Are you giving away a free taste?
When the ice cream parlor gives you a free sample of the pralines and cream, you almost can no longer say no.
Several things are happening when she hands over that little plastic spoon. Let’s have a look.
- Drool. Yeah, sorry for the visual, but you see her hand reach down towards that stainless steel bin of heaven and scoop out a tiny bomb of flavor and each second drags on until she hands it over the counter. Your largest concern in the world is no longer World War III or whether your child will get into university but that she doesn’t drop that spoon.
- Ownership. You didn’t pay for anything, but once she hands you the spoon, it’s yours. You own that spoon and the dollop of rich and buttery cream inside of it.
- Responsibility. Technically, you don’t owe her anything. You could walk out of the shop and no SWAT team will tackle you at the exit. But you have accepted the forbidden fruit and you have some skin in the game. It’s related, depending on what type of person you are, with #4.
- Relationship. You have to make a decision. At this point, unless you’re a 9-year old, you completely acknowledge that you’re going to buy some ice cream. You have a relationship with that beautiful being behind the counter who shares droplets of dreams with no one other than you (or at least you’d like to think so).
Think about these steps with your product (or service or book or course). How can you get them to the point where they don’t even want to say no? Remember, just like with the ice cream, I actually do want to buy the whole scoop! In this case, it’s about which one I’m going to buy. With a lesser-known product, it could be more of if they’re going to buy at all.
Give it away. Let them have a taste.
How will they know what your “big” service is if they don’t know even one of your “small” services is? In the past two weeks, I had interactions with two people who offered their services for free and I took them up on the offer. I was interested to begin with, but it helped the decision-making process because they offered a “taste” of their services for free. In both cases, I’m much closer to a yes than I would be without the freebie.
Think of the ice cream. Think about your product. See the relation? How can you get your clients clamoring for more? What’s your colorful plastic spoon?
