🆓 Why your free stuff is often ignored

Ever tried to give away something but found it difficult?

A lead magnet, a free discovery call, a resource, even a course?! There are often two primary reasons why you cannot even give away value:

1. You lack credibility. People don’t trust that it will be good. Sometimes, this is because you are giving it away for free.

   
   

2. You underestimate the hidden costs that your customers bear

If a random person approached you in the street to give you a genuine gold bar for free, you probably wouldn’t take it. It seems “too good to be true”, and the fact it is free undermines the perceived value. You are likely suffering from this when you try to give things away for free.

Equally, even if what you offer is “free”, it almost certainly isn’t free. Cash is not the only cost.

Just because something doesn't cost money, it doesn't mean it is free.

Your customers also factor risk into their decisions, and the time required of them, and effort required. You might be giving away something you think is valuable for free and confused that nobody is taking it, but “free” might still be too expensive.

If you struggle to even give away your services for free it is often because the biggest cost of working with you isn’t money. It might be time, or risk of failure, or effort to make a decision, or some other hidden cost.

Once you fix it, you can charge a lot more than everyone else as oftentimes your price isn’t the biggest cost. When you know this, opportunity opens up.

ACTION: Outline your hidden costs (10 minutes)

Write down what your offer is, and write down every cost you can think of that the customer has to endure to accept the offer.

Would you trust you? How much money does it take? What happens if it doesn’t work for them? When can they expect to see results? How much effort do they need to put in? How many decisions do they need to make? How much time will it take?

💡 Quote I'm pondering

"When Warren Buffett first approached Graham in 1951, he offered to work for him for free — to which Graham said: “You’re overpriced.””

Graham recognised that “free” was too expensive. Knowing how much work it is to teach someone who can’t contribute much yet, Graham only hired Buffett three years later, and the rest is history.

Sometimes, people struggle to say “no” to free things. Just because there is no financial cost, it doesn’t mean it is free. What are the hidden costs of the free things you offer? What free things have you accepted that you should have said no to?

I shared this in my Work Smart Wednesday newsletter. Want the full set of related insights? You can read them here: https://worksmartwednesday.substack.com/p/work-smart-wednesday-march-27-2024

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