Is Your Holiday Promo Actually Helping You Or Hurting You?

Oh my God, I cannot believe the holidays are coming up. I can't believe that we're heading into 2027. Time, particularly this year, has really, like, been weird for me. I'm, I, honestly, I'm normally not the type of person to always be like, "Oh my God, I can't believe that time is flying so fast."

This year, for whatever reason, it has been nuts for me. I don't know how it's been for you, Jodi Brown. Can you agree? Uh, 1000%.

We were just talking, and I was like, "Oh, 2027's next year. How is that a thing?" It's wild. It's crazy.

And, you know, with the end of the year, a lot of the times people will start to review, like, their goals that they set out from the beginning of the year. They're seeing what their total revenue goal was, and maybe they're, like, trying to make sure that they absolutely hit it. Or maybe they're smart and they're trying to prep and make sure that they're nice and booked for our, quote-unquote, "slow seasons" of, like, January and February. And so they wanna make sure that they're utilizing this holiday season coming up the best they possibly can.

And what I oftentimes will see when it comes to, like, any sort of holiday times- Mm-hmm ... are discounting or cer- certain, like, specials or promos that people will put out there. And I think it's very ironic actually how... Uh, uh, I think that, you know, if you're approaching it from the perspective of I'm doing this in order to fill up the slower s- seasons, great.

Mm-hmm. But I think it's very ironic when we do stuff like this for our busiest season already. Right. 'Cause it's like you're already gonna be more booked than usual.

Right. You'd be much more, you'd be much more, uh, uh, uh, setting yourself up for better success, I guess, if you did this while you were slow, I guess you could say. Like, such as, like, discounting in order to get somebody into your schedule. Mm-hmm.

But the overall arching theme that I wanna kind of instill in everybody here today is just, like, before you think about discounting or promos or whatever you're gonna do, and this is for all times of the year, but it comes up a lot in, during the holidays, is, like, what is the actual purpose of you doing this? Yeah. And should you actually even do this? And if you do do it, how can we do it in the best way possible that will actually make it so on the l- in the long run, this works out well for you versus the other way around?

Because it's very easy for promos and specials and discounts to actually set you back- Right ... unexpectedly. Right. So that's what we're gonna be talking about today.

Okay, so we're gonna walk through, like you just kinda gave those three pieces that we need to decide. So we're gonna walk through those one by one so that you can take a look at your plans for the holidays maybe and just see, is this, is this serving the future of the business long-term, and, like, my actual purpose in offering these promotions or discounts. So the first one is, what is the purpose of this promotion? Yeah, like, what are you actually trying to accomplish?

'Cause for a, a, all people, there's different reasons. So number one, uh, I mean, I feel like always discounting is always gonna be, I want more business, right? Like, that's all the time what it's going to be. I've said this in probably all of my holiday episodes that I've ever done, which is, is, like, if you, if you are just doing the things that, like, me and my students are doing all year round to stay booked and busy and to make the max amount of money possible, then you never have, like, a busy or a slow season, or there's never, like, a season for you to do anything really that special or different.

Right. Um, and I don't think that the, I think that the holiday season is, is not an exception to that rule. Like, I know for me, behind the chair in my business, and this is even before I owned my business, it's like I didn't care whether it was a holiday or January or February. Right.

I just knew I was gonna be booked with the clients that I had, and it was what it was. Right. And I was not going to come in early, stay late on my days off. I was actually gonna take off more time because it's the holidays- Right ...

than squeeze people in. Even though I may have this demand that is there for me, that is inflated, that I could take advantage of, I decided that I, like, my boundaries mattered more, and my time with my family mattered much more. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I think that for those of us who are already fully booked all year round, especially those of you who are listening to this, why the fuck are you discounting?

Like you don't need to, right? Like, you are literally in a space where you probably are already booked up either way, and why would you do something like this if you don't have to? Now, I do think that there are still reasons why you could that are justifiable. But at the end of the day, it's like if you could be booked up- Mm-hmm ...

at all y- at all times of the year, no matter what, then why would you do a discount in any way, shape, or form? Right. So f- asking yourself, like, is it to be more booked? Um, is it to actually show your clients just appreciation?

