Why Do You Give Away Your Product?

Yep! Have to agree with you..... my wording was a bit off

I am on lists where people offer me easily 75 or 80 free somethings to every 1 link to buy something. i have absolutely no idea how these people make a living.

I used to email them and sya, "Don't you have anything for sale?" But it is amazing how many people want to keep giving things away.

I have written a few times here in the WF about how it is a good idea to tell people you have something for sale. You don't have to be a jerk about it, but they might want what you have. And you would be doing them a service to offer to sell them that thing they really want, or in some cases, really need.

Not carefully enough. King Shiloh is deliberately soliciting opposing viewpoints to the quote he provides.

Right almost every IM business builder is giving something away.
If you don't, you won't advance much in IM.

People seek information and almost always want it free.

You have to prove that what you have is worthwhile paying for it.

I have bought several products and services and have others on my "wish list" to buy in the future because of a free giveaway. Even products or services I didn't know I needed.

Of course, there are "FREE" terms to understand:

Free: nothing being paid ever.
You earn cash by offering other similar products, or by and upsell or upgrade.

Free trial: you don't pay for a demo, a specific section, or for a specific time frame.

Risk free trial: you pay, but have a certain time frame to ask for a complete refund.

Risk Free Guarantee: You can ask for a refund if not satisfied.

Recently a $1 for a 7 day trail has become common with all those over hyped products. Then you will pay a one time $67.00 fee or a monthly $29.95 subscription. The $1.00 offer seems almost free.

All those offers should always include an opt-in form to build your list, just in case that prospect doesn't accept the complete offer, unsubscribes from the offer, not from your list, or asks for a refund. You can continue to communicate with the lead.

You unquestionably need an autoresponder, free, one time paid, or with a monthly subscription. You really need one, to build your list.

Building your list is the ultimate Free offer aim.

Sincerely,

Antonios





:p

The $750 was a typo. I meant $75.

I was going to make this point, but fortunately Will made it for me. The trick is that it relies on several psychological factors.

1. Carryover - as Caliban pointed out, people will carry the value of the free item over and apply it to your paid material. If I get X for free, but Y costs money, Y must be even better.

2. Reciprocity - if you take a gift freely given, you are BEHOLDEN to return a favor to me and usually all I need to do is ask you to LOOK at my offer in return. Because of the carryover effect, you're essentially pre-sold before looking at the offer at all, and it's a lot easier to knock you off the fence in that state.

3. Positioning - if I can GIVE AWAY when the competition is selling, I can suck all the air out of that market and essentially FORCE them to respond. Chances are they are nowhere near agile enough, so while they are re-engineering their offering to compete, they are essentially silent while I execute my own launch.

4. Social Proof - the fact is a lot of freebie seekers will never buy. Normally, most people see those moochers as a writeoff. I like to put them to work. I also use the reciprocity of the freebie to get them to leave public comments which act as pre-testimonials as the launch is unfolding. It's like letting people see how long the ticket line is for a show. Long line MUST mean it's a good show, right? The freebie draws the crowd, show people the crowd, and their curiosity becomes aroused.

5. Virality - A good freebie has legs. People share free stuff if AND ONLY IF it's insanely valuable. If I have a spoonful of ice cream, I'm not inclined to let other people get a lick. If I have a 6 scoop banana split, I can give you some and still have all the ice cream I want to eat. Now I know information is not the same because anyone can copy a file and share it and still keep theirs, but it's the psychological trick that's key. They have to feel like "this has more value than I can even USE right now." It also helps if the freebie is something they can ACT on which produces a VISIBLE effect. Because their colleagues and peers will ask, and because of reciprocity, they're bound to share.

Now I'll tell you a big secret when it comes to creating freebies. Never SOLVE problems, just point them out. Quicksand, potholes, forks in the road, whatever. Tell them how to avoid danger and harm, but don't give them something to actually DO.

You DON'T want them to be too busy or too satisfied when it comes time to sell them something. And speaking of selling, you don't even HAVE to sell AT ALL when you do this right.

For example, if I spend a HUGE amount of time to show you every little pothole and crack you might fall into in the road ahead of you as you journey into my niche, there's NO DOUBT you will be MASSIVELY grateful. It proves I've walked the walk, and it proves I'm super-helpful and altruistic. But they STILL have to take the walk.

Now, before you go, I just want you to be aware that you can buy this monster truck here, with the big ass wheels, and just drive right over those potholes like they aren't even there. Just wanted you to know it exists. Just in case.

Even though this audience has NEVER actually encountered these problems yet, even though I AM THE ONE who told them these problems in the first place... it doesn't matter. All they see is problems and MAN, that monster truck looks awesome and I ALREADY WANT IT before I even see a sales letter.

That's PRE-SELLING. Pre-selling isn't "selling before the sales letter." It's making you want what I'm going to sell to you before you even knew it existed. Hope that helps!