November to January is a huge season of specials! We start in November after the US Thanksgiving holiday with Black Friday (23rd November) and Cyber Monday.
Then it’s into pre-Christmas sales, the infamous Boxing Day sales (a billion dollar day in Australia) through to New Years sales, and then back to school. It’s one massive sales period.
As a small business owner, should you be discounting or offering specials just because ‘everyone’ else is? It all comes down to your strategy and pricing.
If you intend to discount or offer specials, you must make sure you’ve factored them into your pricing, and this is where so many businesses go wrong. Randomly deciding, I’m going to discount my prices 25%, but they haven’t planned for it ahead of time.
What would you offer discounted? Would it be products that are obsolete and could otherwise not be sold? Or is it across the board, losing out on products you would’ve sold anyway? For services, are you offering an add-on, or are you getting people to book in during quiet periods? Maybe you’re launching a new service or membership and discounting the introductory period?
Offering discounts and specials, particularly when it’s almost expected in the market, can be good for business, but ONLY if you know the cost of that discounting and you factored it in.
If you need help, I’ve worked with NSW Government funded Business Connect clients on this and have a prerecorded training course on discounting under my business FAQ Business Training.
Jane Tweedy – Western Sydney Business Centre 0490 102 194 | [email protected]
