In this solo video, Kelly Alhooie explains why discounting services is a dangerous habit for cash‑based health‑care practices. She argues that offering discounts signals lower value, which attracts clients with low standards and a poor money mindset, leading to less commitment, higher friction, and ultimately cash‑flow problems. Kelly shares personal anecdotes—including her husband’s coupon habit and her own experience attracting the wrong clients—to illustrate how discounting can erode confidence and create resentment. She differentiates between discounts, free trials, and sliding‑scale options, recommending free “taste” sessions instead of price cuts, and warns against steep package discounts and trades that don’t support the business. The video stresses the importance of clear marketing messaging to attract ideal, high‑need clients, and outlines the downstream effects of discounting: reduced cash flow, limited marketing budget, founder burnout, and loss of passion for the work. Kelly concludes by inviting viewers to discuss money‑related questions via @pelvibiz on Instagram.
Chapters
Should you discount? Should you not discount your services? We get this question all the time, and let's break it down so that you feel confident whether or not you should discount or you should not. So many people are like, well, Kelly, why does discounting kill a cash-based practice faster than, um, a slower month? Like, they ask me that question. So like, why does discounting kill your cash-based practice? Well, here's the thing. Number one, when you discount, you're already saying our stuff is not as valuable as at full price. Like, you're already lowering your standard. So when you lower your standard, guess what happens? You attract the people that have lower standards. Well, most of us do not want to hang out with the people that have low standards. You want to hang out with people that have higher standards. So when you lower that, you're going to attract those people. Now what happens when you attract discounted people? Does anyone know? Well, I can tell you what happens. Number one, they are more pains in the butts because they are not as compliant because they don't have as much stake in the game, meaning they don't have as much money on the line. They don't have as much urgency, which is why they went for the discount in the first place, because it wasn't as important. But they're like, eh, I'll try it. Um, they have also— it tells you when they want a discount. They have a poor money mindset, meaning that they're always looking for the discount, the coupons. I mean, do you guys have a friend that like does couponing? It's my husband. Okay, my friend is my husband, and I'm like, I literally take the coupons and throw them in the trash when he collects them because I'm like, I have to get you out of this mindset that you're saving money. But he doesn't realize the coupons actually make him spend more money because it's like, oh, come to this store. So they make you go to a certain grocery store. Oh, by the way, buy 2, get 1 free. Oh my God, I'm getting 1 free. So then like, I'm saving. No, they just made you spend more than you ever wanted to, and you're not recognizing it because the freaking marketing behind it. And so he's actually spending more, but he's thinking he's saving. And I'm like, oh Lord, someone help me over here, please. So every time I see him, I just, I just literally throw the coupons away. He cuts them out, like, still he cuts them out and puts them on the counter in our kitchen, and I throw them away because I've got to get him to be able to say, you know what, like, I'm gonna invest in something that he believes is, like, expensive, and then get his mind to say, it's okay because I can make more of that, I can make more of that money, versus saying, oh my God, I have to save, I'm going to scarcity mindset, I had— I gotta save because, like, I don't know how I'm gonna make more money. And then, like, your brain is trained to be scared of money, which is then why you want to save, which then actually doesn't get you anywhere in life because you're capped and you're stuck. So like, please don't be that person. Which then goes into why he's still a staff therapist. I'm not hating on my husband, I absolutely love my husband, but I'm just saying it's just classic mentality, mentally, on why, you know, he is the way he is because of these belief systems that then keeps him stuck. And so I need you guys to move through that to be able to say, you know what, I can change my life and I can have something different. But your actions outside of business have to also match the beliefs of business. So like, if you are the person that's like, I want to discount everything because I just want to give to my people. I mean, we're all in healthcare. We want to give to our people. But if, if you feel that and you constantly do that, then you're never ever going to have a profitable business because you're going to be like, oh, I'll give it to you for free. So many people here in San Diego, they love to give things for free, or they love to do trades. Like, cool, you want to do a trade? Well, no, because I'm not supporting your business then, you know. And by the way, a lot of these trades are not fair either because it's like, well, how much— it's like, how