How do I stop discounting?
How do I stop discounting? How can I compete on something other than price?
I’d be a very wealthy person if I could give you the answer to this in the current retail climate! But i have been asked this question a bit lately and I wanted to write about it here.
My answer to this is to take it back to basics with your marketing, ask yourself these questions:
- why does your business exist?
- what is your brand proposition?
- do you have a unique value proposition that genuinely resonates with your customers?
- is everyone involved in your brand a guardian, a protector, a promotor?
- do you have a really clear idea in your head of who your ideal customer is?
- are you building meaningful, one on one, relationships with our customers?
- Is your customer service really good?
- what can you do that is over and above what your competitors do that will make people want to come to you?
- how can you surprise them and make them go “wow that is amazing they did that for me I didn’t expect that, I’ll be going back to them”?
- how can you give your customers more – more service, more care, more follow up, more understanding – whatever is relevant to your business.
- what can you do that your direct competitors don’t already do?
- what do you offer that no-one else does?
Its up to you to think about how you can offer them real value without dropping your price and losing margin. Remember value is about perception and relevant to each individual AND it is not about being the cheapest.
Have confidence in your product or your service.
It’s a viscous cycle to get in I know I’ve been in the thick of it before with brands I’ve worked with. All of this may sound a bit idealistic I understand that. And of course this all has to be balanced with the bottom line and any extra costs. But try to weigh all that up with the long terms benefits for your business and focus on the big picture.
I also really believe even when you are discounting, as is sometimes appropriate, you should portray your brand appropriately and always protect what that brand stands for and why your business exists.
Just taking the time to stop and think about all of this can sometimes be the trigger to lift you out of the spiral of discounting, losing margin, grappling for higher volume, discounting, etc., etc…
I encourage you to take action now, think about what you can offer that doesn’t involved discounting, and see what the results are.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Kate
