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Luxury Without the Extra: Eliminating Hidden Costs and Elevating Client Experience in Salons · Salon Success Secrets — The podcast for salon owners who are done hustling harder and ready to break their revenue ceiling.

• 0:34
  Speaker 1: we are excited to dive into a really hot topic inside of our industry right now that, you know, is really getting some polarizing controversy around.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: We want to get to the bottom of our perspective today.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going to be diving into should salon owners pass on credit card fees or a service charge to clients, and we're going to look at it from the perspective of creating and crafting that luxury experience.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: So picture this you walk into YSL to a St Laurent store and you are so excited You're going to be purchasing a little clutch that day and you've already picked it out online.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: You fell in love with it.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: You're there, you're going to touch it, experience it.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: You walk inside, the store smells amazing, it looks amazing, you're greeted in a warm and friendly way and you know you.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: You see your bag that you love.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: You touch it.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: It's just as amazing as you imagined it would be.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: You already are feeling luxurious before you even take it out of the store and they get it over to the counter.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: They get it wrapped up, beautifully, ready for you to take home to its new home, and are ringing you up and you go to sign the credit card receipt and you start seeing all of these different fees in on your credit card receipt in different alignment.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: You know, I think that can create a little bit of sticker shock.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: That can kind of, you know, take away some of that value that was just created in the experience.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: And you know, I just want to say, hey, you would never see that at YSL or at the Ritz Carlton or any luxurious experience that you could, that you could go into inside of the world.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: They already build all of those fees inside of their price.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Because why would you pay, you know, upwards of thousands of dollars for a bag or an experience, only to add some nickel and dime things on the other side of that experience?
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: I love that you said that lens it just it got has me thinking too.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: It's.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: It's not that you know it really.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: You really have to think about, at the end of the day, what kind of experience you are crafting like because if it's a luxury experience, then great.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Like you're probably not going to want to have credit card fees on a ticket or, you know, a service charge fee of eight to 10%, like we've seen some of that in the industry too, and there's no judgment if you do that, we're just helping you see a different perspective because, like we're working with luxurious salons, like that's just not a viewpoint that we want to see on a receipt.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Our main intention is to create so much value.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: There's so much perceived value.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: There's a color analysis that's being done, there's a welcome message that goes out.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: It's the little things that really help to elevate that guest experience that the price really doesn't matter.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: So, yes, you may have to elevate your pricing just a little bit because of credit card fees increase or because things have increased, but to really be able to take it from a standpoint of like making it show on the receipt, I think it takes it the notches.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: It takes it down a little bit from being luxurious to just normal, and so you have to think about what kind of what does your brand say?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: What is, what kind of brand are you creating?
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: If it is a luxurious brand, I'm not sure that the credit card fees.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Actually, I'm positive that the credit card fees on a ticket are going to really work for your clientele.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Totally, you know.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: It really makes me think too about a dining experience as well.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: You know, because if you go somewhere like to McDonald's, you know you might expect to pay if you're going to get an extra barbecue sauce or you know something like that.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: You might expect some of those things.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: But if you were having an experience, you know, let's say at Nobu or at you know a Ruth Chris Steakhouse or something like that, you know if you asked for, you know an additional condiment, they're not going to say I'm sorry, that's just so.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: You know that's going to be $2 extra.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: You know an additional condiment.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: They're not going to say I'm sorry, that's just so.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: You know that's going to be $2 extra.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: You know something like that is something that you kind of expect to be included in an experience in a luxury environment.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So same with you know, if people are paying a luxurious price to get their hair done, you know they didn't cut out some coupon inside of a newspaper to go get their hair cut when they come to see done.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: You know they didn't cut out some coupon inside of a newspaper to go get their hair cut when they come to see you.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: You know then they're expecting a lot of those fees to be included in their experience.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And so you know, I think I love what you mentioned, jen, by just thinking about what it is that you're trying to create, because if you do want to be the McDonald's of the haircutting world, no shade there.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: You know there's a market for that, there's people who are looking for that experience, for sure.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: But if you want to be on that luxurious end point inside of our industry thinking about adding in all of those things, really to me that could just be a glowing red flag for, hey, your commission structure could be out of whack or your cost of goods sold could be upside down.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: You know there's a lot of things that you know.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: If you're thinking about adding in some sort of a fee on that back end, to me that would be a really big red flag for, hey, what is actually going on inside of my business financially that I need to take a look at and get under control so that this can be a thriving business for years to come.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: And it's like you know, part of the perceived value is the price that we pay, and so when you think about that, pricing is part of your brand, like it's telling people how valuable you are.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: So you know, when you think about creating that price, having that right pricing structure, you know if there are credit card fees that are increasing, like I said before, just to add it into that price, work it out.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: But the most valuable part of that, too, is like you've got to have those little value pieces, like we mentioned, that match that.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: So I really think you really just have to get crystal clear at what you're crafting in your salon space, what game you're playing in your salon space, and that will just really help you to understand hey, do I want to have this?
