Often a business will offer something free as a "Lost Leader" to get more traffic. Free coffee, or a full rebate sale item. The key, I think is knowing how to limit the freebie. Obviously you can't provide free coffee to 25,000 people if they aren't buying.
I recently had two calls:
The first was a lady who wanted a free estimate, and asked two or three questions to make sure it was free. The estimate was a complete waste of time.
The next was a lady who got my name from BBB online and said she was "going to do it right this time". I told her some charges to prequalify & it was no problem. No free estimate, no wasted time.
Usually people say things that let you know up front what kind of client they'll be.
Dave
