Where will it all end?

[RED STAR]

O.K...I know the title sounds a tad ominous....BUT, I do wonder, where we go from here...
It seems UNDER CUTTING has reached new heights (forgive the pun)!
EVERYWHERE you go, is offering 'something for nothing'.
FREE file & polish......, 40% 50% 70% OFF all services......, The 'EVERYTHING'S £10.00' salon .....,
FREE treatment's....., Complimentary cup cake...., specialty coffee's ........ blah blah, you get my drift!

Not knocking offering an incentive or two, but it's become the norm to regularly 'GIFT'.....
Our client's begin to EXPECT to pay less, for more, EVERY TIME.
In order to compete, we follow suit, squeezing those profit margins more and more.
Where is our profit? No profit = No business.

I would love to know your thoughts, and any ideas you might have on how we can redress the balance of
quality over quantity.
We all want 'bums on seat's'.........but ultimately, we all need to earn a decent living

 

[byKaty]

O.K...I know the title sounds a tad ominous....BUT, I do wonder, where we go from here...
It seems UNDER CUTTING has reached new heights (forgive the pun)!
EVERYWHERE you go, is offering 'something for nothing'.
FREE file & polish......, 40% 50% 70% OFF all services......, The 'EVERYTHING'S £10.00' salon .....,
FREE treatment's....., Complimentary cup cake...., specialty coffee's ........ blah blah, you get my drift!

Not knocking offering an incentive or two, but it's become the norm to regularly 'GIFT'.....
Our client's begin to EXPECT to pay less, for more, EVERY TIME.
In order to compete, we follow suit, squeezing those profit margins more and more.
Where is our profit? No profit = No business.

I would love to know your thoughts, and any ideas you might have on how we can redress the balance of
quality over quantity.
We all want 'bums on seat's'.........but ultimately, we all need to earn a decent living

Am so glad you posted this! So far I've resisted the temptation to cut prices. I did do an offer at weekend as it was Halloween and people would be out.
I've people advise me to offer free cuts etc to get people in and yes it probably would but there's no guarantee they are going to return. Last thing I want is to get into a pricing war which in the end you lose out.

 

[Pollypocket85]

I find increasingly people want 'cheap' treatments and will move around to find it. I wish more people were like me who once you've found someone you like and the work they do you stick with it.

 

[surf girl]

£1 shops.... Or even 99p ones... That where it's headed...

I'm a small salon & I'll be totally honest I undercut the salon I used to work at by a long way (their cut & finish is £35 mine is £20!) I did this tho because of the location of my salon (theirs was busy town mine is tiny village) Now time has passed and I see propperly the value of my business and the service I provide and I think should I have gone so cheap?

Initially I think it got me clients, not because I undercut anyone just because it was affordable so therefore "worth a try"

My beauty lady mentions running offers and my first answer to her was No! Charge what your worth and stick to it!

I find profit is an issue because of my low prices, i can't see for the life of me how these other salons manage! I have the goldwell rep constantly nagging me to change exclusively over to goldwell colours and I break down the prices in front of him and say ok so now show me my profit and we just end up agreeing it's not going to work for me right now. I work really hard too and would love to make the switch but the little profit I do make would be eaten up by this.

I'd love nothing more than to be able to find more of a balance between quality & quantity so I'll be interested to see how this thread progresses, I have plenty of bums on seats at the mo but don't feel like it's particularly balanced if I'm really honest. ( I need to raise prices... I know this...)

I've only ever run one offer because of my prices & I really don't want to get into this situation of bargain hunter type clients.

I try to be that steady fairly priced salon that's in every town which is niether flashy and overpriced nor cheap & nasty with constant offers, I hope that mine will be the business that will plod along for 20 or so years comfortably

So I don't really have an answer to what we're gonna do about these stupid offers people do tbh but I never let it get to me because they shut down left right and centre... I'm still here...

 

[squidgernetball]

I don't do any offers at all and apart from a major glitch with Groupon (we all make mistakes) I never will. All I do is a monthly offer that is in my newsletter to clients and is on my website. This is usually something like 20% off massage this month or HD brows for £20 instead of £25.

