How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 329

commented about your new vehicle. You're thoroughly involved and the
new car is yours. You want people to experience your product for free.
Free trials are really what made the Internet company AOL (America
Online) successful. Who doesn't have free CDs from AOL?
Many TV advertisers offer a free one-month trial before you have to pay
for their product. After the month is up, most consumers will keep the
product, even if they didn't use it. The trial period has created a sense of
ownership in the product, and consumers don't like to relinquish
ownership. This is also why so many companies use introductory offers.
Credit card issuers are known for tempting customers with introductory
deals that give very low interest rates.
To get your product in your prospects' hands, get them to open the box
and play with the object, give them the feeling of ownership, make them
feel as if they already bought it, and suggest how the product can be used
in their home. There are many other examples of the Rule of Involvement.
Think about the listening stations in the music stores, the comfortable
chairs where you can kick back and read in the bookstores, booths set up
at the malls where you can try and test products and equipment, CD clubs
where you get so many free CDs, frequent user programs, coupons,
contests, and the variety of services offering free estimates.
The 3M Company certainly discovered the value of putting product into
customers' hands. At their outset, Post-it Notes were not very successful.
3M was going to discontinue the whole line until the brand manager sent
a case of Post-it Notes to 499 of the Fortune 500 Companies. Because of
their trial run, the Fortune 500 companies loved the efficiency of Post-it
Notes, and the rest is history.[16]
Another common way for busi