Shellac, what are you charging now?

[Treacle44]

No I totally agree they don't, but the salon is a good one, pretty popular in my small town so it's to be optimistic & think that I can charge more as I'm pretty sure it won't work in my favour.

It's not even as if I have experience on my side, I've come back into nails recently after a long break. Don't mean to sound negative, just being realistic. Think at best I could match their prices, no more.

But thanks for your post, glad to hear you're doing so well x

Not everyone buys on price!
If that were the case then there would be no Waitrose, no M and S food hall, no Harrods, no Harvey Nicks, would there?!
Have you considered selling on quality, exclusivity, privacy etc?

I work from a home salon, on my own.
Last year my turnover was nearing the VAT threshold. There are salons not that far away from me who charge much less for similar treatments. I do not reduce my prices when I see theirs.
My clients tell me they like the privacy, my professionalism, my attention to detail, and the fact that they will not get gossiped about.

If you keep reducing your prices you will have nowhere left to go!

Perhaps you could rebrand yourselves as exclusive, luxury, premium therapists and see what happens?

 

[happyfeet]

some excellent points have been made so i won't repeat them. I'm a real newbie only on my sixth client lol but i thought i would add my two penneth

i think some people have in mind where they want their treatment. I for one am more than able to go to a salon but i much prefer a mobile service. I've got nothing against salons at all luckily never had a bad experience but I'm more comfortable. My mum on the other hand likes salons but feels very self conscious, not because of the salon but she feels a bit paranoid being older. Doesn't matter what me and my sis say she feels that way. I've recently been encouraging her to try home salons and she loves the idea of this.

My sister loves a salon wouldn't use anything else.

My point being that everyone is different. Being mobile myself I've learnt not to price myself any differently to a salon because people want your type of service because of the reason xy or z so why should i charge any less. I have my mobile clients out there who chose me not because they think that I'm going to be cheaper but because they want to have treatments at home. As said before i charge twenty five fingers and twenty eight toes.

I'm not silly i know some people expect your prices to be lower because you are mobile but thats ok. I used to be guilty of this with hairdressers but not anymore so i can two things accept it or try and turn them around and i am trying to do this by producing good work which promotes word of mouth, having a good website Facebook etc and working on getting myself known in my area. I'm new so I'm not teaching anyone to suck eggs here I'm just saying how i will go about it

Lynne makes an excellent point or rather points!

I'm very careful with my money not because I'm tight but because i simply don't have much, but i promise you i never shop solely on price i look at the company listen to word of mouth and see proof of work. For me money comes last.


Love n hugs x x x

 

[NailsByShakira]

I charge £30 for Shellac (on fingers only) one colour or french application.

Shakira x

 

[Glamour Puss7]

Dear All... The standard price for Shellac starts at £25... That's a starting price. Anyone who is doing it cheaper (and I don't care about what area you are in)... is crazy... and I say that respectfully

This treatment is a high end treatment and you guys are qualified nail professionals. You simply have to STOP looking at what every Tom, **** and Harry charge and charge for your TIME, for your EXPERTISE and your TRAINING.

The Master Painter Class is brand new and will qualify any Shellac Nail Artist to become a Shellac Master which means you can charge MORE!!! I simply can't explain enough that this nit picking on price is only going to be a negative. CND has and is continuing to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to help drive the consumer back into the salon for Shellac. The consumer EXPECTS to pay more for a premium service.

At the show I must have sent about 10 peope away from our stand, people who wanted Shellac but didn't want the lamp (even with the show deal )... I was simply honest... if they weren't going to use the system professionally and properly I would prefer them NOT to use Shellac at all!! The same goes for pricing; I have no idea how person(s) could be charging £10 but I can tell you this, they are not business people nor are they making money. It is crazy and it is detrimental to the brand and to all the great Shellac nail artists who ARE charging correctly and doing a professional job.

This treatment has saved salons, has created uber successful nail artists and continues to DRIVE the consumer through the door. If it doesn't say CND on the bottle then it ain't Shellac. If you are not using the correct CND tools and products provided for you to do a great job, then you will not be able to become a Shellac Accredited Salon nor will you receive all the marketing goodies that come with that privilege ! Have pride in what you do! Stop looking at the competition and do what is expected and needed to do a great job/treatment and do it well.

