5 Genius Pricing Ideas Every Stylist Should Know
How To Treat Your Time As “Real Estate” + Properly Charge For Salon Services
“Your time available is your real estate,” shared Rochelle Golden (@rochellegoldenhairstylist) in a recent Instagram post. “Every time slot you have is for sale.” Genius, right?! That’s why we’re breaking down five pricing and scheduling ideas to help you maximize time and money in a COVID-19 world. Keep scrollin’ for helpful tips, take notes and always charge what your worth! Hint: It’s a lot! 😉
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1. Consider Expanding Your Service Menu
Are you properly booking (and charging for!) every service that makes up your appointments? For example, when you book out a full highlight, you need to consider add-ons, shadow roots and extra foiling time—THIS is your real estate! At Rochelle’s salon House Of Gold, here is a breakdown of additional costs that are often paired with highlights.
- Shadow Root = 30 additional minutes of real estate (95% of clients).
- Tipping Out The Ends = 30 additional minutes of real estate.
- Extra Foils For Bright Results = 60 additional minutes of real estate.
What Does This Mean?
“So what I used to schedule two hours for is now easily taking me three precious hours of real estate within my day,” shares Rochelle. “So why can’t we create a full service for three hours, pricing it exactly where it needs to be to ensure your time is fully profitable?”
2. COVID-19 Guidelines: When You Can’t Double Book
Look at your schedule like Tetris, recommends Rochelle. Here’s what this means: Let’s say you work from 9AM to 6PM. Save three hours of your day for maintenance-based appointments, The rest of your real estate should available for larger moneymaking services.
Do you have a salon assistant? This is the perfect time to give them your maintenance appointments—root retouches, glosses, deep conditioners, etc.—to save you time, suggests Rochelle. Depending on your demand, this will save real estate for bigger appointments.
3. Pricing Roadmap: Client-Friendly Communication Idea
Let’s talk about pricing transparency! Chicago stylist Sabrina Yamani Yamga (@sabrinathehairwitch) shares IG posts that break down her color transformations into a comprehensive visual for clients. These social-friendly diagrams manage client expectations and explain what each individual service costs, what’s included and the total cost.
But remember when you’re sharing quotes online to remind clients that everyone has a different starting point so prices will vary!
Peep Sabrina’s Pricing Breakdown Below!
4. Know Your Worth—And Charge Accordingly!
Ask yourself, would you make more money doing four back-to-back haircuts than a four-hour color appointment? If so, it may be time to reevaluate your current color pricing structure. Here are a few things to keep in mind from Mick Lewis (@hairbymickk):
Start by looking at what you charge for a haircut. For Example: Mick charges $100 for a haircut that typically takes 60 minutes. Let’s say Mick books four back-to-back haircuts and makes a total of $400. If he books a four-hour color appointment, he should never make less than he would doing haircuts during that time slot, so $400 minimum.
Also, keep in mind that color appointments require more product than haircuts. So a four-hour appointment with Mick starts at $425 and typically lands between $450 to $475.
Is It Time To Raise Your Prices?
We LOVE this post by @hairbymickk explaining to his clients why his prices have gone up over the years—communication is KEY! If you’re investing time and money into ongoing education, you are able to provide your clients with better techniques to reach their hair goals. “Price raises for people in the service industry are like annual raises for people not in the service industry,” shares Mick.
Check Out Mick’s Post & Read The Caption!
5. Book The “Outer Corners” First
Try using a scheduling method that books the first available and last available appointments FIRST, suggests Rochelle. This prevents dead space, ensures that all real estate is accounted for and saves time to book longer appointments.
“We’ve got time for sale—we can’t waste it by putting Betty at 12:30pm,” shares Rochelle. “Offer her your first and last available. Doesn’t work? Give her three hours after your first to save room for a large appointment!”
