November 25, 2022
The Stench of Desperation
As you probably know from the avalanche of marketing emails in your inbox, the day after Thanksgiving is commonly referred to as “Black Friday”.
Well...
After my message yesterday about Thanksgiving-related plumbing troubles, a few alert readers replied to inform me that plumbers refer it as Brown Friday instead.
LOL!
Speaking of Black Friday...
(How’s that for a segue?)
Predictably offering discounts trains customers to do a bunch of things that you probably don’t want them to do, like...
- Mistrust your normal prices
- Focus on cost instead of value
- Delay their decision to make a purchase
...but the thing I like the least about predictable discounts is that I feel like it gives off a whiff of what Blair Enns calls “the stench of desperation.”
If you are confident of the value you provide to your ideal buyers and you aren’t desperate to make a sale, why would you drop the price?
I’m not saying there are never good reasons to offer a discount - there are - but for business like ours, it needs to be done strategically and in an unpredictable way.
Yours,
—J