Should you do a sale / special promotion?

Have you thought about doing a special promotion or sale in your business?

I remember the first time I did a special offer in my business during the infamous sale weekend after Thanksgiving…

…It was 2012 and my husband and I spent Thanksgiving with friends in Santa Cruz, California. We got home late at night because my husband insisted on stopping at a Best Buy for some door-buster deals on our way home – LOL. We slept in the next day and it was around noon before I decided to check my email.

Not surprisingly, my inbox was full of Black Friday deals. I was excited to get the offers from Amazon and REI… but then I started seeing how many of my colleagues and mentors were offering Black Friday specials.

At first I started beating myself up for not planning ahead and having my own Black Friday sale. Then that frustration fueled action and I got busy figuring what I could offer on “Cyber Monday.”

So I pulled together a 50% savings sale on 3 of my home learning programs. I called it a Cyber Week Sale and ended up with 13 new customers which generated $4,871. I was stoked!

The next year I made sure to put doing a Black Friday – Cyber Monday special offer on my promotional calendar when I was doing my annual planning so that I would be ready.

Since then I’ve done a variety of different sales and special offers during the Thanksgiving weekend and I’m ALWAYS glad I do them, even if they don’t always go exactly as I had hoped.

One year I decided to offer a 40% savings on the home learning version of my best selling program. I had 15 sales and generated $7,170. I considered it a success at the time, but in hindsight I realized that I didn’t feel good about offering my top program at a discount.

Another year I created a live training class that I priced at $27 and had 73 people say yes, generating $1,971… which may not look as good on paper, but 2 of those people ended up becoming awesome private VIP clients!

This year I offered a Thanks + Giving Sale on The Lucrative & Leveraged Coaching Business Bundle and contributed $50 from each sale to the survivors of the devastating Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.

I love having the contribution component and we raised $1,400 for the Hurricane Dorian Relief Fund through GlobalGiving! 

So, if you’re thinking of running a sale or special promotion in your business, here are some of the insights and lessons I’ve learned over the years:

#1 – Sales and special offers work! The fact is, a certain percentage of people who would not otherwise invest with you, will respond to a promotion or special offer. Think of a special offer as a way to attract:

• People Who Are Price Sensitive
• Bargain Hunters
• The Curious
• The Impulsive
• People Who Need An Incentive To Make A Decision

#2 – Position your special offer by telling people your reason for having it. For example, you can be having a sale because of:

• An Upcoming Holiday (Valentine’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, New Year) 
• The Time of Year (spring, summer, back-to-school, etc.) 
• A Birthday (yours, your pet’s, your kid’s, etc.) 
• An Anniversary (of your business, your marriage, your sobriety, etc.) 
• A New Offer (running a pilot program, beta testing, launch special) 

#3 – Have a short time frame, but not too short! Macy’s loves to do a one day sale, but for us I recommend 3-4 days.

#4 – Make your special offer a “screaming deal” so it becomes a no-brainer for your customers.

#5 – When marketing your special offer, be sure to focus on the benefits and transformation your customers will experience when they say YES to your offering, in addition to the big savings.

#6 – Consider including a give-back component because it can make your sale so much more fun, meaningful and rewarding.

So… Are you inspired to run a sale or special promotion in your business?

I encourage you to go for it and to start planning now for what you’d like to offer in the upcoming year!

In fact, here’s a recorded virtual workshop where I walk folks through creating their Coaching Business Blueprint for the new year.

In it, I’ll help you map out your game plan for 2020 (perhaps even penciling in a promotion or special offer :-)

The Coaching Business Blueprint – Recorded Virtual Workshop <= Get the details and sign up here!

Here’s to you having an awesome 2020 in your coaching business!