What To Think About When Offering Discounts or Bonuses?

Welcome to Crafted to Thrive, the globally ranked podcast for entrepreneurs living with chronic illness. I'm your host, nikita Williams, and after being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses myself, I figured out the surprisingly simple missing links to growing a profitable business without compromising my health. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like you learn how to do the same. If you're ready to own your story and create a thriving business that aligns with your health and well-being, you're in the right place. Together, we're shifting the narrative of what's possible for entrepreneurs with chronic illness. This is Crafted to Thrive. Hey, y'all Happy to be here with you today, okay, so today I want to talk about discounts versus bonuses. So I know that this is the time of year that many of us are looking at how we can capitalize on whatever we're trying to capitalize in the fall, winter time of 2023, or any time of year, whether it's a very highly commercialized time of year where people are offering sales and bonuses and all of those different kinds of things. And I also know and I want to acknowledge, just because of working with some of my clients and even myself recently this time of year is also very emotionally heavy in a lot of different ways, because the season brings about some seasonal hormonal shifts for us, as well as just the fact that we might be getting invited to a lot of different things and there's a lot of change or a lot of uncertainty as we move into 2024 for some kind of reason. So we are also feeling a lot of pressure from what we see other business owners and coaches and consultants and other businesses revving up to do. Our inboxes are going to become full with a whole bunch of deals and services and discounts and all of these things bonuses and if you aren't offering those things and if you aren't doing those things right now or you don't even have a plan for that right now, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed and frustrated and also might be feeling like what you're doing or have done isn't enough. You could also be feeling like we're in quarter four, we're at the end of the year. I haven't gotten everything that I had on my list to do my goals. They aren't happening. You might be comparing yourself to a previous version of yourself. Like last year, I found myself this year really reflecting on where I was last year, which was like hiking in Michigan, and this year literally this last month I've been on muscle relaxers and a pain pill to help me, because my muscle strain in my quad is all jacked up and I have physical therapy appointments. I need to set up like completely different places, right? So there's two things I want to offer as far as where we are in the season of time, and then also a strategy to help you figure out. Are you or do you want to even, and what's the difference between discounts versus bonuses, and which one will feel more aligned and which one will give you more energy and capacity to do something right and not to look back in January 2024, look back at the last four months of the year and be like beating yourself up because of it. We're going to talk about that. So if you are in a place, physically or emotionally or all of the things and you're looking back to where life was and what things were like around this time of year, or where you were earlier this year, and you feel like you might be comparing yourself or you feel like you might not be doing enough, I want you to really reflect on if that version of you would look at the version of you today and beat you up, or would it find some compassion and understanding right. So I've been really trying to work on this myself because last year I felt like I was in probably the best physical space I've been in a very long time living with multiple chronic illnesses, right. I felt like I was in such a good place and I love that version of me, just like I love this version of me. But this year, as I mentioned, has been really interesting. It has been very ups and downsies as far as health is related and my capacity and my energy and my physicalness has shifted as well and all I can do is just be like I miss that version of me. But I'm so glad that I can have compassion for myself right now and also a remembrance of like. There've been times where I've had years like this, where it's like oh my gosh, what's happening to me? And been able to have more years later that I had last year, like everything was moving well. Everything was going well. I felt good in my body as far as like movement and exercise and diet, like that diet, like the way I was eating. And I'm in the season of like. This is the season where I get to be really kind, or continue to be kind and understanding and compassionate with myself, with the evidence and the knowledge that I will have another time like it's coming right. This isn't never not going to come. The bend, the uphill of this is going to come. So I challenge you to think about how are you in a space right now whatever good, positive, good positive, challenging, whatever the case may be how are you in a better place, because of previous versions of yourself, to give yourself compassion and love and understanding today, in this body, at this time? How can you give yourself that? And when it comes to your business, there's a lot of things that have changed in the business world online. We went from a pandemic to everyone trying to figure out what we're doing after a pandemic or living with quote unquote a pandemic to. Is this what I really want it anyway, like so many different things I've heard so many people share so many different things. How can you give yourself permission to just have those feelings and not allow them to mean anything about the decisions that you made or did over the course of time, like over the course of a year? You guys will hear me sipping on some tea and a weird throat, like throat is happening, kind of thing going on