Would you lower your prices

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sarasparkles201

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
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Location
Falkirk,Scotland
Hi Geeks just a question really would you consider lowering your prices to get more bookings?

There are so many techs in my area doing things cheaper including shellac for £10 know i now people will go there just for the bargain but they will keep going back because it is cheap.

So how do you tempt the bargain hunters to go to you instead of the cheaper option?

I had someone emailing me last night want pink rockstar toes, she had even emailed me another techs work!!

She made the appointment then emailed me and cancelled this morning so im guessing she was price checking with other techs?

Just a bit annoying but i can say when i start offering shellac and minx it will not be for £10!!!:p
 
Hi there

I would stick as you are. Shellac is not a cheap service and its high end, if you believe in Shellac and your service your offering, stick to your prices!

Do you want clients that are a after a cheap and cheerful service? What are you after as a business?

Maybe you could introduce a offer for Shellac...maybe Shellac Manicure and get a Shellac Pedicure half price or 10% off the Pedicure?

xx
 
This is going on a bit where I am too. I refuse to lower my prices! I maintain that I am offering a professional, top quality service any my prices reflect this. Some of my clients have pointed out you can get shellac cheaper in town but they don't go there. It is a difficult one, but I have found sticking to my guns works for me.
 
So how do you tempt the bargain hunters to go to you instead of the cheaper option?
Well, it's actually quite simple... you don't!

Bargain hunters are not loyal clients, people who just want something done on the cheap are not the sort of people who will give you a regular, 'safe' working income.

Whether or not you want them on your books to make up numbers and fill empty slots is up to you, but you won't be able to depend on them because, being the fickle characters that they are, they'll move on as soon as the next lower priced person pops up and then where will you be..... lowering further to compete again? Me thinks not :)

Work smart, attract the best clients. Don't run yourself into the ground for nothing ;)
 
As Linzi says, the type of clients who search out groupon deals are not the type of clients who are going to become regular clients, they're always on the lookout for the next cheap thing.
 
Thanks geeks for all your replies i will be offering Shellac and Minx from June as that is my official start date but i have been offering nails in the run up to it so i get my name out there.

I am looking forward to running a nail business i know it will take time to build up a client base i am hoping to work from home and mobile .

If you were to go into old peoples homes to offer shellac would you discount the service or charge your usual price?:D
 
In a word: no. x
 
Thank you all for your replies it reinforces what i was thinking i might want the business but not that sort of buisness x:p
 
There is a lot of people offering shellac but don't have a clue about how it works and clients nails ate not lasting longer than a week, it's mainly the people offering it at cheap prices that's happening. I wouldnt worry clients will soon come to you! I bought an apple computer yesterday and I have an I phone both times I have been told that apple set a rrp for everyone selling brand new apple equipment and companies are not allowed to discount it think Cnd should do something like this!
 
There is a lot of people offering shellac but don't have a clue about how it works and clients nails ate not lasting longer than a week, it's mainly the people offering it at cheap prices that's happening. I wouldnt worry clients will soon come to you! I bought an apple computer yesterday and I have an I phone both times I have been told that apple set a rrp for everyone selling brand new apple equipment and companies are not allowed to discount it think Cnd should do something like this!

Fairly sure this is now illegal! Price fixing! None of our hair suppliers are allowed to give us RRP list now.
 
I have always been a firm believer in sticking to your prices because Shellac is a premium service and you should therefore charge accordingly. However, lately I too have been wondering if I should go lower. I do this in my spare time alongside my full time day job because I love it, but so far this year I have been really struggling to get clients. Even my regulars no longer come to me. So many places are advertising Shellac and Minx a lot cheaper than i do and lots of people enquiring end up telling me that they've had a cheaper quote from X place.

For now I am going to stick with my guns and hope that my higher price (which actually is not high at all!) will eventually attract the right sort of loyal clients that I am after.
 
When I did my training we were told £25 was the recommended price. As I work from home I decided to charge £20 and a ring round soon told me this was quite high for my area. In my area Shellac starts at £8 and top is £26.

I ran an initial offer but as soon as my offer closed my appointments dropped off. I have dropped the price to £16 as several of my clients have had it done for this price in a local salon and it stayed on 3 weeks, and they politely and not unkindly wanted to know why mine was £20 working from home with no overheads.

Anyway basically I matched it and now those clients are mine (cos they like me best lol) and every person who phones to ask the price, then books. And comes back. And recommends me. And sometimes has a spray tan. And recommends me for acrylics too, etc etc

In theory I would love to have held out for £25, or at least £20. But in practice, well, I didn't spend hundreds on a course and products only to sit here and have no Shellac customers, so while I agree that you should "charge your worth", your "worth" is what someone is prepared to pay, and I'd rather be working than not.

