"DM me for prices" are you hurting your hair business?

Remember those days before Instagram, when clients had to call your phone every time to book an appointment.
Today, social media such as Instagram and Facebook give you a wide platform to exhibit your services and communicate with customers for free. Business might be slow at the beginning; but once your page gets enough exposure, you will find yourself getting lots of appointment requests in no time. Instagram Direct Messages (DMs) let you conveniently get messages from anyone interested in chatting with you. Potential customers might send you messages to inquire about pricing, location, opening hours, or booking last minute hair appointments. Regardless of the reason, is DM the best way to share or discuss prices with your clients?

Getting lost in messages

When a potential customer visits your Instagram page, her next move might be to book an appointment. This lead is a business opportunity you don't want to miss. Direct messages and texts are always convenient for short conversations, but once you start getting tons of messages in a day, you might have a hard time keeping up with all the replies. It's easy to skip unopened messages and inquiries from customers. Response time can impact your business negatively. When you leave your client hanging for days without replies, they might take their business somewhere else.

The curious and the serious

Not every client is serious about buying from you. You might be getting endless DMs from people with no intention of buying your services.
When your hands are busy doing hair in the day, the last thing you want to do is to reply to endless messages and phone calls from potential customers asking for pricing or discounts.

The most frequent questions beauty professionals get from clients are:
• Can you do this hairstyle?
• How much for this hairstyle?
• Is a deposit required to book?
• Is hair included?
• Do you take walk-ins?
• Is the price negotiable?

Even though these are relevant questions from clients, it becomes distracting and sometimes irritating to reply to the same questions, repeating yourself over and over again. Getting a booking page with your policies and listing all your prices in one place might save yourself the headache.

Most incoming DMs are spams

Instagram is the second most popular messaging app for millennials. As of January 2019, there are 121 millions of Instagram users in the US. This large audience of users opens the door to spams and unsolicited DMs. The more followers and the more engagement your hair page gets, the more spams DMs you will receive. You might end up finding yourself searching through hundreds of ads for hair bundles and malicious links to find your clients' messages. 

Are you doing business, or keeping a secret?

You might be reluctant to list your prices online, but they are good reasons to do so. Be upfront; the quality of your will work speaks for itself. Don't be cheap when pricing your hair service, value your time and your work accordingly, set your price, and stick to it. Everybody wants a deal, and sometimes, not listing your service prices might open the door to endless negotiation from clients.

Are you hiding your prices from your competitors?

Be transparent, stand out from the crowd, and include as many details as you can about your services on your page. Clients that are serious about booking an appointment will not hesitate to pay.
Here are a few relevant details to include along with your pricing:

• How much is the deposit?
• Is the remaining balance cash only?
• What is the cancellation policy?
• Is the deposit non-refundable, non-transferable?
• Is hair included?
• What type of hair to bring?
• What is the minimum hair length of the client?
• Are extra people allowed?

Adding all these details on your booking page will save you some time. Now that you have publicly provided all the details, clients will not need to DM you every day.  

Although you might have some good reasons for hiding prices from the public, you might be losing more money and business opportunities by doing so. Be transparent with your customers, show your prices, and make your business ready for repeated sales.