When I was very first starting out as a personal trainer, I used to run Black Friday deals in preparation for New Years.
Eventually, I stopped, and if/when I have more services to offer, I won’t offer deals.
Why?
1- Twice now I have been on the consumer end of “I just bought that a week/a month ago but now it’s way cheaper. The retailer’s response is always “too bad so sad” (my paraphrase). That doesn’t feel good, and it doesn’t leave me wanting to do business with that retailer again.
In my business, I have always been about building relationships and, when practical and possible, community. The above is antithetical to that.
1b- In response to “You could always just retroactively apply the discount”… To purchases back how long? For all purchases or just people who ask? Do I want to establish a culture of people asking me if they can pay less for my services?
2- I price my services in such a way that my clients feel at least like they’ve gotten their money’s worth, or hopefully like they’ve gotten a great deal. I don’t need to discount it.
That said, I do occasionally throw in freebies or discounts for repeat customers.
What do you think? Do you like periodic big sales? Have you been on the losing end of that?
I’ve often been perturbed about sales and grocery store membership cards for this reason. Price something fairly and let it stand. I understand why it is done and how it drives more revenue for businesses, but then I feel less loyalty to that company and it becomes more about price. And ultimately price isn’t everything.
Here is the other piece I don’t like, and specifically about Black Friday is the mindless purchasing just because it is on sale. Do you really need that? Can you really afford it? Does it make you any happier? Oh, and by the way, is it more important to get that big screen talking elmo virtual reality blue tooth snoopy snow cone machine than to keep your humanity and not trample/push/punch/say awful things your fellow human?
That’s one of the nice things about Trader Joes. No sales, no coupons.