I have consistently avoided aiming my business at bargain hunters. The Groupon experience taught me something. Bargain hunters aren't loyal and they don't come back.

Your salon - whether it's hair or beauty - has to be somewhere people want to be. If it's the buzzy busy vibe you're offering with music, activity etc or the calm serene environment, just do it as well as you can. Immaculately clean with a warm welcome to everyone who walks through the door. A cup of coffee in a clean cup and an unhurried experience.

Walk out of your salon and see what your client sees. Do a bit of an Alex Polizzi on your salon and be honest. Does it need a clean? Are there discount signs in your windows? Does it look like somewhere you'd want to go? Then do the same with the inside. I have been to extremely expensive salons and much cheaper ones and frequently find them lacking in the cleanliness department - and I don't mean a bit of hair on the floor or a full bin I mean dust you could write your name in and dead spiders.

Don't be the bargain salon. Be the salon that is so great people want to go there. The price becomes (nearly) irrelevant. Aim at clients who want time spent on them with a decent cup of coffee and a full consultation not a quick set of acrylics that they can get cheaper down the road.

I always give the analogy of Asda v Waitrose. I shop in Waitrose. The aisles are wider, there are more staff and less queues at the check out. I enjoy my shopping experience. I don't shop in Asda ever.

Am I a snob? Probably. But most of my clients shop in Waitrose as well. You can see where I'm going with this. Be the salon they want to go to.

Vic x

 

[Misty Eyebrow Artist Crew]

I used to do offers when I first opened but now I'm always busy I'd never do offers! I have long standing ones like a wax and tint together/brow, lip and chin ect. I have this one client who pops her head in every few months looking for discounted Epibrows, she just missed out on my opening offer when I first introduced them in the salon and she refuses to pay full price. We have the same conversation each time she comes in, I tell her I'm getting plenty of full paying clients so why would I reduce my price and offer her the chance to pay it up, she could've had them done by now!
I think if you're really good at what you do then there's no real reason to offer discount after discount, people Will pay for a great service/treatment x

 

[WaxGirl]

To be honest when I see a place with a lot of offers in my head I'm thinking 'they can't be great if they have to give away their services' and tend to avoid them.

I don't mind paying a decent price when I know the quality of work is good and that I'll get good customer service

Not every customer wants cheap..

 

[BannerPenguin]

Tbh I did toy with the idea of starting a troubleshooting/consultancy service for this industry. Granted I don't know the in's and out's 100% in the industry but I do have a fairly deep understanding as I spend a lot of time involved with clients within it. Regardless, business is business and that's one thing I feel I know a lot about.

I would say people wanting cheap isn't just in the hair and beauty industry. For example we are affordable for websites, some developer friends I know say we are too cheap for what we do, but we will always be up against Wix and that rubbish. Same sort of thing for nails though, clients can stay at home and paint their own nails but you need to show them why they should come to you.

 

[LuxeBeauty]

I used to do offers when I first opened but now I'm always busy I'd never do offers! I have long standing ones like a wax and tint together/brow, lip and chin ect. I have this one client who pops her head in every few months looking for discounted Epibrows, she just missed out on my opening offer when I first introduced them in the salon and she refuses to pay full price. We have the same conversation each time she comes in, I tell her I'm getting plenty of full paying clients so why would I reduce my price and offer her the chance to pay it up, she could've had them done by now!
I think if you're really good at what you do then there's no real reason to offer discount after discount, people Will pay for a great service/treatment x

Hi Misty (sorry guys this is a little off topic) I've just done my training with Epibrow and I'm struggling to settle on prices as no one does this in my area so no to compare to. Can I ask what your opening offer was?

Back on topic....I'm super quiet at the moment. Lots of no shows or last minute cancellations which is really getting me down. I'm very tempted to do some offers but like other people have said I don't want the bargain hunters that only come of the offer then move into the next place. If people want nice nails/brows etc, within a nice setting, good coffee, quiet, chilled and relaxing then here I am if people don't want that then I'm not going to lower my prices just to get bums on seats. I'd rather ride this quiet period out and keep giving great customer service to my regulars...and hope it picks up again soon! I already offer loyalty cards and incentives so clients get a free services on their 6th appointment.

