When to discount your products and services—and when not to!

Offering free or discounted services can be a great way to let people know about your brand, generate revenue in a specific amount time, or to get rid of old inventory. Sometimes though, doing too many discounts can have a negative impact on your business. We’ll explore when to offer discounts and when it might be time to charge full price.

You’re just starting out

You’ve taken a huge step forward (sometimes combined with a huge leap of faith!) and started your own business—congrats! Maybe you have some clients or customers, but your mailing list is looking a little light. Offering a free class, a free gift, or discount off a service or product can be a great way to entice people to join your mailing list—one of the most important ways to market your business in the future. Those new email addresses could become some of your best new clients!

You need to generate revenue in a specific period of time

Maybe you’re looking to make a big capital investment in new equipment or a new studio space. Maybe you’ve set a specific revenue target for yourself that you’re super close to meeting. Whatever the reason, running a limited-time sale is a great way to generate revenue in a specific amount of time, especially if there is no timeline or call to action for your business. If people can buy your product or service any time, why now? Create that sense of urgency with a sale!

You need to get rid of old inventory

Maybe you’re about to launch your next collection, or maybe you just have no more room in your warehouse (especially if that warehouse is your kitchen table!). Running a sale on previous products can be a great way to do some spring cleaning. Don’t have physical products? You can do this digitally too! Maybe you’re about to launch the 2.0 version of your training, so consider running a sale on the 1.0 version.

You are low-cost leader—all the time

If being low cost is a critical part of your business model, this tip might not be for you. For most small businesses, being low cost all the time is not a recipe for long-term success. If your business is always on sale or always running a GroupOn-type deal, you’re training your customers never to pay full price. Take a hard look at your finances and your pricing to see if being the low-cost leader is really what is best for you and your business. Not sure how to price your product or service? Check out our tips!

Your sales have gotten predictable

Some industries and locations have traditional and seasonable sales, like Black Friday blowouts or Back to School discounts. This isn’t a bad thing per se, but mixing it up and having sales when other businesses in the pole industry aren’t running sales can make you stand out. If you choose to not run a sale when everyone else does, prepare to answer those DMs asking about your deals during those times. See this as a great way to engage with your customers and open a dialog!

What other ways do you see benefits or detriments to using sales and freebies in your business? Let us know!