It’s tempting when your wellness business is in desperate need of more customers to cut prices, then services, so you can still make money.
Unfortunately, cutting key services and features can leave you selling the equivalent of zipperless pants:
“Zipperless pants! That’s the ticket! Customers will love the low price! After all, zippers are expensive! It takes time and money to carefully sew them in…and the fabric has to be specially cut..and both sides have to match up just right. We should’ve done this ages ago!”
“What? They’re really hard to put on and take off? Oh. Hmm. Let me get back to you on that.”
For example, you:
- cut the cost of a membership in half — and hold off getting cardio equipment fixed.
- cut your personal training fees — by training a group of 15 clients at once.
- offer a one-visit wellness coaching session at a very low price — when you know that actually accomplishing anything will take at least half a dozen sessions.
- drop the price on your ellipticals — but remove the heart rate monitoring feature that people really want.
- license your membership software at an incredibly low price — knowing that your customer won’t really see the promised ROI unless they invest in expensive customization.
- keep your hourly rate low…and start overscheduling your patient load, so that everyone’s furious.
Face it: You’re selling zipperless pants.
You offer your product or service at a cheap price — and you reduce the quality and/or features, almost guaranteeing an unsatisfactory experience for your customer.
What should you do instead?
1) Zero in on what you do best.
If your business is at its best when your staff works with bariatric patients, stop diluting your strategy by trying to appeal to women who need to lose 10 – 20 pounds.
2) Extend your reach.
Co-market with businesses who have a similar clientele. For example, a boutique that targets upscale professional women or a golf superstore may be a great fit for a wellness coaching or sports performance business. Seek out strategic alliances – but protect your own interests.
3) Do some marketing.
Are you sitting there waiting for the door to open? For the phone to ring? Take action: Start a newsletter and start building a subscriber list.
4) Tailor your products to your customers.
If your gym has a pool and basketball court that hardly anyone uses, either convert the space to revenue-generating activity or charge separately for a pool membership or a basketball membership. Avoid the lure of bad profits.
5) Manage your financials
Manage your cash flow. Negotiate for lower credit card rates. And talk to your banker before you’ve got cash flow problems.
6) Manage your people
Know your top employees, treat them right, and stop tolerating mediocre employees.
