In a previous
post, I dug deeper into giving away products or services for free. In
my experience, free products or services are not appreciated to their
full value and often not even respected. Free coffee machines and
beverage dispensers lead to flat out squandering.
However, giving
away products, services, or content is a powerful tool to attract
future business. A tool that you should consider applying.
Here
is what I found to work.
case 1:
Suppose you offer a service
that is worth 200$. To attract business and clients, you decide to go
door-to-door and give it away for a period of a month. Prospects sign
up for your free service. You hope that they are satisfied and come
back later as paying customers.
Let's assume they do come back,
and you tell them the price will be 200$. The majority of them will
react, "Oh, that is kind of expensive..." And it is, from
their standpoint, given the fact that it used to be free. The
prospect will often not sign up and leave with mixed feelings.
case
2:
Let's reverse things. You go door-to-door and offer the
prospect the same 200$ service. You clearly state that this is a paid
service, worth 200$. However, you tell them it is temporarily free
for a month because you are a beginner, you want to get your name out
and at the same time help some people out. Basically, you give them a
temporary 100% discount. There is a subtle difference between a free
service and a service worth 200$ that is free temporarily through a
discount.
People that say yes will now have two positive feelings
surrounding your business. First, their problem is solved, and on top
of that, they got a 100% discount.
The people in case 1 only got
one positive feeling; their problem gets solved. Still, since you did
it for free, the value of this service was not entirely appreciated.
The clients of case 1 will be harder to sell your services in the
future.
All this might seem subtle to you, but believe me, it
will make a difference in the long run.
Top 10 about the author; Erik Victor
1. is a serial
entrepreneur and started his career in Engineering
2. currently a
majority shareholder in corporations in the fields of Industrial Real
Estate, Wealth Management & Investment funds, and International
Tax Planning
3. has a passion for the dynamics of young
businesses and actively endorses several start-ups
4. is an
engaged member of several think-tanks and an international conference
speaker
5. has a business footprint in six countries
6. speaks
five languages
7. personal life - resides in Europe
8. Erik
(48) is known as a discrete and private person, a family man
9.
loves to spend his limited holidays in the mountains or at sea on his
yacht
10. Erik has no social media accounts
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