Is Package Pricing Still The Right Move In 2025?

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to The Modern Hairstylist podcast. As you may know, if you've been listening to the podcast recently, we've been talking a whole lot about prices in one way or another. And, we've been talking a little bit more about, like, the mindset and the fear that we may have around pricing, which is the number one concern that we all have, right?

So, now that we have covered that, I wanna talk a little bit more strategically today, and I wanna address a question that I got a couple times when I was on the Modern Hairstylist tour, which was, is session package pricing, or just alternative pricing models in general, still a good idea or relevant in 2025? Like, right now, as we see it. And I love having, like, time-relevant conversations, and, uh, uh, if you know who I am, if you've listened to me before, then you know that I'm a really big fan of package, uh, pricing. I really enjoy it, and I have seen it do really beautiful things for my own business, and then for hundreds of stylist businesses.

And, um, I think this is an, always a important question to ask, you know? Like, is this structure still a viable one? Is there any changes with the world and consumer behavior that make it so we should reconsider it, or is there a different way of approaching it? Um, whatever it may be.

And so, I'm very much looking forward to addressing this question on a broader level today, and, um, getting into it. So, what's up, Jodi Brown? How are you doing today? Hey, hey.

I love this topic. I'm excited to get into this one. I'm excited about it too, and it always is like a buzz topic for me and my audience, as you know, Jodi. Like, everybody freaks out when I talk about package pricing, and so, in either a bad way or a good way.

Mm-hmm. And, and I don't really care at the end of the day, you know? Like, you can price your shit however the fuck you want to. I don't really care.

I will make a strong case to you as to why I believe that this pricing model is still relevant now, and why it's awesome, and, uh, uh, why I think that people should consider it. It's not the best fit for everybody, don't get it twisted, but, um, I do think that it could help a lot of stylists, um, in today's day and age. So, let me just, for those of you who just need a quick little review or refresher, I have plenty of other episodes that talk about this concept and that also break down, like, the different pricing models, but I'm gonna try my best to give you a concise, short, sweet, direct breakdown of each pricing model as I see it today. We have about four main ones.

We have a la carte. So, a la carte is where there's individual line items of every service that you've done and you're charging by the service. So, toner, $30, bond builder, $20, partial balayage, $200, haircut, $70. So that's a la carte, right?

Then we have hourly. So, to the consumer, to the client, to yourself, you are charging an hourly rate inclusive of all of the services that you're doing. So ma- no matter what service you're doing, you are charging the same amount of price depending on the time that you spend. So, uh, you will have an hourly rate, $100, and so if you do a three-hour service, you're charging $300.

Then, we have parts and labor. We're seeing a big resurgence of parts and labor because of, uh, companies such as VISH or SalonScale. I'm not affiliated with either of them, and we, that's a whole other episode. But, and I'm not saying that it's bad or wrong, um, but, at all, in any way, shape, or form.

I think, like, being aware of your numbers and how much those things are costing you is a great idea. Um, but, uh, uh, because of those things coming out, um, I believe, possibly, they recommend this model, or there's a lot of, uh, uh, people picking up this model where you have a base price for your service, but then you're charging a exact product fee on top of the base service. So, let's say that you charge $50 for a root retouch, and then you charge people specific to the amount of root color that you use on them. So, then you charge them an extra $3.

50, if that equates to 35 grams, or whatever it may be, right? On top of the base color fee. And some people are even taking that, like, ex- extra, uh, parts cost, that extra parts fee, and then upcharging on it and making an extra profit, which I do think is fascinating. So, it's an interesting model, and that's how it works.

It's basically just a la carte plus some extra fees that are exactly measured. And then we have a la, uh, then we have package/session pricing. You can call this whatever the fuck you wanna call it. I, that's just, that's, those are the terms I go to.

Sessions is probably, like, my, my preferred situation, but I, everybody calls it a different thing. Hybrid, uh, packages, session, all-inclusive. There's so many different words for it in the industry, as it is, like, technically a newer concept. And so, what this looks like is you have a set amount of packages in which they're designed to get you from A to B.

So, you're basically charging for the transformation that you're creating. You're charging for the type of result that you are delivering on. So, you're not necessarily charging for the services that you're doing, and technically, at least in the client's perspective, you're not necessarily even charging for your time. The way that we actually price these things could be for your time and could be taking into consideration the cost of your product and things like that.

