A few months ago at the end of last semester, I received a small token of appreciation from a student in my class. He gave me a beautiful, small round box of 2 of the most delicious chocolate cookies I ever tasted. It turns out his family owns a chocolate company.
Fast forward to Valentine's Day & I'm tossing around ideas about what to buy my better half (he really is). I'm on the web searching for items when I look on my desk & see the small round box he gave me. It was too pretty to toss & I now keep paper clips in it on top of my desk. Duh! There's my answer. Because my better half is a chocoholic this was the perfect solution.
Sure, I suppose I could have ordered from a well-known chocolate chain (there are 2 that immediately come to mind) & while theirs are good too, I personally want to do all I can to support small businesses, so, I go to the website but decide to call instead. After I introduced myself to the owner (my former student's mom) she tells me that the gift was his idea & that she had only a short while ago created this small box to use as samples because (as I learned) just one taste & there is absolutely NO way anyone could resist making a pruchase after that.
In fact, her samples recently landed her product on a very famous morning talk show. What could be better than that?
I use sampling & it works well for me too. My Marketing Sessions are discounted time with me on the phone. This small investment gets the prospect the marketing push they need & I make it easy for them in every way: they can pay directly from my site using Pay Pal & if they decide to move forward with more services (which 9 times out of 10 they will) I take the initial investment off of their first invoice. This is almost a no-brainer on everyone's part.
Think of the grocery store setting up samples of new food items in little tasty bites for people to try. It's convenient & it works!
Give some thought to what you can do from a sampling standpoint that is appropriate for your business. Discounted short periods of time for consultants can work well for you as they do for me. Or, what about sending small samples of product to the target audience you'd like to reach? It doesn't have to be food, of course it could be almost anything.
A while back I purchased an item at a well-known women's retail clothing chain. At the checkout counter the cashier put a sample of a laundry detergent/fabric softener combination in the bag. Great idea! Quality clothing should be treated well at home & this new detergent was perfect for that. Great partnership & I'm sure it worked well for all parties involved - including me!
Be creative. Think outside the box & consider how you can give away samples to entice prospects to purchase your product or service. You may be surprised how well it can work for you.
Samples away!
