Business Tips | Hair Stylist 101

It can be overwhelming at first when either starting a salon business or when you grow as a professional and need to take your prices to the next level. There are a few key points that can help make this process simple and create your own hairstylist rulebook. The main staples when pricing your services are going to be to create your base price according to your skill, offer more value to your services, continue to learn, become a specialist with the services you excel at, and offer rewards for clients who rebook future appointments and add value to your services as a professional. Please take note of this: having constant discounts is not the way to creating a loyal clientele base. Clients want the best stylist they can get and if you’re a professional who focuses on these main points your business is sure to flourish. 1. Create your base price When pricing your services it is important to know how to properly charge for the services you provide. As a hairstylist who takes pride in their craft, the last thing you want to do is start bad habits. The area you live in and the demographics will determine what the base price for your services should be. A great way to base your prices is to find the salons or studios that you look up to and that offer the same level of customer service and similar services. The intent is not to compete for clients but to keep prices for specific services the same that way people can expect to pay a certain price without asking for discounts and understand that the service is standard. When clients go shopping around for a stylist, they will feel inclined to compare your prices to another salon or other specialist and possibly say something along the lines like another salon would charge them much less. Your response when dealing with this type of client should be to tell them that is what the service cost and they can make their decision based on personality and consultation and not by price. It's true that everyone loves a discount but the reduction of prices not only makes you look desperate but it also does not feel good to perform them especially on someone who does not respect your price at first meeting. Nevertheless, making it an uncomfortable first impression. Also, if you have workers that work for you, they would probably not like to do the services for a reduced rate and feel like the clients will most likely only return for future discounts and will constantly ask for next offers to keep returning. These clients are also the worst to please because they will wear your patience out and nickel and dime you every time. Stand by your prices and let them know why you charge what you charge. If they choose to leave let them. No one wants to work on a person who does not respect you. Experience and skill will play a part in how much to charge. There will come a time in your career that you cannot afford to give discounts, your level of experience and skill is too great to reduce your services. You will sacrifice being overwhelmed and take on a new clientele that will only follow you because you have lowered your rates, thus making this a bad idea. Your current clients will also not appreciate that you can not fit them in because of your new busy schedule. There is a way to take care of people and my next tip will show you how. 2. Offer more value for your services Offering some extra value to your services can be a fantastic way to build a great clientele and give appreciation to your services without giving away discounts. Your clients will feel like they are getting a treat and can make them feel like they are saving money the same way a discount feels without lowering the base price for your services. Adding something of value creates a gift for the client and they appreciate it as such. You can give it to them as a complimentary and if they like it, it's something they might want in the future and won't mind paying for it because they know the value it has. a. Conditioning treatments Conditioning treatments are a great additive to giveaway as a treat during slow seasons to help draw new clients and treat current clients and make them feel special without giving away discounts. Conditioning treatments should also be services you offer but can be given away during seasonal periods to give back to clients. The goal is to make them feel like you care enough to give value away but also introduce new services as well. Having it seasonally of for a few days out of the month will bring revenue and make people want to seek you to get the value you offer. b. Pink extensions for breast cancer awareness We all know someone suffering from the dreaded monster that is cancer and we all wish we could do something to feel like we support. Giving away a human hairstreak of pink extensions in support of cancer is a way to not only show support by having a pink streak but it is something that you can give away as value and show support to clients as well. Additionally, they might like the color so much they just might want you to color their hair, in the same way, making it a upsell for a color service they wanted. c. Free haircuts for donations over 10 inches during breast cancer awareness month Clients will also feel compelled to donate their hair to the associations and feel great. A great idea to show support during cancer awareness month also is to give away free haircuts during certain days and times for donations over 10 inches. And offer double added value to clients under 10 inches to give away something as well for their generous donation as well but not for free. You must state 10 inches or over to not get swamped with giving away free haircuts. Since most companies require more than 10 inches, giving away a free cut for those specific clients will be most effective during these times. This is a win-win situation because clients will receive a new look and donating will feel gratifying as well. 3. Educate yourself and take workshops A great way to avoid having to give services as discounts are to keep yourself educated by attending seminars, workshops, and classes. Not only classes for hair styling but workshops that teach people skills that make them business professionals. There are so many classes that color companies offer just by having a business account and give monthly or quarterly classes for their salon accounts. These are great especially because they offer them for free just for being a great account. They will usually schedule classes at your convenience to help you and your staff learn how to properly mix color and introduce new products and new techniques by their top color specialist. This is a great thing to take advantage of especially during salon slow seasons. Classes are recommended to learn a new style or a new service and can be a great investment in your career. When you learn a new technique and or a new service this is the equivalent of a raise. With new techniques learned you instantly become certified with a new skill. A skill that demands a raise. When you invest in your craft and perform these new skills you are elevated to a new level. Mentorship programs are another great way to network and to keep you elevated as well In your career. When you surround yourself with other salon professionals who educate themselves and continue education your professionalism changes and people don’t expect discounts. They can feel your confidence as a stylist and they know you are a person who is an expert and they respect your prices. 