To Give Away or Not

Since there have been many discussions about this topic on facebook lately (on our group page and MANY others), I thought I would share my thoughts on offering incentives and give aways to customers:

What am I even talking about you ask?

• Extra hostess gifts on top of what Scentsy offers
• Buy "this amount" and get a free gift
• Referral gifts (for customers, hostesses, or recruits)
• Frequent Buyer Cards
• "Friends and Family" Discounts
• Holiday Discounts (i.e. black friday)

Well that is several different things isn't it?

Before you offer any discount to any customer or hostess, you need to ask yourself this: "Will this benefit my business?" If the answer is YES-go for it. If the answer is NO-you are just throwing product away (even if in good spirit).

If you are doing Scentsy "just for fun" you can stop reading here. However, if you really want to make your Scentsy business work and look at it as a legitimate BUSINESS, keep reading for my thoughts on the issue.

The thing about special gifts and discounts is that you need to save these "specials" for when you really need them. Don't offer them all the time, or your customers will expect them. Also, if a special is not benefitting your business, you might as well just hand them the $30 instead of that free warmer you were going to give them because that is essentially what you are doing-giving away $30 worth of product and gaining nothing in return.

So let me give you my opinion and what I do in each of the situations above:

1. Extra hostess gift on top of what Scentsy offers: If you have a hard time booking parties, I would suggest that you watch this video. This is a video of another top leader in Scentsy. This is an older video and includes mention of some package deals that are no longer available but will give you a good idea of some good practices. If you have parties lined up without even trying-KEEP THE EXTRA PRODUCT and don't give any more away on top of Scentsy's offerings.
2. If you are in jeopardy of loosing your downline (you must sell 150 PRV one of every 3 months to maintain your downline) or if you have promoted to Lead or above and haven't made your 500 PRV for the month, go ahead and offer a special. Just make sure that you are not giving away all the profit you just made! It is okay to give a personal coupon for their next order as a gift if you can't afford it right then. (Ex: Receive a Free Scent Circle with your next order of $25.)
3. Referral Gifts: I do offer referral gifts. My business would not be where it is now without these gifts. My referral gifts change though. I don't have a standing offer that I announce. I simply tell everyone: "I have great referral gifts so tell all your friends about me." That way I am not tied down to what I am expected to gift. If I have had a great month thanks to those referrals, my gifts will be larger. If it is a slow month, maybe just a bar with a handwritten note. No matter what the gift, they are just happy to receive something they didn't expect.
4. I do not do Frequent Buyer Cards. My customers are very loyal and I have never felt the need to do a program like this. That being said, I do add little surprise to my loyal customer's orders. I will even mail a fun gift to those that frequently buy from my website. It is just my way of saying "Thank you". I can do it when my budget allows, not when it is expected.
5. I do not offer Friends and Family discounts either. My mother doesn't get a discount even! (Cruel huh?) I don't think so. I wouldn't go into another store and expect them to give me a discount just because I was their friend. My friends and family don't expect that either. Scentsy is my business. It pays my bills and supports my family. The only "freebies" that I do are for my mom and my sister. They each get a chunk of the brick of the Scent of the Month. They use this in their warmer at work and it in turn gets me orders from their co-workers.
6. Holiday discounts: Again, it depends on if you need to add some PRV for the month. Just be sure you are not giving away all your profits!

Also, please don't ever try to "one up" another consultant by offering a discount. If you are providing great customer service and doing your job well, you shouldn't need to. I am disheartened when I hear about this. My goal is for us all to help grow each other's business by giving Scentsy a great name. We do this by only talking positively about the business in general.

Here is the bottom line (in case you haven't figured it out yet). I want you to MAKE MONEY with Scentsy. If you are giving discounts and freebies to everyone you see, you are not making the most from your business.