Instead of offering a fixed lifetime price (e.g., "$10/month forever"), offer a percentage or dollar amount off the retail price. This allows you to raise your base prices in the future to account for inflation or added value, while still honoring the discount for loyal customers.
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Founders often feel guilty about raising prices. Reframe this: sustainable profit margins are what allow your business to survive and continue serving customers. Without profitability, the business fails and everyone loses. It's a matter of ensuring longevity, not greed.
Frame every negotiation around four core business drivers. Offer discounts not as concessions, but as payments for the customer giving you something valuable: more volume, faster cash payments, a longer contract commitment, or a predictable closing date. This shifts the conversation from haggling to a structured, collaborative process.
Offer a significant, permanent discount exclusively to customers who sign up before a product or location officially launches. This creates urgency and scarcity, driving a large influx of initial customers and ensuring immediate profitability from day one.
Instead of offering a fake, expiring discount to create urgency, frame it as a payment for predictability. Tell the prospect you will pay them a discount in exchange for mutually aligning on a specific close date, which helps you forecast accurately. This turns a sales tactic into a valuable business exchange.
A blanket price increase is a mistake. Instead, segment your customers. For those deriving high value, use the increase as a trigger for an upsell conversation to a better product. For price-sensitive customers, consider deferring the hike while you work to better demonstrate your value.
When you increase your BFCM discount (e.g., from 20% to 35%), don't turn off high-performing ads that mention the lower discount. A customer clicking an ad for 20% off and discovering a 35% offer on-site is a pleasant surprise that boosts conversion.
In recurring business relationships, winning every last penny is a short-sighted victory. Intentionally allowing the other party to feel they received good value builds goodwill and a positive reputation, leading to better and more frequent opportunities in the future. It inoculates you against being price-gouged upfront.
Instead of offering a standard discount to all abandoning shoppers, AI analyzes individual behavior to determine the precise, minimum percentage off needed to secure the conversion. This maximizes sales while preventing unnecessary margin erosion.
When starting out, don't just charge a low fee. Instead, state your full market-rate price and offer a significant discount (e.g., 50%) as an introductory offer. This establishes your true value from the beginning while still winning the client. Then, systematically raise your price every few clients.
When pressured to hit quarterly targets with promotions, use a simple filter: 'Does this action increase the long-term desirability of my full-price product?' This framework helps balance immediate revenue needs with the crucial goal of protecting and building brand equity, preventing a downward spiral of discounting.
