Intro by Skip Cohen
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This recent post hit on the challenge of discounting and why you need to look for things of added value to include rather than just discounting.
Years ago, while living in Ohio, Levine’s Furniture hit us with a discount coupon. At the time, we were looking for a new couch and kitchen set. We bought both and loved the products, but a few weeks later, we got another postcard mailer with a new discount. This one was even better than the other one, and our furniture hadn’t been delivered yet.
I called the store, and they honored the new offer, but a third new offer came in the mail just after delivery. This one was better than both of the previous offers! By the time we were done with their customer service manager, she’d covered a little bit of each promotion.
Bev’s talking specifically about discounting, but the other side of the challenge is to not over-promote. Build your business on the quality of the finished product and the reputation of working with you. When you lower the price of your services, you turn yourself and your products into commodity items. Yet, every portrait session is as unique as the clients themselves.
Going into the seasonality of 2022’s holiday season, there’s a renewed sense of family and a demand for portraiture. Meet the demand with your skill set and the quality of your products, not the price!
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If you Discount, they will come (to expect discounts every time) and they will tell their friends! Bev Walden
Groupons were such a huge thing years ago.
And many people sold them…and bought them. Our daughter purchased one to a nail salon where she could get a manicure and pedicure for a very low price. What happened? She received what she paid for, BUT the experience was terrible. The business that sold them needed to slash the typical niceties and do a very pared-down version…and it was disappointing, to say the least.
What should have been a nice afternoon of pampering turned into a stressful and unpleasant experience.
If you think about it, what damage did this do to the nail salon’s reputation and future business?
It likely took years to gain back what they lost in the area of their reputation on top of the money they thought they would make, but probably lost as Groupon often takes half of the money of a coupon offering for itself, and, with a 50% discount, leaves the business selling its goods for 25 cents on the dollar.
We have a price for our portraits and we do not discount it.
We decided long ago to structure our business as a luxury business. Every decision we made reflected that. Every word we said, every experience we provided, every part of our business shouted it.
Discounts will destroy a luxury business and the perception of success.
What we decided to do instead was to add value by providing extraordinary service, pampering, products, and experience. We offer only the BEST, highest quality products. We spend hours perfecting each order.
It is a labor of love. And we deliver what we promise.
All of this extra effort adds great value to our portrait work. And our clients know it.
So, the next time you are tempted to discount, think twice. Find creative ways to get clients through your door who will be fantastic future clients who come to you for the right reasons.
What are the right reasons? They love you and what you do. When that happens, they will pay what you ask and drive however far they need to in order to be your client:-
They don’t come to you based on your price being the lowest or you having a convenient location. This will save you a lot of heartache in the long run.
“For every reason it’s not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circumstances and succeeded.” -Jack Canfield