4. Become a true specialist If there is a service you are great at or a service you are known for, it is imperative you promote your self for it. when you become a specialist your reputation speaks volumes and the referrals are great as well. One of the great reasons to become a specialist is that you can devote your undivided attention to your craft. There are many people that specialize in many different services. Being a color specialist allows you to concentrate on the client at hand and avoids having to juggle other services in between. Although it is true that doing both color and hair cuts and other services in a salon could be great, but the chance of clients asking for a package deal is more prominent. Salons that have specialists do great because each stylist works on the type of client they want and are able to give clients undivided attention which makes high paying clients appreciate this. Also, being a master haircutter or an extension specialist allows you to stay in your creative niche and people will seek you for the amazing haircuts and hair length transformations you do as well. These services are specialized and when you perfect them your reputation grows and clients flock to you. Having multiple specialists in salons provide individual services and makes the staff work in what they are good at making it a great environment for the stylist as well as the owner. Salons that run on volume are always struggling to stay on schedule and juggle too many tasks. You could have a client with color while taking a hair cut in between, and have a client getting a chemical treatment and squeeze other services in between. This type of work schedule can burn out a hairstylist and make for a stressful environment. 5. Educate clients and speak service talk Hairstylists are like therapists, doctors, confidants and can make you feel like family and friends. They can confide in you and become obsessed with the amazing way you make them look and feel. It is important you keep your professional level intact and always remain professional. When a hairstylist meets a client for the first time, the hairstylist should ask questions regarding hair related topics. Like previous services, hair history and the future goals of the client. It should never be a negative conversation disregarding the last stylist or start off with how you are a better stylist. Your work will speak for itself and your reputation will precede you. When consulting about color, you must listen and suggest accordingly. A lot of times clients will attempt to lie because they are embarrassed or they don’t want to tell you they colored their own hair or worse not tell you everything. As professionals, it is our duty to explain why it is very important to communicate effectively to be able to give them the results they want and or the reason why something can't be done. If dealing with a person who might not be telling the truth a patch test should be done to prove the assessment. Knowing how to do this is a skill because people don't want to be told no, and feel that because they are paying you, you need to listen to them. Indulging in gossip or getting too personal aside from hair related topics are not recommended either. To gossip about other stylist and or other people demotes your credibility and can make it hard for clients to respect your price increases. It is a fantastic feeling to enjoy what you do and have fun at work. It's great to offer a listening ear to clients and let them express themselves as well, but you as the professional should be able to defer them back and remain professional. When you overstep your boundaries and gossip along it makes for a slowing down of your work and busy stylist cannot afford to be distracted with this type of behavior. What you choose to talk about says a lot about you as well. When you keep conversations about yourself to a minimum and keep the conversations about hair health and hair related topics the client will actually want to be educated which makes for upselling so much easier. They will be so excited about the new extensions you know how to do, or that chemical treatment that works wonders. They will love coming to you because they trust you know how to take care of their hair and offer great things to make them look and feel great. After all, that is what we want to educate and to have the clients try great services. 6. Give rewards to great clients We all have those great clients we love who show up on time, who never get upset if we are running late and the ones who refer us to as many people as they know. Those are the people you want to grant rewards for. It does not mean to give them discounts but you can offer value to them as well. They are the clients you may want to try the new products on. Or the clients you may want to gift them an extra service like curls or a complimentary flatiron style. They will appreciate it and continue to be the amazing client they are. Another great thing to provide for them would be to give them a free service for their birthday and or special occasion. They will be so grateful because they know how much you appreciate them and their business and will continue to support you and your salon business as well. 7. Have clients participate in a free makeover giveaway Lastly, my top tip for creating services without having to discount services would be to have them participate in a total salon, makeover with your top services. this will be a great incentive to get new clients and to keep great rapport with current clients. Everyone loves the idea of winning a makeover and feeling like they got pampered for free. It can be something they can use for themselves or someone else they feel deserving. Which is great if they pass it along because you will now have made a new client in the process. This is a great way for people to see that you give value away. The incentive is to always make people think they are getting more for what they are paying for. I personally love to see the looks on the winning person and to have them feel so excited to receive what great service you provide. The type of clientele you will get from these top tips will create an abundance of revenue along with a well-respected staff and make for working in this career very gratifying. Your hairstylist will love working for you. Your clients will refer you and new clients will follow.