Extracted from Getting Started in the Hair Extension Business by Diane Shawe
If your hair extension studio is a real under-cutter, care will have to be taken to keep costs as realistic as possible.
Don’t be shy when it comes to taking money for your services. Charge for the value of the benefits that you offer.
You must put a value on your services; look at your type of clientele, hair extension location, experience of employees, your clients’ needs and, the prices of the competition.
Price is sometimes seen as a sign of quality and value. Price can attract like-minded customers. They think that because your prices are high, the technician in your hair extension studio must be good. If your prices are high, it is important to promote to the high paying customers, the value of your service.
There are a lot of competitors, so low prices alone, might not be enough to keep the low paying customers coming back. Clients who look for bargains are not only looking for low prices, but they want to get great results too.
You must determine how much value you can offer. To be of value to clients, you must know what the clients’ needs are. Understand what benefits they wish to receive, what pain they want to relieve.
The benefits they want might be a quick service with no waiting, or it could be that they want an expert doing their hair. They might prefer certain products used on their hair, or to know that they can be squeezed in at short notice occasionally.
Their pain might be that they begrudge spending time on their hair, or that they loathe technicians who don’t listen to them. It might be that they just haven’t found the right retail products to use at home.
Profit margins will be low, so a lot of clients will have to go through the hair extension studio, just for you to be able to pay the overheads. It will most likely mean offering fewer services and probably, rushing clients through. Even the employees will have to be paid a low salary.
In some cases, this could mean that the employees are much less experienced than you may like. You really need to decide on what sort of employees you want in your hair extension studio. You will find that the best technicians won’t want to work in a cheap hair extensions studio. Not only would it hurt their reputations, but they wouldn’t work for a low salary.
Your clientele will most likely be bargain hunters who probably won’t spend on retail products either.
Charge by experience If your employees have exceptional skills or experience, you can charge more. If you promote these benefits well, you’ll find that clients don’t mind paying extra. A lot of clients don’t mind paying for the name, or the prestige.
Some hair extension studios charge by the experience of the hair technician performing the service. As employees reach certain levels of experience, they charge more. This seems to work very well for them.
The first ebook to advise you on 'What they don't tell you about Getting started in the hair extension business' by Diane Shawe.
Whether you are a beginner, been in business for a few years or want to explore how you can increase your annual turnover, this is an book designed to help you prepare yourself. A book for students, mobile hairdressers, professional hairdressers, beauticians, any one considering starting up in the hair business, hair consultants and specialist technicians. Useful for schools and colleges, private training schools and anyone currently running a hair and beauty business.
Also Author of 'How Hair Extensions are Sourced, Treated and Graded'