I would like that for Free

Pretend for just a moment you walk into your favorite local bakery. You go up to the counter and the bakery’s employee asks you, “What would you like today?” Now you look at her and say, “I have this important business meeting today and I would like two dozen bagels and a variety of cream cheese please.” “Of course,” she says. She gathers your order and you take your freshly baked bagels and cream cheese and head for the door. She says, “Umm, don’t forget sir, you need to pay for those.” “No, it is ok, I buy a lot from you all the time and I need these for free today,” you say.

What just happened? As an employee of a local print shop this dilemma has reared its ugly head before, the horror of the freebie request.

Your customer always has a basic want or request –

1. – I have no budget for this upcoming project.
2. – We are wanting to do samples as a sales pitch to a current customer.
3. – Would you like to be a print sponsor for this event we have this weekend?

From time to time freebies are part of any small business. With this, there has to be an understanding between both parties. When running a small business you can not afford to give a free project away that will conflict with your current production workflow already on the table. Your customer also needs to not push deadlines onto a project he or she is not going to pay for.

The dreaded freebie request– [Customer] It would be great if we could just change that layout a little bit and add this logo into it. It won’t be too much trouble, will it?

Do you have a freebie story? Please share below.