Unsure Of How to Raise Your Beauty Pro Pricing to Combat Inflation? Here’s What to Do!
Life as a beauty pro can be pretty grand. Not only do you get to pursue your passion, but you also get to help people feel more confident and better about themselves. It’s a win-win for both you and your clients.
It’s also hard work. The path to success can be long and arduous, from getting the proper education and training to securing a job or opening your own salon, spa, or shop. Throw in factors outside of your control, and living your dream as a beauty pro can be as challenging as it is rewarding.
Recently, inflation has been trending in a troublesome direction, making it tougher to make a living and grow your beauty pro business. While the effects of rising inflation are apparent in nearly every aspect of business, they are particularly potent in the areas of rent and product pricing.
Inflation is a Problem for Beauty Pros
As a business, price increases to essential elements of your work can create serious problems. Not only are you trying to make a living and run a successful shop, but you more than likely have others reliant on your ability to do so. From your family to your fellow beauty pros who share your shop, there’s a lot riding on your ability to thrive financially, both now and in the future.
With the cost of things like rent, food, and utilities skyrocketing (and your earnings struggling to keep up), it can be a scary time to be a beauty pro. Rather than hiking the prices of your products and services dramatically to make up the difference, consider the following steps you can take to combat inflation.
There may not be a one-size-fits-all solution to the strain you’re facing, but the ideas below should help you navigate these trying times.
How Beauty Pros Can Fight Inflation
It can be tempting to put your head down and weather the storm. After all, this technique has worked for businesses—especially salons—in the past. However, inflation has been particularly aggressive in recent years, making the “wait and see” tactic less effective than it may have been in decades prior.
Instead, we recommend taking a more active approach that not only helps your beauty pro business now but also sets it up for a healthier, more successful future.
Reevaluate Your Budget
One of the simplest and most effective steps you can take to counteract rising costs is to examine your monthly budget. This means evaluating everything from your profit and loss statement to your regular expenses. Look for any areas where you can eliminate unnecessary expenses, then do exactly that.
You’ll be surprised how quickly those seemingly innocuous expenses add up, especially when inflation has impacted them, as well. With a little work and an aggressive approach to cutting expenses, you can regain a significant amount of monthly cash flow.
Waste Not, Want Not
The old adage of “waste not, want not” may sound overly simplistic, but it holds true. With inflation affecting the cost of everything from the electricity keeping the lights in your shop on to the products you use each time a client is in your chair, conserving your resources can make a massive difference in your budget.
We aren’t advocating for being stingy; rather, we’re encouraging you to be thoughtful with how you (and others who work in your shop) use important resources. Wasted product translates to wasted money, as does water left running, time spent unproductively, and so on. If you want to ensure the best outcomes in the face of inflation, concentrate on making the most of everything you have and do.
Raise Prices (and Be Transparent)
Unfortunately, raising prices has become common. It’s simply the reality of trying to keep pace with inflation, even when you wish it wasn’t. When net profit is essential to virtually every aspect of your beauty pro business—from growth opportunities to paychecks—increasing prices is unavoidable.
That being said, there are better ways than others to go about upping your prices. After all, most clients will not be happy about higher prices (and who can blame them?). When raising your prices, don’t apologize, but do educate. Be transparent, straightforward, and steadfast. While some clients may overreact, the majority will understand and continue to support you if their means allow.
Inflation rates have created a trying climate for beauty pros, but they don’t have to dictate your success. By taking the right steps to combat it, your salon, spa, or shop can continue to thrive financially now and well into the future.
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