Had a talk with a booth renter last week that made me rethink my pricing

I was at Tanya's Cuts in Toledo doing some trim work and the girl renting a booth next to me mentioned she charges $35 for a full highlight. I almost dropped my comb. She said she keeps prices low to get people in the door, but she's been at it for two years and still can't cover her chair rental most months. She told me she feels stuck because her regulars expect that rate now. It hit me that I've been doing the same thing in a way - offering bundle deals that barely cover product cost just to keep clients happy. That conversation made me go home and recalculate my actual overhead for the first time in maybe 4 years. Has anyone else had to totally rework their price list after sitting down with the real numbers?

2 comments

2 Comments

black.laura1mo ago

Another angle here is that low pricing can actually scare off higher end clients who assume cheap means bad quality. That booth renter might be attracting the wrong crowd by accident. Have you noticed if your own bundle deals bring in clients who never book full price services?

aaron_wilson171mo ago

The "cheap means bad quality" thing hit me hard - I once accidentally scared off a client by charging less than what they paid at Supercuts, and I still cringe thinking about it.