But that is your business when we're talking about sessions. It not, it's not necessarily your client's business when we're talking about sessions. So, it's basically an all-inclusive, one package. They pay one price, maybe a little bit of extra sometimes, depending on how you go about it.

And they know that they are going to be able to get the result that you are doing on them if they pay this one price, and there's going to be no surprise charges, and you don't have to charge for the toner, for the partial oil, the bond builder, the haircut, yada, yada, yada. So, that is my breakdown. Do you believe I did that well, Jodi? Absolutely, yes.

I think that's a perfect breakdown. Okay. Where should we start? So, okay.

I actually wanna start with a comment that I see every single time we talk about, uh, package pricing, and that is the, there's always at least a comment or two that's like, "No matter which way you slice it, it's all hourly." And so, can we talk about that, and what, like, 'cause I think sometimes, like, we don't think about the subtleties of what our pricing actually communicates. We think it's just about pricing. And it's about so much more.

Yes. Okay. And I think that, you know, to make it relevant to this conversation, right? Uh, this becomes very important.

When we talk about, is this still relevant in 2025? Yes.... whether it's, like, this is all just hourly in one way or another, or this is just a la carte in this way or one another, that's, uh, we have to, we have to split the pricing conversation, the pricing structure conversation, because that's what we're talking about here in my definition, is pricing structures. Okay?

Yes. So like, a la carte is a pricing structure, session package pa- ali- uh, is a pricing structure. When we're talking about pricing structures, we have to split it into two parts. What, how we see it, and then how the client sees it, right?

And you're in full control of how these things are shown and understood by the client, right? So you get to come up with the way that you're charging within your structure however you want to, right? So there, for example, with session package pricing, you can charge by having a base hourly rate, and then you can, or don't have to, can charge by the amount of, uh, product that you're using on average, and that is allotted for that package, and then you can create variance on top of it. You can still a la carte your haircut.

Like, there's so many different ways that you get to customize this pricing structure for yourself, right? Yes. And so you get to decide how it's created. But then on the flip side, how this is actually communicated to the client, it's basically none of their business, right?

It's basically none of their business. So basically, you're just saying, like, "If you want to be brighter and you want highlights, here is my highlight package. This is what, uh, I need you to opt into and be okay with if you are trying to get from A to B." And that is it, right?

And then you're explaining to them, "This is you, for you because of this, that, and the third," and the way that you justify this is by saying, like, "You don't have to worry about any surprise situations. You know, this is just what you need to know in order for me to do my job," right? And in today's day and age, with the surveys that we rolled out to hundreds of people within the United States who visit boutique salons and what they're looking for right now in 2025, this was a recent survey, we have plenty of testimonials and statements of people saying, "I just want my fucking stylist to, like, do what they think is best." Mm-hmm.

Like, "I wish my stylist would take initiative, that they would be the leader, that they would just fucking do the shit," right? And also educate as well, too. And I think that the reason why there's a need or a want for education right now is because there's so many horror stories on TikTok and Instagram of people talking about their crazy experience with having a hairstylist who ended up charging them way more and doing a terrible job. Mm-hmm.

And so people really wanna understand what they're getting themselves into, possibly, versus, also, we have traditionally used terms and service language that very much does not make sense to a general consumer. Oh. And if we talk about history, right? Like, we have gone into an era, as we know, past couple years, this is not necessarily new anymore, we've gotten into a, a segment of time in which we are doing much more complicated services.

Much more complicated ser- so we have the toner, the root melt, the bond builder, we have the partial foil, the partial balayage, what's the difference between a foil and a balayage? What's the difference between a teasylight and a babylight and a fuckin' whatever the fuck else? And before all of this shit, it was super simple. Yes.

Possibly even simple to a client. Furthermore, to that generation of clients, right? Mm-hmm. Because now we have younger generations in this day and age who have now grown up a little bit, now are spending money on getting their hair done, and they have grown up in a different generation and understanding and complexity of hair services, right, that are much harder to unders- to understand.

Right. But 10, 15 years ago, the majority of salon clients are just like, "Yeah, I get a partial foil. Yeah, I get a full foil. Yeah, I get a root touch-up."

And that's, and a haircut, and that's really all they needed to know, right? So there was no needing to explain, there was no unsureness, there's no education that they need. They just knew what the fuck those things were, right? Yeah.

