Competitive Edge - By Rise’ Carter
How do you keep your competitive edge in difficult economic times?
Personally, I feel that being “full service” means understanding and maintaining the integrity of the natural nail, and making sure that I have the ability and capabilities to provide any and all types of nail services to any potential client and to my existing clients.
WOW! Sounds like a lot, huh?
Think about it. A hairstylist should know how to do corrective hair color, touch ups, highlights, perms, extensions, hair cuts, killer blow-outs, and special occasion up-dos, just to name a few.
So what do we, as nail technicians, need to know? Basic manicures, signature manicures, spa manicures, basic pedicures, signature pedicures, spa pedicures, acrylic and gel enhancements. Enhancements services include overlaying natural nails & toe nails, sculpting on a form, tip and overlays, working with color acrylic or gel, custom blending, illusion sculpting, rebalancing traditional and non-tradition French, and nail art of all types.
We also need to understand chemistry and chemical reactions, sanitation, natural nail health, and the list goes on and on. Here is another catch; we need to be able to perform those services in an efficient manner without being faced with time-consuming nail repairs.
GEEEEEEEEEEZ! It is so much more complicated than just being “the nail girl.”
Our time is dedicated to the client. Rarely do we have an opportunity to perform two services simultaneously. (If you know a way to do this, please share.) I want to make sure that I get the biggest bang for my buck, meaning that I want to incorporate as many add-on services during that time slot to increase the client ticket. To do this, I need to create interest, excitement and desire from the onset. I quickly go to work and change her traditional French pink and white acrylic to colored acrylic designs on all ten nails, OR I convert my natural nail manicure to gel overlay, OR used colored gels on fingers and toes instead of polish. Now, I know this is not always possible, but this can add $10.00 - $30.00 to what my client is already paying.
Let’s do the math and break that down. If you are seeing 8 clients a day and can add at least a $10.00 mini service to 4 clients a day, it equates to $40.00 per day. If you are working a four day week, that will put an additional $8,000.00 a year in your pocket. If your annual income is $40,000, you just gave yourself a 20% raise!!!!!
Here are just a few ways to keep your competitive edge.
1. Visit company’s websites frequently to gain valuable knowledge, see helpful demos, understand the products, etc. NSI made their newly designed, easy-to-navigate site a one-stop-shop for finding information on nail products.
2. Attend tradeshows and educational and networking events.
3. Stay abreast of industry trends by subscribing to trade magazines.
4. Use high-quality, science-driven and dependable products.
5. Use complete product systems to ensure little to no service breakdown (examples are Attraction Acrylic System, Technailcolor Powders, Balance UV Gel System, and Balance Color Gels.)
6. Purchase larger sizes and buy special deal (the best specials on NSI products can be found at http://www.nsinails.com/products/special.html). This will maximize your income by decreasing your cost per service.
7. Always rebook you clients’ next appointments.
8. Always ask your clients for referrals and have an incentive referral program in place.
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