When a consultation has to come first
Some services cannot be priced or scheduled from a description. Extensions, a colour correction, bridal work — the caller genuinely does not know what they are asking for, and neither do you until somebody has looked at their hair. The trick is booking that conversation without sounding like you are avoiding the question.
Why a phone quote costs you either way
Quote low and you will either honour a price that loses money on a six-hour job, or withdraw it in front of somebody who has already told their friends. Quote high to be safe and they ring the salon that guessed lower and will have the same problem later. Neither outcome is good, and both come from answering a question that did not yet have an answer.
Make the consultation sound like progress
A consultation booked in the call is a commitment. "Pop in sometime" is not, and almost nobody does.
Fifteen minutes and free, or redeemable against the service. Uncertainty here is what makes people hesitate.
We look at your hair, talk about what is realistic, and give you a firm price. That is a useful appointment, not a sales meeting.
"Usually between two and four hundred depending on length" prevents somebody booking a consultation for something they could never afford.
The range matters more than people think
Refusing any indication at all until they come in wastes both parties. Somebody expecting eighty pounds and discovering it is four hundred has lost an afternoon and you have lost a slot. A wide, honest range filters that out on the phone, and the people who remain are genuinely in the market — which makes the consultation a much better use of your chair.
It is also your best conversion point
A client sitting in front of a stylist discussing exactly what they want books at a far higher rate than one comparing prices over the phone. Treating the consultation as the thing you are selling on that call — rather than as an obstacle before the real booking — changes both how it sounds and how often it happens.
Frequently asked
Because nobody knows what the job is yet. Quote low and you honour a losing price or withdraw it; quote high and they book elsewhere.
Give it a specific time on the call, say how long it takes and what it costs, and say what actually happens in it — a look, a realistic conversation, a firm price.
A wide honest range, yes. It stops somebody booking a consultation for something they could never afford, which wastes your chair and their afternoon.
It is usually your best conversion point — someone sitting with a stylist books at a far higher rate than someone comparing prices by phone.