Unfortunately, life happens and I am now caring for my better half who is 100% disabled. I want to offer specials to help without looking desperate. I have thought about this & I feel better when my dates pay in full at the time of booking, so I think offering deals for paying in full is a wonderful incentive. I have been very successful. I enjoy my time more when everything is settled beforehand. The time spent is organic. I wanted to know if anyone can chime in...
I have no issue with this business model and have done this myself with a provider that I trusted. In her case, it was a temporary financial issue. I was comfortable booking for not one, but three sessions in advance.
If you want more business, this might not work out. Paying fully in advance requires lots of trust from a client. If anyone can pull it off, it would be someone with your rep. However, those most likely to trust you are your current clients. Offering such a special would mean any bookings that you would get at your current rate might now be ones that take advantage of your special.
You already require a deposit, so you likely have a low rate of cancellations after you get bookings, so the goal really is more bookings, not more money up front. And the best types are new clients. There are probably some clients who are interested in you but haven’t pulled the trigger because of your price. You might want to consider offering a first time clients discount. If any of your returners get offended that their loyalty to you isn’t being rewarded, you can always pull the, “for you baby, I will give you one session as well at the special price.” That kind of client service keeps them coming back. But most won’t squirm about it.
Yes paying up front in full requires trust. A lot of it. Anyone who is here on TER is (or should be) very familiar with you. I can say I had no hesitation in sending you a deposit and sending the remainder before we met. Being as high profile as you are, I knew it would be career suicide for you to pull any shenanigans. That and our communication leading up to the big day gave me a high comfort level.
And as general info for the community, when you cancelled your first trip here due to your unfortunate car accident I had my refund within minutes of you letting me know about the cancellation. When it comes to your business, you are a total professional and I love you for being the way you are.
100% if anyone has earned trust, it’s someone like QB. If there is any problem, it’s not her. That said, some people just have their own personal trust issues. There is not a lot that can be done to change it. And, being honest, I am one of those people. Why? Because when I was younger I was too nice and too trusting. Too many times, people took advantage of me. I got burned one too many times. As a result, I struggle with trust.
So, for me, I usually will not give a deposit. But I have made exceptions if it’s a reputable provider and the amount isn’t too high. One of the first questions I ask myself, “Can I handle it if she burns me?” Paying in full upfront would be beyond my threshold. I might feel differently if I was a regular and knew the provider personally, but even then I might not. I know this is my issue. But I also know I am not alone.
to hear about your better half. We once had the pleasure of meeting, and I found her to be a wonderful person.
As far as prepaying goes, YES I would do that with someone I had seen previously and had some basis for trusting. Especially in a situation like yours.
As for discounts, they may help. I personally would decline the discount and consider a way to help out someone I liked; a friend.
As to discounts for pre-pay, with the right person, I'm very happy to get that bargain.
This actually used to be sort of common many years ago, and I took advantage of it often. It even got offered without 100% prepay, but with a deposit of say, 25%.
Call it a limited time fundraiser where guys can prepay for some number of sessions at a discount per session. Maybe the math could be, regular rate is 1000/hr, if you buy 3 in advance it's 2700 for 900/hr, 5 is 4000, 10 is 6000. Whatever you feel comfortable with. Could also offer greater discount on multi hour or FMTY.
Sorry you are in this difficult situation. Did you try a Gofundme site?
I would start with a small group of my best repeat customers. That is the best target market. Try a 20-25% discount for them to pay for 1-2 sessions in advance and see how it goes. If that does not go well, see if increasing the discount helps. Also see if anyone will pay for more than 1-2 sessions in advance.
Another suggestion would be to pick a day or a few days and offer a steep discount for new customers with the understanding that 100% of the proceeds go to her. I don’t see anyone for $1,000/hour, but if I knew it was for a good cause, I might see you for $500-600/hour. I am not sure others think this way. Perhaps you would find a surprising pop in your business. Of course you might bear the burden of higher volume and personal issues associated with that.
Tweeting on X is not my favorite past time, but the data from my analytics portal demonstrates that my activity there drives 25% of traffic to my webpage.
Have you installed analytics on your site, QB? Lmk if you want some help installing if not... at least then you can have some data re: which of your advertising is performant.
Unfortunately it looks like your attempt to purchase VIP membership has failed due to your card being declined. Good news is that we have several other payment options that you could try.
VIP MEMBER
, you are now a VIP member!
We thank you for your purchase!
VIP MEMBER
, Thank you for becoming VIP member!
Membership should be activated shortly. You'll receive notification!
