How I Got 400 Free Products by Asking Nicely

It doesn't matter who you are, your job title, personal status or age there is a company out there who will want you to have their product for free.

Once you understand this principle, it makes it far easier to move away from using vouchers, and to move towards contacting companies directly. In addition it will help you feel empowered that by following the steps over the next few days you will get freebies.

This is more than just the power of positive thinking, or a delusional message to trick you in to reading more. It's a simple fact based on my own experience and the mindset of companies large and small.

To prove this point let's assess the age old saying "There's no such thing as a free lunch". On face value this statement is wrong. After all you could get lunch without spending any money thanks to a generous friend, a giveaway of product samples or a work conference with catering.

Peel back the veil a little further and we see that each of these 'free' offerings comes with a prospective price tag. Your generous friend may expect you to return the favour one day. The product sample giveaway is on the hope you'll one day buy the product, and the work conference comes with you having to listen to the associated presentation or meeting. Even something which may seem a selfless act - such as food at a wedding - is there to get you to attend. There is always a cost even if not financial.

Companies are the same, they will be more than happy to give you something on the proviso that they can get something in return. Typically this is money, but there are a lot of other things you can offer companies that are worth far more than money.

In fact there are a lot of things you can offer companies that require very little work on your part; such as reviews, product feedback and brand loyalty. By offering something to a company in return for their product you are creating a link that not only encourages them to provide you with one free product, but with many products over time.

Companies have been giving their products away for years. You only have to browse a voucher website or walk around a shopping centre to see that free samples are big business and that companies will do anything to encourage customers to try their product.

In these days of 24 /7 communications we're less receptive to advertising than ever and sometimes the only way a company can get people to try their product is to thrust a free sample in their face. Even then they'll often find their product left at the bottom of a bag, or passed around friends and family until someone throws it away.

We can use this desire they have, for you to try their product, to our advantage. Let's imagine I have been a fan of a particular brand of cheddar for years but am becoming a bit bored of it. So I write to different companies that sell cheese explaining that I'd like to try something new.

Those companies who respond are in effect trying to buy my loyalty with their free samples. All I am offering in return is the potential that I may like their brand enough to buy more in the future. No guarantees, no lies or trickery just a simple request.

For the company this is a massive opportunity to get me hooked on their product and to lure me away from a competitor, which is a far sweeter victory. The effort on my part is minor, and yet I've created a need that companies will want to fill.

I could expand this further by holding a cheese tasting club with friends or promising to score each cheese out of ten and write about them online. This would create an even larger need, and make companies more likely to send me free products. The snowball effect once you find a winning formula like the one above is massive, and yet it is born out of a single core principle. It's also easily scalable. I can send a few letters after my day job and try the cheeses at my own pace.

Contacting companies in this way is infinitely more valuable to you too, than simply browsing shopping centres and websites looking for deals of the day. Rather than one-off samples (that more often than not are all gone before you even see them) you are asking for full versions of products.

You are creating a need for companies to fill and establishing yourself as an opportunity for their brand. In doing so you will rise above the millions of people looking for a pointless sample, and create a persona that really speaks to the company.

There are a few steps in this process; such as deciding what you want for free, and how you will get it, but that's what this guide explains in more detail. I've tried to provide a solution for everyone, whether you love talking or are as timid as a mouse. If you really love the web there's some fantastic ways to create yourself as an ambassador for free things online, and if you want to do something as simple as starting a book club with friends offline that's covered too.

The ideas you use for convincing a company to send you something for free will all hark back to this core principle, and it's vital you remember that asking a company for a free product is no different than them putting an advert in your favourite magazine. They want to reach customers who understand their brands, you want to reach companies and understand their products. The link between your needs and the needs of the company are the same, so let's work on getting you both connected.

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