Raising Your Prices in Your Shop? Yay or Nay?
We’re all about to do something we have been absolutely dreaming of for weeks, maybe even months—step back into the barbershops that the COVID-19 pandemic stole from us.
If you’re a barber, a shop owner, a manager, or play any important role in your barbershop, then you know how hard it’s been to be without it during the pandemic shutdowns. Now that the regulations are loosening up, the masks are going on and we’re all about to get down to barbering business.
But here’s the deal. We’re not stepping back into our shops and resuming business as usual—things are different now. We have more responsibilities, more guidelines to follow, stricter rules, and harsher restrictions. We’re likely not going to be able to profit from our business in the traditional “get as many people in during the day as possible.”
So, what can we do to boost our profits without putting our clients and staff at risk?
We have three magic words for you: raise your prices.
The Ultimate Question—Is Raising My Prices Really Worth It?
We can’t sit here and suggest that every barbershop out there should raise their prices right now. The fact of the matter is, we don’t know you, your shop, or the unique situation you’re in.
What we can do is offer a little insight to help guide you down the right path for deciding whether or not raising prices right now could help or hurt you.
If you find yourself unsure about how to answer that should we or shouldn’t we question, we advise reading through a few of these questions and answering them honestly. You’d be surprised how much they can help!
- Does my business really need this after the pandemic? The answer to this question might be a resounding yes. And if it is, that’s OK. That doesn’t mean you don’t run a solid shop or that your business is failing—we all just went through something incredibly abnormal, weird, and crushing.
- Am I comfortable doing this right now? Only you can answer this one, so be honest. Does this feel right to you?
- Will my customers be upset? This matters, but it’s not the end all be all. Sure, some customers are going to care, but if you’re open and honest with everyone—especially your regulars—you can bet that most of them will understand.
- What does my staff think? If you’re not sure, ask them! Your team is the heartbeat of the shop and they’ll have a solid opinion on this either way. Don’t be afraid to get their feedback. Ultimately, the decision is yours, but you should definitely see what they think first.
- Let’s check the data—what are the finances looking like? You know what they say, numbers don’t lie. If your books are telling you that you need more money and you’re limited on how many people you can bring in (because of the pandemic regulations), raising prices might be your only option.
Some Tiny Price Increase Options for Your Shop That Shouldn’t Scare Customers Away
A Teeny, Tiny (Well-Deserved) COVID-19 Fee
We’re not saying you need, like, hazard pay, but we definitely think that your new, enormous responsibilities (that go above and beyond the normal call of being a barber) should be compensated.
It makes sense, doesn’t it? You’ve always kept a clean, safe shop, but now you’ve got an insane sanitizing schedule for every object and surface in your space. You can’t overcrowd, you can’t leave people in your waiting room, and you can’t even hug the clients you love.
A tiny, little fee can help you cover some of the extra time you’re taking to keep your clients and staff super safe—it can even help cover some of the additional PPE and masks you’re likely providing for your staff and clients, too.
Nix Those Services That Don’t Serve You
We’re not calling any of your services useless—we’re just saying, you know there are some services you offer that aren’t exactly cash cows. If you have a few services that aren’t getting much traffic, aren’t profitable, and don’t bring in as much as you need right now, just nix them for the moment.
We’re not saying you have to cut them all together, but it could be helpful to trim a little fat during these leaner times without raising your prices on your clients suddenly.
Go for a General, Blanket Increase
If you’re ready to go for it, we say go all in for it. Implement a modest but blanket increase to your entire list of services. We’re not saying increase everything substantially, just put a little extra pricing cushion in each of your services to help boost your profits without making your clients bat an eye.
Raise your prices anywhere from $5-$15 to see a helpful, but modest, increase!
Overall, the best advice we can give to you if you’re planning to raise your prices is to be as open and direct with your clients as possible. Chances are, no client is going to be up in arms about you raising your prices if you explain it to them thoroughly.
Sure, some of your regulars might not be thrilled that there’s a change happening here, but if they love you and your services, they’ll understand that right now, it’s very necessary to salvage what you can to try to be profitable.
Have you already raised your prices in your barbershop? Are you seeing positive results and getting good feedback from your clients? If this sounds like you, then we want to hear it!
Drop a comment below and let us know what price raising strategy you took to help boost your profits and keep your customers happy!