When your business has a very strong After Unit component to it and most of your revenue is from serving clients regularly… then… One of the best assets you can deploy is to start the relationship by offering a free sample. A free treatment. Or a free trial of something.
Here’s why…
First, when you identify who needs and wants your service, your free trial allows you to bond with them. They get to see how it works, and they get a chance to know you and trust you. And second, your free trial triggers reciprocity. Now they feel like they owe you because you’ve done something for them. (All stuff that Cialdini talks about in his books.)
And it’s true. Every time we offer a free trial with these recurring-model businesses, it‘s always a winning move. Over anything else, we might try. Which is kind of funny. Because the general idea that prevails among business owners is still…“Well, they have to have some “skin in the game”. If they’re not willing to pay at least something, then they’re not the high-quality clients I’d want to do business with…” or… “I only offer first month for free if they sign up for a full year…” And so on.
But here’s the thing…
People will look for loopholes whenever you start hedging your bets like that. They see you’re trying to protect yourself against them. And they wonder what kind of strings come attached to your offers, which immediately starts the relationship with mistrust. In reality, people rarely take advantage of you. Much less than you expect.
Think about it this way: You’ve got access to your service at a cost. That’s an asset. And the best way to appreciate its value is to deploy it in ways that will set you up for the future. And when you look at the lifetime value of all these customers taking you up on your free trial…
Your ROI is tremendous. And it dwarfs all your initial costs.
Burke Jones and I speak more about this in the podcast.
