Here’s a question that is often a tough one for us creative business owners to answer..
What is my service worth?
Have you ever struggled with answering this for yourself? I know I most certainly have in the past.
Over time, I have managed to become confident creating service pricing and talking about what I charge to clients.
Keep reading for my favourite actionable tips!
Do your research
Try Googling every local stylist near you, and see what they charge. Collate as much information as you can about this. Take a look at what the breakdown is like of prices for different services, what is included in this price - what are the travel costs, do they charge more for adding extensions or padding, are trials compulsory, are there a minimum number of styles created per booking?
Make it fair
Think about what is good and fair for you when pricing your service, as well as what is good and fair for your client. Offering a service for less than feels right for you is a breeding ground for resentment and less enjoyment of your job. We want to love what we do and create the opportunity for a fair exchange that feels good to both of us.
Factor in all costs, not just the service on the day
There are many elements that cost us money to service our clients needs. From website maintenance & costs, time that goes into creating and editing content used to inspire and educate prospective clients, the apps and data we use, time doing admin with emails and phone calls back and forth, cleaning equipment and packing our case, time and money maintaining your kit and replacing professional products, and fueling and servicing our car just to name a few. These puzzle pieces will eat into our profit really quickly if not considered when developing our pricing structure.
Test your pricing
The only way to get to the sweet spot with what to charge is by testing your pricing. By sweet spot I mean a transaction that is equally beneficial to you, and your client. By testing your pricing, I mean putting it out there and seeing what response you get. If you are inundated with more enquiries and bookings than you can handle, why not put your prices up. There’s no rule – you can decide to do this at any time.
Have confidence in yourself
And confidence in the offers you have created. Clients want to buy a service from a stylist who offers a quality experience and is confident in charging their fee for it. Make it a worthy exchange for both of you with no fear attached.
I trust you have found these thoughts around pricing useful, and they will help you move forward with the confidence to establish your own pricing that feels good for you.
You are here reading this and focusing on the growth of your business so believe me when I say you are worth every cent you charge and more.
TRUST YOUR GIFT OF HAIRSTYLING
For a step by step strategy for all things hairstyling business and styling hair - check out my online program Polished Skills!
Justine x