You have been up-selling incorrectly, Here’s why.

I’ve misunderstood the “upsell from free workshop” model and possibly so have you. 

For a long time I would do free events and services hoping these freebies would get potential clients into the door who would then purchase premium products and services.

The idea was to give them a sample then encourage them to buy the whole thing at a premium rate.

This is where I got it wrong. 
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I had the belief that just by giving the sample it would drive sales. The value was there, I worked hard on it, so of course people would buy my premium offer once the workshop ended. Plus I’ve seen so many people do that and make thousands. So that meant I would too..Right?.. WRONG!

Let me break it down…. 

There are three reasons someone would be interested in using the free product 

    ⁃    Lack of money to afford products with a fee 
    ⁃    Currently “shopping around” and want test drive the product/service 
    ⁃    Thinks the free product looks cool and could possibly be helpful for them

After much research and personal experiences I have broken down free product users into 5 stages.

Cold – Stranger 
This person is in your industry and may have seen other post/share about you or seen you on their discover page. They are not yet familiar with you or what you do just yet. They saw your ad about the free sample and enrolled, about 15% likely to show up.  

Cool – Watcher
This person most likely won’t officially follow you or subscribe to anything but they will visit your website and social on occasion. They will “ window shop” around what you have going on. They think what you are doing has potential but is just not for them right now. They saw your ad about the free sample and enrolled, about 35% likely to show up.  

Luke warm – Follower 
This person will invest in following your content on social media, subscribing to your newsletter, they may even enroll into your free masterclasses/programs. They will double tap and occasionally comment on what you share but a purchase is not really in their plan of action right now. Either they can’t yet afford your rates or they simply don’t want to buy what you’re selling. None the less they are very important to helping you gain recognition as they will share with others your content and channels. They saw your ad about the free sample and enrolled, about 50% likely to show up.  

Warm – Supporter 
This person is most often a family member or a friend who wants to support what you do and help you and your business grow. They may put the product/service to use but most often wont use it to its full potential because they bought it more out of support than functionality. They saw your ad about the free sample and enrolled, about 60% likely to show up.  

Hot – Buyer 
This person is the sweet spot. They have a demand for the service/product you are offering and you have supplied them with it. They saw your ad about the free sample and enrolled, about 85% likely to show up.  

Out of these 5 only 2 will actually buy your service at the end of your free presentation . The others are just not “there yet”. 

To be direct: Most of the people who register for your freebie will not bite at your upsell.  

When you calculate your conversion rate and see it was only 5% ( or most times less than that) you need to realize that your presentation didn’t do much of the convincing for that group of people. They already had the money to spend or the intention to spend money. They were already warm leads. You just helped them through the final stretch to commit to the purchase. ( Please note that it is possible to convert a cold lead into a buyer but it’s just a very slim chance)

If we go back to economics we see the simple ratio of supply and demand. This 5% already had a demand, you just supplied them with the goods. 

After sitting down and clarifying this for myself. I have come to the conclusion that, when it comes to free products or services,  if you put them out there you shouldn’t have any expectations beyond sharing your product/service with the world. I personally have put too many high expectations on my free offerings, maybe you have too. Your free offerings may lead to sales but they also may not. Don’t spend too much time building that out because the more likely option is that they won’t lead to sales. 

Focus on building your sales funnel, your paid offerings, turning your followers into buyers, finding your buyers and other things that have a higher sales conversion rate.

This is all based on my personal experiences, knowledge, and the research that I have conducted to gain more insights on buyer/seller behaviors. 

Let me know what you think below in the comments!