The Problem with Steep Discounts - A Lesson From Build-a-Bear
Today ended up being a very stressful day for many families with youngsters across the country, when in truth it should have been the opposite. The beloved stuffed animal company, Build-A-Bear, was offering a ‘pay your age’ promotion, for their normally $25 and up bears coming down steeply to just $1 or more per child.
I skipped the crowds completely, because I’ve had experience with this kind of promotion in my own line of work as a labor doula.
But, you say, what do a doula and a Build-A-Bear store have in common at all, except that they work closely with very small children and their parents during the fragile, stressful and meaningful early years of childhood?
So much.
Build-A-Bear has thrived since opening its doors in the ‘90s for its experience. They offer something just a bit more than just a teddy bear (or dragon, princess, you name it). The feeling a child gets from creating their own animal is really something, and they have made their own niche in the toy market.
Doulas are similar. We offer support that has a scope quite different from that of a doctor or supporting staff at a hospital or birthing center. While those personnel are trusted medical team members for safety and wellness, a doula provides a rounded support of knowledge, creating a birth plan and wellness during the prenatal period, emotional and physical support and on call, by your side care as a labor and birth professional. Women have come to trust, rave about, and crave the personalized care that doulas provide.
Let’s get back to today’s experience at Build-A-Bear.
The promotion that was advertised was sure to draw crowds. Every mom’s group from here to Wyoming saw and predicted this. While it was meant to draw families in with a steep (almost FREE) way to build a bear, the company was no doubt hoping families would spend their discount on the add on materials the bears can come with; sounds, outfits, and more.
What happened in reality though, wasn’t a surge in sales or popularity, but a struggle to keep satisfaction high as lines surged to mass panic epidemics. Some stores were forced by law enforcement to shut down the lines. Many lost inventory fairly quickly and weren’t able to fulfill requests. The store was so frazzled and over taxed that, instead of providing a beautiful experience for a fraction of the normal cost, they created an environment where they weren’t holding up to their promise.
Many were sad, angry, or turned to the company’s site to vent their frustration. Needless to say, this strategy was a total backfire.
Alright, ready for how this relates to a doula’s professional marketing?
Here we go.
For years, newly certified and trained doulas have been told that the only way to gain experience and clients is to charge either nothing, or very little to the families they are giving their service to. I see it constantly; a new doula or “doula-in-training” (which isn’t a thing, by the way, because a trained doula is a skilled and practicing doula) offers their services in a mom’s group for free or reduced rates, and within 20 minutes every pregnant woman in the surrounding area has given her their name and information.
It’s a great deal for the laboring mother, right?
Wrong.
Seeing all of the clients coming in, the doula over taxes her schedule. She isn’t able to provide the same committed support to each family. One family’s free birth ends up taking over 35 hours and the doula ends up paying more in child care, meals, and transportation costs than she thought. Her dedication to each family begins to feel strained. The families aren’t receiving the type of care they normally should (even with PHENOMENAL doulas).
Because each family got a beautiful one on one experience but paid nothing, they persist in recommending friends look for a “doula-in-training” and the list goes on.
Offering a professional quality service or product for free isn’t good business. It’s not mutual for each party. It doesn’t promote the role or the product that is being advertised. All that is seen is the ‘deal’; no matter the quality of the service. The mob overtakes the ability of the product that is WORTH the investment and money from shining in its own light.
Do I think that Build-A-Bear is worth the money? They certainly are. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have survived a tumultuous economy all these years. What you get from Build-A-Bear is in the experience.
That’s also what you get with a professional, certified labor doula. A doula’s rates are set to make a living wage, for the commitment of being on call 24/7, for dropping everything and attending and remaining compassionate and caring and supportive to a family.
Dedication is worth the dollars.
I surely hope families continue to see that, whether they’re investing in the experience of building a bear, or building a birth with support.
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