SHOULD YOU DISCOUNT OLDER PUPPIES?
Discounting older puppies is tempting. Discounting is what stores do as the seasons change. They’ll have sales for summer clothes as summer comes to an end. Yet, does it work for puppies? The answer? Well, sometimes, but not usually.
The biggest risk you take when discounting puppies is that people will assume they have less value or that something is wrong with them. The second risk is that potential buyers who see a discounted puppy may perceive your standard price as inflated.
I’ve found that when I discount puppies, people tend to overlook them. They think that something must be wrong with them, and so they pass over them and look to the new puppies. Sometimes we set ourselves up for failure by harping on the puppies as the ultimate dog on our websites; we might discuss how important the early bond is, and so people feel they’ve lost it if they get an older dog. But puppies aren’t for everyone.
The truth is that the puppy stage is hard. Some people simply don’t want to deal with middle-of-the-night potty breaks, whining in the crate, and sharp puppy teeth. That’s okay! It doesn’t make them bad owners. They simply aren’t puppy people; they might be great dog people. For these people, older puppies are a deal.
You’ll hear a lot of people talk about older puppies and how they should be more money. I can see this perspective–you have more food and time into them. However, sometimes we have to be honest with our older puppies. We might not have them as far along in training like they’d be had they been in someone’s home. For me, I know that my older puppies are wonderful, they’re healthy, fully vaccinated, and progressing nicely, sleeping through the night and socialized. However, I also know that I’m not taking them everywhere. I rarely leash-train them, and I don’t have them in the house running around most of the time, just a little here and there. My older puppies aren’t as well trained as the puppies that go home to families and have the family’s full attention for weeks. So there are some trade-offs. For me, because I’m not doing this extra training, I feel that full price is fair for my older puppies. They are ready to go sooner—as soon as the family wants them—and they are closer to being done with puppy teeth, they sleep through the night, and so it’s okay. The decision for buyers getting them is then about deciding on timing, and that actual puppy with their developed personality or a new puppy, who is still more of a blank slate.
Having that said, I also know that, by not increasing the price, I am losing more money in food and vaccinations with these older puppies. It is less ideal for me, but it is the situation; I didn’t find them a home in time for them to go earlier. For me, with my newer rat terrier website and marketing shifts, I’m getting great homes for my ratties, but I have nowhere near the following that I do with my German Shorthairs.
Here’s what’s interesting, though. On my website I had 2 older puppies for sale. They’re neutered, fully vaccinated, and super healthy. I had them listed for a quarter of the price of my puppies and no one wanted them. My rat terrier buyers love older dogs, but they aren’t interested in these. Part of it is the lack of training, but what I found was that, at the lower price point, people just felt something was wrong with them. In a way, they see them like a scratch-n-dent sale–something is wrong, so let’s get a discount. You might not care about a fridge with a dent on the side, hidden by your cabinet. But a dog? No one wants a dented dog. Dented dogs seem like problems. In a way, people see the discount as though you said, “Here, please buy my problem!” It’s not ideal; no one wants to buy problems.
You might be thinking, “but Julie! My dog is a bit of a problem, the discount is justified!” And, yes, that might be true. Yet I’ve found many people, despite getting a discount, demand that the quality be up-to-par with dogs sold at regular price. Sometimes these buyers get a little entitled and don’t pair the discount with the additional work. It’s hard to strike the balance with these buyers. They want the world, but don’t want to pay for it. The buyers I sold dogs to at half price were some of the worst buyers I’ve ever had. They had a very entitled mindset, wanting me to take responsibility for everything, and not seeing the discount as compensation for the lack of training that the dog had.
You have to explain that the discount is not because the dog is a problem, but maybe that the dog is behind where it normally would be in a normal situation for training.
So while I generally conclude that keeping your price maintains value, if a puppy is over 6 months old and has some issues with behavior or has no training, a discount may be helpful, but nothing more than 30-40%. Yet I find, while this helps move them, the buyers are often not your usual, and may be more demanding.
In a perfect world, I’d train these older puppies more, but I find that my current lifestyle has a difficult time getting that done. I’m already stretched a little thin. At the end of this episode I’ll show you a few techniques to sell these older dogs.
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WHY IT’S OFTEN SMARTER NOT TO DISCOUNT AT ALL
What I’ve found is that it’s often smartest not to discount at all.
Discounting damages your brand. Imagine if I sold my puppies for $3000, and then, when they didn’t sell at 16 weeks, they were dropped to $2000. People would perceive them as having a lot lower value if you could always get one at $2000 if you just waited a few weeks. In fact, I’ve seen some breeders who always discount their puppies as they get older, And you know what happens? People know this will happen, so they don’t place deposits. Because why pay full price when I can wait a little while longer and get them 30% off? This particular breeder ended up training his people to opt for discounts.
Think about Apple products. If you’ve ever been a broke college kid like I was, you know that discounts for those sweet Apple products are few and far between. I remember looking over at their website, scrolling down to the footer and clicking on the refurbished section so I could look at shopping for these great products in a price point that I could afford.
It might be why I love Black Friday Sales. The product goes on sale for the spirit of Black Friday, not because the company is looking to move the product or get rid of an old version.
Yet notice how, when you find a deal at Apple, you don’t feel like the product isn’t worth the original price. You just feel great you were lucky to find one of those rare discounts. In fact, you often spend time looking at the Apple website and research the various models, differences, pros and cons, then select the product that’s right for you, regardless of the cost.
