When you know how much you’re worth. You’ll stop giving people discounts. -- Helen Keller
It’s officially Holiday Season. Right now most nail techs are about to head into the thick of it. We know the nail industry is seasonal. Let’s be smart and tap into the massive potential the holidays can bring to your bottom line. This is the time of the year where a nail pro can, quite honestly, make a ton of money. In this post, we highlight where all nail pros (new and seasoned) can carve out increased earning opportunities. For the experienced nail tech who has a full book and enjoys a consistent clientele, now is the time to reconsider your worth. For the beginner, now is the time to start filling your days with the influx of new seasonal clients and dazzle them into becoming a regular.
Note to all nail techs: the next six weeks are going to be a bonanza of manicures, pedicures, and nail art. If you don’t already do this...adjust your schedule to “holiday hours” just like your favorite stores and expand your books to take on a few more services. Take it all to the bank.
A $10,000 WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
Raise your hand if you think your work is undervalued. Now raise your hand if you’ve taken action to do something about it. Are you afraid to raise your prices even though you have a full clientele? We have some news for you. The holiday season happens to be a great time to raise prices, even if just by $5. Make this raise an annual holiday tradition you keep for yourself. If you don’t, each year you could be leaving a minimum of $10,000 on the table and here’s how. An extremely common problem among nail techs is that they mistakenly believe their long-standing client relationships are some kind of friendship. Don’t allow this delusion (and that’s what this is) make you feel bad about raising your rates. Just because your client spills the beans on all aspects of their life does not make them your friend. A $5 price increase is not going to be a big deal to your client. You’re clients are committed to you because you’re talented at what you do. They know your worth it. That’s why they keep coming back. Now you just have to believe you are worth it, too.
NAIL TECH MATH
A fully booked nail tech on the average services 40 clients a week. So if you multiply 40 clients x $5 = $200 more a week. There are 52 weeks in a year. 52 weeks x $200 more a week = $10,400. For the nail tech who shoots a little higher and increases their prices by $10 per service that would equal a $20,800 pay raise. New nail techs can also use the holidays to increase prices. Just so you know. Refer to some of our previous Biz Talks on how to properly inform your client of your price increases.
DON’T MAKE IT COMPLICATED
You're likely experiencing a steady stream of busy right now. Phones are blowing up for holiday appointments. This is where all your social media work is going to pay off. Load up your feed with uncomplicated holiday looks. These are simple. They are not over the top hand-painted editorial looks that will eat up all your time. Prioritize services that you’re confident and comfortable with; then layer in the bling. This is where you can run a very specific $60 holiday promo on a style that’s a no brainer to execute. Nothing says holidays like sparkle. Show off your holiday inspired color combos, glitters, mylars. Create styles that are going to look great and tag your nails. Use the #holidaynails #yourtown #yourholiday, etc. Tag it so they can find you. We have a previous post about how to use geotags to market to your locale. Post a lot of your work. Take advantage of posting as often as possible. When you are not doing nails, you are marketing your nails. This is when people are going to be looking to Instagram. The opportunity here is to pick up as many new clients as possible. Don’t feel bad if you never see them again. Some of these clients are going to just be seasonal and this is a special treat. This might be the only time they come out for nails. Others just might stick around and keep coming back. If you keep half of the people that wind up in your chair during the holidays, that’s pretty great to us.
SHOW UP FOR THE ACTION
No matter what kind of nail salon situation you work in, commission or booth renter, there is going to be overflow clientele and walk-ins. You need to be prepared to take in this work. Get to know all the folks working with you in the salon. Network with the hairdressers and nail techs; let them know who you are and that you have availability. Show up at the salon even when you aren’t fully booked. It’s like being the understudy to the lead actor in a play. It sucks but your time to shine will come. There is always someone who didn’t officially get around to booking a nail appointment when they booked their hair. Salons overbook. Clients run late or show up with a friend/family member. Nail techs get sick. It seems so simple but you have to physically show up to take advantage of the overflow. We never give advice on things that we haven’t done ourselves. Pay your dues. Smile and make nice. Offer to make coffee for someone else’s client and you just might get their friend referral.
DOWN TIME
So if you’ve shown up at the salon and you have 5-10 minutes to spare between clients, what are you going to do? We recommend two things that in some ways are going to have an income earning byproduct. You are going to post to your social media. You are marketing yourself around the clock. Or you are going to practice and post. Post even if it’s work on the trainer hand. Oddly enough, they do very well as posts. It doesn’t matter. It’s still a nail design and it’s still beautiful. What matters on social? Friendly reminder, good content is whatever provides your followers something of value. There is no way to truly predict exactly what is going to resonate…we’re pretty sure that during the holidays, it’s definitely going to be #holidaynails.
**This is an adaption from our YN Biz Talk playlist on YouTube, “DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY”.
Follow our YN YouTube Channel and click here to watch the full discussion here:
18 November 2019