Ace

CEO

Help me out

One of my clients said that even though they see the value in my product they just don't have the budget in this quarter to move ahead with this. I am very inclined to give a free trial until next Q to have a foot in the door. But would that be a good idea?

What would you do?

Attached poll

Nope, approach again in next quarter Yes give it free, foot in the door is important Others (Comment)

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

👑 Sales Strategy

📈 Closing

65 comments

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Trinity

WR Officer

BusDev

You can delay payment and don't give it for free.

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

True. This could be a better option too

Adslanger1

Opinionated

Senior Account Executive

👍🏻

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

😇

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

That's a good idea. I was also thinking of breaking down payments as an option. Do you think that'd be a good move?

Trinity

WR Officer

BusDev

They will always find the money if they see value in your product/solution. Give them payment options (break down the payments or delay payments to next quarter, hell you can even add that you would delay payment but extend their contract ).

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Yeah this is good. I am leaning more towards this option. Thanks!

c4miller

Opinionated

Sales Manager

I'd agree that they don't see the value in the product if they are saying they don't have the budget. If they did, they'd find more room on the books to do it this quarter and they are negotiating. Giving them the free trial is exactly what they want and I agree that delayed or split billing would be the smart opening move to isolate what they really want.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

100% Thanks

DizzyRascal

Opinionated

BizDev

that is my go-to option too!

Broncosfan

Politicker

Account Manager

Could also delay payment but with a promo period for first few months. It gets them to sign the contract, get's them using it immediately, and also delays the need for them to pay for a bit. I think that solves the problem IF that's the real objection.

SADNES5

Politicker

down voters are marketing spies

You tie them up for a longer deal. If Q1 can't make it work in the budget. Extend the term, and price consideration.

So you can't make a 3 year deal work? How about we go for 5 years, which means we can have more wriggle room in pricing.

You said you have issues with X, this fixed that. It now also hits that mark in the Q1 budget, where initially it missed due to upfront payments/price. When we push this into a 5 year solution. It basically locks you into a "free Q1 but it's spread over the contract."

Path of least resistance.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

This is brilliant! I'll try to negotiate a longer term or a payment breakdown. Either option they choose goes my way

SADNES5

Politicker

down voters are marketing spies

*welcome to sales* :D

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

If they truly see the value and have the will to move forward there will always be room for budget/negotiating payment terms. I'd be weary that they are being honest about it being a budget issue.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Yes seems like it. I will have to dig further

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

That being said, offer the trial as a way to call their bluff. If they do see the value but it's "just a budget issue" then a free trial seems like a no-brainer on their end. Might be able to uncover other reasons for not moving forward if they refuse the trial

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

I think I will go for a bigger contract then

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

Push for a longer papered commitment and include this Q as incentive.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Yes, good call!

SADNES5

Politicker

down voters are marketing spies

Also... Don't give shit away. Ever.

Everything in business is transactional.

"Free" means they have signed for a longer term; *only* when they sign.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Got it!

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

What if you did a no payments for xx days?

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

That was my first thought but reading the comments in this thread, I think I will go for a broken or a delayed payment

thegoodleads

Good Citizen

Senior Account Executive

I think it really depends on the product and cost. If this is a Saas and you feel confident that once they start using it they will be hooked, then definitely give it to them for free. If it's a physical product or the like, then I wouldn't give it for free. I like the idea of delaying payment til next quarter.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Its a SaaS product but I have heard from many people that it wont be a good idea to give a product for free for long time

thegoodleads

Good Citizen

Senior Account Executive

Yes, totally agree, but I think SaaS is a little different. I think it depends on how long it takes to truly get onboarded and start seeing the value of the product. I also think a month isn't a long time (if their fiscal year is with calendar year, then next quarter is less than a month away). Even two months I think is reasonable. I would definitely get some sort of commitment for the "free trial extension" - like a LOI or something of the like (you can blame management that they can't extend the free trial without an LOI). As a former SaaS buyer myself, if I saw the value of the product during the full trial, I was much more apt to purchase at the end because I saw the value. If there wasn't a free trial, I would find an alternative that had one.

Ok, and one more variable - I think it depends on your target's size. Larger companies may be more inclined to purchase without a free trial. But they also have the resources to do the research on the competition. SMBs don't (which is what I was working for when I was a decision maker for SaaS - marketing tech).

Ultimately, there's a lot of variables that would need to be evaluated before really knowing whether it's a good idea to give it away for a defined time. People who say it's NEVER a good idea to give a product away may have had different experiences or products. Having been on both ends, I think every sale is a case by case basis and a gut call.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

This is very insightful, thank you so much! I have taken notes from this

jbusiness

Catalyst

Sales Manager

If there is no front money there is generally no back money either.

Extend a payable to net 90, give 15 months for the price of 12, get 5% up front and 95% over a schedule.

People treat “free” like it’s free.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Really good points. I am trying to get them to do a delayed payment for most of the chunk

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

I'd suggest to not give free for that long

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Thanks a lot. This helps!

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

Welcome

Chep

WR Officer

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

Maybe a week trail, but if you give it for a quarter for free I feel like they will expect an amazing deal if they do end up purchasing

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

I thought so too!

