When a customer asks for a discount, your sales agent has three bad options: invent a number, say no, or “check with the manager.”
Inventing a number destroys margin because the agent picks whatever closes the deal. Saying no loses the customer because the next company on their list will say yes. Checking with the manager adds 24 hours of delay, and the customer has already booked with someone else by then.
We built a fourth option.
The 0/3/6/9/12% Ladder
The customer clicks “Ask for Discount.” A modal appears with five rungs:
| Rung | Discount | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | No discount | Move stays on current date |
| 3% | Flex 1 day | Customer shifts move by 1 business day |
| 6% | Flex 2 days | Customer shifts move by 2 business days |
| 9% | Flex 3 days | Customer shifts move by 3 business days |
| 12% | Flex 4+ days | Customer shifts move by 4+ business days |
Each rung asks the same question: Would you accept this offer to flex your move date by 1–3 days? The customer selects. The quote updates. The sales agent approves (or adjusts). The job is booked.
Why a Ladder, Not a Slider
A continuous slider — “drag to select your discount” — implies infinite negotiating room. It signals that the price is arbitrary and therefore negotiable. Customers haggle.
A discrete ladder — five fixed options — signals that the prices are structured and deliberate. There’s a right answer for each rung. Customers pick the one that fits their situation and move on. The average time from “ask for discount” to “booking confirmed” drops because the negotiation step disappears.
Sales agents like it because they don’t have to invent numbers. Managers like it because discounts are bounded. Customers like it because they feel like they got a deal without having to argue for it.
What Each Rung Costs You
Simple math at a 20% gross margin:
| Discount | Revenue reduction | Margin consumed |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | $0 | 0% of margin |
| 3% | $30 on a $1,000 job | 15% of margin |
| 6% | $60 on a $1,000 job | 30% of margin |
| 9% | $90 on a $1,000 job | 45% of margin |
| 12% | $120 on a $1,000 job | 60% of margin |
At a 20% gross margin, a 12% discount consumes 60% of your margin on that job. That’s steep. But if the alternative is an empty truck on a Tuesday — which costs you 100% of the revenue — it’s a trade worth making.
The key insight: discounts are only offered on days with slack capacity. On peak days, the button doesn’t appear. More on that below.
What Each Rung Gets You
Since the feature launched (roughly 6 weeks ago), early signals from operators using the discount ladder:
- Customers who use the discount ladder convert at a higher rate than customers who don’t ask for a discount. This makes sense — they’ve self-identified as price-sensitive but flexible. They’re telling you what they need.
- The 3% and 6% rungs are the most selected. Most customers are willing to flex by 1–2 days. The 9% and 12% rungs get selected, but less frequently. The ladder works because most customers don’t need the deepest discount.
- Off-peak occupancy lifts. Operators running the ladder are seeing a measurable shift in bookings from peak days to off-peak days. This is the whole point: fill the Tuesday truck, don’t discount the Saturday truck.
These are still early numbers. We’ll have conversion-rate data by demand tier by end of Q2, and we’ll publish it when it’s large enough to be meaningful.
When the Button Doesn’t Appear
Tier 5 days. On the busiest days of the year — June 30, July 31, August 1, the last Saturday of every month in the summer — the “Ask for Discount” button doesn’t appear. The customer sees the price. The price is the price. No negotiation, no confusion, no margin erosion on the days when demand exceeds supply.
This is what hospitality learned years ago. Hotels don’t offer discounts on New Year’s Eve. Airlines don’t put seats on sale the day before Thanksgiving. Movers shouldn’t discount on the busiest Saturday of the year.
The system handles it automatically. The dispatcher doesn’t have to remember to turn off discounts. The sales agent doesn’t have to explain why there’s no discount today. The model decides, and the UI reflects it.
What Hospitality and Ride-Hail Teach
Hotels learned that opaque discounts — corporate rates, AAA rates, AARP rates — outperform a public sale. The customer feels like they got a special deal (they did). The hotel fills rooms that would have been empty (they did). The stated rate stays intact for customers who don’t qualify for the discount (it does).
Ride-hail apps learned that dynamic pricing + a visible-but-structured discount option drives off-peak adoption without eroding peak pricing. The 6% discount on the Tuesday ride doesn’t cannibalize the full-fare Saturday ride because they serve different customers with different flexibility.
Moving is no different. You have peak days and off-peak days. You have customers who are flexible and customers who are not. A discount ladder matches the two up.
Ask Jared for the ladder math spreadsheet. Plug in your margins. See what works.
References:
- Mews — Hotel Dynamic Pricing — https://www.mews.com/en/blog/dynamic-pricing-hotels
- Garg, N. & Nazerzadeh, H. (2021). Driver Surge Pricing, Management Science — https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4058
- Sage — Hotel dynamic pricing research — https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14727978241298467