I will tell all my friends about you!
I was not born yesterday. I have been in sales for more than two decades. Some lessons take longer to learn than others. With many years of experience I can confidently say to never give anything away for free today with the thought that you will ever get any future business out of it. If I provide you a product or service for free today (that you came to me and asked for) then I am telling you very clearly that it is worth nothing. I will never ever receive any money from you for those goods or services. It would make no sense for you to pay me in the future. You simply revert back to the original interaction. Once I decide to put my foot down and demand money then you decide to pay someone else for the exact same goods.
Now that business is good it is so much easier for me to simply say, “no thank you” when approached and asked for “free” stuff. When I struggled I would be caught off guard and give things away.
It is always fun to discuss the antics of folks attempting to receive good and services for free. As I like to say, “I’ve got one for you:”
The pitch (most times) is very easy to see from a distance. The one making it uses too many words. The call or (even better) the email starts with how wonderful the offering that they are about to ask for is and how they can really see so many people they know wanting to pay full retail price (or even more) for it.
I now say, with confidence, “I am not in the business of free. If you would like to pay full price for my services I will work with you. If I decide to make a donation to your cause then I may do that.”
This is a much more efficient way of conducting business. When you do let me know that you will tell all your friends about my business your credibilty drops to zero. My friends are similar to me. I assume that your freinds are very similar in nature to you and they ask for free things too.
