What a great question…

Which is better a discount client or no client?

I have been hearing for years that “daily dealing it” has ruined many beauty businesses. Yet, so many continue to give it a try in hopes of creating a booked solid schedule.

For many beauty biz providers, heavily discounting has replaced a beautiful attitude of service with a dreaded feeling of sacrifice. This is when you start operating from a place of, “I feel depleted, angry and taken advantage of” instead of showing up every day at work feeling proud and honored to serve a client who truly appreciates your skills.

So which is better?

A discount client or no client?

Here’s my take…

• No client, if you don’t have the right client retention plan in place before you give a heavy discount.

  The fortune is in the follow up, so if you’re going to discount make sure you have a solid “stay in touch” plan of action in place.

• No client, if you haven’t fine-tuned your sales skills enough to completely serve the “daily dealer.”

  You must have the confidence to recommend exactly what the discounted client needs to achieve their desired results.

  This includes: add-ons, retail product recommendations and booking future appointments with you. If you don’t provide a “wow” factor, this dramatically reduces your opportunity of ever getting them back in at full price.

• No client, if your mindset is not focused on profitability.

  This does not mean that you cannot or should not completely pamper the heck out of your client. I think we often forget that we are in business to create profits and these profits allow us to invest in the future growth of our practice.

  Throughout my years of coaching and mentoring, the most success I have seen from offering a “daily deal” comes to those that don’t make heavily discounting a habit. They give it a whirl and really focus on retaining a handful of their BCEs (Best Clients Ever) – you know the ones who make your heart smile when you seen them on your schedule).

So…

A discounted client is better than no client when you have your esthetician success long-term client retention hat on and you approach the situation from a strategic place; rather than a place of “I feel lost and desperate so I will give this a whirl.”