I think if I'm to do an offer it will be a loyalty type offer for clients to give to a friend to get 20% off their first treatment.
At least then I know it's off my loyal clients recommendations and my regulars are lovely so hopefully that will bring more lovely clients in! [emoji1][emoji106]

 

[byKaty]

God I feel sooo much better reading all these replies!

 

[KrisKross]

I think beauty, and nails in particular, has become a bit of a hobbyist's paradise. You can, with absolutely no previous experience, go and do a cheapo one day nail course on Groupon which is accredited, buy a kit off e-bay and hey presto - you're a nail tech banging out shellac fingers for stupid money, maybe as a bit of a sideline to their actual job or maybe they're happy enough making less than minimum wage. Until there's some proper regulation within the industry, that's not going to change. I don't display my training certificates or insurance certificates - no other reason that I've never got round to putting them up in my room, they're right there in a drawer if anyone wants to check me out - but not one client has ever asked to see them.

Then you've got the problem of the people who have a lump sum of cash but no business brain whatsoever. They pluck their figures out of thin air or go in straight away undercutting others in the area and they become the 'offers' salon. Until they run out of money and close down. And when they do there's always a fresh supply of busy fools to take their place. There's no longevity in their business plan (if they even have one) but they can't or don't see it until it's too late. Meanwhile clients come to think of these stupid prices as 'the norm', making those of us who charge realistic prices look like we're ripping them off.

You attract the type of clients you aim for, but it takes a lot of nerve to ride out the quiet periods and you've just got to hold tight and be the best at what you do in your area. I know for a fact that a few of my clients have occasionally gone elsewhere for their waxing, but came back to me. I'm happy for them to go and pay some school money in a cheapo salon to learn a lesson, but it's still disappointing that they do.

I don't know what the answer is.

 

[AcidPerm]

There's no harm doing a special offer during your quieter periods but make it exclusively available (on slow days) and for a limited period, like Vic with her monthly specials.

Definitely don't run reduced price offers during December but you could consider added value offers such as 10% discount on Xmas gift packs when having a colour service during November/December or similar.

 

[byKaty]

This is the hard part for me: holding my nerve when it's quiet. So makes you want to jack it in at times. I've only been in business since May. 6 months, it's nothing! And I keep telling myself, ride it out, it will get better, it takes time. I have an a4 piece of paper full of ideas and things to get done this week to market the life out of me. Flyers will be ready today for another drop tomorrow.
I just hate though, when I go on fb and yet another college classmate has put their fb page up with stupidly low prices!!
While I'm thinking of marketing, can anyone recommend a good site for making eflyers/fb posts etc. I've signed on to canva but they aren't yet set up for mobiles or tablets and office Internet browser not compatible either.

 

[Grace_Hair]

I struggle.
My salon is within a local 'cheap' shop. So their customer is my walk ins. I've had people walk past and gasp (in horror) at prices. Cut and finish is £23 and colours are rarely over £70.

I don't like the idea of reducing prices. However I did a little on the salons first birthday. And I occasionally do buy one get one half price with kids cuts during holidays.

I do really struggle with what to give instead.

I do a monthly raffle for everyone who left a review, I give a free conditioning treatment. In the last 18months. I have 3 take it up...

For one week in my birthday month I gave away free blowdries for everyone who had a cut and finish. They had 4 months to use it. And no one did.

I can't even give stuff away for free!

 

[byKaty]

I remember the first time I walked into a salon where I live now and enquired on cut and full head tint. I had to ask her again when she 40quid all in!! Couldn't get over how cheap that was! In Belfast you would pay that for the tint alone! And there are salons only 12 miles away in Derry are charging 100 for cut and highlights.
Down here going rate for that is 50-60 all in. I charge 18-20 for cut and blow dry, when I worked in Belfast I charged 29.50, and that was as junior stylist 7 years ago.

 

[Misty Eyebrow Artist Crew]

Hi Misty (sorry guys this is a little off topic) I've just done my training with Epibrow and I'm struggling to settle on prices as no one does this in my area so no to compare to. Can I ask what your opening offer was?

