You don't want to "give away the store", and you don't want to give away a worthless piece of junk. But you can look like a saint to your customers if you give a little something they enver expected you to hand out. Especially if it puts a smile on their faces. The operative words here are "little something", "inexpensive" and "smile". You could, of course, hand out your sales literature, which classifies as inexpensive and a little something. But I've rearely seen sales literature make a lasting impression or even put much of a smile on anybody's face. You could give out samples of what you sell, but again we're talking about not giving away the store and handing out something unexpected. Your customers expect samples ... that's part of your selling process. Here's some examples of what I mean: You're selling cars and a family of four walks in -- you need to get the parents' attention. The kids want out of there as quickly as possible. Keep a supply of word search puzzle books (coss: .95/ea. or less) and some pencils. Kids (and adults) love these things. The parents will remember your foresight and the kids will be occupied for a half hour or more so you can sell them that $20,000 car. The parents will think more highly of you and the kids will want to come back ... or they'll ask their parents about that nice salesperson at that great car dealership. Same thing goes for any doctor's waiting room -- give the patients something to do and something for their kids to do while waiting (an average word search puzzle takes 10 minutes to complete).
Other examples of inexpensive giveaways -- movie passes, flowers (tea roses or carnations cost a buck or less), popcorn, and coffee (although this is expected in most waiting rooms).
Warning: Sales Pitch Coming. I've included a sample of specially designed word search puzzles in with this mailing. You can hide your own chosen word 20-25 times in the puzzle (name recognition and subliminal selling). Plus, your name and/or a short selling message appears in non-obtrusive small print below the puzzle. Average completion time is ten minutes. Cost is 3 cents to 5 cents each in quantity. Min. charge is $25.00 for 500 (5 cents each) and the per piece rate goes down to as little as 3 cents each with larger quantities. Call Letter Perfect at 410/358-8973 or 800/397-8973 for details.