115. Should You Run a Black Friday Sale? 3 Alternatives to Discounting Your Services

[00:00:02] Welcome to the Blaze Podcast, where we’re all about tearing down barriers and building up community. My name is Meg and I’m a former pre-med student turned online business owner. I started this show because entrepreneurship can be lonely as hell sometimes. And I want to remind you that no matter where you are on your journey, You are not in this alone. Our community is here to light the way, cheer you on and pour gasoline on your fire. Most importantly, we’re here to help you find your unique way of doing business because no advice is one size fits all. And the best strategy is the one that feels good to you. So whether you’re just getting started or you are already blazing your own trail, you are in the right place, friend. Let’s get started. Should you run a Black Friday sale for your business?

[00:00:48] In this episode, I’m going to be sharing why I don’t recommend Black Friday sales if you are a coach, consultant, or service provider. I’m going to share what I do instead in my own business, as well as a few alternative options for you to choose from, but also why it’s okay to skip Black Friday altogether if you’re just not feeling it this year. If you are someone who wakes up every year in early November with this dread of, I’ve got to plan my Black Friday sale and I don’t really want to, this episode will be your permission slip to either let it go completely or do it in a way that actually serves your business and aligns with your values. Welcome back to the show, friends. I am so glad to have you here with me today. A couple really quick announcements before we dive into all things Black Friday.

[00:01:33] First of all, I’m going to share a pretty hot take in this episode around why I don’t actually believe in Black Friday. And this is not going to be for everyone. Okay, so disclaimer, obviously, if you love Black Friday and you already have a promotion plan that you’re super excited about, we love that for you. I’m not here to rain on your parade. For those of you who, like me, are a little bit more skeptical of the whole thing, there tends to be a few key reasons why people either don’t participate, and these are the same reasons that I don’t myself and why I don’t recommend it for most of my clients. And the number one, the biggest reason is just a values misalignment here. Because Black Friday really is at the heart of it, a celebration of capitalism and consumerism. It is a lot of encouraging people to buy stuff they don’t really need.

[00:02:19] And I just think of, you know, back in the day, my mom taking my sister and I to the mall to buy a whole bunch of stuff that we really did not need. But we were so swept up in the sales and what was on offer. Right. And in the online business space, there just tends to be a lot of fear based marketing at this time of year. And when people say things like, oh, I hate pushy sales tactics. Right. I always think of Black Friday because there’s just so much like fake urgency and scarcity and spamming people with emails and ads. And Black Friday is such a prime example of all of that. And there are plenty of people out there who are also running very legit and ethical Black Friday sales. It’s just a lot of the more fear-based stuff that tends to be in your face. And it’s not just the people running the sales, but like so many business coaches who are really pressuring you to run your own Black Friday sale. You know, they’re selling you on why you need to be selling and buy their discounted Black Friday template bundle or whatever. Right. And again, if you want to do that, because that feels aligned for you to run a sale, then great. But what I don’t want you to do ever in your business is make decisions based on fear or urgency or pressure from other people in the industry.

[00:03:27] So whatever you decide to do or not do at this time of year should just come down to what feels like the best decision for you. And not like, if you don’t do this, you’re going to miss out on the best opportunity all year to make money and blah, blah, blah. Right. And some online business owners really love Black Friday. They go all in. But there are plenty of people who are running very successful businesses and never run Black Friday promotions. You just don’t hear about them because they’re not promoting anything at this time of year. And, you know, one of my mentors, for example, is an eight figure online business owner has been doing this for decades and he just doesn’t believe in Black Friday. And that was actually like a value alignment signal for me because I was like, oh, me too. Like, that was a permission slip for me when I heard that. I’m like, oh, my God, this guy who I respect so much is telling me that I don’t have to do this. That was so permission-giving.

[00:04:16] And so that was sort of the intent behind this episode today as well, is that if you need someone to tell you that, that it’s okay to just skip it entirely, it is. Let me be that person for you today to share that message. But there is also a very real strategic reason why I don’t recommend it for most people. And that is the hidden cost of discounting. So obviously Black Friday, the whole premise is to discount quite significantly. off of your regular prices. And so not only am I just missing out on like the literal difference in revenue, you know, if you sell something for $500 and you’re offering it for like $27 or whatever it is, but my sort of gripe with this is that do you want your customers to buy from you because it’s cheap right like that is the question that always sticks in my mind is like is that really why i want them to buy because discounts are powerful motivators absolutely don’t get me wrong but there is a hidden cost associated with it and if you just think about this logically you know would you rather people buy from you at a discounted rate or full price Discounts in general teach your audience to devalue your offer.

