Price increase notice by SMS?

[_sabrina_]

I am a mobile nail tech...
material costs & fuel are ever increasing, so in some way i have to raise my prices too.
This has never happened to me but now I am finding it a bit difficult to tell clients about rising prices!

For example today I was going to tell a client that my prices will be going up in February (to have 2 months notice) but I chickened out

I guess I have to end up resorting to give them notice by SMS!!

sorry for the rant.... I know I'm worth the price and also because I'm mobile, the price covers the time lost travelling between one client and another...but I can't seem to bring myself to do it.
At the same time I say to myself it's not charity i'm doing...this is my full time job...but still...


Would you advice of a price increase by SMS?

 

[naturalnails]

Why dont you create a leaflet and leave it with your clients saying something like, here is my new price list for 2011 and let them read it at their leisure.

If they have a problem with your new prices then that is their issue.

SMS is not a good way to let them know, but maybe that is my age LOL.

 

[geeg]

You do not have to apologize for a price increase. Does anyone apologize to you when they increase prices? Things are going up and people expect it to happen. You will loose one or two clients maybe for a while .. have a little blip, but it will only be a blip.

Another thing don't apologize and don't justify why you are doing it. There is no need. "In line with the increase of cost of goods, I am also increasing my service prices by X%", perhaps on a little leaflet if you can't bear to say it out loud. That's it. No need to say more.

 

[izzidoll]

I agree with Fiona and Geeg.

Surely your clients just need to look at the way the cost of a litre of petrol keeps going up and up to know your costs must be too!!!

 

[waxcetera]

I did

I only have a handful of clients at the minute, haven't actually started advertising until I've passed my mani course, then I will.

I sent one out just before christmas, wishing them all a very merry christmas, thanking them for their custom and with an amended price list, effective 1st Jan

 

[kirsty]

I chickened out and did mine by SMS too :o none of my clients complained, most just confirmed the price at their next appointment.

 

[Lynne Baker]

I really don't like the idea of doing it by SMS. I'd mind less if it were by email, if you couldn't bear to say the words.

 

[kirsty]

Lynne, why do you feel that e-mail would be slightly more acceptable than SMS? Both are equally as impersonal in my opinion. Just wondering.

 

[zcook]

I would do the leaflet option which would explain all the prices and its good for clients to have something to refer back to for prices, something they can put on the fridge for friends to see

 

[Lynne Baker]

Lynne, why do you feel that e-mail would be slightly more acceptable than SMS? Both are equally as impersonal in my opinion. Just wondering.

Agreed. It's the lesser of two evils. I have no problem explaining about price rises to my clients, and they seem to have no problem in accommodating them. I don't take the mickey though!

 

[wonderwoman]

imho i think it depends on how much your increasing your prices by. If its quite a reasonable price in malta, or exceeding then i would justify my actions. As you may know in the uk the vat is rising to 20% and majority of ppl have been raving about it for ages. I find the best approach is to be be blunt that your having a price increase in conversation ie did you do any shoppin....yeah i did prices have gone up everywhere etc, oh yeah mine are goin up too etc iygwim! xoxo

 

[geeg]

I wonder why it is that women in our business feel they have to explain, justify, apologize or generally cringe when it comes to the prices they charge? Why are women so riddled with guilt when it comes to charging someone for their services?

I say, just get on and do what you have to do. Unless one is just doing it out of greed and for no particular reason, then price rises are a fact of life in business and need no justification and only reasonable notice.

I agree with Lynne re SMS notification ... It seems an invasion of privacy to me to send anotification to spmeones personal phone. Email on the other hand is like getting something in the post and I can choose to discard it if I want to. Unless I asked someone to notify me by SMS, I would rather they didn't.

 

[kirsty]

If the majority of my clients contacted me via phone (call not SMS) I doubt I would have felt happy about notifying them by text, but around 85% of my clients have only ever contacted me via text, so I suppose that's why it seemed ok.

Thinking about it, I tell my children not to add 'friends' on sites like moshi monsters unless they actually know them, because it could be dangerous, yet here's me going to meet people in their own homes, who I have only ever spoken to on text Could be anyone sending those texts!

 

[_sabrina_]

Yes I know I don't feel the need to justify myself to them, It's that travelling between clients takes so much time and they don't seem to understand that.

Now I'm working also from home (in the process of opening my salon soon), and to be fair I'm keeping the prices here, the same, only charging more (€3 more) for home visits (the majority of my appointments).

VAT is not going up in Malta..but my N.I is, every year.

What gets me annoyed is sometimes having to go up 4 floors to get to a client's house and they don't even bother to come to help you with bags! The majority of clients don't appreciate us.
It is the main reason why I want to up my prices, because my wages go to therapists then because of backache!

