Yesterday I learned about another source for a marketing product many of my clients could use. I contacted the company to say that I might be able to recommend their product to my clients, but I’d have to see samples first.
Their response was that they’d be happy to send samples–as long as I paid for the shipping. When I pointed out to them that this was not a great way to market their products, they replied that when they sent samples out, they rarely got them returned so they make potential customers (and reviewers like me) pay for the shipping to make up for it.
Sigh.
If you are going to offer a service that makes products (like printing, web design, etc.) you had better be prepared to give samples to potential customers without expecting them returned. Obviously for web design this is easy–show sites, but for print products, you’re going to have to make physical samples. Nice if they are returned, but don’t expect it and don’t penalize everyone ahead of time by making them pay. Making and sending samples is part of the cost of your own marketing!
Needless to say, I told that company they could keep their products until they changed that policy, then we could talk.