“Free” still doesn’t sell
In a behavioral economics book I read they did an experiment: They put a chair on a high-traffic street corner and put a “FREE” sign on it and it sat untouched for 3 days. They switched the “FREE” sign to “$40” and it was gone that night. Same chair, same location, but different perceived value. Funny how that worked.
The girl that throws herself at you is something that is enjoyable and fun but we don’t value her because it was given to us with no effort on our end. If its your first time completing a 5k, the participant medal means something to you and holds value. If you were training to win the same 5k and took 6th place and got the “participant” medal, you throw it away because it holds no value. If you take first, you post it on Instagram and put it over your fireplace.
When we see a product or service that is “free” we think there is something wrong with it. Why is it free? Is it defective? Does nobody else want it and the company is trying to avoid the trash fees? We ask these questions because we are unsure of its value. Some companies think that they can lower their price and take all the customers from their competitors and rape and pillage the market. Customers are a bit alarmed when your service is half price of what they used to pay for the same service. They think, “theres gotta be something wrong with it.”
When I go to a trade-show and they are handing out free promotional products I am thinking to myself, “do I really need this?” Self proclaimed “Couponers” think they are getting a good deal when they buy 6 bottles of shampoo at the price of 4. What they don’t know that there is a “cost” to having clutter that you don’t need. That cost can be in the form of stress and anxiety from having too many items in your closet. Have you ever know a “happy hoarder?”
Nothing is free in life. Free time spent with someone or on some project can cost you 3 days of reaching your “North Star.” Let’s pay the price now so we can pay any price later.
Let’s get 1% better everyday.
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