Hollie Powers talks money
By Kat Hill | 13 April 2018 | Expert Advice, Feature
Are you charging enough? Hollie Powers, beauty business expert and spa owner, shares some top tips…
Prices are one of the most overlooked elements of creating a menu within a salon – and sadly, far too many people price too low to attract new customers. Low, bargain prices will probably, initially, fill the diary but it’s not a good strategy long term. When you start to increase prices, you’ll lose those customers and customers looking for a more upmarket experience may view you as a cheaper salon.
You are selling your time and skills – not just the cost of a polish application. Value what you have worked hard to build and price yourself accordingly.
It is absolutely vital that everything is considered when looking at your outgoings v.s. your incomings. It’s all too easy to forget certain costs, but to fully understand the outgoings of the business, absolutely everything must be considered; everything from rent, maintenance costs, staffing, products, supplies, heating, electricity, electrics, taxes all the way down the bag of sugar used to put into your client’s coffee.
Try working out the costs over a one-week period. Calculate how many hours your business operates for each week – this is how many technicians are available for hourly bookings across the weekly period. For example, if you have two nail techs working 35 hours per week, plus 10 hours yourself, you have 80 hours per week to take bookings. If your business costs £800 per week, then it costs £10 per working hour. That means you need to cover that cost in every treatment before you can begin to make a profit.
As costs rise, so should our services. When a client visits, we are selling our whole environment and a professional service. Value who you are and your skills by pricing yourself accordingly. Start your calculations and work out how much you will be increasing everything by; 5-10% is standard. Be sure to get all new marketing material pre-printed so as not to confuse people and make the pricing change simple and clear.