Should you offer founding member pricing for new locations?

Should you offer early bird/pre-launch/founding member pricing when you open a new location?

The answer is 100% up to you and situations vary.

But I vote yes.

In this email, I’m going to make a case for why you should offer founding member pricing (and how to do it).

No – this is not for everyone under all circumstances, but if you’re going to do it, there’s a way I’d suggest approaching it.

Here it is: offer a solid lifetime discount for all pre-launch/founding members. 

Specifically, offer either a fixed percent or dollar amount off your memberships—for life. Yes, for life, but only if they don’t cancel.

If they cancel, they’ll never get that price again.

To be clear, it’s not “pay $XX/month for life”, which limits your ability to raise your prices. Instead, it’s “save X dollars or percent” on your prices (whatever they are at any time).

This allows you to still raise your prices in the future without being restricted.

Below are eight reasons why I believe in the “Save $ or % for life (or until you cancel) for founding members” strategy:

1. You cover your overhead costs quickly, which can greatly reduce your time to profitability
2. You can learn more quickly and make your services better through real feedback
3. People will be more tolerant of your growing pains (construction, mistakes, etc.) as you iron out the kinks
4. The coworking experience is simply better with people in it—that’s the main point!
5. Having people in the space makes it easier to attract other members (social proof)
6. You can gradually increase your prices for new members to know how price elastic your market is (how much you can charge)
7. It’s less risky for you AND your prospects—you cover your costs and they try you out with minimal financial risk—everyone wins
8. People don’t want to lose their deal, so they’ll tend to be more loyal to your coworking space to save their great price (stickiness)

I fully recognize this strategy isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve considered the 8 points above and still feel you have a better way to do it, I’d love to hear it. Shoot me an email!