Why is she so cheap? Salon up the road from me

[Lovebeauty14]

Just gotta say this - Love Beauty I LOVE your profile pic/avatar its effortlessly gorg! Everytime I see it makes me want hair and lashes like that!

Sorry totally off topic! x

Oh thankyou!
That's really kind.
I had it done at Double Take studios. The eyelashes are fake though...lol.

 

[Male Storme]

I was just thinking that a salon has more overheads than myself and assumed customers would expect me to price accordingly, taking that into consideration.

The only real difference in overhead costs, is salon rent.

You will still, or should have the other costs. utilities, insurances etc.

 

[Lovebeauty14]

The only real difference in overhead costs, is salon rent.

You will still, or should have the other costs. utilities, insurances etc.

Thankyou.
Yes I do as I am OCD about cleaning so will be constantly having the washer and dryer on washing towels, etc and have my Guild insurance. I won't have business tax however as I have a sofa bed in my beauty room so I'm not changing the use completely to business. I do have very cheap rent, council tax and water however as I'm living in Military Quarters (My husbands in the Military). I've asked permission from them so it's all permitted too.
I think because of the above my prices should be a little cheaper than high street but I'm not going as cheap as the lady down the street because of all the previously mentioned reasons.

 

[Jen889]

I would listen to the ladies above on their advice, price according to your product, knowledge and work. Even if you matched to the salons in your area, price accordingly!

Don't make the mistake of thinking your working from home so you should be less expensive, I did this mistake when I first opened three years ago. I opened with low prices because I thought hey I'm a home salon I should be cheaper and I wanted to "compete" with the NSS salons in the area. Big mistake! I struggled the first year to get actual clients not bargain hunters who come once and you never see them again. I moved into a rental place and had a hard time raising my prices by just 5$, all my clients complained!

Thankfully three years later I'm doing well because I have the right prices and client base. Do it right from the beginning and save yourself the headache/heartache.

 

[secretstyalist]

Want to charge more?? Don't baffle customers who can't understand technical stuff, sell them an experience, that's what determines effectiveness and price acceptance, start out high, then introductory offers of slightly less than others just to get people through the door, then when they are in you HAVE to tailor make it to each customers needs and make them come back for that same experience . 1 bit of advise for all of you iS buy a book, author is dan lok, it's called "lies salon owners believe and the truth that sets them free" it applies to any business just it's specific to ours, I was a bargain salon with 2 stations and that was it, in 18 months I'm now 6 stations, nails, tanning, beauty, relaxation, hypnotherapy, teeth whitening etc etc,

I have just downloaded it onto my kindle, can't wait to read it, while I'm not a salon owner now I hope to be someday

 

[Lovebeauty14]

I would listen to the ladies above on their advice, price according to your product, knowledge and work. Even if you matched to the salons in your area, price accordingly!

Don't make the mistake of thinking your working from home so you should be less expensive, I did this mistake when I first opened three years ago. I opened with low prices because I thought hey I'm a home salon I should be cheaper and I wanted to "compete" with the NSS salons in the area. Big mistake! I struggled the first year to get actual clients not bargain hunters who come once and you never see them again. I moved into a rental place and had a hard time raising my prices by just 5$, all my clients complained!

Thankfully three years later I'm doing well because I have the right prices and client base. Do it right from the beginning and save yourself the headache/heartache.

Ok thankyou.
I'll make sure not to price too low.
When my website is ready I'll post it and you'll see my prices and I'll appreciate any feedback in reference to them.

 

[sarahlou06]

I walked past a hair salon the other day & saw a ridiculously cheap deal.

I actually thought, I'm not going there that looks a bit fishy to me.

You'll be a-ok

 

[Blue Rose]

Last year I changed business direction & went from having a high street salon to working from home.

On the plus side, I don't have the same level of overheads but then again not all of the clients followed so the turnover decreased too.

A plus side of having a prominent high street location is that you will get a lot of trade from passers by.

What you have to factor in when you work from home is that you won't get the passing trade so your advertising costs will be considerably more.

I still charge what I did when I had my salon. Not everyone has agreed with that & have found themselves somewhere cheaper. However, I've been doing this 20 years so clients are paying for my skill & expertise more than anything. Besides I have back problems so keeping my prices higher keeps me at a comfortable client level. I don't want to have to do several more clients per week for the same turnover.

