Wednesday Wink - Know Your Worth: How and When to Raise Your Prices

Posted by Maryann Matykowski on August 24, 2016

3 Comments

Time to Raise your Prices?

So many salon professionals struggle with how and when to raise their prices. We all know we deserve to make a decent wage, but have a hard time justifying this to themselves and their clients. We are sensitive, artistic and people-pleasers by nature. This can be a challenge to even the savviest business person. What If?? What if I lose clients? What if my clients get mad at me? What if they want to be Grandfathered in to your old pricing? What if the economy isn’t very good, is this the right time to do this? The, “What If’s” can drive you crazy.

Ask Yourself a Few Questions

Before you can decide if now is the right time to raise your prices, you need to ask a few questions:

• Are your services on point?
• Are you using quality products?
• Are you using your time wisely?
• Are you pre-booked at 60% of your schedule?
• Are you 80% booked each month?

If you answered yes to these questions, you are in position to raise your prices. Now remember this formula is very important. You want to have a cushion for any fall out from price increases. You will lose a few clients. There are some who will price shop, there will be those who may be just on the edge not being able to justify the expense due to the economic situation they are personally in. This should not deter you from raising your prices. Do your homework and see what other successful salon professionals in “your area” are charging to assess where you fall here. You don’t want to over-price or under-price your services. I raised my prices by $5.00 per service twice last year. My client’s comments were something like this:

You were so cheap; I’m surprised you took so long. You’re worth the increase. Others charge so much more.

Now, don’t do this unless you are pre-booked 60% at the beginning of each month for 4-5 months straight. Once you have established this is a trend, not an anomaly, you can go forward confidently. Yes, you will have a few clients drop off, but this will make way for new clients to schedule with you. These new clients will never know you had prices that were lower. Your seasoned clients will respect you for charging what you are worth.