Thank You Karen for your kind comments and spirited defence of your Free Holiday Promotion. Obviously I have heard of corporate gifts and promotions, but have not heard of companies "recruiting staff to offer and sell these items". Could it be that these MARKS* are being offered your goods in order to entice them into buying a Timeshare Offeror, or a "You can have this cruise cabin for 2 weeks each year, for Life", promotion. In other words your freebie is a loss leader to "get them to a timeshare develpment, and unwittingly into a CAPTIVE AUDIENCE, sales pitch?
Years ago I once had the idea that car showrooms / dealerships, should have a glass case stuffied with freebies, which was used as a closing tool along the lines of; "O I forgot to mention it, have you any children? [Ans 2 - Reply: good] I tell you why I ask we recently did a promotion with United Campsites and were giving away some quite nice family size tents and camping gear to every one who bought a Ford Primera, we still have some left? [now close them] I never went ahead with this and forgot all about it.
You'll notice I introduce it as "an afterthought", when its obvious its a planned promtion or scheme, clients minds go into a calculating and tabulating mode; Just remember clients can be quite cute, clever, calculating and LIARS. So the O I forget to mention it phrase goes down quite well. If you study clients many want something for nothing thrown in, so keep a few HIDDEN BONES in your sales cupboard.
*I hate this expression MARKS. But it does have a long history, and it does convey what we do for a living, we look for a mark, and sign him up. Con men are known for seeking a mark. See the biography of Yellow Kid Weill, Chicago, probably the worlds best ever con-man.
