Free-Dumb
Saturday, September 29th, 2007This post written at the New Media Expo in Ontario California.
I recently sat through a painful seminar where a conference speaker was addressing the topic of sales, more specifically how to promote yourself, your products and your services via the Internet.
The conference speaker opened with “The best words to use to get your emails read”. His top pick as the number one word was “free”. He went on to say that the using the word “free” will get people to pay attention to your email as it’s a word that attracts a reader.
Apparently this conference speaker does not get the volume of spam email that I receive. I’ve been offered free Viagra, money, closing costs, long distance, college degrees, travel and my all time fav – “consultation”. Do people really fall for “free consultation”. Does this really entice anyone? Let me get this straight, you’ll actually “talk” to me – for free? WOW!
The word “free” is not a persuader, quite the opposite; it will instantly put the reader in a defensive posture. It puts the ever famous question in our heads – “what’s the catch”. People are not stupid - annoying, bothersome and sometimes irrational, sure, but not stupid. We all realize that nothing is free and that “free” typically comes with a cost.
The word “free” is something you should avoid at all costs in any marketing message; at the very least it should not be your opener. Not to mention the fact that it’s a word email filters flag as potential spam.
The conference speaker went on with other equally valuable bits of wisdom like how it’s okay to lower your price to get a customer. The theory behind this “can’t lose” strategy is that once you make someone a customer it is easier to do business with them in the future, which is true, it’s easier to sell to someone you’ve sold to in the past. The issue is that you’ve set a precedent, now this customer will always want the lower price.
There is a bigger issue with lowering price - it devalues your service or product. Assuming your product or service is fairly priced, lowering price sends two messages to a consumer. First, you’ve built in extra profit so you can discount and second, they will not get the support they need because you are not making the money you need.
Prices of products and services are set based on more than the cost of goods. You as a professional in your field have value and you must factor that in. I don’t want to buy something from someone that does not have the experience to support my needs. I see tremendous value in the experience of the person I’m buying from, in fact I count on it to insure that I’m not only buying the right thing but using it to its fullest potential thus getting my moneys worth.
A product or service is only as good as the person behind it. Realize that your value to a consumer goes far beyond your offering. I once read a story about Pablo Picasso that really stuck with me. Picasso was sitting in a park in Paris sketching the surroundings. A woman walking her dog recognized him and asked, “Would you mind sketching my dog, I’d be happy to pay you”. Picasso took pencil to paper and 60 seconds later there it was, her dachshund was now an original Picasso. The woman was delighted and asked, “how much do I owe you?’ To which Picasso replied, “two hundred francs”. “TWO HUNDRED FRANCS!” the woman exclaimed, “but it only took you a minute!” Picasso calmly replied, “no my dear, it took my whole life.”
Don’t underestimate the value you bring to the table. Charge a fair and reasonable price and give your customers the advice and service they need and you’ll have customers for life as well as raving fans.
As far as this so called speaker goes, as a professional conference speaker I was deeply offended by his lack of knowledge (I got over it) but what did I expect – his talk was free.
