Black Friday Ideas for Small Business: 7 Offers Smarter Than 50% Off
Black Friday is a couple of weeks away, and the ads are already flooding your feed! Some of them are for products I never even knew existed, and honestly, that’s one of my favorite parts of this time of year. But what bothers me every single year is that most business owners walk into the biggest shopping weekend of the year with exactly one idea, which is to slash their prices 30, 40 or even 50% and hope for the best.
In this post I’m going to share seven Black Friday ideas for small business owners that raise the value of what you sell instead of cutting the price, and then I’ll show you how I prepare for Black Friday as a shopper, so you come out ahead on both sides of the counter.
Why Black Friday Matters So Much to Retailers
The explanation most of us grew up with is that Black Friday is the day a lot of retailers finally get out of the red and into the black. In other words, it’s the day they become profitable for the year. That isn’t actually how the name started, but the idea behind it is true enough.
You see, brick and mortar retail runs on very thin margins. In most cases a store buys something for $10 and sells it for $11, making just one dollar when you buy it! Grocery stores live on 1 or 2% and make it up on volume, while jewelry stores sit at the other end with huge markups because they don’t have the volume.
So the squeeze between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a very big deal. And for many companies the holiday season really started back on September 1st, the day the pumpkin spice latte came back! The big players planned their Black Friday offers in July, because a product made overseas can take months to build, ship, clear customs and reach the warehouse. If you run a small business, relax, because a couple of weeks is plenty of time to put together something good.
The Problem With Slashing Your Prices
Now, I’m not against a discount, and I’ve run offers for clients at 70% off and even 90% off! Those are loss leaders, where one product is 90% off, everything else on the site is 20 to 40% off, and people come for the big one and take the other offers too. It works really well.
What doesn’t work is putting everything on sale every time, because people stock up during the sale and they don’t come back to buy at the regular price. So you make less money today, and you rob tomorrow’s sales at the same time.
And this year the pressure will be intense. When the economy is strong, the Black Friday offers aren’t that great, because retailers are already doing okay. When the economy is soft, like it is right now with gas and groceries through the roof, the offers get aggressive. I’m already seeing 50% off deals weeks ahead of time. People tell me, “Rob, everyone drops their price on Black Friday!” Well, if everyone else is jumping off the bridge, are you going to jump too? Maybe use the bridge to get to the other side instead!
7 Black Friday Ideas for Small Business That Don’t Cut Your Price
1. Bundle It
This is my favorite, and I’ve used it with my clients for many, many years. Your $100 item stays $100, but when someone buys it on Black Friday they also get this, this and this. Now the value feels like $1,000 and the price never moved!
Got something that isn’t selling well? Black Friday is a great time to bundle it with something people do want. Two related add-ons are usually enough, and a lot of shopping carts have bundling built right in. It works for services too, so simply test it with a few clients first.
2. Add a Bonus With a Very Short Deadline
A bonus that lasts six weeks gets a “let me think about it.” A bonus that disappears at midnight gets action. Put a countdown timer on the page and mean it. Remember, the moment someone starts scrolling, another ad hits them and they forget all about what they were going to think over. If the offer is good enough, people will find the money.
The same idea powers the Friday Flash Sale, one of the best things I’ve ever done with e-commerce clients. Every Friday, one thing goes on an irresistible offer for that day only, and the key to making it work is the deadline. Don’t stretch it into Saturday and Sunday, and don’t leave it up because you didn’t want to open your computer at midnight! These days I simply have AI set up the offer and expire it at midnight for me, so I don’t have to stay up for it anymore.
3. Team Up With Another Entrepreneur
I once worked with a woman who opened a hair salon from scratch, with almost no customers. We printed coupons in black ink on yellow paper, two to a page, for $10 off a haircut. Then we walked five doors down to the movie theater and asked them to hand one to every moviegoer. In return, we handed out flyers for the theater’s new club to every salon customer. No money changed hands.
Within 30 days every stylist was fully booked, and she had to add more stations and hire more stylists!
Ask yourself one question. Who is already doing business with the people I want to do business with? If you’re a coach, it might be a bookkeeper or an accountant who already talks to business owners all day long, so you promote them and they promote you. Back in the email days we called it a joint venture, and back in 2004 a friend and I put together a three-hour audio program on nothing else.
4. Create a Black Friday Only Offer
Why can’t you get a pumpkin spice latte in July? Because scarcity sells, and Starbucks knows it! Create something you’ve never offered before and sell it only on Black Friday. Since it never existed before, nobody can compare the price, and you can even charge a premium for it!
For example, I could open a one-day intensive with only five seats, available on Black Friday and gone on Saturday.
5. Reward People for Buying More at Once
If you sell a subscription, offer two or three years instead of one and add value for the longer commitment. Buyers see it as a hedge against inflation. Keep it to three choices, NEVER more, because with a low, middle and high option most people buy the middle. There’s a reason Costco is packed every time I go!
6. Give Your List First Dibs
On Black Friday everyone is tugging at your customers’ wallets. So let your subscribers and past customers in early, about two weeks ahead, because they’re valued customers. Just please don’t launch on Thanksgiving Day, when people are with their families.
7. Follow Up After the Sale
This is the one most companies miss. Someone buys, and then they never hear from you again! Do you know how hard it is to get a customer in the first place? Send a thank you, a special report, a copy of your book, or ten more ways to use what they bought. Ivory soap has been around since the 1800s, and a big reason it’s still selling is people keep finding new ways to use it.
Then ask for referrals, the way my friend Mitch Axelrod built his business, and reward the people who send them, with something like “send me five customers and I’ll give you six months free.”
How I Prepare for Black Friday as a Shopper
Now let’s switch to the other side of the counter, and I’ll tell you straight up that I love Black Friday! Back in 2019 I was at the Fashion Show mall in Las Vegas, and I counted shopping bags to read the local economy! Here’s how I prepare.
– **Write down prices now.** Some unscrupulous vendors raise the price and then call it half off. If you know today’s price, you’ll know whether it’s really a deal.
– **Audit your subscriptions.** I had AI go through my email, find every software subscription I pay for, and build me a spreadsheet. On Black Friday I check each company for an annual deal. My multi-stream software often goes half off for an annual plan, so in those years I pay half, again and again.
– **Put AI on the hunt.** Tell an AI assistant the exact product, size and color, and have it check every store and look for coupon codes, not just Amazon. Different vendors sell the same item at different prices, and AI can compare them in minutes.
The goal is simple. Spend your money wisely, grab the deals that make sense, and walk into 2027 set up to win.
Key Takeaways
– Slashing every price brings cash for a weekend but steals your future full-price sales.
– Raise the value instead with bundles, deadline bonuses, partnerships, Black Friday only offers and multi-year deals.
– Let your list in two weeks early, and never go dark after someone buys.
– As a shopper, write prices down now, audit your subscriptions, and let AI hunt for the best price.
Build Your Black Friday Offer With Me
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