Recently I had someone ask me if they should start their business by giving away their product for FREE. As soon as they said that a chill went up my spine! Giving away products for free is like turning on a bug zapper that attracts a certain type of audience. And it will set in stone your reputation for being a low cost provider . . . which means you will work harder for lesser profits.
Sell from a position of value and if you can’t define your value then don’t expect someone else to do it.
What you need to succeed is a sales and marketing FUNNEL which has nothing to do with giving away a free or cheap product. Specifically you need to:
1. Define your audience (i.e. who are you going to sell to)
2. Define your geography (i.e. where are you going to sell the product/service)
3. Define the best methods of getting to the audience (i.e. direct mail, email, face to face call, networking event, trade show, etc.)
Once you have these three criteria defined then it’s a matter of just doing it each and every day. Wake up and make 3 to 5 “sales touches” to your defined audience using the method you feel would reach them best. And, don’t be afraid to try multiple methods at the same time because each may capture a different type of buyer.
And remember, a sales plan is about doing the “same boring things each and every day”. It’s about picking up the phone, sending out the email, making a blog post and on and on without stopping . . . ever! And, over the course of months or a years these activities add up to amazing results. The problem most of us face (me included) is that we want to hit “home runs” with every sales touch and that’s not realistic.