Rhymes with Cars

"If it's free, it's for me." is a classic quote that my dad always used to say when I was growing up. I gave up on free a long time ago. I realize that if something is free, I have to pay for it in one way or another. Usually with time in which I get far less value out of said product or service than the time that I invest. I get free content from Yahoo in exchange for looking at ads. If it really bothered me, I could get a GreaseMonkey Script to get rid of those, but they are giving me good stuff and my brain ignores most of the ads anyway. Aside from that, I can't think of anything else worthwhile that is free. Love from my wife and kids. Aaaaah. Which leads me to two posts that I read today. The first from Jill Konrath on why 'Free' isn't good enough anymore. Jill's blog on selling to big companies is excellent and she really hits the nail on the head with how savvy buyers have become. If you tell someone that something is free, they are smart enough to get it these days. Offering something for free simply means offering something of no value that will take up their time which is valuable. It is why good companies and good sales reps can charge for a proof of concept. Simple message, when trying to get in the door of a prospect or trying to sell something to an existing customer, don't think price, think value. If you offer enough value, people will gladly pay for it. The second post on free was entitled 'Free: A tactic, not a Business Model' by Anne Zelenka on GigaOm. Like Jills post, Anne points to companies giving away their products and calling it a business model. To paraphrase, if you are giving away your product or service, it isn't a business, its a hobby. But what is concerning, to me at least, is that we are seeing a large number of companies push their free agenda in exchange for eyeballs. This is almost 1997 all over again. Finally, while I'm on the subject of value, when I fly, I would gladly pay the airlines an additional $25 - $50 a ticket in order to get more food, better food, slightly more leg room, faster security, a couple of more little cups of Pepsi or anything else that they can think of that might make a 6 hour flight somewhat enjoyable.