I began thinking about our free one-month offer of services last night and wondered internally “how is our free offer different from everyone else’s?”
For starters, our free month is 95% free (you have to invest human time resources and share relevant contact information to make it successful). If a potential client calls us up to begin working on a project and gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our abilities, they do so without signing any papers, and they are free to walk away at the end of the month without owing us a dime. Obviously, we’re not in this to give away our expertise, and we believe that once we’ve proven ourselves a client will want to continue the relationship on a compensatory basis. That’s the theory behind it. Most people stumble across us and have no idea who we are or how we operate so it’s in both of our best interests to test one another before making it a commitment. We may decide at the end of the month that the client may be better served working with another firm. We’re not for everyone and vice versa so it’s truly a two way street.
Contrast that with today’s marketing version of “free.” 95% of the time you are asked to purchase something in order to get the free item or service. Gas stations require you to pay for filling your tank before giving you the “free” car wash. There are offers all over the Internet where you buy one product and get a “bonus” or a “free gift” for doing so by a certain date and time. In concept, it’s a reward for doing business. Simple enough. We love receiving rewards don’t we? It’s not really a free offer though. You’re requiring the customer to pay first which means you’re simply diluting the price by adding another item. If the item’s cost requires/permits diluting, what does that say about your pricing of that item? Oh, you’re “adding value,” you say? Whatever.
Free just doesn’t mean what it is used to imply a good majority of the time. It’s an old trick to fool people into spending money. Fooling people is never a good way to start things off, but it must work because people fall for it all the time.
If you stumble across a truly free offer, share it with us. We’ll help spread the word.