12 Tips to Help You Boost Your Salon Prices without Chasing People Away
As the national economy threatens to contract, you may wonder what you can do to ensure your salon survives and thrives. You may need to increase your salon prices, but how can you do this without losing clients? Here are 12 tips to help you succeed with your customer retention.
1. Have a Sense of Realism
Hair salon prices are not spared from any cost-of-living squeeze, and unfortunately, some customer habits change as the pressure continues. At some stage, a price increase becomes almost inevitable. But remember, your consumers are realistic, and as long as you give legitimate reasons and provide good value, 'secrets' may not be quite as disastrous as you fear.
2. Understand the Value of Experience
Remember that people come to your salon for an experience just as much as the end result. Consequently, price may not be at the top of their list of concerns and other factors may be of equal or even greater value.
3. Work with Your Breakeven Costs
As you grow your case for a price rise, understand what it takes for you to break even and why you always need to be realistic. Many of these costs are inevitable and will occur whether you open the doors or not. Others may be variable and depend on the number of procedures and your need to retain a minimum level of stock. Either way, be particularly clear about your costs so you know how much it costs to keep the lights on. Then, when you have the total, you’ll figure out how many clients you need to break even and compare that figure to your records from last month.
4. Move with the Times
You may have some pricing figures in your mind based on prior experience or even tradition. You may think that you should only charge a certain amount for a particular service, but the reality is that your costs may dictate otherwise. So, don’t live in the past, but determine how much you and your business are worth and set your prices accordingly.
5. Be Critical about Your Offerings
Of course, you must ensure that your business stands up to scrutiny and that you provide a service that’s worth the cost. Be critical about the guest experience and take into account any feedback so you can make alterations and always improve. As you assess what you offer, remember longevity. If you have been in business for so many years and you and your staff provide a great experience, those factors by themselves have their own worth.
6. Review Staff Performance
Next, be critical of your staff's performance. In short, each person has to carry their weight and be worthy of their price tag. Do they have regular clients, and are they booked for the majority of their time? Are they able to offer a wide variety of services so that they never experience too much downtime?
If some of your staff members are underutilised but have the capability, devise a plan. Try to get new clients and fill in those gaps so your salon is ticking over like a well-oiled machine.
7. Add Perceived Value
It may be possible for you to add perceived value rather than simply increasing the price. For example, you may be able to offer a complimentary 'add-on' for a limited time soon after you announce a price hike. This could help remove some of the pain from a price increase and make the client feel that they are getting something extra on top.
8. Create Inclusive Products
It may also be easier to hide an overall price increase by packaging different products and services together. Again, you need to work carefully with your raw costs, but if you can package several popular services together at a discount, you may be able to persuade people to buy, even at a newly increased rate.
9. Communicate Your Reasons
Whatever you do, don’t just push through a price rise and say nothing about it. The key is to be transparent and to communicate the reasons behind your increase, especially with your regular clientele. Write your clients an email to explain your reasoning. Don’t ask them for their permission before you make a price rise, but be honest and give sufficient notice. Most people will be understanding and fair, and you’re far less likely to lose any clients this way.
10. Field Any Questions
Some customers may have questions, and you should be prepared to field them and give your answers. Again, don’t be distant as soon as you schedule a price rise as if it may have something to hide. Take the time to check with your clients as you keep control of the entire process, and your customers will appreciate you for doing so.
11. Set a Price Review Anniversary
It’s a good idea to consider your salon prices every year, so why not set an anniversary date right now? Some people try to put any price increase off as long as possible, but this may often come back to bite them. In this case, they may have to make quite a large increase simply to catch up. If they had reviewed their prices annually instead, many people would not notice the difference.
12. Stand Your Ground
Lastly, don’t apologise too much for any price increase. Set out your stall and be confident. Then, stand your ground and ensure that you always provide a high-quality service worth more than the money you charge.
Consider the Scale of Your Risk As Well
And when you review all your costs so you have a benchmark to start with, look closely at your exposure and risk. Do you have enough salon insurance in place if something goes wrong? Do you need additional insurance products as you expand your offerings and grow your business? If you’re not sure, talk with the experts at Salonsure, and we’ll give you some valuable advice.