David Brown

Stop Being Mr. Nice Guy with Discounts

Giving 10 percent off here or there may win you more sales, but do the math and you’ll discover you aren’t covering your costs.

Published

15 years ago

November 1, 2008

David Brown Instore November 2008 Issue

DID YOU KNOW that by giving your “good customers” a 10-percent discretionary discount, you make absolutely no profit out of the sale? You don’t even cover costs!

“Discretionary” is when the salesperson chooses to give the customer a discount as opposed to a planned promotion or agreed aged-inventory discounts.

In Table 1, left, you can see where the money goes based on a $1,000 item with a 100-percent markup (keystone) sold at the full retail price.

Now compare that with the example based on the same $1,000 item sold at a 10-percent discount to a “good customer.” (Table 2.)

Zero profit. In fact, not only is there no profit, but you now need to make up a $30 shortfall! Everyone gets paid except you. The staff, the landlord, the vendor, the advertising agency, the bank — you even paid the customer $100!

Are you shocked?

So how can you change that when “everyone asks for a discount nowadays”? Well, “everyone” is what retail salespeople keep telling me. Every time the subject of discounting comes up in one of our seminars it evokes lively discussion.

The key to remember is that when a customer asks for a discount, selling skills get replaced by negotiating skills. The customer has already made the decision to buy, so it’s just a matter of how much he ends up paying for it.

Negotiation 101

For those who ask for a discount, it can be effective to ask, “What did you have in mind?” You’ll be surprised how well this works and how reasonable customers are.

Always negotiate some more. “I doubt I can do it for that, but let me see what I can do for you.” Go out the back, have some coffee, pretend to be looking at the price and then come back with your counter-offer. “As I thought, I can’t do it for $X. The best I can do it for is $Y. Make sure the amount is unusual. For example, if the starting price was $895, offer it to them for $854.70. This isn’t a percentage reduction or just $50 off — it looks like you’ve carefully considered it.

If they make a counter-offer, negotiate some more. Say something like, “I can’t reduce the price any further but what I can do is offer you the extended warranty.”

Remember, these people like to haggle, and if you give in too easily or too quickly they will be disappointed. They will still feel there was more they could have gotten.

Action Steps

Show your staff the impact a 10-percent discount has on profitability
Try this exercise with your staff and help them find ways to deal with it
Monitor discounts every day and ask why.
Watch your profits grow.

This story is from the November 2008 edition of INSTORE.

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”