Having a sale just for the sake of having a sale irritates me. When I see that someone slashing their prices I always wonder why they weren’t just selling them at that price to begin with. If they can make money with a sale price, why aren’t they doing it all the time?
I feel slightly betrayed… like they were gouging me last week and they’re going to start gouging me again as soon as the sale is over.
Of course as a marketer, I know why people have sales… They work. People rush towards a bargain. Human beings have a genetic quirk that makes us jump at the chance to get something for less than it’s worth, even if that “worth” is just a perceived value.
So how do you use that same bargain quirk without slashing your prices (and irritating people like me)?
Simple- keep your price the same but add something more to the deal.
If you sell refrigerators and need to drum up some extra business, don’t slash 10% off the cost of the unit. Try adding free delivery and installation. That’s obviously worth something but it makes your fridge a bargain if the competition is still charging for that service.
Not selling hard goods? Even better. If you sell your services, you absolutely never want to cheapen how much you time costs. Time is money. Don’t get trapped in the horrible spiral of discounting your time.
But when you sell your time and services, you don’t really have to care about the value of hard goods. So just give them away. Buy a load of gift certificates to local restaurants, or fruit baskets, or better yet- anything related to your service that you can give away.
If you’re a plumber, give away a free plunger with your name and number etched in the handle. This will probably cost you between $5-$10 and most of your customers will think it’s a pretty neat gift. Plus, the next time they can’t unclog their own toilet, your name and number is already in their hands.
What you never want to do as a business, is to cheapen the value of your biggest money maker. The price tag isn’t what influences the decision to buy, it’s the value the customers get for whatever amount of money they spend. So increase the value, don’t decrease the price.
Any other ways you can think of to increase the value of your product? Leave your ideas in the comments.
