The Value of a Trim

You need a raise, you rent your chair so the only way you can get a raise is if you raise your prices��right? Or maybe you are not renting your chair, but you are working on commission and you think you have no control over how you can increase your income. After all maybe you raised your prices once this year already or maybe you do not have control over the prices. It is especially difficult to raise prices. Some of your customers may complain and threaten to go elsewhere. The economy is not what we wish it was, but there is still a way you can get a raise.

Sometimes we feel we need to give our customers �their moneys worth� when they come in by cutting their hair as short as they asked for or even shorter sometimes. This may come as a surprise, but many customers would rather have just a trim and come in more often. Just a trim you may be thinking. A trim is no more than 3/8� instead of the �� plus you have been giving them. You may be saying how could such a little bit of hair make such a difference � you would be surprised. When I worked behind the chair I had a client that liked to get just a little trim every two weeks � we are talking about no more than 3/8� and closer to ��. He always liked his hair to look the same at all times. He also liked to get his hair colored every other trim because he didn�t want anyone to know just how white his hair actually was. Yes, he is the exception to the rule, but I also had several other male clients that only wanted to get trims. They were very loyal customers, because they knew they would look good.

Think about it. To show you what I�m saying better, let�s say you have some regulars named Tom and his wife Marisa and they come in every 6 weeks for their haircuts and every other haircut Marisa gets a color. You charge $25 for Tom and $35 for Marisa, then $40 for her color. This means every 6 weeks you make $60, not including tip from them and every other time you make $100 � because of the hair color. I got this by dividing 52 weeks in a year by 6 weeks equals 8.67. I then multiplied 8.67 by $60; which means you make $520 from just their haircuts annually. To add in the color she gets every other week you multiply 4.335 (half of the 8.67) by $40, which equals approximately $173. Your annual income from this couple is approximately $693.

Let�s say you start giving them a trim instead of a haircut. They may have wanted this all along, but they like you too much to say anything. Giving them a trim instead of a haircut forces them to come in every 4 weeks now instead of 6 weeks. Let�s look at your raise now: 52 weeks divided by 4 equals 13, which means $60 times 13 equals $780!!! Wow look at this raise - already you have an extra $260 per year you are making! Now when we add in Marisa�s color � which you know she needed more often. We divide the 13 annual haircuts in half which equals 6.5 times a year Marisa should come in for her $40 hair color. This equals $260 added to the haircuts you are making $1040 a year from just this couple. That is a raise of $347 or approximately an extra $29 per month increase in your pay!!

Now I know you have more customers that that. What if you gave everyone a trim? Just think how much happier they would be? They wouldn�t have to fight with their cowlicks for two weeks every time they get a haircut because you were giving them �their moneys worth�. They would look forward to seeing you because they are thinking what a great job you are doing because they don�t have to fight with their hair anymore!

Just for arguments sake lets say you have twenty customers, that you charge $25 per haircut, that you are giving trims to and they are coming in every 4 weeks now instead of 6. You were making $500 every 6 weeks and $4335 annually. So those 20 customers are coming in every 4 weeks and your annual income from just them has increased to $6500. This increases your annual income by $2165 or an extra $180 per month. This is not including the increase in tips you should by getting by doing a better job. So when are you going to start giving trims instead of hair cuts?