Only a Fool Gives Something Away For Free, Right?

Just finished the book ‘Free’ by Chris Anderson... got it free from the library.  Lots of great ideas and analysis that are relevant to every profession and industry in today's ever changing digital world.

A few key points….

The price of commodities comes down over time.  If your prices are coming down, your products are moving toward commodity status.  As well as toward irrelevance. 

Scarce resource prices stay high and earn higher margins.  So what are you doing that is ‘scarce’?

Is it service that is so good it stuns your customers?

Is it just being so friendly, considerate, responsive, and polite that people want to buy from you?

Is it bringing your customers in house and letting them help design and engineer your product?

Is it education about how to use a product and not just talking about features and specifications?

How about an expert analysis of their competitive situation?  Are you expert enough to do one?

This is especially important to small manufacturers who compete with lower cost overseas products.  They need to position products with higher value services and expertise to compete on value and not on price.

Are you showing your customers the opportunities they will take advantage of if they work with you and your product or service?  Are there any real opportunities for your customers if they work with you or are they just a transaction to you?

It is easy to copy; it is much harder to create something that is scarce and valued as such.

Customers want these things for free now before they consider paying you.  

Think about the value you get from Google and yet you have never given them a penny.  Now you know why people want things for free.

Like the song says, “Free your mind and the rest will follow”