Anyway...back to the subject, a problem of mine is that in time you form a closer relationship with the clients and then find it hard to tell them of a raise.

I have to remember your words Gigi and toughen up...

 

[_sabrina_]

If the majority of my clients contacted me via phone (call not SMS) I doubt I would have felt happy about notifying them by text, but around 85% of my clients have only ever contacted me via text, so I suppose that's why it seemed ok.

Thinking about it, I tell my children not to add 'friends' on sites like moshi monsters unless they actually know them, because it could be dangerous, yet here's me going to meet people in their own homes, who I have only ever spoken to on text Could be anyone sending those texts!

Yes like you say, the majority of them contact me through text in fact. For everything; postponing, cancelling, booking.... they phone only for emergencies

 

[geeg]

When clients contact you by text it is one thing, your phone is your business .. Their phone is personal. If all your clients rang you at home, I bet you wouldn't like it.

It's only my opinion. I just do not feel it is the professional way to give notice of price changes.

@ Sabrina

If you say, your clients do not understand these things, then that is proof that you have indeed tried to justify your actions to them as you obviously have discussed it to know that. .. Lol. It isn't their concern to understand why you make your business decisions ... That is your business.

As for a client helping you with heavy bags like a normal thoughtful person might do ... Peoples attitude today is, Why have a dog and bark yourself? Nice .... Not. I find that if you expect people to behave in a certain way you are headed for disappointment. Better to expect nothing and then when someone does something nice, it's a big bonus. : lol:

 

[rlg10]

I completely agree... my clients are even saying to me in the salon u will have to put your prices up soon eh? i think with all the publicity with the V.A.T hike most people are expecting it, i have found as long as you dont take the mick and increasr too much then they are fine, plus to be told face to face is much nicer. your worth every penny if your service is great x

 

[sparkleshoes]

Why dont you create a leaflet and leave it with your clients saying something like, here is my new price list for 2011 and let them read it at their leisure.

I like this idea as you will need to give them a new price list anyway if the prices are going up. With a text, you might scare people if you haven't given them idea of how much their favourite treatments have gone up. They will probably be expecting the increases anyway as it is all over the news, etc and they will be experiencing it everywhere inclusing their places of work. Some businesses I know put their prices up in 2010 and plan to do a campaign in 2011 advertsing that they are not rising their prices inline with vat. Clever, but naughty What do you think?

A few people on this thread have disagreed with mass SMS to all clients and I would like to ask, is this just in terms of the VAT increases or do you not agree with mass texts full stop? Would be interesting to know your thoughts.

 

[_sabrina_]

When clients contact you by text it is one thing, your phone is your business .. Their phone is personal. If all your clients rang you at home, I bet you wouldn't like it.

It's only my opinion. I just do not feel it is the professional way to give notice of price changes.

@ Sabrina

If you say, your clients do not understand these things, then that is proof that you have indeed tried to justify your actions to them as you obviously have discussed it to know that. .. Lol. It isn't their concern to understand why you make your business decisions ... That is your business.

As for a client helping you with heavy bags like a normal thoughtful person might do ... Peoples attitude today is, Why have a dog and bark yourself? Nice .... Not. I find that if you expect people to behave in a certain way you are headed for disappointment. Better to expect nothing and then when someone does something nice, it's a big bonus. : lol:

I haven't discussed this with my clients, I've only wrote it here.

Yes it's a big bonus when someone helps you out...so it's not that nice when someone doesn't. :lol: and they laugh because you arrive at their door out of breath! :smack: . Well there goes my first rant for the New Year.

Anyway I have decided to take your advice and of other geeks as well, and on right now on a Sunday I am preparing leaflets with the new prices for home visits, with effect from March as to give them 2 appointments' time notice, as I will be handing them out on their appointments this month.

Thanks for the advice and wishing you all a HappIER New Year :hug:

 

[_sabrina_]

I like this idea as you will need to give them a new price list anyway if the prices are going up. With a text, you might scare people if you haven't given them idea of how much their favourite treatments have gone up. They will probably be expecting the increases anyway as it is all over the news, etc and they will be experiencing it everywhere inclusing their places of work. Some businesses I know put their prices up in 2010 and plan to do a campaign in 2011 advertsing that they are not rising their prices inline with vat. Clever, but naughty What do you think?

A few people on this thread have disagreed with mass SMS to all clients and I would like to ask, is this just in terms of the VAT increases or do you not agree with mass texts full stop? Would be interesting to know your thoughts.

I had already the text prepared with the amount of increase written. I have ditched that idea though and going for leaflets