[00:05:25] Because if they see it at half price, that’s now the new price anchor in their mind. And if you raise it back up to the regular price after that, they’re going to be comparing to the lower one. They now subconsciously view it as worth whatever that lower discounted amount was. So, you know, for example, my signature program, Sales Liberation, you know, I sell it as a DIY course for $997 at the time of this recording. And if I were to discount that for Black Friday to, let’s say, $497, half off, why would anyone ever buy it at full price, right? If they knew that was coming, if they knew that was available. And also, if I were to do that, that wouldn’t feel great for the other people who bought the program at full price earlier in the year. So you have to be really careful with this because there is a big difference between, you know, major brands and companies who are offering discounts on like buying a TV or something, right?

[00:06:19] Like buying a physical product half off versus digital products or even one-to-one services. So there is nuance to this, right? I think digital products you can get away with a little bit more. You know, if you sell a template kit for $47 and you discount it to 27, that’s not doing the same type of harm to your brand as discounting your one-to-one services. If your regular package for one-to-one services is $5,000 and you offer it for $3,000, that’s sending a certain type of message. It’s also how you value your own time, your expertise, your services that you’re providing. So do be careful with this. My personal opinion is that in general, discounts at any time of year do more harm than good. If you do discount, my advice would be to have a really clear reason and communicate that reason to your audience.

[00:07:11] Let me give you an example of what a good discount is, like how this can be done well. One area where I do believe in discounts is the first time you’re creating and offering something. So like a beta round of a new program. You have a really clear reason to do that, right? Because it’s new. You’re just trying to get your founding members in. You want testimonials and feedback. You want founding members. And that’s really clearly communicated to people that, hey, join now the first time I’m offering this. Get in on the ground level. Shape the future of the program. And you’re going to get the best possible price because it’s new. That’s a very clear reason as opposed to like, hey, it’s Black Friday, so everything is just half off. Okay, so do again what feels best to you because the place that you’re coming from really matters.

[00:07:54] And if discounts don’t sit right with you, then don’t offer them. Now, if you still want to participate in Black Friday and have some fun with this, I’m going to give you some alternative options. So number one is instead of discounting, offer bonuses and bundles. So add something extra in rather than just slashing the price. For example, I ran a very successful Black Friday campaign last year for a client of mine. She was pre-selling spots for her retreat the next spring. And so at this time of year, you know, late November, early December, it was already going to be early bird pricing for this retreat. So they were already going to be getting the best price. And what we did was we just created this Black Friday bundle that had a few extra bonuses thrown in.

[00:08:39] So yes, they got the best price, which again, they would have gotten anyway. But they also got like a swag bag, a hotel room upgrade, a gift certificate for the spa. And some of these actually came from her sponsors, so it didn’t add any extra costs on her end. And that’s what you want to look for. Things that don’t add a ton of time or effort or money from you, but are still super valuable to your clients. and also i want you to notice this was a premium offer so these were not cheap digital products she was actually pre-selling a premium offer for the following year so there’s some fun opportunity there Another option is you could bundle multiple offers or bookings together. So if you offer VIP days, for example, maybe you offer bundle pricing so they book like three VIP days at once, they get a better deal. So not discounting one day, but bundling several together. And again, you can get creative feel into these and see like what would actually feel fun and exciting to you and not like you’re just undercutting yourself in your business. Okay.

[00:09:39] That’s the feeling that we want to avoid. The second thing you could do as an alternative, and this is the one that I personally do in my own business, is to host a giveaway. So this has been a tradition of mine since pretty much my first year in business. No, since… 2022, 2023, something like that, I have done a giveaway every year for Black Friday. And the reason is really simple because like I said, Black Friday can be a bit of a stressful time to be a business owner. You know, everyone’s asking for a sale. Everyone’s pushing you to promote your own stuff. And I was just like, what can I do that is the opposite of that? And I was like, oh, I could just give shit away for free. And so that’s what I did.

