Sampling has long served certain types of businesses as a way to get a prospect to try a new product.

Just the other day my daughters enjoyed a snow day off of school at the local neighborhood sled hill (apply named Suicide Hill.) The manager of a newly opened Chick-fil-A restaurant showed up with heated bags full of sandwiches for the kids and parents sledding in the cold. Smart move? Guess where we ate lunch the next day?

But, this practice shouldn’t be seen only as a way to promote trial of a food item or laundry soap. Service businesses can employ this successful tactic in the same way.

A free “how to” or “industry trend” report is a sample of your brilliance as a consultant, isn’t it? An ebook, sold for $49, that teaches a business owner everything they need to know to get started doing something can be the perfect way to convince them that what they should actually do is hire you for $4900 to solve their problem. Often, someone seeking information doesn’t really want to know how to do something, they just want to be darn sure the person they hire does. Don’t hold back anything.

I once worked with an architect who was particularly savvy at working the various municipal agencies for zoning variance and the like. We created a “feasibility evaluation” product and offered it for $499 to anyone considering building a commercial building. This quick snap shot product saved contractors and developers tons of money and headaches and guess who got put on the short list when they considered hiring the architect for the project?

Every service business in the world should consider developing a suite of information-type products and starter services that allow potential clients a taste of what they can get before they take the big plunge.