here. So my vocal coach back in the day is Brienne. If you don't know, she was my vocal coach. She's helped me learn a different set of tools to help me during weird throaty times where my voice is doing its thing. So you probably will hear different voices. It's still me. I'm just trying to find the sweet spot of having this conversation with you to serve you as well as honoring what's going on with my throat and my voice. Okay, so give yourself some compassion, reflect on what you're grateful for and really take this time to reflect on why, right now, whatever season you are in, you are more capable of being in flow and in alignment because of the work and the love and the compassion you've given yourself in the past. Okay, and this goes to my next point when it comes to your business, do not allow the pressure of the gurus telling you that you have to have discounts, you gotta be on it here and like, if you're not online, you're not doing the thing. Yada, yada, yada whatever thoughts that are might be zooming around your head, making you feel even more of not enough. Give yourself permission to let those things go. Acknowledge that they're there and just let them go. It's okay, you will be okay. So let's get to the strategy Bonus versus discounts. So as I've been in business and seen the differences, I feel personally that the more compelling offers are the bonus offers. Right, because it kind of gets a different mindset or a different psychology of the buyer, right. When we have discounts, oftentimes we're looking for a deal, a steal. Right, and the sense of we want to get it the cheapest, the most affordable quote-unquote and I say affordable in air quotes because that's relative to the beholder. Right, it's really relative to the beholder. But most times when people are looking for discounts or coupon, they're looking to get something at a cheaper rate, right? So the mindset is a bit different. This time of year, many people are running Black Friday sales and all those different kind of things and so many of us are already operating. And how can I get more of the things that I want for less? Right? How can I do that? That's discounts. But there are also people who are offering bonuses this time of year. They aren't necessarily changing their pricing, they aren't taking things away, they're adding to their offers and services. What does that do for the psychology of the buyer? Well, a buyer who is looking to buy something that already knows that something's a good deal and it's getting something in addition to is no longer necessarily looking for a discount. They're looking for a value add. So which one would you prefer, energetically and just realistically, to sell? And for us with chronic illness, I think this is important to know the difference, because I find that when I used to offer a lot of discounts, energetically and just financially, it didn't really feel good, especially during the years when I used to like really go hard on the Black Friday sales, because by time January came I was kind of burnt out and kind of slightly resentful that I had just booked all of this clients for my digital marketing at such a low rate that it wasn't fun and it really wasn't that profitable Like it barely was profitable for me and I had put in so much work. But when I shifted into offering bonuses and my prices stayed the same but I offered more to the offer that I was having, it felt so much better. I had more bandwidth and capacity going into the new year, to January, into January not being like I have to stick with this offer or this. This way I'm delivering with this and not really seeing the benefit, and you guys know I've talked about this before, but in business, money is energy. I think in general, money is energy in a lot of different ways. I want to attract the person who already finds what I do valuable and feel like anything they get on top of that is like such a value add that they would be crazy to not say yes. And so I challenge you to think about that for yourself. It's not that either one is bad or good. Discounts or bonuses are bad or good. There's no wrong way of doing this. But I want you to think about it from the context energetically and financially, what would work better for you? I think this time of year, people are just often trying to get as many people as possible, but I was recently talking to a client who was offering some offering. That offering that was less than her normal packaging and was something new she was trying, and it was cheaper, quote-unquote than her actual signature offer. And we had a conversation of the feeling like, when you do that, you think you have, you don't have to market as much, but really you do. You have to market more. I find to attract those people who are looking for a deal right, they're looking for a deal sometimes. I'm not saying this is a blanket statement, but this is what I found. But if you offer a service and you say, and you get this and this, it's a different type of buyer, it's a different type of mentality. So you want to decide which one. Would you be more happy about delivering the service when it's time to deliver? Right, if you have an offer of your service-based business and you have an offer that requires you to deliver some type of client interaction, what you feel better if it was discounted and your time and your energy was kind of discounted for the next six months, or would you find it energetically awesome that they got added value and you are still getting the value you need for what you have to offer? This concept of discounts versus bonuses has me thinking and had me thinking about how, as chronic illness warriors, we have to deal with this on all of the things right, and here's what I mean. I will 100% pay more for a functional medicine doctor than my regular doctor, because the bonus to working with a functional medicine doctor is that I get to see them for more than eight or 15 minutes. I have 45 minutes usually with my functional medicine doctor and even though I might be paying the same technically