Pricing lessons from a Turkish barber

pricing pricing strategy value based pricing Apr 18, 2022

I went to the new Turkish barber last week for a haircut. Walked in, took a seat (there was no price list). Was invited to take the chair. Offered a drink and went for the Turkish coffee.

Came out in an authentic cup. The barber took great care to get the blend just right. Then proceeded to wash my hair thoroughly. Cleaned up the back and sides with a cut throat. Then trimmed the eyebrows!. Didn’t stop there. He got a flame and tapped it along my ears to get rid of those fine ear hairs. Then out came the hot towel on the face to open the pores/ And finally dried my hair throughout and applied styling that got me looking ten years younger.

Then he asked for the money. That’ll be £13 please. Gladly gave him his due plus a couple of pounds extra as a tip. He left some serious money on the table. I would have gladly paid more for the service and treatment I received. I was there for a good 45 mins

Have a watch of the video I made about the experience here 👇

 

Now let’s see how he could make a lot more profit without working any harder. He could have 3 options for his service:

  • Premium: the full shebang Turkish cut experience with everything he’s currently giving everyone
  • Middle option: a few of the bells and whistles less than the above
  • Basic: simple haircut that many are actually coming in for and not bothered about any of the extras

Let’s say he priced the premium at £19, the middle option at £15 and the basic at his current price of £13. Because not everyone wants the full Turkish experience. And different people value things differently. 

So assuming he does around 10 haircuts a day and, 3 people go for the premium, 4 for the middle option and 3 for the basic, then he would make an extra 20% revenue for no extra work! Imagine increasing your revenue by 20% just by making a small change to your pricing strategy? That’s the power of pricing. Goes straight through to your bottom line.