Yet, let’s compare that to Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby runs two sales: one week they run sales on metal products, like metal signs and decorations, the next week they run a sale on wooden decorations. These discounts are large, often 40-50%, AND they are every other week. So while it’s exciting that something is always on sale, it also makes me hesitate to buy a wooden product on a metal-sale week. Why not just come back in a few days and get the discount on that? Yet, I imagine that’s the point. Hobby Lobby wants you to come back next week, too!
However, in breeding, we don’t want people to come back every week to buy another dog. That would be a little weird. Rather, we want our buyers to stress the right product. We need to operate more like Apple, because we sell our products the way Apple does. Sure, we aren’t selling features exactly the same way, but each puppy will have his differences in his personality and temperament, which may as well be thought of as features.
Just like we will save to buy the right computer from Apple, people will plan and save for one of your dogs, once they know it’s the right fit for them.
Just the same, think of the difference in the buyers between the one willing to pay your price and the one looking for a discount. You’ve heard me talk about them before, those annoying people who message you “price?” They aren’t your buyers. They are shopping based on price, looking for a deal, but that means they otherwise think all puppies in the breed are the same … which we know is far from the truth. They don’t see the value that comes with one of our dogs nor the differences. These aren’t the buyers we want. We want our buyers to rise to our standard and understand our value, knowing not only what they are getting, but appreciating it also.
Now, let me show you my secret for how to discount puppies so they’re more easy to find homes for, without having them lose their value!
THE RIGHT WAY TO DISCOUNT PUPPIES
Discounting, as you know, rarely works, as it decreases the perceived value of your dogs or can make it look like you’re artificially inflating your price. Yet sometimes it feels like discounting will help move puppies, and it does work occasionally.
So how do you keep the dog’s value, the perceived value of your dogs from your breeding program, AND discount? Simple, you discount the family.
What might that look like? Oh, you’re a veteran! Great, I’d love to discount you as a thank you for your service. Oh! You’re a teacher! Teachers are so important, I’d love to offer you a discount on this pup because you’re a teacher. You’re a nurse? We love nurses, they are so under appreciated! I’m going to discount him for you as a thank you for what you do!
What this does is it makes the discount for the person, which not only makes them feel special—who doesn’t love to feel special?—but it also makes the discount about them, and not the dog.
In this situation, the dog’s value is retained.
Now, how does this work on a website? Generally we want to keep our price the same as our other dogs, but then offer the discount on him like it was a unique situation you offered in the moment.
To get interest in an older dog, you want to make sure to put together a positive write-up. Write-ups are more important for older dogs. Then you want to find out what they do for a living. You can talk with them over the phone and get this information casually, or you can offer to get this information on your puppy application. I wouldn’t put it as a required question, but a short answer question where they can put their occupation. It gives you the opportunity to see this and bring it up for a discount. You don’t want to have a checkbox if you’re a veteran, fireman, nurse, or teacher. That encourages people to try to get a discount on everything (unless you do that, of course), but putting the occupation in seems more like a discussion point for finding the right dog for you.
Now, if you do have a dog, like one I have who has a bit of a nervous temperament and didn’t get as much socialization as he needed when he was a puppy, but he’s now fully vaccinated and neutered, they are getting a good deal. But I don’t think it’s as good of a product as I usually produce, if you will. For him I can list him at a lower price, which will equate to someone with lower expectations, and then explain one thing that he will need work on. For example, you might say, he’s a great dog, very loving, but he gets overwhelmed easily in crowds. This is helpful because, if the person is a homebody and never goes out with their dog, then this nervousness in crowds is a moot point. Yet, if someone wants to take the dog everywhere, they’ll know he’s not right for them.
It also helps to share the ideal home for the dog, sort of illustrate the picture of living with him where you think he’ll be most comfortable. This will help people see if he’s a good fit, and sort themselves without wasting your time.
What’s wonderful is when someone sees the less-desirable trait as something they’re comfortable working with—or better yet, something desirable. For example, sometimes people love the idea of a dog who doesn’t trust people as easily–not a dog that will reactively bite, but, more so, a dog who is selective with his people and trust. Some will see this as an opportunity to build a very special bond with that dog.
In essence, you are appealing to these buyers similarly to how rescues often work with the emotions of their buyers, and while it isn’t always ideal, it is often the type of sale those kinds of buyers are looking for. They want a dog to adopt and rescue.
Obviously, because we are breeders, these don’t need “rescuing.” But what they do need is someone who understands them because they are unique. And that’s the best way to go about talking about them: they are unique, and are looking for a home that will cherish and understand them for who they are.
You can think of it like the parent who is discussing their child with dyslexia. They see the struggle that certain things can be for their child, yet they also see the unique creativity they possess, as well as the effort and hard work they are putting into their schoolwork. The grades might not reflect the effort, and that’s a little of how these advertisements can work for these dogs.
Well there you go, lots of thoughts on discounting dogs, if you should even do it, and the better approach to it. I hope this helps you with those pups that linger a little before they find the right home.
Thank you for listening to another episode of the Honest Dog Breeder Podcast, with me, your host, Julie Swan. I know those older puppies weigh on our hearts and can cause a little bit of anxiety for us, so I hope these tips will make it easier for you as you’re working to find the perfect family.
