Discounting your Product or Service
If customers believe they can get a discount from you, it’s because they think they can go elsewhere and get the same thing cheaper. If they can in fact get the same thing cheaper elsewhere, then you are in a marketplace with lots of competitors offering similar products or services, all competing on price. So you are in a poor negotiating position. It’s a losing battle.
Instead, build your business around those goods and services at which you excel in relation to the competition. Better still, focus on your uniqueness, providing goods and services that nobody else can. Customers will then have nowhere else to go and your negotiating strength increases dramatically.
To do this requires an understanding of your competitors and your market positioning. It means that you need to choose your customers carefully, selecting those people who want what you can uniquely offer.
So be prepared to say No when people ask for a discount. Only the wrong kind of customers will walk away, which is good because you can never build a thriving business around them. The right kind of customers – the ones who recognise how special you are – will pay the price. These are the kind of customers to build your creative enterprise around.
