I understand what Stephen is saying, but like you say you make it affordable. If they can’t even pay £1 to sign up, why should you give anything? As you mentioned the fact they’ve asked you in the first place is because they obviously value your advice and opinion or else they wouldn’t ask.

It reminds me of the emails I get from girls wanting me to give them advice on becoming an escort (I worked for 9 years as an independent high class escort). I wrote a book that was published last year (an autobiography) and in there is lots of information about the job – how I went about becoming an escort, the sites I joined and what my jobs entailed and there’s a whole section helping advise girls wanting to go into the business. Now these girls email me and ask me for advice but they won’t even go and buy my book for a tenner! I wrote a similar blog post :)

I won’t give advice to anyone who hasn’t helped by buying my book. Why should I help people who aren’t willing to help me? I think it’s rude and cheeky for them to ask. I am self employed (still writing and now doing property buy to lets) and my time is money, so like you I am willing to help, but it needs to be a two way street. People’s time is precious, and the people I don’t mind helping are those that respect and appreciate that.

I read a great leaders poem with tears in my eyes
It told of great sadness
It told of abuse, injustice and all we despise

As the story unfolded the mother figure did rise
To put in perspective a world full of lies

Material wealth exposed for what it is
An illusory place, which doesn’t exist
No real power outside infinite grace
To say something other is a foolish embrace

So, the mother figure did rise
and soften our eyes
She talked of great love
that dove from above

And into a leaders arms
Did the children of the world fall
Now with strength
Now with direction
Now with faith

For the good of us all
Amen

Unlike bananas, the advantages of doing business with service providers varies. The taste is not always the same, not always nourising and can return far from the truth.

It is a sign of our times that people want to try it before buying it.

The emails come in, they ask for my help.

Presumably because they think I can give it (having seen me on Dragons Den or perhaps heard about my mentoring)

I say yes, I CAN help you, just one little thing: it costs £1.

But they don’t want to pay!

I don’t expect to go to Tesco and ask to taste the food before I get to the checkout.

Why should services be any different?

Rachel

Kind Regards

Stephen

I blog about internet marketing and sell both affiliate products and services, and own branded ones.

One of the things I do is give away a little e-book which can be worth thousands to anyone who wants to follow the simple instructions. In fact it’s the method I’m using right now to build a small business into something substantial.
There is a “cost of entry”, of course, and that is an email address from everyone who downloads it, but just as you experienced with your £1 mentoring trial offer, I suspect only a tiny percentage even open the book and many download it then delete their names from my list.

I’m guessing their mindset and belief system leads them to think that free can never be free so they’d better unsub “just in case” – or maybe it’s just a “grab it and run” greedy mindset, who knows? But in actual fact they tag along, still reading the blog, and see that I’m genuine then somewhere along the way we somehow build up a trust and rapport that leads to them recommending my products to their friends!

I had considered charging a token sum for the e-book but on balance I’m leaving it as it is, because it spreads the word and I can remember the day when even finding a pound would have been a struggle for me, as embarrassing as that is to admit today. If I can help even one person who is in that situation but determined to get out of it then I’m extremely happy.

On balance, though, if I was relaying my skills and expending my energy and time as you do on your coaching trial then I’d want to see some commitment from them in return from the massive value they’ll no doubt get from you. If you were to provide this for free you’d never find time to do your other work, a quid is a bargain!

A

Poor isn’t in the pocket; … It’s in the mind.

A few years ago; I wandered into a realtor’s office and started chatting with the broker and quickly determined that this was whom I’d been looking for.

A $100 bill along with a request to take the phone off the hook and let me know when it ran out got his attention. … I learned this strategy from a wealthy scrap dealer.

Lunch time was looming & I invited him to join me but we settled for drinking his coffee and eating our sandwiches in the back room.

After lunch; He took me on a tour, complete with executive coaching and I found an answer that I’d been seeking for decades and profited from it handsomely over the years.

A $100 bill on the counter creates more buzz than any advertizing can. … Chintzy gets chintzy.

We never did any direct business but a few referrals did scoot back and forth.

He didn’t take the 100.

Yes I gave up helping businesses on a ‘jam tomorrow’ basis a long time ago because one way or another the jam never materialised…

The one exception to the above is when I agree to undertake an assignment on a purely philanthropic basis. I am doing it for free to help a friend or a cause I believe in, and I don’t expect to be paid.

On almost every occasion, an opportunity or client materialises worth far more than I would have received had I insisted on being paid.

R