Be Careful when Offering Free Samples!

 

Many people in direct sales who have personal websites will offer a free sample of their product so that potenti al business partners and customers can try out the product before buying.

 

 

This practice can be very beneficial to your business BUT it can potentially cost you a lot more money than it's worth if you're not careful.

 

Many people will fill out the forms on your site just for the freebie.  They have no interest in buying your products or joining your business and don't respect the money it costs you to send out these samples.

 

You'll also need to keep a watch on how much money you are spending versus how much you get in return.  You can only tell this after you've spent time tracking how much money you spend and then compoare that to how much money you've made over the period following it.

 

Here are some tips on how you can protect yourself when mailing out free samples:

- Follow Up - Don't wait until after you've sent the free sample to follow up!  Make it very clear on your form that the prospect will receive a phone call before their sample goes out, to confirm their contact information.  DON'T send out the mailing until you talk to your prospect and confirm their interest.

- Disclaimer - Add a disclaimer to your form saying that you reserve the right to limit the free sample mailings as you see fit.  One woman in the same business as I told me she had mailed out thousands of samples and saw very little return.  If you're getting a large amount of submissions at once or they jump suddenly then you've likely had someone enter your site into a 'freebie seakers' site and everyone is looking for something for free with no intent to purchase.  Use your judgement on how you will handle these freebie seekers and maybe send them to an online catalogue and give them a coupon instead.

- Charge Shipping - If someone is seriously interested in your products or business then they'll pay the shipping to try it out.  If many other distributors in your business offer free samples and free shipping then add something of value like a 'Company Comparison Checklist' - this can be a simple one-sheet checklist that you add in.

 

Giving away free samples is a great way to showcase your products.  You just need to make sure you are smart about who you spend your time and money sending them to.