A letter to a salon owner from the archives of Alan’s original hair salon website while still running his salons.
How much is too much for a haircut… or too little.
“That will be £9.00 please for your Cut and Blow please”…. come on are you serious.
Sadly some are serious and that’s the price.
What I am not going to do is sit here and tell you how you should or should not price your Salon but I want you to give it some thought.
It’s the 21st Century and we are Professionals regardless of what people think about hairdressing.
I find it incredible in this day and age how we still vary so much in pricing our services. Prices can vary in Britain from massive extremes from less than £10.00 up to hundreds of pounds.
“Call out a plumber to fix the leaking sink and I guarantee that will be at least £50. just for turning up… at least and that’s for 20minutes work”
How much are you worth as a stylist and a salon owner?
The way you structure your salon pricing tells your client a lot about you, you are in a roundabout way telling your client how much you value your work and what your own personal value is in relation to your work… even if you don’t think that… they do.
Would you rather be on £3.00 per hour or £50.00 an hour?
The answer is obvious but you do need to present value with your work to be able to do it. The value may come through extra training you have or even associating with a good organization that can help and guide you to build a more professional salon business.
Do not undercut yourself we are skilled trained, professional workers and we can be some of the highest paid workers undercutting our skills.
It’s only after 18 years of experience for me that I feel my work is coming through better than ever. 18 years is a lot of training I currently charge £45.00 at my top end for a cut and finish…and I feel it’s not enough. The client always thinks it’s too much but guess what …they always come back 🙂 ( in 1989 I charged £6.95).
Look at Nicki Clarke and other high-profile Stylists and what they now charge… ok we maybe cannot charge the same where we are in our towns but ask yourself this… is there room for an increase?. They have been called by some Hairdressers… not me.
“The fact is clients perceive that the higher the price…the higher the quality”
Here are some points to consider;
- the price you charge affects the following
- your wage.
- Clients perception of quality.
- Other salons view of your salon as a quality salon.
- Your lifestyle.
- And much, much more
Let’s face it we know if we are producing quality work or not…if you are, do you get fed up with Clients coming to you to be “sorted out” because another salon has made a mess of their hair.
How do you then feel when they tell you they have paid someone twice your price to make a mess of it…gutted.
So if they are willing to pay them twice your price yet they still return to you…you know what to do.
Remember you are worth what you charge, give it some thought.
Alan
From Alan’s archives