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: It's so itemized that the guest is like OK, this is this, this is this Because things are going to increase, it's business, things are going to increase, and so I like to come from a standpoint does it make you bitter or better?
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: And I always like to look at it from the viewpoint of making you better.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: So when things do increase, it's like how can we elevate and add value to our client experience that they see that perceived value and they really don't care, at the end of the day, what the price is.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: That is so good and you know, I think that that value piece is a big missing piece.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: When you're starting to get complaints from consumers, your clients, on pricing, you know, then that's a really good red flag for hey, there is a value piece that is missing here, you know, and you know we're looking possibly cheap by passing on these fees.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: You know because, in addition to credit card fees, we just recently had somebody reach out to us and say, hey, you know, we were given the advice to add just a service charge and say it's you know to to be a sustainable salon, and you know this long speech about why they're adding on this fee to every ticket.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: They were going to add an 8% service charge, um, to each ticket.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: And you know, at the end of the day, it's your business, it's your choice what you decide to do.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: But you know I would just say hey, if that's an opportunity that's being presented to you from somebody, just look at it to say like, hey, what is actually going on here?
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Is my commission structure out of alignment?
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Is my spending out of alignment?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: What is going on inside of the business that we need to fix for long-term, because you know that can cause some some confusion for guests.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: You know, especially if you're saying, hey, there's a service fee, you know they might think, gosh, is this like a tip that's going to a service provider?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: You know what is the service fee that we have going on.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: And you know if it's causing a lot of confusion for the consumer, that's not putting them in a state where they want to buy.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: You know they're already at the state where they've bought most everything.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: But then when they return again the next time, you know they're going to have that in the back of their minds, like, hey, there's already going to be a fee on top of everything that I buy while I'm in here.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: So if it is somebody who falls under the umbrella of someone who is a more price conscious buyer, you know they're they're going to be, you know, acclimating their purchases.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: For that they're going to be thinking about, well, do I really need a treatment?
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Because I don't know.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: You know my service fee I need to buy some products Is that?
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Is there a service fee on that?
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: So I think the more clear that we can be with people, the kinder that it is.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: And so you know, if you want help looking at any fees or structures that you have in place.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Please feel free to email us.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Hello, at the phdprogramcom, we'd be happy to take a look at it and give you a perspective from, you know, luxury salon owners that are helping others create multimillion dollar salons, you know, or profitable salons, or whatever it is that you're trying to create, just in that more luxurious experience.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: We're happy to give you some insight and strategies on that.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Awesome, all right.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: So if this has been helpful, or you're probably thinking, wait a minute, you've got me wondering which way do I go now is like I would just really, we'd really invite you to just really get crystal clear about your why, what you do, who you serve, and just to view it through the client's lens.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: View it through the client's eyes is like, hey, if I was a client here at a luxury salon, what would I want to see on the ticket?
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: How would I want to feel?
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: And I think sometimes we get so wrapped into being the business owner of you know, you know, making sure all the numbers are showing everything's, everything's crossed and dotted is just coming from the place of hey, let's look at it through that client's eyes and just see what their perspective would be.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: And I think when you do that, it will help you make decisions on what's going to set you up for success.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: So if you've gotten some incredible value out of today or it sparked some curiosity for you, feel free to share it with another salon owner that you know.
• 11:05
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• 11:13
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• 11:18
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• 11:22
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• 11:27
  Speaker 1: So we appreciate you taking the time to be with us today and can't wait to serve you again soon.