Which is where I think, where I think it's like there's many ways that you can do that, that I don't think have to hurt your pocket, right? Right. Um, or where you don't have to kind of lower your own value of your services- Right ... in order to deliver that same type of l- appreciation, right?

Right. But I do think that, like, particularly if you're at a very successful part of your career where, like, money's not really that big of an issue for you, like you're always booked and busy, you know that you can make money, all that stuff, and you know that you're gonna be out on the other end, uh, still fine. Mm-hmm. I do think, like, you're, you do have a little bit of flexibility within your business in which you can kind of do a lot without worrying about the sacrifice.

Right. And if, like, showing appreciation to your clients is a feel-good move for you, um, uh, uh, I think that that is justifiable, and you get to do that if you would like to, you know? And I don't think that there's that big of a downside to it per se. Mm-hmm.

Um, and I don't think it'll hurt you too much. But is discounting really the way to do that? Right. You know?

Like, and if we are going to discount- Then there's ways that maybe I would l- I would encourage you to think, to think about how we can do it in a way that maybe is even more beneficial to you- Right ... which that's definitely possible, um, or in a way that does not hurt your pockets a little bit more. So what are some of the ways that you see, like, beauty pros discounting? 'Cause I think, like, when I, when I think about the holiday season, like, you know, there's potentially, like, the gifting aspect.

There is potentially, like, the, um, you know, having special services or packages or things like that. So what, what... How is that, like, looking for people? Like, what are you seeing people do mostly when it comes to discounting?

So the s- the story that pa- that sparked this conversation and this podcast episode idea was I had somebody ask me about what I think about their, like, holiday promo. Mm-hmm. And the holiday promo was h- was in hopes to kind of keep their slower season busy, um, uh, uh, uh, with the discount. And so the way that that would work is it would be like a discounted package of three services across three appointments.

Right. So if you upfront pay for these services, or either, either upfront pay for the services or you commit to these three booked appointments, I guess, then each of the three booked appointments will be of at a discount. Okay. And that would make it so, like, they aren't just booked for an appointment in December.

They're also booked for an appointment in January and February, which would be traditionally slow, right? Right. And, um, so from a service perspective, I mean, that's obviously, you know, uh, one of the biggest things that I think a lot of people would consider, and I don't think it's not... I, I think it's a very strategic way of thinking, you know- Yeah ...

to be able to secure more appointments through January and February. For this specific person who's booked and busy all the time, I was like... I literally asked the question, "Well, do you think that you would be booked and busy in the, in January and February whether you did this or not?" And they were like, "Honestly, I probably would be."

Right. 'Cause they're in a space in which they've done really great marketing work, really great retention work. They would be making, okay, same money, and they would have probably a very similar utilization rate either way. Right.

And then I was like, "So then, like, why are we doing this?" And this person actually has done this every year, so they've been doing this, like, traditionally, which is another, like, w- uh, uh, thing, another like maybe this is the reason why- Yeah ... you're thinking about this is like you've... Like, every year you're expected from your clients to do this discount.

Right. You've kind of set this precedent, which by the way, I would highly recommend for anybody who's listening to this who's thinking about doing any sort of, like, time-specific special, I know for a damn fact every single one of us maybe possibly has a, like, company that you spend money with that you know at a certain time of the year they do this certain discount, so you're gonna wait to spend money until you can do the discount. I can think of three right now- Yeah, yeah ... for myself.

For me, for me. What's yours? Uh, so- What's one of yours? There's a med spa that I go to.

Period. Yeah. For me, it's REI, the sports, uh, outdoorsy situation, okay? Mm-hmm.

Their, they, they, their, their Labor Day sale is really fucking good, and then they have, like, their own, like, REI, like, big sale every single year. Right. And I absolutely will wait for items that I really wanna buy until those, that time to buy them, right? Right.

So now as soon as you start to kinda set this, like, time-framed discount situation, you are now creating that same type of habit or expectation in your customers- Yes ... and you are screwing yourself over for the rest of the year when somebody may have purchased this service from you either way or purchased even the retail for you either way. Because of course also when we look at holiday discounts or just discounts in general, of course retail is oftentimes a part of that as well too. Right.

