No Fr** Lunches

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” It’s a saying most of us heard growing up and still hear in our adult life. We may even use it ourselves talking to a client or prospect when a competitor includes something in their solution that we charge for.

The word “free” is so powerful that most email systems will place incoming messages with the word “free” in the subject line into your spam folder. They may even block the message altogether. (We’ll see what my deliverability stats are on this newsletter!)

Let’s get more specific in our discussion of “free” and that’s the subject of free sales training.

Every week I publish a free weekly newsletter that is mostly educational. It’s basically free sales training. But there’s also soft marketing of my paid offerings, usually found in the P.S. Not a bad exchange, good content for a short soft sell, which is why most of you stay subscribed.

I’m doing the same thing right now with my Strategic College Graduate Career Launch Series for unemployed or underemployed grads. Those who opt-in receive 3 educational videos and the opportunity to enroll in the class at a preferred rate, but with no obligation to.

How about other sales training you find online, say on YouTube? I mean, I love going on there to find ways to fix a problem or how to do something with software.

But, how about for your sales development? Is the free stuff good enough? The answer, of course, is “It depends”. (Isn’t that always the answer?!) And you decide. It is, after all, your livelihood. Nobody else’s.

Since few things are black and white, here are some plusses and minuses, from the customer’s viewpoint (not the sales trainer): 

Plusses

+ No cost (except for your time)

+ You get to sample their teaching style

+ Because they want you to buy their course or coaching, some educators will share some useful nuggets

Minuses

- Almost exclusively basic skills, little to no advanced stuff

- The info is rarely systemized (step-by-step). The tips are disconnected.

- Rarely does it cover more complex sales (e.g. consultants involved, committee decision making, partners involved)

- You’ll only see a part of the solution (their money comes from selling the full system)

- No competitive advantage since your competitors can easily see it too

- Rarely will you find anything that’s a great fit for your situation. It’s pretty generic.

Bottom line: My personal experience has been that I rarely find a free answer to the sales problem I’m trying to solve when I do a search. But maybe I shouldn’t expect to.

Have a great week!

Bob

P.S. My “soft sell” this week is the free Strategic College Graduate Career Launch Series. Share this link with your friends and family if you’re so inclined. https://www.labarberagroupuniversity.com/scgopt-innew