Lately we have noticed so many businesses offering FREE services. Especially on LinkedIn.
This is a thoughtful and generous offering during a time that’s been incredibly rough on a whole lot of people. However, just be mindful that people tend to perceive the value of things based on their price tag – this is called price perception. In other words, if it costs zero dollars a potential client will assume that it’s probably worthless.
Interestingly enough, a lot of people I’ve spoken to have told me they’ve had little uptake on their free offerings (most likely due to the above-mentioned phenomenon)! And even if you gain new customers who do take advantage of your free services, it’s unlikely that they’ll stick around once you go back to charging them (after all, why should they pay for a service that they're used to getting for free?)
The solution? Offer value.
You could simply reduce your price from the pre-COVID-19 price tag if you want to try and give people a helping hand, but keep in mind that your goods and services aren’t worth nothing. Remember the wealth of experience, training, energy and investment that you’ve put into building up your professional life and business and value it accordingly. People will be more willing to invest in your service in return if they think the price tag is worth it. As PR Week has eloquently put it, if you really want to help the community in this time a better way would be to volunteer your time where it’s really needed, such as providing a delivery service for the elderly or volunteering at a food bank.
We have a long road to travel in the COVID-19 recovery, and free services will only make that journey a whole lot longer!
Call me on 0417 160 120 or email allan@crisisshield.com.au for a chat on how we can help prepare and protect your business to survive for better times ahead.
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