Another thing, keep things simple - especially for your Service Menus!! On a personal note, I simply can't be bothered to look down a list of treatments that all sound the same but have tiny differences and yet £5/£10 price differences.

Your customer wants to see things clearly so she can make snap decisions. As to the removal of Shellac - absolutely it IS the job of the professional but you have all been asking for so long for a small consumer retail item and we will be showcasing the Remove Tube shortly for the client that goes on hols etc... this will hold a 125ml d.solve, 10 pack of CND Remover Wraps and a Pinkie SolarOil!

Climbs of soap box and goes for a coffee...
Hope this helped you all.. Be passionate and go for top spot... Don't be lemmings and follow the crowd - STAND OUT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS!

Well "SAID" I totally agree with you !! I will not compete with other peolple charging cheap prices... You get what you pay for with me, there are lots of other people charging ridiculous prices for the same sevices that I do round by me, but I would not even think about going that way because they are cheap :grr: !! Shellac is High end it "ROCKS" :Love:

 

[Glamour Puss7]

Hi all just an add on from my last reply, sorry for this "RANT"!
A girl that is very new to doing nails has set up down the road from me, she charges £15 for hands & £18 for feet (Shellac) which is such a silly low price!!! I have now found out that when she is curing the Shellac she is telling her clients to place one hand on top of the other and curing both hands @ the same time !! So she must be removing the hand tray from the lamp & having the both hands on the foot tray, as there is no way on earth that you would fit two hands in the hand tray, So she is cutting corners by not doing it right, I was so "stunned" when I heard this  just sums up what this thread has been talking about! Sorry again Geeks for the moan, just wanted to air this one. X

 

[Yadagi]

I have just come off the phone from my sis-in law (who has been very supportive since I started my new career,) and who has been trying to get her school mum friends to come to me, but she told me that they have said I am too expensive at £25....... for a Shellac colour or French that includes removal, and a file , cutlcle work , solar oil and mini massage!!

The home based salon which is very close to me, and which they(the school mum's) have been to, charges them £18 apparently although her website advertise's at £20 for a Shellac paint only, and manicure with Shellac is £24, luxury mani £29....
So I have told her that if they come to me for just Shellac , no cuticle , no massage at all and no removal I will do it for £20???

I did try and explain to her that maybe she(home based salon) is cutting corners to keep her price so low, as I know the local salon in our village is def cutting corners, and my sis -in-law actually said that I should cut corners as well, to keep my prices down.

I told her I am not prepared to do that and cause damage to clients nails, on which she said most people don't care , that is why the NSS salons are always busy, all people want is cheap !!!!!!!! argh!!!!!!!:grr:

My initial reaction is to say STUFF those kind of clients , I will find clients who do care about their nails and are not after a cheap and quick, in and out, Paint and Go Service!!!

But being new to this industry and needing to start making some money how do I go about things .
Any constructive advice will be greatly appreciated .

Thank you ..

 

[Lynne Baker]

Advertise your services as luxury, premium, and exclusive.
Get in with the local yummy mummy private school crowd and you're made.
They don't want the cheap and nasty services; they want to crow about how fab "their" private, personal beauty therapist is. Trust me; I've built a business on this!

 

[Yadagi]

Advertise your services as luxury, premium, and exclusive.
Get in with the local yummy mummy private school crowd and you're made.
They don't want the cheap and nasty services; they want to crow about how fab "their" private, personal beauty therapist is. Trust me; I've built a business on this!

Lynne , thank you , we have loads of private schools round here, but how do you get in with them if you haven't got children at the school. ??
I am still building my website so I will find ways to put those words in to my text, and yes i do think I am providing a luxury premium service . hugs

 

[Lynne Baker]

Very often they will have a parent's newsletter in which people advertise local services. I took out a half page ad for a year costing me 80 quid or so and I netted many new clients as a result.
I also offered raffle prizes, and asked if they had a Christmas fayre (which they did, so I took a stand there).
I also found out where they went after the school run for their coffee, and made friends with the girls who ran it.
I just made sure that wherever they shopped, socialised, chatted, had their hair done, I was there.

 

[Yadagi]

Wow , well done Lynne, and thank you .

I will have to get my act together .:biggrin:

BTW I have just found this , and it states that they buff the nail, and are charging £20 and £30 respectively for hands and toes!!
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us/attheairport/clubhouses/shellac.jsp

 

[Divine Diva]

I charge £25 for fingers or toes and £8 for removal. :biggrin:

 

[charlotte.b]

I charge £30 for Shellac fingers or toes, colour or french. I think things can get over-complicated on the price list otherwise! Personally I don't want a big long list of different variations.

