Done right, giveaways are pink spoon samplings, first impressions to your business and its offerings. Done poorly, giveaways leave a weak impression and show how difficult it may be to work with you and your company in the future. Which impression do your giveaways and freebies leave? If asked, would your recipients agree or have another story to tell?
Often times a giveaway will come following a seminar or workshop and be gifted to one of the attendees. The best giveaways tie in with the topic that the speaker presented on plus are tiered to build on should the gift recipient want to accept this gift and add-on a service or product from your offerings. Hmm. Hadn’t looked at it from this angle before? Then you might be leaving money on the table and missing opportunities to turn this gift recipient into a warm lead. You already have this person crossing the threshold into your business to get to know you and your giveaway offer better. Why should the relationship stop there? At the very least, you may get a testimonial or referral recommendation from a great quality giveaway. Give some forethought to what you offer, the value it holds for the gift recipient, and how much mileage can be gained from giving it away.
Examples of missed opportunities I’ve experienced with giveaways that were gifted to me:
The Website That Wouldn’t: Several years ago I won a website creation. Sounds fabulous but it didn’t turn out that way because the web designer never clearly explained what the design package included and wasn’t prepared to add-on billable extras (that I wanted and was prepared to pay for) to get the website design I’d wanted. Seeing that the designer wasn’t interested in allowing me to upscale the package to buy more services she lost business. I accepted her work and hired another web designer to add the extras. The original designer who gifted the website creation package lost sight that recipients may want to actually buy her services and continue working with her beyond what she was giving away. Don’t make this mistake. Don’t prematurely end the working relationship. It’s perfectly acceptable to say that X is outside the giveaway offer’s scope but that for a few dollars more you’d be happy to add that additional service. Flex your best customer service muscles and allow the recipient to decide.
The Trial That Had No Steam: I won a drawing for a free membership for a specific trial period. While I did like the membership when the trial period ended I’d gotten busy and overlooked subscribing to the paid membership. Having a follow-up system in place would have left the presenter know to touch base with me and invite me to stick around. Additionally it would have let me know that in 5 more days my trial period would be ending. Having a follow-up system would have allowed the presenter to ask what I thought of the membership, if it met my needs, and opened an opportunity to have some conversation and get some valuable feedback as well as personally invited me to continue on.
The Review That Led To Brick Walls: Many presenters like offering a review, assessment, or survey evaluation as a giveaway. It’s a way for the presenter and recipient to connect quickly whether via a phone call or a questionnaire. It can be a bridge to stepping into a service or product the presenter may have to offer after the results are provided but the results should never be contingent on purchasing a service, product, or membership. One brick wall comes when the presenter is heavy-handed with pushing their next level for purchase.
Another brick wall comes when the presenter doesn’t follow through with providing (or interpreting) the results to the recipient after their initial meeting. Never make the recipient chase you down to find out the results. Should the evaluation yield that all is going well and there are minimal-to-no improvements then tell the recipient this rather than not replying at all. Build trust in working with you and your business via your honesty.
The third brick wall comes when there is limited vision. Once I got a list of things that could stand some updating – no problem. When I asked if the presenter offered such services they did not. I had to search for another provider to determine if the evaluation was solid and they agreed with the conclusions as well as what they suggested should be the next steps. My relationship strengthened with the second consultant because the first wasn’t prepared to look ahead to what would take place after the giveaway offer of the review took place. Have vision and know which steps come next.
Join me for Part 2 of this writing on December 19 I’ll share actionable steps to making the giveaway experience a great one for both sides.