[00:10:22] And I just always have so much fun with this. One of my core values in business is leading with generosity. And I love this opportunity to just kind of buck the trend of like, when everyone else is selling you stuff, I’m just going to give it away. for free. And like I said, I’ve done this every year. I’ve done it in different ways. I’ve done like big group giveaways. I’ve done little ones, small ones, solo ones. This year, I’m going to be giving away three breakthrough coaching sessions. So these are 60 minute one-on-one calls where we take a deep dive into your business, your goals, where you’re getting stuck. And these sessions are something I normally charge hundreds of dollars for. And I’m just giving three away because honestly, that felt like a fun thing that I could do this month. And like I said, it’s the time of year as well. So this is partly my way of giving back and helping out three other business owners during what I know is a stressful time. By the way, if you want to enter to win one of those, you can opt in at megansmyth.com slash Black Friday, and that links in the show notes for you too.

[00:11:16] Hosting a group giveaway is also a ton of fun. That’s something I’ve done in the past. It can really bring people together at this time of year and give them an opportunity to give back to Maybe listening to this, you just feel inspired to, I don’t know, make a donation or give your time away, volunteer to do something or host an event for other local business owners. Don’t be limited to the options I’m giving you today. It might be fun for you to just think about, what would it look like for me to be generous right now and to give back inside your business and outside of it? Okay, moving on to number three, the third option, and maybe this one is obvious, but it’s to just do nothing and skip Black Friday entirely. For a lot of entrepreneurs, this whole Black Friday thing creates more overwhelm than it’s really worth.

[00:12:03] There are so many things on your plate already. You do not need to add more. If you don’t feel inspired by what I’ve shared here today, by the alternative options, then just do yourself a favor and make the decision right now to let it go. at least for this year okay you are doing enough i promise you this is such a common theme that comes up with my clients who are all very high achieving women entrepreneurs and sometimes they just need to be told like hey you are doing enough like you don’t need to keep adding more doing more working harder what you’re doing now is enough And a lot of cases, like it is working. So just keep doing that and give yourself permission to opt out of the things that don’t actually feel right for you. Because again, I’m telling you, there’s plenty of very successful entrepreneurs out there who are quietly making the same choice around Black Friday, but they’re doing it quietly.

[00:12:51] They’re not as loud about it. And so that’s why you don’t hear about it. But you can absolutely join their ranks or you can join me in giving back if that feels good to you. Key takeaway is that the best Black Friday promotion or just Black Friday event, I guess I’ll say, because not all these are promotions, is just the one that you actually want to do. The one that genuinely lights you up and that you feel excited about, because as I talk about so often on this show, the energy that you come from is everything. And people can feel… when you’re being genuine and when you’re doing something out of a sense of obligation or pressure. So if you’re not into the traditional sales and discounts, try offering bonuses, maybe host a giveaway or just give yourself that permission to skip it because your business will survive. I promise you might even be better off.

[00:13:37] If this whole approach to sales and marketing resonates with you, this is a prime example of the type of decisions I help my clients work through. And if you want to go deeper, I have a few one-on-one coaching spots opening up soon. I always love starting with and onboarding new clients at this time of year because I feel like it’s so easy to just coast through end of the year, just survive until the holidays. But for me and my business, December has consistently been one of the most fun, but also consistently one of the highest sales month in my business every single year. And it is for many of my clients as well. And so a new perspective and some coaching could be all you need to get there. and really finish the year strong, but in a way that actually feels good for you. So if that sounds interesting to you, you can apply for coaching at megansmyth.com slash apply. And the link is in the show notes for you as well. I would also love to hear from you if this episode resonated. So you can always send me an email to podcast at megansmyth.com. Let me know where you stand on Black Friday and what, if anything, are you doing this year?

[00:14:39] Thank you so much for listening and being here, friend as always all the links and everything you need is in the show notes from today and i will see you back here same time same place next week. Take care. Hey, Trailblazer. Thank you so much for listening to the show today. If you found this episode helpful, please help us spread the word so we can get more valuable, free content in front of more people who need it. Share this episode with a friend, post it on social, and tag me at saleswithmeg on Instagram. I would love to hear your biggest takeaways. Until next time, remember that fortune favors the bold, but success favors the stubborn. Keep going, friend. You got this.