Which is a slippery slope because as we know, if you're marking up just double, right, if you're marking up double the wholesale price, you have to then spend 50% of that again to be able to repurchase the retail back to your- Right ... back to your shelf, right? Right. And so if you discount your retail, right, then therefore you are going to at the end of the day from a profit perspective be kind of screwing yourself over a little bit and actually almost taking a little bit more of a loss than you would have if you just sold it full price.

And I have, again, another thing I've always said in my holiday, in my holiday teachings is you are in a space in which people are more willing to do this stuff- Right ... without the incentive. Right. It's literally backwards.

It's like, again, it's so ironic to me. Like, you are in a season of people naturally being more willing to take these actions without incentive. Like, when you would need more incentive is January through March maybe when everybody's already spent a fuck ton of money for the holidays. Yeah.

It's the beginning of the year. People are really trying to look at their money in a more s- a frugal way, whatever it may be. That's when you need incentives, right? Maybe.

But for the holiday, you can sell a shit ton of retail at full damn price, okay? You can get people to spend a lot of money with you at, at a normal rate in my opinion if you understand just general and normal sales strategy and marketing strategy. Like, if you know how to do this, again, all year round, you're not gonna have any problem doing it- Yeah ... in the holidays.

Yeah, I think that's a really good point actually, that people are a lot more willing, and especially, like, if you... Like, I, I feel like you're right. You don't necessarily need to discount around it, especially 'cause, like, a lot of product companies that we stock are discounting and creating Christmas packages that are, like, heavily discounted to bring into the salon in the first place. So- Right ...

um, I think that's a really good point. What do you think about this from a team perspective? Like, 'cause I feel like, like you said, it's, like, a very strategic way of thinking, but then it's like do you actually need this, right? Well, before we started recording this episode and we were planning what we were gonna talk about, Jodi, you actually came up with a great idea, which...

or even just a thought, which you just alluded to, which is, like, again, a lot of the times, and yes, you as a stylist will actually get a discount from your distributor, right? So they will maybe discount some of these holiday packages for you or whatever it may be. Mm-hmm. And Jodi was saying, uh, bringing up the idea.

I'll let you share it, Jodi. I thought it was really smart. Yeah, so for example, lots of, like, almost every company offers, like, uh, liter discounts throughout the year at some point. So they'll do, like, 20% off liters and then even Christmas packages or, like, early holiday season packages where essentially, like, you're purchasing product at wholesale, and often, like, it looks like you get a full product free.

So I know, like, a couple companies I can think of, you purchase the shampoo, conditioner. There's a styling, a full-size styling product for free from your distributor. And so when you have situations like that where you can take advantage of a discount from them, you're able to pass along that discount and, you know, that is adding value and it's incentivizing people to spend more without you losing any money. Like, you're still making your full profit.

Yeah, 100%. And so, like, if you decide you would like to discount either way- Mm-hmm ... then how can we discount without hurting you, right, and your profit? Yeah.

So it's like if you wanna fulfill whatever the discount is trying to, uh, whatever you're trying to achieve with the discount and you're still gonna go ahead and do it, you wanna figure out ways such as that, which I think is very smart, to be able to not have to necessarily profit less. I, I really enjoy that idea. Or guess what? Again, going back to if you decide to not discount, this is even better for you because you- Yeah ...

your upfront cost is so much less and you're still gonna make, you're still gonna make the same and you're gonna profit more, right? Yeah. So take advantage of that, too. Like, it's just like, again, uh, you know, I really wanna make sure that in this episode, like, like a lot of...

I, I think a lot of, like, maybe educators have taken the stance of, like, never discount, don't discount, and I, I sound like I'm saying that. I, I really, I really want everybody to know, like, I think it very much has its, has its place. Like- Yeah ... I, I think that, like, there's ways to do it strategically, and I think for particular case scenarios and where you are in your career, like, it can have a place, you know?

Um, and I don't think it's all just cons. I think that there are absolutely pros to it. And so for example, actually, this person who has done this consistently every year, they felt like there was this precedent to do this even after I was like, "Okay, well, do you really need to do this?" Yeah.