The way I look at it, yes £30 is expensive but if the product is good and you are a professional so it calls for it. I used to pay £40 for Calgel because I loved it so much and it was well worth it. If I see a slightly higher price tag I will assume it is because they are the best!

I justify it to myself by saying I charge £30, if something goes wrong or I don't do my best work I can always offer a refund or a re-Shellac if I really needed to. Sometimes I think we can be our own worst enemies by undervalueing our service! A client that wants something for nothing is a client you can do without?

 

[Treacle44]

The average price for the area I'm in, salon or mobile is around £20 so that's what I'm charging, £22 for toes. It's £25/£27 for a full manicure with Shellac.

I'm not cutting any corners, clients come to me so based on the figures of cost per application, I'm still happy with the profit made.

Even the Shellac teacher on the course admitted I'd probably have to charge less than the standard prices.

 

[lilmizzbest]

Very often they will have a parent's newsletter in which people advertise local services. I took out a half page ad for a year costing me 80 quid or so and I netted many new clients as a result.
I also offered raffle prizes, and asked if they had a Christmas fayre (which they did, so I took a stand there).
I also found out where they went after the school run for their coffee, and made friends with the girls who ran it.
I just made sure that wherever they shopped, socialised, chatted, had their hair done, I was there.

Hi Lynne
Many thanks for your advice, excellent ideas and you've proved that they work.
I work from home in a small, cosy salon and all my customers (and they're not just very local) say they are happy to travel to me because I give one to one personal service, they can chat without other people overhearing their conversation and because I own the business, they believe I care that bit more and put customer service and professionalism above everything. The amount of stories I have heard of nearby salons where the staff don't even make eye contact with the customer when they walk in and have even gossiped about other customers in front of them which is enough to put anyone off going back. I believe people will pay that bit extra to have flexibility and personal service, rather than the salons that are offering rock bottom prices just to try and steal local business.
Julie
xxx

 

[unas escarlata]

I've owned a premium brand business and have no problem in justifying why the charge for shelllac is at the level it is.....expensive is not the word to use - that is a negative word.

You are paying for the brand, a brand who are passionate about education & high standards. A brand that are providing their technicians with the science behind the product enabling them to accurately advise clients. Their commitment towards new product development and pre-release testing is unrivalled and the system when used as whole by a trained professional should provide 100% customer satisfaction. The ongoing support via the excellent helpline and online video clips and salongeek means that our clients know if they have a problem we have the backup available which will help us serve them better next time.

Now sweetsquared - when are there going to be more solar oil pinkie packs in stock please so my clients can practice what I preach....

 

[Red]

I'm having a job setting a price for my Shellac service. I am pricing myself at £25 for express mani/shellac as a mobile tech (which i think is very reasonable) however I'm about to go on board with a couple of girls doing hair/beauty at events, fairs, weekenders etc. However when I said this was what I wanted to charge at the events she suggested I lowered my price to £20 tops!!! And on top of that she wants to do a bundle with hair, make up and nails which would mean even lower prices.

At the moment I am sticking to my guns. If it doesn't sell, it doesn't sell. IMHO I'd rather save it for the clients who want to pay for it than be wasting it on those just wanting something cheap.

Tbh I have no idea if people will want to pay for Shellac at events like these....but I don't see why I should undersell myself just to please them.

Or am I completely going at it with the wrong attitude?!!

 

[unas escarlata]

I'm having a job setting a price for my Shellac service. I am pricing myself at £25 for express mani/shellac as a mobile tech (which i think is very reasonable) however I'm about to go on board with a couple of girls doing hair/beauty at events, fairs, weekenders etc. However when I said this was what I wanted to charge at the events she suggested I lowered my price to £20 tops!!! And on top of that she wants to do a bundle with hair, make up and nails which would mean even lower prices.

At the moment I am sticking to my guns. If it doesn't sell, it doesn't sell. IMHO I'd rather save it for the clients who want to pay for it than be wasting it on those just wanting something cheap.

Tbh I have no idea if people will want to pay for Shellac at events like these....but I don't see why I should undersell myself just to please them.

Or am I completely going at it with the wrong attitude?!!

Stick to your guns hun - see my post above xx