Face Painters – What If You Realised That Everything You Knew About Setting Your Prices Was Wrong!

There are a couple of pricing strategies that I would like to share with you, but first I must make it clear that what is right for one Face Painter or Entertainer may not necessarily be best for another.

Have a look at the 3 different pricing structures below and see which one your Face Painting or Entertainment business fits into:

1.      Are you setting your prices to match the competitors in your area? Is this the right thing for you to do? Is this the best market price for the best value? Where did they get their pricing strategy from anyway? Do you have the same skill-set, the same business over-heads and advertising expenses? Do they have staff to pay, or a commercial car or van to run? Are they working the business as a part-time pocket money hobby or as a full-time business? You don’t have to follow like a little lost lamb, if you think your prices justify being lower or higher than the competition, then set them to reflect just that.

2.      Maybe to win more business you have decided to lower your prices to beat your competition. You are in fact ‘buying your work’. This is going to do nothing for the way your customers perceives you as you will very fast become know as cheap, poor quality, and amateur. You are also making it hard for everyone else by de-valuing your industry. Is that what you have gone into business for? You must remember that you are not a Charity – you are in business and should be paid for the value that you are going to bring to the children and to the party or event. If the customer wants a budget price then she can go seek an alternative artiste, or Auntie Sarah who will have a go face painting, balloon twisting or performing a magic trick!

3.      Or are you brave enough to charge over and above the industry norm. Are you a first-class Face Painter or Children’s Entertainer? Great, then charge for it. Don’t demean yourself; ask for what you deserve to be paid for, and that includes your service and the unspoken hours that you put in building your business. Be recognised for the value that you are adding to your customer’s lives. A word of warning here – you will be run out of town if you charge high fees and are just a bog-standard average entertainer. You must be exceptional in your service, willing to go the extra mile and add immense additional value to the lives of your customers, then indeed you can charge the fees you so rightly deserve!

There are people out there who will always buy on price alone and not on quality and you’ll find that ‘budget’ is their middle name. Maybe you know someone like that! However, it’s worth remembering that there are people who will always pay that bit extra for value, for the experience it brings, and for the self-esteem it bestows.

• There will always be those who will travel first-class – it’s the same train or plane that transports the people to their destination and it gets there at the same time, but there will always be those who will pay for more comfort and a better experience.
  
  
• There will always be those who will pay a considerable sum extra for the senior professional stylist in a top-notch salon as opposed to the trainee working in the chair next to her.
  
  
• There will always be those who will pay extra to enhance their image and self-esteem and that of their children’s by being the first to choose something that is new, different, unique and unusual (keeping up with the Joneses’).

So looking back at the 3 different pricing strategies, which one do you fall into in your Face Painting or Children’s Entertainment business? Are you content with where you are now? Is your customer happy with your fee and the level of service that you provide?