DANGERS OF DISCOUNTING – we hear many “salon experts” say don’t discount as it destroys your brand….yet we live in a world of discounting…I love a good discount don’t you?
However, we need to understand what discounting really means. I often hear salon owners proudly say they don’t discount as it ruins their brand identity and they heard this from a ‘salon consulting expert’….yet they do little marketing and still have LOADS of white space to fill in the diary and quite frankly are struggling to make real salon PROFITS.
So how do we market WITHOUT effecting our brand identity? The thing is, not all ‘discounting’ is the same so let’s take the confusion out of it so you can super charge your salon once and for all.
The key is to understand the difference between VALUE and PRICE so you can control your salon offerings and how to avoid what I call ‘Dangerous Discounting’.
DANGEROUS DISCOUNTS EXAMPLE – lets say a salon offers 25% OFF colours this week because they are quiet and they do this randomly as often as they are quiet (which is regular) using price as the only carrot to attract clients through their doors. This CAN damage your brand for sure. Too many discounts regularly, for no apparent reason, looses a full paying clients trust as they feel they have not received value paying full price as they see you are discounting regularly but THEY didn’t get it. It can devalue your brand saying “we are not worthy of full price and are regularly quiet so we need to keep discounting” .
Let’s say you are the consumer for a moment…when you are shopping at the supermarket there are some products that are reduced so regularly we would NEVER pay full price for them again as we think it’s not worth it as it’s always discounted …can you think of a product like that? Well it’s the same for your services.
Or how about insurance companies that give first time buyers a discount and regular clients NOTHING. In fact they start bumping up the price for regulars year on year…not very rewarding for the long term customer ,in fact you feel ripped off knowing your loyalty means nothing! (We will come back to ‘discounting to NEW clients’ in a separate blog)
VALUE ADDED DISCOUNTS EXAMPLE- on the other hand if you are at your fave coffee shop 3 times a week and are given loyalty points to collect a FREE coffee after your 8th purchase you feel rewarded right? You don’t suddenly feel their coffee is not worth full price…instead you feel closer to your brand of choice because you are being rewarded and let’s face it, we all love a 100% discount/freebie :)
Or let’s take a package for example ….you have 2 great hotels to choose from in the same location both 4 star with the same facilities . One is £100 for the night for room only and the other is £110 but includes a bottle of wine and chocolates in your room on arrival and a half price breakfast voucher.
If a strict budget is not an issue the £110 one suddenly becomes more appealing to most because of the extra ADDED VALUE:
-bottle of wine and chocs in room adds to experience …valued at £20 if purchased from the bar
-the half price breakfast voucher saves you and your partner/pal £15 in total
total value of extras worth £35 but you pay only an extra £10 more than the other hotel plus
a chilled bottle of wine and a choc fix on arrival is PRICELESS :)
This would be an example of an Added Value Discount …can you see they difference?
I will post more examples so you can really begin to understand the differences and how ADDING VALUE for your clients can really grow your brand not damage it and not all discounting is the same, it’s the ‘Dangerous Discounting’ you need to avoid.
Here’s to your salon success
Caroline
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