Now we're in a circumstance in which the majority of services that are, we're, that are being asked of us nowadays are so fucking complicated that people are so uneducated about it, and they are looking for those answers on their own because we're still making it complicated to understand. Am I saying that they need to understand it? No. Am I saying that we need to set up our circumstance so that way they don't feel like they have to understand it?

Yes. Honestly, I remember experiencing this acute pain point behind the chair. I am aging myself, but when I came back from maternity leave, that was when the balayage thing had, like, s- you know, essentially come to the forefront, right? And that's what I was like, I was a, always the blonding specialist, like, basically my whole career, um, before that was even really a thing.

Um, and it was, like, a lot of highlighting and all of these things, and I remember, like, having my service menu when I had just kinda come back, and it was like, "Highlight or balayage?" And it was like clients would come in, and you're like, "They booked for a balayage, but I can't achieve this with a balayage. It needs to be a highlight." And it, I remember experiencing this exact thing you're talking about.

Like, not just being able to not communicate it properly, but also as a stylist being like, "I'm limited by what they have booked in for." And it was, it was a very frustrating, um, feeling when techniques did start to become more complex. Yes, and that's where my bias comes in, or my, it's not even, I would say yes, I have bias, but I would say it's educated bias, right? Mm-hmm.

It's, it's from experience, and it's also from, like, actual, like, information and all that stuff, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like, real theory.

Like, the beautiful thing about package pricing is that, like, you aren't limited by what the client perceives- Yeah. or what they want from you as far as, like, the different services that they get. And maybe the argument is that, like, okay, we're in a day and age in which, like, people really want to be in control of how they're spending their money, and they're weary about how they're spending their money, so they look at an all-inclusive as something that they're forced into, versus with a la carte, they get to pick and choose. At the end of the day, doesn't fucking matter.

It matter, this client is not going to change the fact that they want a certain result-... right? And it's your job to get them to that result, and you can't get them to that result if you ca- and do the things that you need to do to get there. Right.

So it's not up to your client to decide what services you do to get them to that result. It's up to your client to decide, "If I want this result, I have to decide, is this amount of money that I'm gonna spend for this package worth it to me or not?" And that's the decision that your client makes, and you need to make it easy for that client to understand what they're paying for, what box they're fitting into. And I would argue that we are just getting more and more and more into a space in which your ideal clients, because that's the whole other part of this motherfucking conversation.

Right. Your ideal clients, who don't give a fuck about how much money they're spending. They just wanna know, "I'm getting from A to B, and I'm spending this much amount of money, and that is what it is." And that's the type of business that I want.

That's the type of people that I'm trying to attract, and I set up my systems so that way, those are the people that I'm working with and that I'm appeasing to. Because I'm not trying to appease to the person who's trying to pick and choose every single motherfucking service that I'm doing on them and every single little $20, $30, $50. That's not my motherfucking client. Yep.

Yeah. And so, if you're feeling like, in today's day and age, like you have to appease to, you know, somebody who's a little bit more picky or whatever it may be, maybe that's not your person. Like, I'm somebody, I will throw money at my problems. Yeah.

And maybe that's a whole other problem that I have to talk about with my therapist or whatever it may be. But I am somebody who has the money to throw at my problems, and I'm willing to fucking do it, because that's just also my, like, efficient CEO brain. I wouldn't say that it's a ne- it's always negative. It's also a positive.

I- I- I value my fucking time, right? Yeah. And I like to spend my brain space and energy on things that I find and move the needle for the most, right? I am willing to spend money on somebody else figuring out this fucking shit for me, and then them doing it for me, right?

Like, I would give literally... I tell my barber this all the time. I'm going bald. It is what it is.

It's not there yet. Everybody gaslights me whenever anybody, whenever I say this. Everybody's like, "Oh my God, Hunter, you still have..." I'm like, "Yes, I know that my fucking hair is fine right now, but I'm going there, okay?

It's gonna happen one day, so stop gaslighting me." But I do appreciate you telling me that you like my hair. Anyways. I tell Amanda all the time, not to shout you out, Amanda, but, "Amanda, I will fucking pay for your class to go and learn how to do the hair replacement toupee jobs."

Right. Like, I will literally fucking pay $3,000 for you to go and get this training if you give me those replacements for the rest of my life, right? Right. Like, I am willing to throw the money at it, so that way, Amanda can fucking figure it out.

