Pricing problems

[Scu8a8uddy]

I have a time/costs/wages problem in my salon and I'd appreciate your thoughts.

I currently employ one very experienced nail tech and one just out of training. We use Acrygel in the salon which we find is a premium product that suits our clients. We shyed away from acrylic mainly due to its odour which would be a bit of a problem in our hair salon although I wouldn't rule using this in the future.

Our prices are £40 full set French, £35 natural, £20 infills.

My experienced tech takes around 1.5-2 hrs for French and 1 hr for infills. She tells me that sometimes on some clients that have difficult nails it can take 1.5 hrs for infills. (I obvisously know this by working in the salon while she does this)

Her wages cost £9/hr (including my contributions to National Insurance). So if you get your arithmetic heads on it doesn't take a genius to work out that I make around £3.50 profit on infills (is this worth it?) and about £15.00 on a full set of French.

However...Although business is doing ok (especially from the testimonials of clients - very pleased, no complaints etc.) up the road there are several nail bars (mainly run by non europeans) that only charge £20.00 for a full set of acrylic French.
How can this be possible? Looking at the profit margins that I work on I don't see how they can make a living from this.

Is my nail tech not as good/fast as she should be or am I missing something. Should I switch to using an electric file or move to acrylic? I cannot see how I can improve my productivity on this. Any advice please??

Nick

 

[geeg]

I have a time/costs/wages problem in my salon and I'd appreciate your thoughts.

I currently employ one very experienced nail tech and one just out of training. We use Acrygel in the salon which we find is a premium product that suits our clients. We shyed away from acrylic mainly due to its odour which would be a bit of a problem in our hair salon although I wouldn't rule using this in the future.

Our prices are £40 full set French, £35 natural, £20 infills.

My experienced tech takes around 1.5-2 hrs for French and 1 hr for infills. She tells me that sometimes on some clients that have difficult nails it can take 1.5 hrs for infills. (I obvisously know this by working in the salon while she does this)

Her wages cost £9/hr (including my contributions to National Insurance). So if you get your arithmetic heads on it doesn't take a genius to work out that I make around £3.50 profit on infills (is this worth it?) and about £15.00 on a full set of French.

However...Although business is doing ok (especially from the testimonials of clients - very pleased, no complaints etc.) up the road there are several nail bars that only charge £20.00 for a full set of acrylic French.
How can this be possible? Looking at the profit margins that I work on I don't see how they can make a living from this.

Is my nail tech not as good/fast as she should be or am I missing something. Should I switch to using an electric file or move to acrylic? I cannot see how I can improve my productivity on this. Any advice please??

In my opinion it is the price of your rebalances (infills) that you have miscalculated. You are charging for your time just as in the hair business that you know so well with all your experience.

Your experienced tech should not take much more than 0ne hour 15 at the most to do a full set (which I think you have got about right pricewise) but your rebalance does take an hour on average and therefore the price should be higher for this service (28.00 sounds good to me).

Now I know the techs down the road are quicker but they are using VERY dirt cheap products and do not provide a personal service (usually). This does not stop a certain type of client going there even if the nails they do are done with machines or the health of the natural nail is neglected.

You must ask yourself where you want to place yourself in the marketplace? High end, middle or low end. How would you class your hair business? Your nails should be in the same bracket. You will get clients who appreciate what you have to offer.

Maybe look at using PopIts (for a beautiful 30 minute full set and not a machine in sight) for clients who want a really quick service.

FYI ... acrylic monomer does not have to smell ... if the techs work with simple methods that reduce the odour.

:lol: I always laugh at the odour comments from hairdressers ... when you consider the smell of acid perming solutions or the old fashioned type of perming solutions ... I'd rather smell the sweet smell of monomer liquid any day :lol: Just my opinion of course.

 

[1999judy]

http://www.salongeek.com/health-safety-unaturale/2698-mma.html
http://www.salongeek.com/general-articles/31808-nss-exactly-what-does-mean.html

 

[Scu8a8uddy]

Gigi
I think you have answered my problem. We position our hairdressing at the top end of the market in our area which is why we went to Acrygel for our nail enhancements - not just for the odour issues (LOL) but for the finished result. My nail tech is almost fully booked and so I know there is no issue about quality (return bookings are high) which leaves the obvious solution!! Raise my infill/rebalance prices!! Thanks Gigi. Quite obvious really!! You're a diamond.

 

[angel fingers]

you will find that rebalance prices tend to be about 2/3 of full set prices in general. you obviously need to charge more for a pink and white rebalance than you do for a one colour one as it will take a fair bit more time to replace the white smile line. i think up to 1 +1/2 hour is acceptable for a full set and the same for a pink and white rebalance in a salon.

do make sure that nail clients do not leave more than 3 weeks between appointments for the rebalance as after this time there will be more to do in way of repairs and this will bump up the time. otherwise charge more for longer appointments when clients leave it longer than 3 weeks. if possible keep clients on a 2 week rota and this will mean minimal work at the rebalance time and will probably mean your tech can get them done in a little over 1 hr.

service time is about the same for all types of system, so changing product is probably not the answer. the 20 quid sets from up the road will probably look or last nowhere near as good as the sets an experienced tech with a quality product can produce. if you want to preserve your quality reputation, do avoid using the rock bottom no name brands that this type of salon generally chooses.

p.s your avatar terrifies me!

 

[blossom]

Putting up your prices is your answer definitely. Presumably you are charging for replacement nails as well. You will attract very different clients to the ones that go down the road. xx

 

[chantell simone]

I agree with raising the price of in-fills

don't worry about the salon down the road, so ok they are charging £20 a set but they could be untrained, use inferior products and could be causing real damage to the natural nail

remember you are offering a good service and that is what your clients are paying for

all the best

 

[aliceellen1974]

I have definately done better since raising my infill price it should be imo between 2/3 and 3/4 of the french full set price why?.... it takes nearly as long and they come away with the same results......... fab nails!

all the best