Pricing

Do you recognise this situation?

Sarah’s been running a grooming business the same way for many years and has always felt her business doesn’t make enough money. Her costs are high, her efforts aren’t always appreciated and although she’d love to put her prices up she has always been reluctant to do it.

A friend’s recommended she thinks again about raising her prices – her friend has a scotty that Sarah’s always groomed and feels Sarah ought to be charging extra for the special shampoo that she uses on her dog.

Here’s the logic

Sarah has run a busy grooming salon in a small market town for the last 10 years. A typical regular groom for a regular client costs £35.

She always uses black and white coat shampoos on appropriate breeds but doesn’t charge anything extra – although they cost more than her standard shampoo.

Customers may or may not know Sarah’s uses black and white coat shampoos. Naturally, Sarah’s mentioned to some owners that they use specialist shampoos in the salon – particularly when customers comment on how white or rich their dogs’ coats are when they come to collect them.

SARAH’S FRIEND SEES 4 OPTIONS:


1. Do nothing

Prices stay as they are

2. Up the prices

Put all prices up by £1 immediately

3. Start charging for specialist treatments

£2 extra for black or white breed specialist coat treatments

4. Stop offering specialist treatments altogether

Use standard salon shampoo on every dog and thereby reduce costs and stock holding of shampoos

 

What would your advice be?

If you were asked for your advice, which route do you think Sarah should take? What would be more important to you – trying to make a jump in revenue or making sure your customers appreciated the fact that you were using specialist products?

What do you think a business expert would advise – we asked one . . . so if you’re interest then just click here to find out what they’d recommend.