Generous Experience – The Anti-Discounting Strategy

As you plan your trip to Morocco, there is one piece of advice that you will hear repeatedly: negotiate the prices. All past visitors and travel guides point out to the need to master your art of negotiation as no price is really fixed but rather a starting point.

As II was walking through the market of Marrakesh, I adhered religiously to this advice and did not let any merchant get away with full price or anything close to it. I commanded on average 405 to 50% discounts on the different items I purchased. My guard was high and I did not let anyone trick me into a tourist trap.

This was true until I reached the spices store. By the time I was out of the store I paid what I was asked and found out I purchased much more than I expected. “What just happened” I asked myself. I was puzzled by how I let my guard down. And then as I processed it in my mind I realized that it was a great lesson in customer experience.

What I experienced is a multi sensory, multi dimensional customer experience that focused on generosity. This is how it took place.
As I entered I was ushered into a comfortable seat and the show started.
First the merchant was explaining and educating me about the different spices. I learned something new and some myths were demystified.

He let me smell and experience the different spices while teaching me about each one. He then proceeded to demonstrate the power of certain spice on the skin while applying it to my hand. This demonstration was followed by a multi spices team making and drinking.

Before being asked, he handed me free gifts (yes I know it is not really free. But he started it) I started to make the selection under the spell of smell, takes and new knowledge. As he noticed that I am going a bit overboard, he gave me additional gift. Two gifts, apparently are better than one when you want to protect your prices.
Since the spices are priced by the grams, he added free grams to my selection making the price seem lower by adding more for free. As I said I ended up leaving with more than I originally planned to spend and a sense of “getting a deal” even though I did not negotiate. So what sums up this experience: generosity. The merchant was generous with his time, knowledge, products and quantities provided. When I was exposed to this generosity, my guard was down and I purchased more at his prices with no negotiation for discounts.

When was the last time you tried generosity? When was the last time you delivered value before customers actually paid for anything? There is always time, knowledge and sampling of your services that can provided the foundation for premium price and larger purchases. In the mindset of reducing costs, we forgot the art of generosity. This is the true customer experience. Would some customers take advantage of your generosity? Probably yes. But would it pay off overall? I bet it would. Want too defend against discounts and margin erosion? Welcome to the generous experience. Be ggeneroous and you will be rewarded accordingly.
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