Whenever I go to the mall, and walk by the food court, there is always that guy, handing out samples of the Chinese chicken.  Why? Because if you don’t know what you are hungry for, very often a little taste is enough to convince you to buy an entire plate.

That same try before you buy strategy works in many industries, particularly when the product or service is really unique or radically different from competing products.

For example networking: Today, after more than eight years in the market place, most people are familiar with Rainmakers. That was not the case, eight years ago. Our model was so different, it was almost impossible to explain  on paper or on-line. It is one of those things you had to experience to understand. To overcome the low understanding of our model, we started offering “free passes” to our events.

The result of our free trial program – We lost some revenue at the door, since guests no longer had to pay the first time they attended, but we had significantly  more guests.  the average event had an increase in guest count from 5 to 15.  Since our closing percentage (guests who became members) remained the same, we tripled the number of new members each month.

That’s the key.. use free trials to introduce the product, build a loyal fan base, and offer an option for more services of a reasonable fee. It the value is there, you wil have no trouble earning the fee.

FREE TRIALS! Have you figured out how to use them in your business?