I can just go to her every two weeks, and she can reinstall and do whatever the fuck she needs to do, whatever it may be, right? So, like, I would say, like, I'm a pretty ideal client. Would you agree w- with me? Absolutely, yeah.

I go, regardless of, like, the hair replacement situation. I go every two weeks. Yeah. I don't give a flying fuck what Amanda does on me.

I have, of course, preferences, right? But I fully trust her. Yeah. And she asks me what I, what she needs to know to be able to give me the result that I need, and I normally say, "I don't fucking care, Amanda.

Just pop off. Like, slay." And I will over-tip her. I will refer her, everybody.

I'm the type of client who will throw the money so I don't have to fucking think about it. Right. And session packaged pricing is the thing that attracts those people, because I don't have fucking time to go and research what a partial balayage is- Yeah. and how much I should be paying for a toner, or whatever the fuck it may be.

I don't have time. So if I find a website or a person that makes this shit so easy for me- Yeah. and I can just see three packages, and I can self-identify myself into one of those packages, and I know that's probably what I can expect when I go and see this person, to get what I want- Mm-hmm. we're good to go.

Take my fucking money. Yeah. 'Cause I don't feel like spending all this damn time. Feel me?

I, it's so true, and I was just thinking of, like, an analogy where it's like, can you imagine if you went to, like, a really beautiful restaurant, and the server comes up to you, and they're like, "Okay, and how do you want the vegetable cooked? Okay, and how much oil should the chef use to do this?" And like- How much seasoning should we put on it, right? Yeah, exactly.

I'd be like, "I don't wanna eat here." Like, I am now terrified. So, I feel like there is that part to it too, right? Where it's, like, leading that conversation.

You've talked about this before, where it's like, you don't wanna have to convince your client that they need a toner 'cause they don't wanna pay for it. Like- Yeah. if they need a toner, they need a toner. Like, that is, it is what it is, right?

Yeah. And so, I think that's a really good point. Um, on the flip side, are there any situations where you feel like session or package pricing, like, does not make sense for some stylists? I find that it doesn't make sense for stylists when it comes to, like, color corrections.

Hmm. Uh, so, like, when people want to have color corrections still as a part of their menu and they're maybe implementing package pricing, you can have package pricing for all your standard services, but for color corrections and things like that, if you don't already have, like, normally, normally, if you're actually specialized in color corrections, then actually, yes, like, we can make this a package. Mm-hmm. But if you're not specialized in color corrections, then normally I would just suggest charging an hourly rate, honestly.

Yeah. I'd just say, yeah, just charge an hourly rate for that. Makes sense. Other than that, again, like, and this kind of, you know, piggybacks off of that, like, the less specialized you are, the harder it can be.

Does that mean that you don't do it? Absolutely not. Right. 'Cause I've had every single circumstance come through in my program where we could make packages work in one way or another- Right.

if we wanted to. Right. Where packages won't work for you is if you do not have a very good understanding of your current pricing right now and your current service timing right now, on average. Right.

And those things, if you want to be an effective business owner, like, if you want to take notes from normal companies outside of our industry, if you wanna take notes from very successful companies within our industry... And the reason why they do so well is because they have systems and good understanding of their pricing and their systems and their timing, et cetera, et cetera, such as Great Clips, whatever it may be. They know, on average, a color takes me X amount of time to get this done, right? Mm-hmm.

If you have a good understanding of your current pricing, why, why you have that pricing-... what it does for you, what the profit of it is, how thing- how much things cost you, what your average service timing is, then you're good to go. Awesome. If you don't have the tools, the resources, the mentorship to be able to figure all that stuff out, as we offer you in Modern Stylist Movement, we give you everything that you need to know to figure those things out.

Then, we teach you exactly how to take your current understanding of your pricing and then do whatever the hell you want with it, but- Right. specifically transitioning into session package pricing if you would like to. Right? Mm-hmm.

And so, as long as you're willing to do the work of understanding your current pricing, transitioning into session package pricing, in which it makes sense for you and your current business right now, can absolutely work for you. I love that. My last thing I'll say is that if your services are so over-complicated, which again, I have not yet seen this circumstance. Right.

