Give Your Time And Services Away For Free
... And Watch The Money Roll In
What have you given away lately? Anything? What would you say if I told you that giving things away for free can mean significantly higher profits for your business? I'm crazy, right? Well, let me explain.
The word reciprocity is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as a "mutual or cooperative interchange of favors or privileges". That's a pretty dry way of saying "giving stuff away and getting stuff in return".
What the dictionary doesn't say is how amazingly powerful it is when you give someone something. They almost always feel obliged to in some way return the favour.
To use a powerful example, and I'm in no way an advocate of the group, the Hare Krishna sect discovered this fact about 30 years ago. They found their coffers swelling with money because of one very simple thing: they gave away flowers.
The Krishnas hadn't had much success in raising funds through donations and were finding opportunities to expand severely limited. They decided to have their followers give away flowers as "gifts" and then - and only then - make the unsuspecting givee aware that they were collecting money.
There was no explicit barter involved, no "if you give me some money, I'll give you a flower" arrangement. If a flower was given and no money donated in return, it was a net loss. The Krishnas banked on the fact that people would feel a sense of obligation and would, however unwillingly, reach into their pockets for some coins.
Some people took the proferred flower and gave no money, but a lot of people did give. The expenditure on a few flowers was more than made up for by the new money coming in. And all for cheap flowers that nobody wanted and which were most likely immediately thrown away.
It was a fantastically successful operation and helped lead to the huge 1970's expansion of the Krishnas. But what does it mean to you and me?
I'm by no means telling you to force unwanted items on your potential customers - therein lies anger, contempt and a customer you will never get, in these more worldly-wise days - but be aware of the concept of "giving to receive". The sense of obligation your potential customers feel when they get something useful from you for free and with no hidden catches can sometimes mean a net loss to you, but will more likely benefit your business in the long run.
What kind of thing do I mean? How's about some of these:
- Free-to-download whitepapers/guides on your website - Useful business information (like articles you've written and uploaded to article directories!) - Free software
That's just three examples. I'm sure you can think of some that would be relevant to you and your business.
Some of what you spend in producing your giveaways will be lost; that's unavoidable. But you will get something back. Whether it's an enhanced reputation as a "thought leader", a gentle reminder to some customers who haven't used you for a while that, hey, you're still around and ready to be used again, or customers buying the upgraded version of the free software you're giving away, there will be benefits to you and your business.
Can you think of a way you could induce that feeling of reciprocity in your customers?
About the Author
Daniel O'Connor is a leading copywriter based in the UK. See his 100% satisfaction-guaranteed website's copywriter portfolio.
He's worked for some of the biggest companies and organisations in the world -- including NTT and Mitsubishi Electric, not to mention the 1998 Olympic Winter Games -- as well as some of the smallest.
And he can do a job for you, too.
Daniel is supremely qualified at explaining complicated things in a simple way. There's nothing you can throw at him that he won't have dealt with before.
Because it's all about one thing: the words. The right words for you and your business.
Blog articles. SEO for websites. Direct marketing. White papers. Flyer advertising. You want words? Daniel O'Connor has words.
Want to try out his writing before getting in touch? Check out his business blog.
See this article in its original context and many others by going to the Articles section of Daniboy's website.
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