Value Conscious > Discount Driven.
“When you ask for a discount/special treatment at a service-based business, you aren’t undervaluing that business.
You’re undervaluing yourself, outwardly expressing yourself as selfish, cheap, and unworthy of full value.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
I was talking with a colleague recently and he was asking about discounts and specials to help drive his bottom line.
I understand the concept and I’m not knocking the idea entirely as I know many businesses have quick cash success with these tactics.
But I’ll tell you why I largely advise against the use of discounts, specials, and drop-ins for service-based businesses.
The second the word “discount” gets thrown around, price-conscious consumers get excited (for a very short period of time, before they go looking for the next deal) and value-conscious consumers perceive your work to be cheap, or, of little value (forever).
And if we’re looking to develop a high-quality consumer base of value-conscious consumers, to purchase our high-quality service, why would you use tactics in an effort to appease cheap people who will always be unhappy, looking for the next way to save a buck, and leave your business as soon as they do?
Not only does this create more headaches for the business owner, it walls off the target demographic you should be after, the value-conscious. The folks who don’t get tripped up over pennies and dimes, the people who understand the concept of value. The people who have a much higher quality and lengthy lifespan at your business.
Being the discount guy or the low-price leader in a service-based business is a race to the bottom regardless of how you look at it.
I used to get upset when people would ask for a discount or special treatment, not because I was offended, but because I deeply desired to meet them where they were. I was conflicted with the notion, “this is a business, but man do I deeply desire to serve.”
But then I learned. When people ask for a discount/special treatment, they aren’t undervaluing your business. They are undervaluing themselves.
In another way, they are telling you, “I am unworthy of full value, I am cheap, and this transaction isn’t mutually beneficial, it’s about me.”
Do you really think that is best for the culture of your business?
The value-conscious are far fewer in number than the price-conscious, but a solid base of value-conscious consumers will forever be the way.
Don’t go cheap because they are.
