What Can I Give?

It was my daughter’s birthday a couple of months ago.

A week or so before that I was visiting my elderly mother and she was telling me she hadn’t got my daughter a birthday present. She added that she was far too frail to get out of her care-home to send it to her, even if she had bought her a gift, and so would send her some money with her card.

“How much do you think I should give her?” Mum asked me.

Looking For Guidance

I got the feeling that if I’d said, “Well, how much do you want to give her?” it would have got us nowhere. My mother was looking for guidance.

By coincidence I was asked a similar question by one of my clients last week. Not about giving my daughter money of course, but concerning my suggestion that he offer a ‘free gift’ in order to start relationships with more people who fitted his ‘ideal client’ definition. He too wanted my guidance.

A Slice Of Your Wisdom

I started with my customary advice to ‘shrink wrap a slice of your wisdom’ but although he totally accepted the need to create his ‘free gift’, he didn’t feel this shed much light on his dilemma. Me adding that it should give potential customers something they want, that they value, while at the same time meeting the needs of his business, didn’t seem to help much.

So I tried to give some examples from other niches. A dress shop might offer free advice on how to drop a dress size in a month by eating more wisely and exercising for just five minutes each day. A business selling suitcases might create a guide to packing your car’s boot so as to minimise the unused space.

Obviously both of these give potential customers something they want and, by keeping in touch with them over the long-term, many will eventually become customers - which helps the shop owner’s business.

Removing The Pain

Another idea some businesses can test is one which seems at first sight to only help the customer. A dentist, for example, could give away free guidance on how to avoid needing fillings in your teeth. Initially it looks like they’re doing themselves out of business, but I think not.

What they’re doing is removing the part of visiting the dentists that their patients dread. Knowing there’s minimal risk of needing a filling, patients happily book regular check-ups where the dentist can also offer straightening, whitening and other cosmetic treatments for their wonderfully cared-for molars, canines and incisors.

Three Simple Rules And Seven Easy Questions That Help You Think

We can distil these examples into some simple rules for the ‘perfect’ free gift.

When it comes to deciding what to offer in your business, why not start by thinking about the ‘why’ of what you provide. Why do your clients need whatever it is you do? What does having that need tell you about them?

What current pains do they want removed? What future pains do they want to avoid? What will they never change, even if doing so would make a positive difference? What other things might they be willing to change in order to get the result they desire? Which of the future pains is the most likely to occur soonest?

Think hard about these questions. Add any more you feel are pertinent and in the same vein. Combine the answers with the three rules and come up with ‘slices of your wisdom’ that address each issue in a helpful way. Just note the gist of each for the moment; don’t try to write them out in full!

Prioritise Your Ideas For Testing And Decide Which Wrapping To Test

To prioritise them for testing, I’ll assume each idea of yours helps solve a problem and casts you in a good light. So which one most strongly moves prospects towards a sale? Try this one first and test it against the others ideas later.

Which leaves the ‘shrink wrapping’. Most free gifts are digital downloads and there’s nothing wrong in that. Maybe though, you’d get better results if you turned it into a physical product. You could lay out your written guidance as a print-ready booklet and offer that as an upsell from the pdf file. That way they’ll have to give you their postal address too.

Or if you’d recorded your help as an audio track or a video, you could offer a CD or DVD as an upsell, and gain the same additional address information too. Sure, this would involve you in more expense, but you could always ask for a small contribution towards postage and packing. And if you’re promoting a premium service to an affluent market, your return on your investment will more than pay for it!