out of pocket, I would prefer having that bonus time with the doctor, because I know the value of having someone listen to me and hear what it is that I need, and that is invaluable. I'm not looking for the cheapest option to take care of my health, I'm looking for the most valuable one, and so in a lot of different ways, sometimes in our health journey we are looking for the cheapest way, but most times we're looking for the one that gives us the most value and solves our problem the best, like more holistically, and so if you think about it from that context, it makes sense that it would feel better energetically, it would feel better to even market and be excited about offering bonuses versus discounts, and I'll give you a more practical example. So, starting this month, I have started offering, with my coaching, a bonus of having a virtual assistant in your business to work with you five hours at a time, five hours every month, and some people are like that's not a lot of hours, that's a lot of hours. I have a VA that works with me right now anywhere between 10 to 20 hours a month, and at first we started at five hours a month and it was great, and I just had more capacity now to do the thing that was really good at. And now she's elevated. We've elevated our time together, but five hours is amazing. But what I'm offering to my clients is not a discount of their services. I'm adding a bonus, right. So, though you're paying what you would normally pay, I'm adding something additional to the value to show you that, hey, I'm in this with you and I want you to succeed, and I also know that the more you succeed, the more I will succeed. Quote unquote from the financial business side of things. I will see the results, you will have the results. I want you to be armed with what you need. I don't want you coming into this program thinking I got a steal and you may not put the same amount of energy or effort into the program because I offered it at 50%. Right, it will reflect in the results. So, as a service provider, I definitely think, especially if you're working B2B with clients, you're doing coaching and consulting. This is important. This is a little bit different than what I would offer to product-based businesses, even though I still kind of believe in bonuses, like if someone buys a stack of bracelets and you give them another two and a half stacks, they're like totally, that's all in for them, right? Like I just think it's a different psychology of the person, and the reason why I'm talking about psychology is I much rather have in my audience and in my community people who are seeking value versus a deal. You hear that I much more prefer someone who's seeking more value than just a deal. It's a lot less stressful too, which means I won't be flaring up and stressing out about whether or not this client is really here for the value, really here for the result that they're seeking. Obviously, you have the choice of whether or not you do discounts or bonuses and what feels good to you. Maybe a discount does feel good to you. I have some clients that are like Nikita, I'm offering a discount and I feel no qualms about it. That's kudos on you, I'm so happy for you. And I have some clients that are like, yeah, I'm still going to offer a discount and I'm like great, perfect, it works for them. But the whole reason why I'm sharing this is because some of us think that we have to discount our services in order to create the financial revenue that we need, especially during a season where we're kind of quote unquote, competing with so many people. Clients do the same thing but attract a different type of client and I would much rather warm that client up over the next six months six months who may not have bought, but was kind of thinking about it. Right, was kind of thinking about man, that's a really good offer because I'll get this too and this would help me here and there. What you really want is to have clients already thinking about working with you in the future because they see the added value or they see the value period, not that they see that the price is cheaper. So those are the thoughts here for you. If you have any questions about this, if you have some thoughts about it, feel free to DM me. And again, I'm going to go back to the very beginning of what I was saying about this episode, like, give yourself some compassion and grace around this time, because we are bombarded with so many messages about what we should be doing, what we need to be doing. We have to emotionally regulate ourselves in a lot of different ways and that's what I'm doing a lot with my clients. Right, and about the bonus just in case you're going to offer a bonus. Make sure the bonus is relevant to what the client will need to succeed or what they're looking for now, what they need now. Make sure it's relevant to them. Okay, all right, loves. I hope this was helpful and I can't wait to hear back from you guys. Be sure to leave some feedback on Instagram, drop me in my DMs or, if you're my pod squad, you can definitely do that on the broadcast channel, which is all of the things. And if you'd like to have a quick connection, call for a little clarity to see if this is a way to create a strategy for yourself and for your business going into 2024 that doesn't leave you feeling drained or dreading or resentful about what you did during this last quarter. Go ahead and go to the show notes and book a call and we'll chat and make a plan specifically for you. All right, loves, talk to you soon. That's a wrap, y'all. Thanks for tuning in to Crafted to Thrive, the podcast that helps entrepreneurs with chronic illness to thrive and build a holistic business and life. Check out our website at CraftedToThrivecom for this episode show notes and all the gifts and goodies. Connect with me on Instagram at thrivewithnakeda for more tips and behind the scenes and more. Tap me to share what you loved about this episode and I'll feature you on an upcoming episode. So until next time, remember. Yes, you are crafted to thrive.