Software and services are not Amy’s ice-cream.

I doubt if they make any profit from the training they provide. It is too much to give for too little money. But I am tied to them for a long time to come now (assuming I have a good experience). I will buy all my scuba equipment from them and join their club for divers. It is not an individual sport after all. There are a lot of expenses tied at the back end though. So it makes perfect sense for them to low ball the training. You know, it is kind of like the razor and the blades or like Amy’s ice-cream tasting.. and so on. The classic free giveaways to get profits at the backend.

Software and services providers have tried to copy the model in certain ways…. I must say thoughtlessly though. They often think that giving 30 days or 3 months free trials is sufficient. There are so many that I talk to who sell as if the buyers are expected to be floored by theie offer. They do not even make a feeble attempt to help, educate, or sell. As if the free trial is supposed to do that for them. REALITY CHECK please. Nobody has the time to test and sell it to themselves. Besides, everybody is giving things for free. You are losing sales by making the free offer and missing out on the opportunity to sell. You forget, you are actually not giving the wares for free but are giving for the prospects opportunity cost of doing something else. Don’t copy the model blindly. The free offer in such situations is only a reassurance and not a sales ploy. You still have to do the selling.

What they need to do is to help the buyer make a decision to move steps forward fully reassured that you have taken all the steps to mitigate the risk of making a bad decision. The free trial is the last step in the sales process and not the first step. Software and services are not Amy’s ice-cream.