Every business and their brother have some sort of special offer as the buying season is crouched to spring on
us.
And for those of us in the U.S., Thanksgiving is the perfect time
to separate people from their money with outrageous deals.
My inbox (and my trash) are loaded to the brim with holiday
offers right now.
Yours too, I bet!
Normally I take part in the mayhem. But this year I’m a little
distracted.
Last Monday I was supposed to bring my pony Han Solo home after 5
months at the trainer’s.
Well, he a different idea.
See, he has a problem. He is prone to running backwards out of
the horse trailer.
It’s quite dangerous to have a thousand pound frantic animal
barreling backwards toward you, as you might imagine.
So the trainer was working to slow him down by repeatedly having
him enter and exit the trailer.
Han wasn’t having it.
He threw hissy fit after hissy fit.
After one particularly violent tantrum, he cracked his skull open
on the edge of the trailer.
(I'll spare you the graphic photo.)
Five hours later, the vet was able to stitch him up.
The vet said I should buy a lottery ticket. If the wound were a
fraction deeper, Han would be dead.
So I’ve been in a bit of a daze. I feel like an awful horse
mom.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t have some good advice for YOU about
running a holiday sale.
Here are 10 ways you can squeeze some cashola out of your
customers.
✨ Close-out sale – Updating your products?
Taking some off the market? Let your list have first shot at the booty.
✨ Scratch and dent sale – Put returns or older
versions of product on sale. They’ll eat it up!
✨ Coupon – Offer a percentage discount or dollar
amount off.
✨ Free shipping for a limited time – The key is
here is ‘limited time.’ You have to give them a call to action.
✨ Try it for free – Many marketers are huge
believers in this one…all the way back to Claude Hopkins in Scientific Advertising. He cited an example of two men selling a horse for the same price. One said pay me now and if you don’t like it I’ll give you your money back. The other said take it now and if after 30 days you still like it, pay me then. Claude said he would ALWAYS take the second offer.
✨ VIP Customer Discount - Keep your best
customers happy by rewarding them.
✨ Buy one get one free – Another spin on the
half off sale. Give one to a business associate and it’s probably still a tax write off for you (although I am not an accountant and can’t give you financial advice).
✨ Pre-product release sale – Give them a chance
to order early at a savings (even if your product isn’t ready yet).
✨ Special bonuses – Pump up the product by
piling on the VALUABLE bonuses. Just don’t add irrelevant crap. Be sure it really increases the value.
✨ Bundle discount – Add some of your products
together and offer them at a bargain.
If you aren’t playing along in the Holiday Sale Game this year,
like me, at least pay attention to how many of these tactics come across your desk.
It’s good research fodder for next year.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Warmly,
Lorrie
P.S. I really SHOULD be doing a sale to cover Han’s vet bill. But
I just don’t have the energy. If you want to donate to his cause, I won’t turn down the help. 😂 Just PayPal [email protected].