Giving it away free got me 30 new clients

10 replies
So there was a thread the other day saying that giving stuff away free was not right or something. I couldn't find it to reply so I thought I would share this story in here.

It has to do with my offline business which is in Manual Therapy. I treat people with pain using various manipulations and stuff bit like a chiropractor. Anyway, it is a very competitive market and hard to get new clients (which I need all the time because I do actually get people well and they stop coming because the pain goes away).

Anyway, for the last 3 months I have doing a gig on monday evenings in the local kung fu school where I treat the coaches, students, staff and anyone else for free (or a tip if they want to tip me -some do, some dont) and I have not made much money.

However, one of the folks I have treated runs a club and employs 30 dancers plus assorted other staff.

He has now booked me to do an assessment of all of his dancers (looking at their injuries, posture etc) and to produce a report and treatment plan for all of them. He is going to open the club to me and bring all the staff in at appointed times and I will spend 15 to 30 mins on each person. He has then promised to pay the first £120 of treatment for each dancer as and when they present him with my receipts. That's nearly £3600 of business he is putting my way out of his own pocket and does not include any extra treatments the dancers book or the referrals they make to their friends and family.

Gotta say it was worth spending a couple hours a week treating folks for nothing at the martial arts academy. Not just for the work either

I actually carried out a marketing plan that paid off big time (for me).
#clients #free #giving
  • Profile picture of the author Newman8r
    yep... networking is a great way to get new clients. The key is to be persistent with it until you reach your goals - if you'd given up after a week of giving stuff away for free there would be no huge benefit, but sticking with it seems to have paid off big time. nice!
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  • Profile picture of the author Rick Britton
    I am keeping it going too though, not stopping the free gig just coz I got some work out of it. You are right, persistence counts
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Allard
    Awesome, great marketing strategy. Free trials and discounts can be great for business marketing, but one thing to remember is to keep the promotions short and don't do them often. The reason is customers can get used to the free offers or discounted offers and begin to expect them, and they also get the idea that your service is worth the initial price they paid.

    So there's a fine balance. But sometimes it's vital for new customer acquisition and it paid off for you. Hopefully you'll also see a lot of referrals coming in. I recommend setting up some sort of referral system while you have all these new clients coming in. Just let them know that for each referral they send your way, you'll give them 50% off their next session or something like that.

    Just a few quick tips. Good luck with your business!
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  • Profile picture of the author Rick Britton
    Dude

    referrals is the HEART of my business. Without referrals I am dead in the water! I dont advertise and dont even have a website (yes I know that's bad). I get nearly all my work by asking my existing clients for referrals and they all pretty much send me new people

    you have to ask though nd say "I really appreciate you helping me grow my business and as a reward I will give you this freebie" - many give the referral and never ask for the freebie. I tell them to state explicitly at the time of booking that they are using their free credit (it is recorded on the client contact sheet in my customer excel file). Most never use it and I always remind them ("dont forget you have a free session just phone and book it") - most never do! Works great, I get the referrals and hardly give anything away
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  • Profile picture of the author Terry Hatfield
    Giving stuff away for free works great long as the people you are giving away to are targeted and really are potential buyers.

    The wrong way to do it is to just give away stuff to a group of people that have no likely hood of becoming a customer which is what many do and then say giving away free doesn't work.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rick Britton
      Originally Posted by Terry Hatfield View Post

      Giving stuff away for free works great long as the people you are giving away to are targeted and really are potential buyers.

      The wrong way to do it is to just give away stuff to a group of people that have no likely hood of becoming a customer which is what many do and then say giving away free doesn't work.
      good point and exactly why I thought that giving away physical therapy to martial arts exponents would work - because they are likely to need it and most importantly pay for it when it solves their problem
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      • Profile picture of the author Yogini
        I think that thread you are referring to was in the offline section of this site actually. I think your marketing strategy is very effective and I see people doing free adjustments at health fairs all the time. This debate seems to exist not just for offline marketing but also for internet marketing. I've seen some people say to not give away free ebooks, but just charge a small price to get people to not be in a freebie mentality.

        Personally I have found giving something without a charge very useful both offline and online.

        Debbie
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  • Profile picture of the author Rocket Media
    No one said giving **** away free is a bad idea. Whoever did is a numskull.

    Chipotle Mexican Grill is a billion dollar company with a stock price in the couple hundred $ range.

    Guess how Steve Ells started that company? By giving away free food. NOBODY wen to chipotle when he first opened it in Denver. He decided to give it away free and BAM that's when his success came.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rick Britton
    Debbie thanks, I kinda forgot what the thread was about so that helps

    in fact, I offer every prospect a "free" 30 minute consultation which of course turns out not to be free for most of them (extremely high conversions)

    the reason can offer a half hour of my time is because I know my numbers and the lifetime value of my clients. In fact, in the last year I have also learned some excellent ways to increase the lifetime value too...

    it works well but I long for the days when I put an ad in my local paper 3 times a week and 10 people phoned for appointments like clockwork (I could put 50 ads in 50 papers and get no calls now)

    I get leads from freebies, demos, doing charity events, volunteeering at sports events like city fun runs and cycle races...
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    • Profile picture of the author Chuck Avants
      Not only did you pick up a good account you get to look at dancers for 30 minutes without being called a pervert.
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      Do the right thing---
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