Discount is like a Steroid; it comes with side effects.

Have you ever felt frustrated, high pressured, and had self doubt, about why your business was not busy? Why aren't your customers coming back? What did you do wrong? Cause, I've been there before. I just didn't know what to do. My head felt like it was spinning round and round non-stop. Normally, we choose the easy way out to such questions: Reckless DISCOUNT. We try to get as many people as possible to come in the business, that we totally forget about "everything" else. The damage done to the business by giving discounts is much more than I gain from it. And offering "discounts" is highly addictive to the business as well as the customers.

It disvalues the product. For example, if you would normally charge £15 for your product or service, and now suddenly you charge £10, in your customer's eyes your product is really only worth £10. So they would be thinking why should they have to pay £15 for the same product and service? And most likely, they won’t purchase without a discount in the future.

What kind of place is that? When we first open a business, we believe in ourselves that we can deliver our best to our customers. But when customers start seeing you give discounts, they assume something wrong is happening with your business. It can make them feel cheap when using your product or service. Is that the identity you want for your business? We should keep trying hard to get customers to see that we can deliver quality, instead of thinking we are cheap.

What kind of customers will you get? The people who use your discount will normally be the customers you don't want to attract. They come in because of your discounts, not because they appreciate your effort and the value you have created in the market place. Your place will eventually and automatically become a low-level restaurant in the market place as your genuine customers won't want to be mixing with a discount-frenzy crowd, and so will avoid returning.

It is highly addictive.When you start seeing cash come in because of discounts, you will think it is good for the business. This will encourage you to constantly offer discounts until it becomes a regular thing. At the end of it, you will find that you don't have enough money anymore and no longer have materials to do the other marketing. You will end up giving cheaper promotions compared to the original promotion. As a result your profit margin becomes lower and lower. When you finally realise this, it will be too late to change your image to increase your price again.

Before offering any discounts, there are a few questions you should ask yourself:

- Have you done enough marketing to create awareness of your brand?

- Do you feel confident in your own business? If not, why?

- How can you create more value in the market place, other than giving discounts?

- How often will you introduce new materials/ products/ services to the market?

- How long will your discount last? (set an end date)

- What does your target audience want?

- Can you add value to your product or service, rather than disvalue it?

All in all, I believe in the product, service, ambiance, marketing and branding, with the most important being yourself and your team, I believe the key to attracting guests is by putting the best effort to impress them day in day out, whilst continuously improving, rather than simply relying on 'discounts'.

“Do not compromise on the quality and your customers will not negotiate on the price.” Amit Kalantri

Wing Chang