Last month, our company organized an exhibit of all service providers involved in providing health care. There were booths for several clinics and hospitals, nutritional supplements, exercise machines, insurance providers, among others. They had very nice booths and impressive array of marketing materials neatly tucked in professionally done presentation folders by a professional
presentation folder printer.
I guess that idea was to give each of the employees in our corporation samples of what they can offer in an accessible environment. Since we are a multi-national company with nationalities from all over the world, the exhibit is one way for us to get to know products and services that would best fit our varied backgrounds.
The point I am raising here, from a marketing point of view, is the value of samples. From the example above, most of those who participated experienced an increase in appointments or inquiries. By participating and giving out presentation folders, these companies were able to establish leads – leads that they could either convert into a sale or a source of referrals.
If you are not yet convinced of the value of giving out samples, read on and understand why they are considered essential for your business.
1. Samples make the uncertainty somewhat certain.
Have you ever held a box of cereals in your hand while thinking if this is something that your kids will like? I have been in that situation many times and I am sure that you have been in one as well. Would it help if there were samples that you can take home to your kids? Definitely. You see, when people are uncertain about the value of the product or service, there is a tendency for them to revert to a familiar solution even if it is less than ideal. Remember the times that you went back to a burger joint that you know has soggy fries just because you are familiar with the servers, the customers and the food even when there is a new burger joint several blocks away?
The point: samples lead people past their hesitation. This is exactly the reason why you have free tastes at groceries or limited-service free access, complimentary magazines, off-peak rates, etc. The idea is to give your prospects something to taste or feel before they can decide that, yeah, they like the product.
2. Timing is essential.
The challenge in giving out samples is to know when to sample to make the sale. For instance, you do not give away samples when you know that people are just not buying because of uncertainties. No matter how good your products or services are but if people are decidedly not going to buy then there is no point in wasting your samples. On the other hand, holidays encourage people to splurge. This is usually the best time to bring out your samples because people have money to spend and they are conditioned to buy.
3. Get the right sample for your samples.
I was in a grocery store and I saw a group of young people congregating around a free meat taste. They were swarming the poor attendant until there were no more samples left. Did she make a sale? Nope. What do you think is the reason for this? Well, she was giving away the samples to the wrong sample. These kids will not buy meat products. They were just there to take advantage of the freebies. Will they tell their mothers about the product? No. The point here is you just do not give away samples to anyone. Your samples must be targeted to those who have the need as well as the capacity to buy.
So now, do you think samples help? Go ahead and have a go.
About the Author:Jannie Puentes is an expert writer innate as well as lifted in New York. When not bustling essay his stories, he can be found essay pieces for
presentation folders as well as posting them online.
