“And if you order this today, we will throw in 2 more just like it for FREE”, “I can give that to you for FREE”, “With this package you get 6 of these for FREE”.. It doesn’t matter how it is said or what it is you sell or service, someone in your industry, your company, or maybe YOU are telling customers they can get something FREE!
I HATE THE WORD FREE, even if I am buying something and I am on the receiving end, I HATE THE WORD FREE!
Does anyone reading this blog believe for one minute that what you get is really FREE? I hope not. We should all realize that anything that is given as FREE has already been figured into the price. Please go to Thursdays (1/6/11) blog and read it. THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE AGES.
In any business, everything has a cost, it may be very small, but everything has a cost. When a rep gives something away for FREE what they are actually doing is adding the cost of the object to the total cost of the items being sold without raising the selling price. Does that sound complicated? Let me make it very simple: the rep is lowering the PROFIT of the total sale. This is a good reason for any company to not like FREE and if you work on commissions and they are figured on profits you should HATE THE WORD FREE!
Now let me ask you this, HOW MUCH IS FREE WORTH? An interesting question isn’t it? If I give you something for FREE what value do you place on it? I just told you it was FREE so most customers think it has no value (at least not to you or your company). Let’s now look at the big picture, I give you something for free because I want to build “VALUE” to what I am offering, because I tell you it is FREE you perceive it as having no value, anything I give has a cost and will reduce profits… GIVING SOMETHING FOR FREE REALLY DOESN’T DO A REP ANY GOOD!
Any rep that has been selling for a period of time has fallen into the trap of telling a customer something is FREE and the customer, because they perceive it as having no value, asks for more of the free stuff. OOPZ, there goes more profits!
I believe that in the market today everyone knows that nothing is FREE, so why say it? I contend that many customers are actually turned off and some even offended when a sales rep says something is FREE. It is insulting the customer’s intelligence. From now on replace the word FREE with INCLUDED. Say that you will “include at no extra charge”, it makes the entire sale seem real instead of a flim flam infomercial for some super appliance on TV.
Always remember that what you say and how you say it makes the sale. Every word counts and you can never take one back once it leaves your lips. It has been said that, “THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD”, then it is also true that, “THE WORD IS A NUCLEAR BOMB COMPARED TO THE PEN”.
Lorin
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