Bittersweet0326

Politicker

Digital Business Associate

Honestly, that's a BS excuse. Buyers are liars. They have it in the budget, they just don't see the value yet.
Don't give them anything, approach them next quarter.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Good point. Considering along the same lines

MMMGood

Celebrated Contributor

Senior Account Executive

Depends. Do your competitors do free trials also? If so, it would probably be a good idea to do it, keep them hooked on the product and track their response and success. Get more metrics for ROI, etc.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

They do 30 days free trial and I am willing to give that but beyond that is where I am stuck

MMMGood

Celebrated Contributor

Senior Account Executive

Give/get. Come up with something to get in return for your free trial.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Got it. Thats a good idea

thegoodleads

Good Citizen

Senior Account Executive

Yes, agreed. Even if it's an LOI (which are non-binding), but if they are willing to sign that, you're 90% of the way there.

beachNsales

Politicker

Sales Manager

can you do net 90? or net 60 so you push payment to next Q?

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

What do you mean?

beachNsales

Politicker

Sales Manager

get them to sign the contract now and start using the product, but have the contract terms state payment or first payment isn't due for 90 days (or 60, whatever you are able to offer).

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Ohh thats a great idea. Thank you so much

beachNsales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Pretty similar to what others are saying here. Thats just the contract terms of it. If you get contract signed, you at least have yourself covered instead just a pure free trial.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Sounds good!

Senor

Contributor

CEO

You could do a provisional POC something like use it 30-45 days for free get billed day 46. You get the purchase order out ahead of time and if it really is providing value they’ll keep using and start paying.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Yes or a longer contract

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

If you're willing to give it away for free now, what'll stop you from giving it away next month or next quarter?

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Yes, that's why holding myself

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Definitely explore delayed billing or modified terms, as others have suggested above. They need to put skin in the game and you need to get the signature! Good luck.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Totally. Thanks a lot!

SalesPharaoh

Big Shot

Senior Account Executive

I think there are many things you can do here. 1st is offer the free trial as long as you can integrate it with them then you saved the going live time.
2nd for the payment I suggest to go in post-payment mode that way you can help them pay after using the service. Another option is to put in the contract more flexible payment terms instead of sat 30/15 make it 30/20 or even 30/30.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Yes the flexible payment option is what I'm leaning more towards as well

TheHypnotist

Executive

Sales Manager

Ask "Is there going to be budget next quarter"? - If they say yes then you can come back then.

If you start by discounting or giving them a free trial then you are setting a precedent which might hurt you, and may make you look desperate to close sales.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Yes, I did ask that, and they said they might but let's circle back then

Dr.Sales

Executive

What will change next quarter that will be different?

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

No idea, probably budgeting maybe?

amyhyoung

Politicker

Vp ops

Coming in from a buyer's perspective...

It will depend on how complex your product is and its stickiness. I just bought HR software and I compared 4 different companies, they all provided free trial period ranging from 14 days-1 month bc it was necessary to understand the look and feel, as well as the intricacies of how it works.

If you're confident in your product and the experience the buyer will get from a trial period, then in my mind it's worth it to get them hooked. Once I started using the one I liked the most, it was impossible for me to leave and start over with a different vendor as I've already imported my employees' info and have started using the product.

I agree with @paddy though that using budget may be just an excuse (as I've used that one before myself). It will depend on how serious their intent is on buying this product (will they go to a competitor if you don't give them this?), or is this product a nice to have and they can wait till the next Q. If it's the latter, I would wait till the next Q and approach them.

HoldemCaulfield

Politicker

Sales Training & Enablement

1) I would question if this person actually has the authority to go through the paper process.

2) If so, do you need to go back and explicitly define what problem they have? If it's a lower-level problem, the budget is likely being prioritized to other priorities. If you attach to a larger-level problem and quantify it, that's how they can move money in the budget around to prioritize the pain.

What's the value that he sees? You may not be on the same page. In addition to that, what pain are you solving for them?

Finally, I don't think I've ever seen a free trial work in this way to get them in the door because:

a) Why would they later on agree to pay a premium for something that's given to them for free? Even if they do, they will own the leverage in the conversation.

b) Wow is the company going to ensure that they/end users are adopting the product? If they're already doing something else, it's doubtful that they'd invest the time in using a product that may or may not work and could be taken away from them without adoption.

c) this tends to devalue the product and the ability for a prospect to pay a premium for your services. I do understand the land + expand approach, which can work in some cases if you're looking to break into an Account and go into multiple locations. However, you'd need more guardrails around a pilot rather than a trial, definition success with this company, and knowing all of the stakeholders. More importantly, it would be a paid pilot.

If this is a single decision maker at a VSB or SMB company, you probably don't want to invest this much time in a deal like this in your pipeline. Hope this helps.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

It's actually a major NFL team that I reached out too and who agreed that they had the problem that I'm solving but covid and lack of people in stadiums has put them in a financial crunch. So the reason there seems genuine but at the same time hard to tell because this is one of the reasons that people give all the time.

I totally agree with the C point that it devalues the product and that's what I am afraid of too but if I am new to the market, getting in door becomes kind of a priority. So it's a dilemma.

thebuckhunter

Politicker

Use this verbiage:
"If it's a matter of budget, my team is pretty agile when it comes to accounting acrobatics when it comes to payment. Does it make sense to get leadership involved?"

AnchorPoint

Politicker

Business Coach

Any concession needs to be met with something from them... not just free.

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Ace

Help me out

What would you do?

65 comments

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