Just last week, a sorority sister of mine text me about doing a My Little Pony cake for her 10 year old daughter.
This can sometimes be hard because I’m born and raised in Denver so I know a lot of people from way back and through several organizations I’m apart of.....And people feel because they “know” me, that equals an automatic hook-up.
So, she wanted this 3-tiered cake pony cake. So naturally I gave her the quote. And also let her know to let me know if she wanted to go with me and move forward with me. No biggie.
No pressure right?
And you know what? She went ghost on me. Never responded back after I gave her the quote.
I guess she didn’t want to pay a tiered cake in the hundreds.
Which is perfectly fine with me, I absolutely refuse to make any designed cake for under $100.
So what do you do about the F&F Discount?
Well, here’s the easy answer.
Feel your way into giving discounts.
I can give you a yes/no answer but this is completely up to you and what feels good for your business.
I only give discounts to my suuuuper loyal customers. And that’s 2 people. One friend who introduced me to my first $1000+ order back in 2011 and who’s been pretty loyal to me and ordered from me when I was a broke and struggling baker. The other, a business partner who continuously orders from my business in the thousands monthly BUT for her personal orders I give her a discount.
If it’s for my family member’s birthday, I usually do a free cake because that’s their present! hehe. But my dad would pay full price for anything he asks me to make for him because he "gets it".
Other than that, I don’t offer discounts. It just makes it easier to make those judgement calls and it removes the guilt, pressure, or obligation.
I totally get it when there’s a fine line you are trying to walk the fine line to please your customers yet make an income.
So I say, just feel your way into giving discounts. If it feels yucky and like an obligation, don’t do it.
You will probably regret the order later.
Understand that when you value your worth, value your business, and value your necessity to make income, other people will respect that.
When you don’t, that’s when you get yourself into a lot of tough situations and not step into your business’ fullest potential by consistently undercharging.
How do you handle this situation? Email me back !
But, when you learn to be a High-End Cake Business, you attract better paying clients more consistently who will pay your prices.
Stop attracting clients who want a discount/work with their budget and who want to pay you less than $8 per slice.
you deserve better girlfriend.