And so we figured out, as we were alluding to already, how can we, how can we do this in a way that doesn't actually hurt you? And so what's really great about me and this person is we work closely together in Mastermind and we have a really good understanding of, like, what our profit per hour is on each of our services that we do, and we found that, that some of the services that we do can be added into a original service without changing the time that is booked, okay? Right. And when you are fully booked, you need to look at your time and the services that are booked like that in that way- Right ...

where, like, the way your services are booked and how that relates to your time, like, really will affect your income drastically. Yeah. Like, very much so. Right.

And so if you can make more money in less time, then you will profit more at the end of the year if you are fully booked. Right. So we were thinking, okay, how about we do a little bit of, like, a BOGO situation where in you, if you get this main service, okay, at full price, then you can get this other add-on that doesn't add any service time 50% off, and you are still... And, uh, also, that barely has any product cost, by the way, and you will still be able to...

You'll make more money, period. Like, you will just straight up make more money even though you're discounting, which I think is very interesting- Yeah ... and one of the greatest, like, loopholes. And so for anybody who's out there, like, if you have any sort of add-ons that don't require more service timing, I think that that would be a really smart incentive that you can roll out for whenever you wanna roll it out- Yeah ...

to attract more people to come to book with you or maybe e- even get people more used to that add-on service so that way they become hooked for, to it- Yeah ... even when it's not discounted. So maybe it's, uh, I don't know, a con- a, a conditioning treatment and you know that it makes people's hair feel really good. Maybe they're gonna get it done just because it was for a discount, and then they actually love it and they're gonna get it at full price moving forward.

And again, it doesn't cost you any more time. That is very smart, a very smart way of discounting. So again, it's like it has its place. Yeah.

I just don't want it to hurt you at the end of the day when it doesn't need to, when you don't have to, you know? Yeah, no, I think that's such a great way of putting it, and so many good ideas as to how you can, like, if you want to have that, um, like, value add, it doesn't necessarily have to come at your cost. So to kind of, like, recap, it's like what is the purpose of this promotion, and w- is this going to actually serve that purpose? 'Cause like you said with your example, that person is gonna be fully booked regardless.

So if you are someone who maybe wasn't, then it would make sense, but it's like are you still doing these things even though you don't need to anymore just because it's what you've al- always done? Yeah, 100%. That is very much the question. And then the next, like, just warning that I wanna put out to you guys, like, with discounting and why you may want to avoid it when you, whenever you can help it, is, like...

Well, one thing, like, a, a big thing that I'll see a lot of the times, actually, I have a med spa who I think of who does this myself for when I get my microneedling done, and I absolutely am waiting for this to come around before I- Mm-hmm ... I spend money with them, is, uh, they do a gift card sale. So if I spend, like, $200, right? Like, on a gift card or whatever, I'll get, like, a $250 gift card.

Mm-hmm. That's, like, a lot of fucking money, dude. It is. Like, that's, like, a lot of money, and it's...

And so the way that I would describe that is, like, you're basically getting, like, a loan, you know? And so, uh, if you're gonna do something like that, especially, again, like, if it's in the hopes that it will keep you booked and busy through January, February, you're gonna make a lot less money in January, February. Maybe you're in a place- Right ... right, where, like, okay, yes, you get all this upfront cash.

That's awesome, right? And maybe you're in a place where you need that upfront cash. Right. Totally cool.

All right? Like, then do it. Just know what you're signing up for when you are delaying the revenue that you may have g- you may have been able to get at full price in the future. Right.

Because now you're getting all this cash upfront, and you're basically taking out a loan, you could think of it as. Yeah. And so, uh, uh, uh, in January, February, you could have made more money, and if you're in a place where it's like, even though you're making less, it's still more because you are booked- Mm-hmm ... right?

Yeah. I'm gonna say it again. Even though you're making less per service, but it's still more because you are booked versus the other way around where you're pay- where you're getting more money because it's a full-price service, but you would have less bookings. Right.

Am I making, am I making sense? Am I illustrating this correctly, yes? Yeah, essentially. So if you are already gonna be booked no matter what, a discount is gonna lose you money.

If you're not necessarily gonna be booked already, then the discount may actually end up making you more. Yes, because you have bookings, right? Yeah. It's like, if you didn't have the bookings, then would you make the same amount of money or not, and how do you break even at the end of the day?