Okay? But if your services are so over-complicated and you can't, you don't have access to, like, talk to somebody like me to be able to, like, look at it and actually tell you if it's that over-complicated, right? If you have as many packages as lines of a- a- of a la carte services, there's no point, in my opinion. Right.

Like, right? Like, if there's a katrillion different packages, then just have an a la carte menu, 'cause like, you're just, you're just doing the same exact thing. Why would it be better? You know, like, it, it just, it defeats the purpose.

My s- long story short que- uh, answer to this question is no. Like- Yeah. I genuinely think everybody can fucking benefit from this, dude. Yes.

I, I really do. I have not, I have yet to have somebody who I believe should avoid this strategy. Okay? I love that.

It's about the work that you're willing to put in, it's about what you find to be worth it or not, and it's about how you execute this. And again, that can all be taken care of if you work with me. Yeah. Th- to be frank.

And it's, and it's a positioning thing, too, which is- I love how you think about the, the pricing conversation, 'cause it goes into so much more. Like, it really does correlate with, like, your entire brand and the way that th- the value of your work is perceived. So, on that note- Mm-hmm. the last question, I think it- to round this out, is when we're talking about 2025 and we're talking about what is relevant now, what is working now, are there things that you think that stylists should be considering to optimize those service descriptions and packages for conversion?

We have a whole formula for this. Um, like, as far as, like, uh, like, the description under each of your packages. Um, but I would just say, like, my gen- like, and it's in Modern Stylist Movement, it's too much for us to go over together right now, but what I will just generally say is, first off, have a service description. A lot of people just, like, especially for a la carte menus, like- Right.

they just don't. True. And we need to use language that your client would use, and that language evolves and changes, which is why I'm always like, "Let's do surveys, let's do research, let's ask your clients." Like, a lot of the answers to a lot of your questions about your business and the way that you go about things, your- are- are sitting in your chair right now.

They are your clients who consistently come to see you, they're your ideal clients, you need to ask them, because your language and your understanding about something, about a service, about a way a service is described, whatever it may be, is very different than your ideal clients. And your ideal clients' language evolves as well, too. What your ideal client may have called a balayage 15 years ago, they may be calling a lived-in color- Mm. now, because of the way that the world moves and social media moves and hairstylists move and how we educate our clients, et cetera, et cetera.

Yeah. So, you have to ask them and you have to pull them and you have to show them examples, so that way, you know that you're in alignment with the people that you're trying to talk to. I'm gonna niche that down even more. Like, it's your ideal clients, okay?

It's not your fucking mom, it's not your fucking brother or your sister, it's not your child, it's not your best friend, and it's not all of your clients. It's your ideal clients who are getting those services. That is who you should be asking about how you make this make sense to them. Period.

Love that. So good. Thank you for tuning into The Modern Hairstylist podcast. I love session package pricing.

I have, I have seen people go to be immediately more profitable, stop emotionally discounting, make their clients' lives so much easier. I've maybe talked about this before, but I have clients who drive very far for me, because I've moved so much over the past couple years. Mm-hmm. And the amount of times I've heard that they tried somebody else, but they stopped going to them and they're willing to drive to me, because they felt like the price was different every single time.

Right. I swear to God. I hear it all the time. Like, once they get a taste of this, they'll never wanna go back.

Right? So, it is- there's so many benefits to it. There's so many benefits to it, and there's also a lot of cons to the other structures, so I think it's a really powerful thing to consider. On the flip side, do I think that you absolutely need to do this to be successful?

Absolutely not. 100% not. I know plenty of people who are a la carte, who are hourly, who do great with it, but I do think that it's worth taking into consideration. Mm-hmm.

So, if you wanna learn how to do it, then come hang out with me. If you wanna learn more about pricing in general, 'cause you gotta also just take into consideration the nuances of pricing and understanding, like I talked about early in this episode, I'm actually gonna have a class coming up. It's called Raise Your Prices Without Losing Clients, and it's going to be at the very beginning of September. And if you wanna learn more about it, if you wanna join me, which I highly recommend that you do, and if you don't wanna join me, then that's so mean and rude.

What the hell? Then you can go to the, uh, the show notes, where there'll, it'll be linked there, and I hope to see you there. Thank you so much to Jodi Brown. Thank you, my friend, for listening to The Modern Hair Stylist podcast.

Peace out, girl scout. Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2025 Hunter Donia LLC.