You carefully prepare your grocery list. You’ve got everything written down and your budget is set. As you walk into the store you are on a mission.
Then you are greeted by someone offering you a free sample of flavored coffee. It not only smells good but tastes good and now you are hooked! You have to add that to your list.
You walk to another aisle and another smiling face offers you a free sample of cake. Coffee and cake, who doesn’t love that! It’s so good you have to add it to your list as well.
Having those samples made you buy those products. Once you got a taste you wanted more.
What do samples have to do with your business?
A business owner wants a new website. They are debating on whether they should use WordPress. It just so happens you have a free guide ready to download to help them make their decision easier.
They enjoy what they read, and now, they want someone to show them how to do it. The obvious choice is you since you are the one who gave them the information they were looking for. They come back to your site, see your video course all about WordPress, and make a purchase. Just as the free sample in the grocery store lead you to a purchase, your free guide did the same exact thing!
The tendency for most businesses might be to hold back giving anything for free and yet we see what it can accomplish.
Part of the problem might be two-fold:
- They think if they give something away no one will buy.
- If they give it away, it may appear to have no value.
Let’s address point one. Think back to the samples in the store. They didn’t give you the whole cake, just a tiny piece. You didn’t get a full cup of coffee you got a few mouth fulls—just enough to get you hooked. It’s the same with your free sample. Give people a taste of what you have to offer.
One way to have people sample what you have to offer is by using a teleclass. For a half hour or so you share valuable tips to those who have taken the time to call in and listen. You might even take time to answer a few questions. This call is a free sample of what you have to offer. Now that people have gotten a taste of who you are and what you do, they are educated on how you can help them solve their problems.
Point two is no longer an issues because they’ve just experienced the value you have to offer and they think, “If they gave me this for free, what I pay for has to be just as good if not better.” They’ve come to see your value, and it moves them into your sales funnel.
I mentioned a teleclass, but you could use a webinar or Google hangouts for this “free sample.” The important thing is to make it worth listening to or watching.
Value means: the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
As you prepare your teleclass or webinar make sure what you share is useful.
This method of offering a sample for free can be used in any business. All you need to know is what your customers/clients will value.
Are you currently giving samples and if so how?
Toni Nelson
Using a step by step approach, Toni Nelson has been helping entrepreneurs and service-based businesses plan, brand, and promote so they can boost profitability and productivity. As the author of Sexy, Savvy and Successful, she knows how to help clients plan their strategies for success. As an award-winning photographer and videographer, Toni is in the perfect position to help clients with the branding process. As a business success coach, Toni's second book, The Secret Equation To Attracting More Clients, is all about promoting businesses. As the founder of the Entrepreneur Hub Club, Toni encourages women to invest in themselves by gaining or sharpening their business skills. As an award winning videographer and photographer, Toni has had weddings published in such places as DIY Bride and Kiss My Tulle. In 2014, Toni was a winner in the Start Up Nation Top 100 Home Based Business ranking in the top 10 for most innovative.
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