Yeah. And sometimes you just don't know. I mean, uh, not everything is super predictable. I mean, we know that in our business.

It's very volatile. Um, but you just have to kinda think about the future. Like, how does this actually end up for you in the long run? Are you gonna screw over your future self?

Right. And is there different ways that you can approach whatever you're trying to accomplish, whatever the objective is right now that's not gonna screw you over, uh, later in the future, I think is a really good question to ask yourself. Yeah, for sure. What are your thoughts on looking at these types of promotions?

I particularly, like, love this idea of, like, okay, if you commit to a certain amount of services, then you get some sort of discount. Like, what do you think about that for a team salon owner who's maybe booked themselves, but trying to book out some of their team members? I would say that, like, it's not a bad idea. Again, it goes back to ask yourself, like, do you guys profit less or more based upon, like, how booked up these people are normally versus how they wouldn't be if they didn't have the discount?

You know, like, ask yourself that same question. But is there a way... Like, let's say that half of your team is super booked up- Yeah ... and a couple of your team isn't because they're first starting out or something like that.

How can you target the discounting just for the- Right ... stylists who are not booked out, right? Right. Whether that be maybe there's specialty services that, that, that those not-booked-out people can do that you can then discount or incentivize.

Right. Um, or if you can just straight up be like, "Okay, if you book with any of our tier one or tier two stylists, then- Mm-hmm ... you get whatever discount," or whatever it may be, right? Right.

Um, I think that that is the way that I would approach it, and I think it's a very smart thing to do. Yeah. I mean, again, it's like, especially if you have to end up paying these guys hourly, um, otherwise, right? Uh, or if, you know, they wanna make money, and if they're not gonna have bookings otherwise, then again, it's, I think it's a worthwhile risk.

Right. I also think, too, I think you have a lot more flexibility with a team situation, um, when it comes to, like, the, quote-unquote, like, uh, detriment or the cons or the risks of a discount. Right. I think it's a little bit more flexible- I know ...

and you can be a little bit more fluid, yeah, versus, like, when it's just you, i- it's just, you really are, like, you are the brand, and you are setting precedence with your clients, period. Right. Like, where with a team, it's like the salon sets this standard. It just is expected to change a little bit more.

Right. I just think that it's, you have a little bit more flexibility with discounting. I'm much more open to that type of stuff with a team, I guess you could say. But just- Right ...

again, be strategic about it. Don't make it salon wide if you have a lot of bookings at, at the, with, with the majority of your service providers, and you just- Right ... need to target just a little bit of people to fill their books. So yeah, I hope that this episode was helpful for you guys.

Again, uh, I really, uh, you know, just to throw it in there, 'cause I don't know if we're gonna do that many other holiday episodes at the time of recording this, guys. Like, just to throw it in there, like, I get that right now might be a lucrative time, and so you'll have... You'll be more booked and busy than ever, and you may want to extend your hours to be able to accommodate that. No shade to you, friend.

Like, pop off and do it if you wanna take advantage of it. If you don't have to, I probably, like, I'm just gonna encourage you not to, and there's always other ways to take advantage of that than actually working more and taking more appointments, such as, like, sell the fucking add-ons. Sell the retail, dude. Like, you can make a shit ton of money with the people that you have now much more easily during this time.

So if you really truly want to maximize the natural demand, higher demand that you may have, the higher potential for more income, don't do it by working more if you can help it or if that doesn't seem worth it to you. Do it by selling more add-ons and retail. That's my overarching message here because- Love it ... I mean, I don't know.

I, I think that the majority of people, maybe not everybody, and, you know, maybe you go through seasons where this may change, but I think the majority of people, after they're done working their ass off and s- doing extra hours and extra days in the holidays, I think the majority of people regret it. Right. I think the majority of people are exhausted. They're burnt out.

They still have a bunch of chores to do for their own holiday shit, shit that they have to do. I've been there, yeah. You know? I've been there, too.

Yeah. I, I've 100% been there a- many, many a times in my career, and, um, I just don't think it's worth it, and I think there's other ways to take advantage of it. So that's just my last little holiday thing for you guys. But so much love to you.

Happy holidays. Peace out, Girl Scout.

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