Taking over salon..advice plz

[e-beauty]

Hi Geeks,

i have brought a beauty, nails and tanning salon, it only has three treatment rooms, the salon is currently in profit (not alot mind you lol)

i am just waiteing for the new lease to be drawn up, i should be in there by the end of the month. apart from the opening night, what mail shots and incentivtes would you be giving her clients to make sure they still come back when she leaves? she has about 250 on her books, and a lot of them are repeat clients.

also her treatment prices are sooo cheap, eg 5 pounds for an eyebrow shape when i charge 10

15 for a full leg when i charge 25.....i really dont know how to go about this, i mean the salon is in a up and comeing area, right by the sea front,..got flats aboves and 1million pounds house's surrounding,....do you think the change will lose me bussiness???

thanks in advance

 

[beautyseeker]

She was obviously selling herself too cheap and you will loose some clients because of that, but I doubt they will find another salon with those prices so may come back. I assume you are going to re-decorate and make the place look more up-market or people will wonder why you are charging more and yet the place looks the same.

Good luck.

Trish :hug:

 

[Joannesnails]

Hi Geeks,

i have brought a beauty, nails and tanning salon, it only has three treatment rooms, the salon is currently in profit (not alot mind you lol)

i am just waiteing for the new lease to be drawn up, i should be in there by the end of the month. apart from the opening night, what mail shots and incentivtes would you be giving her clients to make sure they still come back when she leaves? she has about 250 on her books, and a lot of them are repeat clients.

also her treatment prices are sooo cheap, eg 5 pounds for an eyebrow shape when i charge 10

15 for a full leg when i charge 25.....i really dont know how to go about this, i mean the salon is in a up and comeing area, right by the sea front,..got flats aboves and 1million pounds house's surrounding,....do you think the change will lose me bussiness???

thanks in advance

Hmm sounds like your in a tricky situation, but perhaps you may give a better service rather than she does? Make sure you treat all clients like their the queen lol and make it a comfortable and friendly enviroment to be in Also i find when im going to a salon myself i always go by what looks the best for the outside make it bright and pretty to attract the people and make it look very professional , if you change the look on th outside i think it may help some how. Maybe you could give 10% or 5% off for her clients, it shouldnt really matter how much she charges and how much you charge as im sure they will be more than happy to try you out and see how you work.xx
hths

 

[jax]

Its difficult to capture both markets you are talking about. The current clients who like the low prices and the more upmarket clientele in the £million properties that surround you. Both those groups are attracted by quite different things in a salon, its also difficult to predict which would be more successful for you. Are there upmarket salons nearby who already have this market sewn up? Is there a lack of budget/mid-range priced salons in your area? Do you have the budget to invest in your salon to attract the upmarket crowd?

My advice would be to decide which group you want to go for and gear the salon and the marketing around that group. If you want to stay with your current client base, I would be careful about upping your prices right at the start. Perhaps you should concentrate on increasing numbers of those clients at first rather than making more money from those clients. If you increased your bookings perhaps that in itself would be enough to bring you more into profit.

 

[katkat2008]

I bought a spa a few months ago....and I raised the prices. No one has said a thing. Honestly, as long as you keeping doing a great job and treating them right - the money isnt the biggest issue Most of the people who get this stuff done, will do it if you raise the prices or not.

I did have a poster up at the spa about the prices increasing. I kept it up for two weeks as a notice before I did it

 

[minky]

Hi , in my experience I have noticed that salons which get taken over
then just carry on as usual , seem to get old client's moaning and leaving about price increases.

The most successful ones are the ones who have a small closing down period to re vamp it and re name it and have a totally new price list seem to be the most successful,
as the old clients want to come and visit the new salon and local interest is aroused too .

Would this be a possibility ?

You could just renew a few things,
smarten it up and paint and re organize here and there , don't forget the new name
good luck :hug: minky x

.

 

[skymark]

Hi there

If the old owner was selling too cheap, maybe that pushed her decision to have to sell. You need to be making a healthy profit or there is no point.

I think if you were to close the salon or have a re-launching time, then you would be able to introduce higher prices a little easier, as long as the customers realise that it's coming.

I would suggest tho, that say her price for something was 5 and yours is 10 and you want to charge your usual price, I would cut it by 50p so that it is 9.50....for now. As soon as a customer sees the word 'double' in their mind, they automatically think negatively.

It looks like you have researched the type of client that surround the salon pretty well, but it is a case of just looking at how many of those higher paying clients you can attract.

Hopefully putting your own trademark on the business will show the clients that your prices are worth it. The previous owner maybe just never wanted to offend her clients by putting the prices up.

There will always be those who want to complain about it, but they would also complain if you put it up by 50p. Those people just don't enjoy change, so be prepared to let a few of them go.

Congrats on the new salon

 

[e-beauty]

Thank you for all your advice:hug:, i think i will close and open as a new salon. its the best way forward, and after all this is a fresh start for me.

thanks again xx

 

[Lucy-Jayne]

I'm just about to do this to a salon in my area!! So I'm going to watch this thread for more ideas!! xx

 

[michellehayley]

Yeah your right to close up and re open in a new name, thats what I did when I bought my salon. Why not have a loyalty card that you give her existing customers to offer them 10% or even 20% off their treatments then you can raise your prices but still keep them clients. If any one else ever asks about them you can say they were given out prior to opening!

 

[jax]

Yeah your right to close up and re open in a new name, thats what I did when I bought my salon. Why not have a loyalty card that you give her existing customers to offer them 10% or even 20% off their treatments then you can raise your prices but still keep them clients. If any one else ever asks about them you can say they were given out prior to opening!

Its a good idea about the loyalty card for existing customers but you would want to put an end point on that. Maybe give them their usual prices for 2 months then they should pay what everyone else pays and what you need them to pay to make money.