Free audio conferencing - I can’t give it away!
Ever wondered why lawyers charge so much money? Maybe there are some clues below.
I had a bizarre conversation with a firm of lawyers yesterday who wanted to use our OzoneLITE free (except for the cost of a phone call) audio conferencing service. They signed up for their free account, ran a test call and loved the service. So far so good but here’s where it all gets a bit strange.
They called up wanting to open ‘a proper OzoneLITE account’ which they wanted to pay for. When I told them that the service was free and therefore they can just continue to use it without paying anything I was expecting an exclamation of joy. It didn’t happen.
Apparently their company policy is not to use free services. Although they’d really like to continue to use OzoneLITE unless I charged them they’d have to find an alternative service. I am considering charging them £10.00 for a copy of the user manual which I normally give away free (PDF download) but it doesn’t seem right somehow.
It seems that sometimes it’s easier to sell something than give it away.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I’m not sure what to write here to be honest becasue I’m flabbergasted. Maybe you should turn look at the service the other way around. Keep the free service and all it users but set up a seperate billing system for those people who need a service they pay for, there’s clearly a market!
That way you keep the current users happy and have the chance to upsell some of them too. Along with attracting the ones who are willing to pay.
Sounds like a great way of having your cake and eating it to me.