much, you know, do I know I'm getting out of this? I don't know. So I never do trades, but that's another whole topic. But like I personally don't ever do trades because to me you're not supporting the actual business. Support the business, give them the money, have them grow so they can use that money to then be able to market, or use that money to then be able to hire an employee, use that money to then be able to, you know, do more social media content. So like, stop giving discounts. Like, so many people give discounts. Stop giving discounts. Also, I see this a lot for packages. Well, I'm going to do a steep discount because then they're going to want to come in. Don't do a steep discount. We only do $100, $100 off the entire package because it's not about the discount. It's the value that you provide someone. It's the result that you provide someone, not the actual discount. The discount doesn't matter with the right people. And then they have to find the right people. That leads me to marketing messaging. So if your marketing messaging is off, then you of course are gonna keep saying, "Oh, I have to give a discount," because these people are not your people. And then I would also look at the population you're trying to hit. Is it the right population? And can we change that to then get more yeses? So that's another thing. Okay, the only thing, now I'm gonna contradict myself, the only thing of why I give a discount, and I don't even give discounts, I don't like discounts, 'cause again, Discounts attract the people that are not my people. So I typically go free or full price, free or full price. Now I will do free. Now you're like, but Kelly, you just said you don't do discounts. I will 100% do free because I need to give them a taste of what it's like hanging out with me and being surrounded by the people in our community, being able to, to see like how they can level up and expand their minds. Y'all can do that too. They don't— they— until they've had a taste of you, they don't know why they should spend $3K with you. So give them a taste for free. That's 100% what I would do so that they will say, you know what, this is worth it. But how do they know if it's worth it? Conversely, if I'm like, oh, I do sliding scales for people that can't afford it, and I do, um, I do discounted evals just to get the people in the door— like, there's tons of people that run ads $97 evals just to get them in the door. Is that really attracting your ideal client? No, I've seen this, I've seen this not work so many times. And, and by the way, sometimes it does work for certain populations, but like, I just want to work with the people that have problems. It doesn't mean they're rich. I want to work with people that have massive problems. I say this in both companies, brick and mortar and also online, PelviBiz Company. I want to work with business owners that have problems and want to go from here to here. I just don't want to take someone and make them like an extra $10K. I want to take someone, make them extra $100K. Like, I want to work with the people that are the underdogs, that have the problems, that want really help, that are so into it. They're like, Kelly Alhooie, I'll give you my arm, my leg, my finger, whatever you want so I can get out of this pain. I'm for you then. I'm for you. That's a hardcore I'm for you. Right? And you want to be so sure of the people that you want to help versus like, yeah, I'll kind of take someone that's just starting, and then I'll kind of take someone that like kind of has pain but she doesn't really want to progress, and then I'll kind of take someone that's like, you know, she thinks she wants to hire but like not— like, I, I will hate my job. I will hate what I do. I have learned this. I had to learn this, by the way. And I did get to the point where I was like, I'm done. Like 2 and a half years into this, I was like, I'm done because I attracted the wrong people. I attracted the wrong people. And then I started to change because I started to resent them. So the whole thing. So that's why I'm saying the messaging is so important here. The messaging, as simple as that sounds, messaging. Otherwise, if you keep discounting, you will burn your whole company down. You will not have cash flow. Then you cannot put money into marketing. Then you, when you don't have cash flow, you can't pay yourself. Then you become really resentful and you hate your job, AKA the job that you created. And it's a horrible place to be, guys. I've been there. I'm not, I'm not laughing at that because it's a horrible place to be because you're like, damn, I started this because I absolutely love this. Now I'm hating it because like of all the things that have happened. And I don't want anyone to get there because it is, you start to lose yourself. You start to lose tons of clients, you start to lose, you start to lose everything. And it's just not a fun place. So my job is to help, I feel like, save you guys from that. Um, just learning from the lessons that I've experienced. So if you guys have questions on why not to give a discount, like, I'd be happy to talk money with you. Um, because I just like educating and helping. So if you have any questions, just me. @pelvibiz, P-E-L-V-I-B-I-Z, @pelvibiz on Instagram, and be happy to chat there. Bye guys!
