If you live in Florida, you received an email from our Governor about the bylaws for our Industry changing, effective July 1st.
What I learned at our recent show in Orlando, Mississippi is changing its bylaws effective July 1st, as well. My guess is, there may be many others, if not all States.
This started me thinking about a couple of Technicians I am currently mentoring. We are specifically working on their service menus. What to offer and how much to charge.
Is it time for your to renew your menu?
As I said in one of my recent classes. A client comes in for an hour long service. The manicuring of their toenails and/or the calluses on their feet are not worthy of an hour. It takes 15-30 minutes longer due to the amount of work needed.
We can’t just let them be. It is in our nature to restore, rejuvenate, revive our clients skin. Therefore, our 60 minute client turns into an hour and fifteen/twenty minutes.
The kicker is…we do the work, yet we don’t charge accordingly. By not charging, we are lowering our value.
Much of this comes from confidence. Some of it comes from fear. Some comes from poor communication skills.
However, I also feel it comes from how we word our service menus.
When given a choice, it is customary to choose the least expensive thing on the menu. I experienced this when I owned my Salon. Even using wording like “starting at”, doesn’t always help.
There has to be something we can do in an effort to always get paid our worth. Susi, our Centre for Beauty sub-distributor in California put it quite eloquently. When it comes to price charging…it isn’t I can’t….it’s I can’t “yet”.
I believe her statement, yet I also believe there is a way to charge our worth.
I was getting my car washed at my local car washing venue. I’ve been frequenting this establishment for too many years to count. Not much has really changed over the years. However, this one time, not too long ago I was looking up at their menu and a light went off in my head.
We need to write our menu like a carwash!
What are all the actions we do in our pedicure service?
- Cleanse
- Exfoliate
- Callus debridement
- Toenail debridement
- Mask
- Heated towels
- Polish
- Gel polish
- Toenail restoration
- Toe art
- Parafin
- etc. etc.
First we need to establish the basics. This is your decision.
I personally feel we go back to the basics of what the definition of a pedicure is; Cleans, manicure, massage.
Then you need to decide which service part of a pedicure is typical. This might look like mild callus debridement or possibly exfoliation.
You also need to decide what takes the most time. Severe callus debridement? Maybe toenail thickness reduction? Toenail restoration?
As you can see, you will have to have a heart to heart with yourself and separate every little detail. Polish or gel polish? Mask or heated towels? Paraffin or toe art?
Once you have determined what your pedicure might look like as far as specific actions you would like to perform……price them out. You can read about pricing in one of my previous blogs.
Now comes the menu;
The idea is the choice becomes based on what they need, not what they want.
It also guarantees you get paid for everything you do. It eliminates you feeling animosity and complaining about the client (cuz that’s what we do). It also eliminates the possibility of you running behind because each additional action takes more time.
With offering this type of service menu on your website, if the client doesn’t choose the proper service, it’s on them…not on you. You then can schedule them for what they need on their next appointment.
We have to be creative in how we can make our living. We know our pedicure services are essentials. Yet, many still look at a pedicure as a luxury. If that’s the case, give them what they pay for and no more. (of course, we always have those little extra added values which make them feel special)
Feel free to reach out if you would like me to assist you and creating your new menu. Happy to help!
You can also visit our website and read many, many archive blogs which I feel confident will help you in whatever journey you are on.
CJ Murray, President