I received the following question from a listener of our recent teleseminar Selling To Big Companies: How To Secure Your First Meeting (download available).
I have a question on free services as a hook. We have started an offering of free assessments and 40 free hours to work with any client’s particular needs. We advertise this in our marketing e-mails and direct mail. In your experience, does this really sway a decision maker into thinking, “Well I can try this company and if does not work out, then we can both walk away, and it does not cost me anything.”
Offering a service sample or an “entry service” can be a powerful marketing tool. After all, most firms would agree, “Once a company experiences our services and our people, they have a high degree of likelihood of continuing to work with us for the long-term.”
One Wellesley Hills Group client, when they have an initial business development call with a new prospect, sets a team of people on a two week research engagement to deliver primary data and analysis during the initial call. Prospects are impressed as a matter of course. Our client’s average sales are in the six and seven figures, so as a business strategy, the serious staff time investment is well worth the return.
That being said, here are a few thoughts for you:
* Offering hours isn’t particularly appealing. Indeed, folks like Ron Baker at Verasage would argue you’re making a pretty big mistake even using “hours” as something you sell.
* Consider offering a particular service – regardless of the time commitment – as your initial strategy. Then you can build marketing and business development campaigns around that service. “We’ll study your ABC strategy/situation/problem and give you our complimentary 123 Strategy Assessment.”
* Make sure you deliver strong value in the service. It can’t be pitchy or a thinly veiled sales tactic. It has to be good. Many folks, when they read this, might say, “Duh! Of course we’ll deliver high quality.” Still, I’ve often observed providers falling into the trap of making their front-end services (free or paid) too salesy or not meaty enough.
* Target carefully. Some prospects might be worth the effort, and some not. Plus, make it exclusive and it becomes more desirable.
* Don’t be surprised when fewer people than you think take you up on the service. You might think, “This is great. It’s worth tens of thousands of dollars. We may get flooded with people taking us up on it!” Yet, it doesn’t often happen. Many buyers are leery of free service tests and/or don’t want to feel obligated to buy something even if the service test is appealing.
* Don’t let your prospect think that your services have little value. Make sure they understand that a five figure service offered for free is still worth five figures.
It’s tough enough transitioning from free work to paid work. You don’t want free offers that portray your expertise as any less than it’s actually worth.
* Consider packaging a strong initial service and charging for it versus delivering it for free.
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