted the low end of the market as my work is not low end. I have always made money doing nails ... never have I not made money.

So no, I don't think that there is no money in nails unless you yourself have backed yourself into a corner, become influenced by what others do, and not charged what you really believe you are worth.

Putting your prices up to a realistic level will cause a temporary blip in your takings for a month or two, after that things will equalize with new clients and there is no better time to do it than right now. Nails are hot, Minx is hot hot, Shellac is HOT HOT so a good time to attract new ones to your door.

 

[VHunter]

I have never dug myself into a hole price-wise and never let what anyone else was doing influence what I do price-wise.

I set my prices according to what I needed to make to EARN enough to pay the bills and pay me. I always provided a lovely place to do my job and gave/still give the best service I'm capable of giving. Never targeted the low end of the market as my work is not low end. I have always made money doing nails ... never have I not made money.

So no, I don't think that there is no money in nails unless you yourself have backed yourself into a corner, become influenced by what others do, and not charged what you really believe you are worth.

Putting your prices up to a realistic level will cause a temporary blip in your takings for a month or two, after that things will equalize with new clients and there is no better time to do it than right now. Nails are hot, Minx is hot hot, Shellac is HOT HOT so a good time to attract new ones to your door.

I made that mistake in the beginning, setting myself too low and not doing the math properly. Wish I'd listened back then when you guys told me so!!
Ditto re: a good time to attract new ones.... I get calls every week. Yes, some find I'm too pricey. Oh well. But once they're here... they see the difference between myself and the NSS.

There IS money to be made. We're all doing it

 

[Lynne Baker]

I'm not in competition with the cheapsters. I trained for too long and too hard to ever undersell what I do.

 

[~Jenny~]

I completely agree with Lynne...couldn't have said it better myself
xx

 

[nixnewcastle]

I completely agree with the price wars situation. I've sat down and gone through my price list again and I'm finally going to have a price increase yay

 

[Blue Rose]

It is a difficult one as there will ALWAYS be someone to offer cheap as chip prices.
We recently started offering Gelish & I charge £27.50 as that is near enough what one of the other high end salons in town charges.

Just seen on facebook today that the cheap as chips place about 3 shops down from me is charging £15!!

I refuse to lower my prices but it doesn't make it any easier to get people through the door in the 1st instance when you have places like that under charging.

It's just very demoralising but given that my prices are on the higher side to begin with, it gives me leeway for offers/incentives if need be.

It must be very very tough for those of you just starting out. It's not something I would want to be doing, that's for sure.

 

[vitality]

I would also advise to anybody struggling with pricing to look up different terms and strategies pertaining to pricing. It would be beneficial to understand them in order to devise your own strategies for your business.

* Loss Leaders
* Premium Pricing
*Promotional Pricing
*Price/Quality Relationships
* Effective Price
* Demand Based Pricing
* Multi Dimensional Pricing
(This is not an exhaustive list)

I would also look up pricing mistakes and Micro-marketing within pricing. I always here time and time again geeks recommending to copy the competition. How do they know the competition has got it right? Are they even sure the other business is competition?

Hope this helps:green:

 

[geeg]

I would also advise to anybody struggling with pricing to look up different terms and strategies pertaining to pricing. It would be beneficial to understand them in order to devise your own strategies for your business.

* Loss Leaders
* Premium Pricing
*Promotional Pricing
*Price/Quality Relationships
* Effective Price
* Demand Based Pricing
* Multi Dimensional Pricing
(This is not an exhaustive list)

I would also look up pricing mistakes and Micro-marketing within pricing. I always here time and time again geeks recommending to copy the competition. How do they know the competition has got it right? Are they even sure the other business is competition?

Hope this helps:green:

Someone with some sense at last!

Do you think the first nail tech in the world ever did what you are suggesting though? Course not, she was a silly woman who had no idea and made up some price in her non-business brain and then everyone else copied her!!
Or tried to under cut her! This is what I mean ... This is the silly way non business people act and this is why the industry is in such a state.

The very first set of nails I did 25+ years ago was charged out at 35.00. And I was working from home. Over the years the price went up not down as I opened up my salons. When I hear of people charging 10 and 20 for a full set I cringe! They are working below the minimum wage!!

I was always fully booked from month 3 in business until 8 years later when I left the table to become the CND distributor for the UK and Eire. Honestly, the state of the nail industry now saddens me and the fact that it is full of hobbyists, kitchen mafia, backyard barbies and just plain Messers; the good technicians that give quality and standards are well outnumbered by these ones.

And I'm not including good technicians who work from home, or mobile technicians, many of whom provide as good a service as it gets, in the list above. You all know the ones I mean.

I hope you good ones reading this have the courage to charge what you and your service is worth to attract the type of people you want to attract at a price that is arrived at with some thought behind it instead of reacting to what some dim wit up the road is charging.