I think it's largely down to area as well, we are swamped in my area with beauty/nail/hair shops, plus mobiles, and it has made things very competitive.

Since dropping my prices I have lots more clients. The crazy thing is some clients give me £20 and say "keep the change" lol!

So while saying "don't drop your prices" and "you are worth more" sounds great and in an ideal world I would like to agree, it doesn't pay the bills. If you sit there with your higher price list and no clients, well that ain't great. It's fine if your area supports the prices. Mine doesn't and you have to know your area.
 
No i wouldn't lower my prices to ridiculous levels, if i felt my work was worth paying the money for!! How could you afford to cover expenses and make a profit, if you only charged £10? Maybe I am just stubborn but I'd hold out and wait for the clients to come
 
No i wouldn't lower my prices to ridiculous levels, if i felt my work was worth paying the money for!! How could you afford to cover expenses and make a profit, if you only charged £10? Maybe I am just stubborn but I'd hold out and wait for the clients to come

I don't understand how anyone is makeing a profit from charging £10 either, i wouldn't bother for that.
 
Well, it's actually quite simple... you don't!

Bargain hunters are not loyal clients, people who just want something done on the cheap are not the sort of people who will give you a regular, 'safe' working income.

Whether or not you want them on your books to make up numbers and fill empty slots is up to you, but you won't be able to depend on them because, being the fickle characters that they are, they'll move on as soon as the next lower priced person pops up and then where will you be..... lowering further to compete again? Me thinks not :)

Work smart, attract the best clients. Don't run yourself into the ground for nothing ;)

Amen to that. Perfectly put.
 
I thought I'd add that this Sunday, just before midnight I got a text saying they had seen my website and wanted semi perm individual eyelash extensions and asked how much they were. Now I should have ignored it, but I was relaxed after a nice day, even though I had been working. My prices are clearly on my website so I text her the prices. I then got a text saying she had been quoted £15!!

Now this wound me up so I ignored her and about 10 minutes later she sent another text with a question mark!!!! By now I had lost my relaxed state and text her that I was a professional, fully qualified and insured who only used the finest products and that if she could get her eyelashes done for £15 then good luck but you get what you pay for!! :twisted: :D

I didn't get a reply and I did think about sending her a question mark!!
 
i would definitely not lower my prices for anyone!! in fact i was thinking of upping them!!i know for a fact that although i offer"the same treatment" as salons and mobile techs local to me they are not the same treatment. I have had my nails and treatment done locally so i know the difference and know that i offer that bit more not just in the way i do the treatment but in the aftercare.

i had my nails done for a party (party was on a sat) had them done on the wed and i broke one. i called the salon to ask about repairing 1 nail and she said next tues!!! i would never let a client go out with one nail broken!!! anyway by tues another 3 had broken so i just took them off myself.

a client that went to that salon kept losing her nails (bio sculpture overlays) so the tech used primer to try and keep them on instead of finding out what the problem was. same client came to me and first time i did them she was going on holiday, they stayed on for nearly 4 weeks!!!

you get what you pay for.........you cant charge less than 20 and make a decent profit, unless you are happy with minimum wage whereby you may as well go and work for someone else!!!
 
Fairly sure this is now illegal! Price fixing! None of our hair suppliers are allowed to give us RRP list now.

Sorry, for being a dumb arse I forgot this part.
 
Thank you all very much for your input on this.

I do not think my prices are to high i checked with local salons and they £10 more then me on some of the nail services.

When i looked last night yes plenty of cheap offers going, but i must say i even saw some nails that if im honest i would not put my name to, and the only word to describe them would be duck!

Mine may not be fantastic and spot on perfect but i know they are damn good nails and ive never had a complaint from the nails ive done.

I shall keep my prices as they are and be adding my Minx and Shellac in June x:D
 
Thank you all very much for your input on this.

I do not think my prices are to high i checked with local salons and they £10 more then me on some of the nail services.

When i looked last night yes plenty of cheap offers going, but i must say i even saw some nails that if im honest i would not put my name to, and the only word to describe them would be duck!

Mine may not be fantastic and spot on perfect but i know they are damn good nails and ive never had a complaint from the nails ive done.

I shall keep my prices as they are and be adding my Minx and Shellac in June x:D

Crikey hun if you've got salons charging £10 more, I certainly wouldn't drop yours any more
Good luck with the Minx and Shellac too x
 

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