Back on topic....I'm super quiet at the moment. Lots of no shows or last minute cancellations which is really getting me down. I'm very tempted to do some offers but like other people have said I don't want the bargain hunters that only come of the offer then move into the next place. If people want nice nails/brows etc, within a nice setting, good coffee, quiet, chilled and relaxing then here I am if people don't want that then I'm not going to lower my prices just to get bums on seats. I'd rather ride this quiet period out and keep giving great customer service to my regulars...and hope it picks up again soon! I already offer loyalty cards and incentives so clients get a free services on their 6th appointment.

I think if I'm to do an offer it will be a loyalty type offer for clients to give to a friend to get 20% off their first treatment.
At least then I know it's off my loyal clients recommendations and my regulars are lovely so hopefully that will bring more lovely clients in! [emoji1][emoji106]

Hi I done an offer of £99 to get my portfolio started and get people in x

 

[wonderwoman]

I had 6 new salons around me open last year alone. only two of them are still running the other tried to offer everything and is still struggling. i must admit i had a bit of schadenfreude when they closed. i may have mentioned it before but i opened my business in the recession, it was hard work to get people in as it was a luxury at the end of the day. I personally have learnt some hard stupid mistakes i have made along the way like crazy offers, but when i raised my prices noone batted an eye lid- bar the odd bargain hunters.

People like people- it might not always seem that way online with the advice given.
I watched alot of the fixer with alex, tabitha, gordon ramesy, mary portas, apprentice! They all had a common theme how you are as an driven individual, get past your own ego and assess in a third person if you think it was acceptable standards etc. So the makeovers that you get in movies where they look amazing at the end and get the dream guy, its kinda the same thing but in business setting they get the client!

i have had 2 quiet weeks last month and i used it to re-balance my forecast for next year, i already hit most of my targets this year and now my last makeover goal 7 point 0 is to focus on my website. For me i think booking /appointments/ information /blogs/ indepth know about us etc needs to be revamped to hit a nerve with your clients. It has to be exclude a professional setting with a touch of your personality to give your usp. As the standard freebie websites in my opinion are letting the hobbists have a static website and a facebook page/instagram/twitter/many more social media sites and this is where i see it going- more techy more app driven. This is where you have to compete now. cyber wars!!! xoxo

 

[RED STAR]

I struggle.
My salon is within a local 'cheap' shop. So their customer is my walk ins. I've had people walk past and gasp (in horror) at prices. Cut and finish is £23 and colours are rarely over £70.

I don't like the idea of reducing prices. However I did a little on the salons first birthday. And I occasionally do buy one get one half price with kids cuts during holidays.

I do really struggle with what to give instead.

I do a monthly raffle for everyone who left a review, I give a free conditioning treatment. In the last 18months. I have 3 take it up...

For one week in my birthday month I gave away free blowdries for everyone who had a cut and finish. They had 4 months to use it. And no one did.

I can't even give stuff away for free!

I feel your pain......
I've been in the hair and beauty industry for many years, and it's NEVER been so hard to make a living from.
When I opened 3 years ago, I also tried the FREE BLOW DRY......no one came!!!

 

[waxed]

I think everyone is different with what they would regard as a cheap treatment .. If I seen a hair salon offering a cheap hair cut or colour I wouldn't go. I'd think that they surely can't be any good if their prices are that low ( although may not be the case ) that's how my mind is set, my hair is far more important to me than beauty treatments, as I would try out some one who was offering a reduced price in say shellac as my nails are not that important to me so if say they where to not be up to standards although I'd just have them removed I'd never go back again ... I have been to a well known spa and had bio sculpture nails that I paid a fortune for and resembled jelly tots after I'd left ... I'm not sure how as professional beauty therapist who have invested so much in products, time and education is actually not making a decent living because of all the under qualified ebayers ... We some how have to pull together to start making a change in the industry, how and where is another story

 

[daydreams01]

Those £10 salons seem to be opening up all over the place but we have had a few people come to us after trying them once and not being happy. Once they realise it is just a con to get you in the door and by the time everything is added up they are not paying much less than anywhere else!