I grew up in the generation where our parents used to say:
"Why would he buy the cow, if you give away the milk for free?"
(I know, I am probably slotting myself in with all the oldies you know by admitting that.)
Well, don't tell my parents, but as a marketer, I am always looking for ways to give away the milk, or at least to offer it at a discount.
I think that most marketers need to explore "try before you buy," alternatives for customers. This can be as simple as running a blog, which -- for a services company -- can give prospects insights into how consultants work and what makes them tick. (It's one of the reasons I run this blog.)
For products companies, "try before you buy" might mean offering a risk-free trial period, a web demo, or a money-back guarantee.
Arguably, one of marketing's biggest roles within a company is overcoming the objections or barriers to a buying decision. One of the biggest objections, in almost all sales situations, is risk. There are many ways to reduce the perceived risk, of course, from pricing strategies to customer case studies, and they are all important. (By the way, here is a great case study, by my friends at Kaszas Communications, that demonstrates how case studies reduce the friction in the sales cycle.)
A "try before you buy" offer is one of the most effective ways reduce a buyer's risk, their fear of the unknown. With that in mind, I decided to create my own "engage Gillian on a trial basis" project. Guess what? It worked!
What I did
I had decided that I needed to create a template for a simple marketing audit. I've called the process Five for the Win(TM), and I've designed it as a straightforward interview (2 hours) followed by a independent review of available marketing data (analytics etc - another half day of my time), to produce a report with findings in 5 key areas, and 5 top recommendations. (More on this in a future post.)
It's not meant to be exhaustive, but it gives my client great, data-backed, independent insights into what's working and what's not in their marketing efforts, at a high level.
Not free, but discounted
It is not totally free, but it is offered at a steep discount off my regularly daily rate for ad hoc work. (Like most consultants, I have lower rates for ongoing projects and longer-term commitments, and a higher rate for hours billed outside of any ongoing commitment.)
My Five for the Win process allows prospective clients to see how I think, and get some informed external feedback on their efforts, and an actionable set of recommendations.
Even if they decide they don't have ongoing work for me, or if I decide I can't really contribute what the company needs to move its efforts forward, there is an outcome that has made the "trial" engagement worthwhile.
And while it does cost money, a client that moves ahead with me as a consultant more than saves that same amount, because the project jump starts my knowledge of the company and its marketing challenges.
Outcome
So, I tried it on a real live prospect.
I've known the CEO of a smallish tech company for years. We've talked on and off about how he could tune his marketing, but, for one reason or another, he was never ready to engage me for any ongoing work.
Again, he and I met, and he wasn't sure exactly how he would engage me. "I know I could use some of your time, I just don't know how." I proposed he do the marketing audit, as a first step, and described the report I would produce. He knew he could use the report to reexamine and refocus his marketing expenditures, and agreed.
If he had had to pay my daily rate for this, the risk would have been too high (even though he knows me). But at a reduced rate, as an exercise that might easily save as much money as it costs, it was a no-brainer. As my trial customer, he got exceptional value, because he helped shape the process and the report, and because I spent days and days thinking about his business.
As I worked on the report, it became clearer how I might be able to help him to implement the recommendations. When he received it he acknowledged that while the news about how (in)effective the company's marketing efforts had been was not good, it was not a surprise.
He also bought into my top five recommendations.
Needless to say, he believes he got value from that first engagement, and this has led to a longer term, ongoing engagement for me with this company, worth tens of thousands of dollars to me.
In addition, we are already ahead of the game, because we are already on the same page as to what needs doing, and in what order.
And I proved to myself that anything you can do to reduce your customer's perceived risk of working with you is worth your time. So, go ahead, give away some of the milk for free (or at a discount).
Image credit: Red33 | Agency: Dreamstime.com
