Justin Britten

Make Your Friends and Family Pay for Your Product

“Sorry, Dad.  No freebies.”

I created Flashlight for my dad and his fine art photography business, William Britten Photography.  He has been using Flashlight to track his sales and inventory for the past four months.  At first, he was providing valuable feedback.  But, as the site exited the beta stage and became a real product, I placed an expiration date on his rather lengthy free trial.  The day it ended he emailed me asking for a free account.  I turned him down.

The sales revenue from friends and family is inconsequential.  However, their decision whether to purchase your product, or subscribe to your service, is priceless.

Most feedback is worthless when there’s no money at stake.  Ask a bunch of people whether they like your product and would pay for it.  Many will say yes.  Now, ask them to pull out their credit card and actually buy it.  Most will change their mind

Your free-loading friends and family are just casual users of your product or service.  They are not invested at all.  However, if you ask them to pay up, and there’s real money at stake, then they are forced to really evaluate whether your offering is something worth paying for.  If their decision is to not pay, then you must take a step back and analyze why.  You need this validation.

So, tell your friends and family the free trip is over and you want some moolah.  Promise them you won’t be offended if they are not willing to pay.  Go ahead.  See what they really think.