Give something of value - even if it's free

Is it just me? Am I the only one who thinks a free teleseminar should still give something of value, even though the point is to upsell a paid product at the end?

Last night I was on this teleseminar, and I kept waiting for the actual information part to begin. They went on for a while about who the speakers were, their background, how they got into their field, etc. There was a lot of talk "around" the topic, but they just kept saying the same catch phrases and slogans over and over.

After a half hour, I hung up. I weighed my time against the possible value to come later, and my time won.

If they wanted the chance to sell me something, they lost it. If they had given me some valuable information, tips, anything, I might have stuck around to hear their pitch at the end and find out more about their product or service.

But to provide no value at all and expect people to stick around? Who does that?

Well, lots of people, actually. This isn't the first time I've been sucked into a call like this, thinking I was going to get something useful out of it. I feel like a bit of a sucker, I have to say, and I keep vowing not to do it again.

Both Seth Godin and Scott Ginsberg (and I'm sure many others) advocate giving away information for free. The more you give away, the more comes back to you.

When you give pro bono presentations, are you only thinking about how to make a buck off the crowd at a later date? Or are you sincerely concerned with giving something of value?

Make it all about you instead of the audience, and you might find the crowd "hanging up" early.

Do you get suckered into these calls like I do?

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