In this wonderful industry, it can sometimes be hard for us to know your worth, value your time, our experience, knowledge, time and expertise as much as we value the physicality of the services we provide.
Value your time
There is an obvious, tangible value to a hair cut, manicure or facial but how do you justify to a client that you charge one price, yet another salon down the road is half the price? The reason is usually that the client is buying the years of experience and training that you’ve invested into yourself and your business. These things have all cost time and money and have made you the great professional that you are today and it’s easy to forget that there is a real, if not physical value to this! When you know your worth, no one can make you feel worthless.
Communication
But how do we translate this to our clients? There will always be a variety of salons in town but there is a place for everyone and we can all be great at what we do. It’s about finding what you do best, your niche, your speciality, your USP and capitalising on that. Invest in the products and support systems that are going to echo your outlook. They will be representing your brand as much as your staff, shopfront and customer service skills will so it’s important to choose companies who share your ideal. Are you going to be well supported by these brands? Will you receive training? Will you get rep visits? What are the profit margins? Will these systems save you time and money? These are all questions that you should be asking of your partners when you set up those relationships but also throughout the timespan of your business. We should constantly be reassessing if our clients needs are being met but also if our needs are being met by our suppliers. We need to always strive to be the best we can be and our clients will recognise these efforts. The ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude just doesn’t cut it in these competitive times and I’ve seen first-hand, that it can be the downfall of many a business.
Retailing
One of the biggest stumbling blocks in knowing your worth is retailing. Salons are often afraid of retailing because they are afraid of appearing pushy but how about if you flipped that sentiment around to ‘I’ve worked hard and earned great knowledge and as I care about my clients, I want to share that knowledge with them’? By demonstrating your expertise, your clients will see the value in what you’re saying. From that understanding will come retails sales without the client feeling ‘sold’ to.
Toxic Clients
Sometimes we hang onto toxic clients that are a drain on the salon because we don’t want to lose their custom. We all know those clients who can be rude to staff, who constantly no-show or cancel last minute and we must learn that it’s ok to let those clients go. I once worked in a salon where a male client was incredibly sexually inappropriate to me and the salon owner who was aware of what had happened, let him book back in as they didn’t want to lose him as a client. This is not acceptable! We have to ‘break up’ with these clients (and employers!) When you start seeing your worth, you’ll find it harder to stay around people who don’t.
To know your worth is to value yourself but also to value your clients. They come to see you for a reason and that’s a really special thing, don’t discredit yourself as you’re ultimately discrediting your clients.
Know your worth. Then add tax.
