I recently saw a small device that you can plug in the top of an I-phone or an I-pad. This small little device will allow you to drag a credit card through it and it will then charge the owner of that credit card for the amount that you’ve entered in on the screen and then that individual can sign on the screen to conduct the purchase. Wow! Such a little item can do so much and get this! The software to run that device is being given away free and the small device is also going to be given away free. How can they afford to give it away free? Well, quite simply. They charge a percent to handle every transaction.
My question to you is this, as a great leader trying to grow your organization. What is that that you can give away that will enable you to generate revenue coming back in? Is there a service that you can give away, is there a product that you can give away, is there some information that you can provide for free that will lead to other revenue coming back in for you? One way to look at this is what is the value of a customer over the lifetime of the relationship? You see, if a customer has a lifetime relationship of say a $100,000, could you afford to spend $2 or $3000 to obtain that customer? Now those numbers may seem larger, they may seem smaller depending on what type of business you are in, but the point is this, as long as you are investing less than what you are going to get back in return and there is an acceptable margin in between, you have the ability to give something away and to generate business. It’s a great tactic, both on the marketing side and from a leadership side when you look at your organization, understanding your relationships with your client, your relationships with the market place and coming up with new tactics and techniques to grow your business. Look to give something away and let the return come on the back end.
