Pricing policy – article for the permanent makeup masters

06 Oct Pricing policy – article for the permanent makeup masters

I would like to move a little away from the technical aspects and talk about the economic ones. Or rather, about one of the most important aspects of the work of a permanent makeup master – the price list of his services.

What is the current situation with the prices for permanent makeup procedures? The range of prices is quite impressive, there is literally an abyss between the minimum and maximum cost. In principle, everything can be explained. In a small settlement no one will come for a procedure costing $500 – average income is not high enough. In small and medium-sized towns, customers can be roughly divided into low and medium price segments. A stable VIP clientele appears the megalopolises. This is understandable even for a student.

The question is, is there some kind of scale that will help the master to establish a fair price level for his services? After all, sometimes, what a sin to conceal, a student after graduating from permanent makeup school and some practice with her mother-friends, rents a place in an elite salon and sets almost the maximum price. What is the consequence? A master, balancing between the requirements of demanding customers, their own fears (especially beginners) and the requirement to match the image of the salon sooner or later “breaks down”. There comes the stage “why did I get involved in this business?”, “I can’t do anything!”, “Everyone is bad, how bad luck must be!” The owner of the salon has a headache on how to extinguish the negativity from clients, especially regular ones. Clients hate the permanent makeup procedure.

Another undesirable scenario. A beginner master puts the lowest price for her services. Of course, she wants to make money and, as a rule, starts a progressive economy on pigments and consumables. She purchases cheap Asian pigments and consumables. Even an experienced master can’t successfully work with liquid consistency pigments of unknown manufacturer and unpredictable color migrations. The use of cheap equipment leads to edema and severe trauma to the skin and the beginner has not yet developed “skin sense”. After 3-5 months, or even earlier, disgruntled customers get crimson eyebrows and purple lips. Their comments are scattered on social networks, and the angry word of mouth puts an end to the rating and the demand for the master. All this happens, at times, lightning fast. As a result artist is desperate and clients hate permanent makeup.

It seems to me that over 70% of newbies follow these two crooked paths. I am sincerely sorry for both the craftsmen and the clients with terrible consequences on their faces. And I would like to offer some great alternative to the course of events:

• To use this scheme, the master must determine exactly which price segment of the customers will become his priority.
• It is imperative to get rid of the thirst for instant extra income, so generously announced by many training centers. Yes, the permanent makeup technician is highly paid speciality, but it requires a lot of knowledge and investment!
• Take your time and monitor the pricing policy of the masters in your city. Read social networks, sites and newspapers, where your competitors actively advertise their services. Write down the minimum, average, and highest prices.
• If you are a beginner master, you need about 3-4 months to perfect the speed of work, basic techniques, bring the process of drawing a sketch to automatism, and also hone the skill of conflict-free work with clients. Until you feel that your skills have been brought to a certain degree of perfection, it is better to work at the lower price segment. At the same time, you should NOT SAVE on the quality of pigments and consumables. A beginner, like no one else, should start with years-proven PERMANENT pigments in which he will be 100% sure, otherwise you’ll get sleepless nights and indignation of clients are guaranteed to him. With constant daily work (on the silicon rugs, if there are no clients) and faith in success, your customers will say about you: “The master is young, trying, friendly…”, etc. It is an excellent start!

• After a while you will realize that the “mastering the base” period is gone. It’s time to improve your skills, attend master classes, trainings. Now you can approach the average price of your city. After each advanced training, invite models and work out the speed in new techniques. At this stage, the main task is to become a universal master, that is, as competitive as possible! For example, a client came to you to make eyebrows makeup and like the result. She will be happy to make lips permanent makeup, but you do not know how to use volumetric technique yet… I hope the picture is clear.
• Well, when you have already mastered all the popular techniques, worked out the speed, developed a base of satisfied customers and you are confident in your every step – raise the cost of your services. This is perhaps the most enjoyable stage. Work brings real pleasure, clients leave the office with beautiful results, you do not doubt the result for a minute and the income is significant enough to continue the professional growth.

Viktoriya Rudko, international permanent makeup trainer, a leading specialist at the Purebeau Academy