🖐 Hi!
Happy Wednesday from upstate NY.
I hope you’re having a sensational week.
Welcome to issue #38 of Solopreneur Doorway, your weekly insight and inspiration to turn your skills into solutions people buy.
This issue is a 4.0-minute read.
🎁 Do Free Offers Make People Buy Your ‘Expensive’ Offers?
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⚡️ In this issue:
Discover why giving away free stuff is the key to selling your ‘expensive’ offers
Uncover why the free strategy can backfire
Build the ideal combo of free and paid offers
You Have to Give to Receive: The Secret to Increasing Your Sales
Online gurus say that the fastest way to win trust and build an audience is to share everything you know for free.
Once your audience sees 74 free examples of your amazing talent, they’ll stand in line to buy your paid offers.
This makes sense at 1,000 feet.
😕 However, you can go back and forth on this strategy for months.
If you’re new to a market, you want to build an audience that trusts you.
You want positive testimonials from all the people who used your free products.
And you want all that free stuff to make people believe they have to buy your expensive offers.
This give-to-get strategy is as old as dirt. Or gold, depending on how well the strategy works.
And does the strategy work?
Do you have to solve hundreds of tough problems for free?
And then create better solutions that people will buy?
Yes! (according to the gurus….)
Here’s what can happen when you put that free strategy into motion:
What Happens When You Give Away the Wrong Offers or Too Many Free Offers?
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The first obstacle with the free-offer strategy is finding the right mix of free and paid offers.
Free lead magnets that show people you can tackle a challenge are everywhere.
101 Hooks that Make Them Read Your Email
10 SEO Secrets to Reach the Top Spot in Google
5 Steps to Quickly Attract the Perfect Virtual Assistant
🙏 Lead magnets help build out your email list, which is always important.
They don’t compel people to buy your offers.
How many lead magnets have you downloaded this year?
And was any one lead magnet so incredible that you rushed to buy the paid offers?
The second issue with the free offer strategy is deciding how much of your knowledge to give.
If you give away 90 minutes of free advice on Tuesday and a few more hours every Friday, it becomes a habit.
In no time, you’re an ATM full of amazing ideas, and everyone’s making free withdrawals.
😥 No good.
The third challenge with giving it all away is that people come to expect it.
And once you condition them to expect free stuff, it’s impossible to get them to pay.
Here’s a better approach:
Create the Ideal Combo of Free and Expensive Offers to Gain Trust and Win Customers
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Consumer research proves that buyers love dopamine.
Folks love a coupon and can’t wait to use it to ‘get something great for less.’
💥 Check out the 2021 movie, Queenpins.
Read how Coke entered the beverage market.
The smart way to combine free and paid is to offer an incentive that rewards action and drives your sales.
Ideas:
Design a coupon for offer A if they buy your offer B
Give your consistent customers a reward if they generate referrals (an ambassador program, etc.).
Offer a discount for the first month of your membership if they commit to 6 months
Creating a powerful balance between free and paid offers helps them and rewards you.
Write sharp blog articles that show your expertise and don’t give all the answers
Email your audience about a free, one-time test drive and ask for feedback
Post online without answering every question about next steps
Now, you might be a huge fan of giving away a truckload of free stuff.
Your lead magnets might create $245K in sales and build your email list to 30,000.
Your great social media posts might compel folks to buy your $900 digital course.
I’m not one of those solopreneurs.
✨ If this is you, congratulations!
Remember, instant and huge success with free offers is not the norm.
The wise move is to offer your audience the combination that works for you and them.
Trial and error. Research and analysis.
Building a solo business takes time and a few dollars. Don’t waste yours.
That’s a smart strategy.
📣 Business Article of the Week
High-end hotels are creating incredible activities for their special guests.
Cooking with top chefs and creating your own signature perfume are examples the NYT covered in its May 14 article.
🔑 Here’s the takeaway for your solo business:
Know your customers and discover which ones buy the most
Create a sensational incentive for your top 10% that gives them that ‘wow’ feeling
Tailor the gift so it builds on a service or product you already offer; this keeps folks in love with you and your business
Ask for their feedback and find out exactly what they’d like you to offer them in the future
Stay curious and keep opening doors.
-Erik
📉 Are You in Years 0–3 of Your Solopreneur Business and Not Seeing Positive Results?
Consider Your 1:1 Strategy Session:
You get my 14+ years of solopreneur and entrepreneur experience to help you connect the dots from idea to strategy so you can fall in love with your business all over again (and make money along the way).
