Cost-plus, competitor mapping and the psychology of the menu — a practical pricing playbook for owners.
Pricing is the first design decision your salon makes, and most new owners make it by copying the salon next door. There's a better way, and it starts with a spreadsheet, not a feeling.
Cost-plus gives you your floor: every service priced below its true cost — time, product, rent-per-chair-hour — is a donation. Competitor mapping gives you your ceiling. The space between is positioning, and it should be a choice you can say out loud to a client without flinching.
The menu itself is psychology: three tiers read as good-better-best, and the middle one is where you put the service you want to sell. Revisit every six months; loyalty survives honest increases far better than owners fear.
