3 mins
THE FACES
What Would Clive Collins do?
HOB Salons director Clive Collins on increasing your prices to know your worth
Pricing has been an issue for hairdressers and salons over the years, and they have always been reluctant to raise prices because they are scared and embarrassed to charge what they are worth. Client reaction has been a big factor in not raising prices, but it’s time we charge what our service and expertise is worth.
At HOB Salons, we do what we call the £1 test: for every pound we take in our tills, 90p is going out, leaving 10p as profit before we pay corporation tax. In the good old days, we used to see between 20 per cent to 25 per cent profit.
However, there are now increases in rents, rates, minimum wage, living wage, pensions, products, stock, energy and so on. We also have to pay 20 per cent VAT along with other costs which is very challenging for a serviceled industry. So there are many salons that will not survive unless we all, as an industry, start to charge proper prices for the services we offer. Now is the time to raise your prices along with being valued by all our clients.
In today’s ever-changing world hairdressers need to know what they are really worth and above all be appreciated for their skill set and expertise. We have all gone through rigorous training to ensure our skills and standards are high and we should be charging for that.
The last time we increased our prices was in October. We usually have a price increase at the start of the year, but we felt before Christmas was a better time and we will now be doing this every year. We put our prices up for all of our services. So a cut-and-blow-dry and just a blow-dry went up by 5 per cent and all colour services went up between 7 per cent and 10 per cent. Colour had to go up by this amount due to our product partner increasing its prices three times in 18 months.
We’ve had a good reaction from clients and many were not surprised, as everything else had gone up and the extra price was worth the service they receive. We gave them plenty of notice and each client was sent an email. This was really important to avoid any backlash and we’ve not had any complaints. The teams are over the moon as it has made them feel valued and appreciated. Also, it’s an instant pay rise – especially for those on commission. @hob_salons
WHAT MADE ME
JOE POMPER
MURDOCK LONDON @murdocklondon
I recently found out that one of my longstanding clients, someone I’ve seen every month for eight years, had passed away. It completely shocked me. I loved him being in store, he always had me in fits of laughter and had some crazy stories.
I got in touch with his wife, who I’d only met once before, and she told me how much her husband loved coming to visit me. They planned days out around his haircut, and that he always reported back to her about whatever was going on in my life. She shared that they would often laugh about his first post-lockdown visit and his ‘mad hair’ and how he’d been counting down the days to come and see me.
She felt like she knew me, despite only a brief encounter some years earlier. It left me feeling very emotional that I had that sort of impact on someone’s life. I’ve always known of the importance that a barber or hairdresser plays in society, the lend-an-ear type that you become. But hearing first-hand how you’ve positively impacted someone’s life is truly humbling and makes your career somewhat validated. We don’t always realise the impact we have on people: it’s more than just a haircut, it’s a relationship. And it's one that I will never take for granted.