What I find interesting though, now I don't have staff anymore (thank the Lord for that!!) most of the clients I do are the ones that have been coming in since the year dot

 

[Cheshire_Gal]

Thankyou.
Yes I do as I am OCD about cleaning so will be constantly having the washer and dryer on washing towels, etc and have my Guild insurance. I won't have business tax however as I have a sofa bed in my beauty room so I'm not changing the use completely to business. I do have very cheap rent, council tax and water however as I'm living in Military Quarters (My husbands in the Military). I've asked permission from them so it's all permitted too.
I think because of the above my prices should be a little cheaper than high street but I'm not going as cheap as the lady down the street because of all the previously mentioned reasons.

Lets be honest here, the reason your prices will be cheaper then the high street is to persuade (ie poach) clients from the high street. If you were the only beauty therapist in your town then your prices would be higher than what you are considering now. Why not try and build your business on quality of treatments and service instead of price.

 

[GlamMK]

People are not paying for the amount it cost you in products, they are paying for your skill and your time to use these products.

My friend mentioned I should charge less for shellac as I'm mobile and I shot her right down and said if I did that any special offers I do are going to leave me out of pocket! Work smarter, not harder. Charge your worth and once clients see how great your work is they will rebook regardless of cost x

Funny you should say that, I shellaced my friend's nails the other day and she showed her friend who told her that there are girls on FB who charge £20 as opposed to my £25 and I explained that I had trained in shellac and was told to charge a minimum of £25. I do charge £20 for parties though as it's a group booking.

 

[Lovebeauty14]

Lets be honest here, the reason your prices will be cheaper then the high street is to persuade (ie poach) clients from the high street. If you were the only beauty therapist in your town then your prices would be higher than what you are considering now. Why not try and build your business on quality of treatments and service instead of price.

I appreciate your feedback but I am being completely honest with everything I have said on this entire thread. I am not out to poach, just to start up a business from home with prices that are fair to the client and that will bring in a acceptable profit to myself and make a success of my business.
I am to give quality treatments using top quality brands, like I have previously mentioned, at a price that is reasonable and fair to the consumer.
The reason I started this thread was that I disagreed with someone in my area (actually just around the corner) pricing so low and was wondering if I'd be ok pricing my current prices that are more expensive than hers. I have no intention of being a bargain salon. That is not what I want at all.

Like I said, I had reasons why I thought I'd be better off being cheaper but I have been corrected, very kindly, as to why I may be wrong thinking that way.

 

[taggyboy]

Clients who hunt out the bargains, whether your mobile, work from home or a salon are really abusing you, your business, knowledge, skills and ethics. So if you undervalue yourself then they will never respect your business or you.

I'm not sure if you'll agree or disagree but this was from a client.

Makes you sit up and think!

 

[Lovebeauty14]

Clients who hunt out the bargains, whether your mobile, work from home or a salon are really abusing you, your business, knowledge, skills and ethics. So if you undervalue yourself then they will never respect your business or you.

I'm not sure if you'll agree or disagree but this was from a client.

Makes you sit up and think!

Yes that's true when you look at it that way!

 

[MissLB]

just going back to this whole mobile business, it really annoys me, i've only had one client complain about prices saying ur mobile you should charge less i charge middle rates about £25 for a set of acrylics, i got really annoyed and asked her why i should charge less, she actually couldnt answer me, its clearly something due to all the messers who arent qualified pretending to be qualified thats put this stigma on mobile techs, I also said im no different to a salon its just i bring the salon to you at a convenient time for you, actually if anything i should charge more! she then said i never thought about it like that, yeah u may have more overheads in salon/beauty room but thats not to say just because you see a mobile therapist the work is going to be any less then that of a salon.

 

[MisstyB]

I agree MissLB, mobile therapists have costs to, petrol, car insurance, you have to factor in the fact that you may spend 20mins travelling between clients, so can do less in a day, I am salon based and spent a long time trying to fix my prices right, I decided in the end to price up rather than down, 1) you can always do offers and discount schemes 2) I think that for me when I see something to cheap I automatically think that it cant be that good???? (why is this?!) 3) price at what you think you are worth, set the bar high and keep it there!
Good luck honey xxxx

 

[Geminikelli]

I charge less now I'm in a salon to when I was mobile. In my eyes somebody coming to you should be more expensive because of the convenience.

Say your £5 dearer then a salon for the client they may have to get a bus or drive and pay to park plus go out of there way to go to a salon so on the cost side your probably on par plus they don't have to leave home, get ready to go out, brave the weather etc.

In my ten years of mobile not one of my clients moaned about paying more and majority of them always said they would pay more die to the convenience of it.