Have you been to Costco lately when the ladies in the hair nets are giving away free samples of food items to try as a way to get you to buy something? That technique of offering a free sample can work for selling services as well.
Marketing strategy examples of how companies offer a free consultation or adviser as a way to attract new customers and clients. What’s great about this marketing strategy is that the people who choose this offer of services are self-segmenting themselves as people who want to personal service.
Some companies offer an initial free consultation as a way to “demo” their services expertise. Others promote their paid services.
Look at all the different types of businesses that use this marketing strategy: gyms (personal trainers); financial services (free consultation with an advisor); technology and computer set-up (paid experts who will make “house calls”); tax preparation software.
Large national fitness chains typically offer new members one or more free personal training sessions. They know that helps solidify a new customer’s loyalty and business because they are learning how to use the gym facilities.
Small business owner fitness trainer Teri Stoesser in Portland Oregon is offering on her website – a $100 off a Quick Start Package of Three 1:1 Training Sessions. She’s not giving away personalized training for free but she is offering an attractive discount to attract new clients. The lower cost and special deal reduces their risk and since it has a time limit, accelerates the urgency for them to act now.
In the computer space, Best Buy has their Geek Squad. Who knew they’d expanded to offer so many services beyond fixing computers? They now offer help with everything consumers may find frustrating related to technology set-up.
Intuit’s Turbo Tax group is running advertising promoting you can use their software tool to do your taxes yourself and also get an experienced person to review your taxes to make sure you’ve done things right. Here’s the ad they’re running.
Financial services companies use this marketing strategy to attract new clients. Here’s Schwab’s offering from their home page promoting guidance from a expert
Know this: many people don’t look forward to meeting with a personal financial adviser. Great article in the Wall Street Journal about How Financial Advisers Get Clients to Talk to Them with this key insight, “For many investors, meeting with a financial planner and following up on the advice is a bit like going to the dentist—it’s something done begrudgingly, with a tendency toward procrastination. Advisers deal with the procrastinators in different ways: Some take a hard-line approach, while others have dropped annual meetings altogether in favor of written communication and letting clients come in when they want.”
Home Depot has a clever marketing strategy of giving customers options:
- do-it-yourself - come in and find/buy the products you need at a Home Depot store or on the website
- learn to do it yourself with help from Home Depot - take a class from Home Depot or read their project how-to guides posted on their website
- hire a Home Depot expert to do it (or install it) for you
How can you promote yourself or your company’s services as a way to attract new customers and clients? The key for this marketing strategy to work is that you must quickly impress a prospect as being someone they want to pay to help them.
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What other market strategy examples can you recommend of companies using this technique of getting advice from a person?
