Adding your business to a ‘discount rewards’ scheme

I’m currently looking at adding my Tailored Shirts business to a discount scheme. I’ve been looking at a few.. if they’re good enough I’ll just add Newton Clothiers to all of them.

I’m a member of two programs - Club Lifestyle (through my energy company, very good) and Melbourne City Rewards ($24 through Melbourne City Council, is good.) A somewhat worse one - who threatened to sue me once when I criticised them on my site Jonk’s Bargains - is 22 percent off.

The advantage of being a programme member is obvious - you get free promotion of your business. Not only this, but generally people pay money for these cards, which makes them more inclined to actually get value out of them.

Once you sign your business up to a discount scheme you think it would make sense to tell your employees about it.

Well, not according to many Melbourne businesses. My City Rewards card has some great deals but it has always been a huge battle with to get my card accepted. It hasn’t been marketed very well so it’s often the case that I’m the first person to approach them for a discount. This invariably involves much discussion between the manager and customer service lackey. My card is sometimes accepted and sometimes not. Sumo Salads gives me the discount but not the free bottle of water. It’s all very confusing. Making things difficult for your customer is one of the number one sins in business. They’ve very quickly taken a good thing that has brought them a customer and turned it into a hassle.

There’s heaps of discount schemes around the place. They’re mainly sorted by industry, locality or student status. If you can do it, why not?