Have you been at the same prices in the salon for a long while? Are your thinking about potentially increasing your prices? Does the thought of increasing your prices give you anxiety? If so then this episode is definitely for you!

Raising your prices can make or break your business and it is critical to know exactly when to increase your prices so that you can keep your guests, increase your income, and live a life you love. 

What most hairstylists do when it comes time to assess their prices is look to other salons and see what they are charging. Or even worse just use a finger in the wind estimate of what their prices should be. 

Sadly this is the exact opposite way you should be analyzing your prices. It does not have to be overwhelming and scary though…

I and my special guest today have successfully increased our prices over the course of a 20 year career and in this episode we will share with you the ins and outs of raising your prices so that you don’t ”lose” customers, can finally charge what you are worth, and create an income and life you love. 

Let’s get started…

First I want to introduce to you Alexander Healey, You guys, Alex and I have known each other since high school and went through beauty school and teachers training together. 

1. I totally get that the very thought of raising your prices can be quite scary and overwhelming. You may be thinking “will I lose customers?” Or “How do I tell people?” Or even “Am I worthy of an increase?”
2. Reality is that yearly price inflation happens on everything from a gallon of milk to the car detailer. Postponing will only bring you further from your success goals.
3. My bet is that you haven’t increased your prices in a long time and you are overdue. I’m also going to bet that your skill level has increased over that period of time through either education or hands-on experience. And you’ve invested $
4. If you’ve met the high expectations of customers who are now looking for way more than just a traditional service experience… You are totally worthy of a price increase.
5. If you are booked out weeks in advance or are 80% booked consistently… You are due!
6. Don’t stress over things. You will lose 10% of your customer base every year and chances are you’ll increase your prices enough to more than compensate for any lost customers. 
7. Set a date and stick with it. Right before the holiday is a great time to do it as people are used to spending more money during that time and the likelihood of them leaving is slim right before the holiday. Honestly thought if you are overbooked and under charging, you should just do it sooner rather than later.  
8. Know your service times as you should be basing your prices on time. 
9. Next, how much do you want to make an hour (never compare your prices to other people, do what works for you) Break it down to the minute. 
10. Add on the cost of product for that service
11. Should you let your clients know? This is controversial but I dont alert them. Do you get alerted when a gallon of milk rises in cost? Or when gas goes up? NO! 
    1. Just be sure to communicate all of the education you’ve gotten during their next visit so that when they do go up front they will associate and understand the value you provide. 
    2. If they have a hard time with it upfront then honor old prices only for that visit and say next time it will be the new prices. If it doesn’t work for their beauty budget refer them to someone else in the salon who costs less. This makes room for those that are willing to pay what you are worth. 

Now if you want a handy calculator that will assist you in the process you can head over to www.gartnerjames.com/hairstylistgrowth and join the HGA Course where you not only learn how to become part of the top 5% of hairstylists but you also get a calculator tool that will assist you in determining what you should be charging to the minute so you know exactly what to charge based on the time it takes you to do a service. Its awesome you can let the calculator know how much you want to make in a year and it auto populates what you should charge by the hour and minute. Go check it out! 

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