How To Ask For And Get Free Prizes And Give-Aways For Your Next Promotion

Ever wonder where your competitors get all of those great prizes to give away to their clients and offer prospects in competitions? They probably asked for them and in this post I'm going to show you how YOU can ask for and get FREE stuff for your next big promotion.

One of the most popular promotions I have ever run was an annual event that we called the "Queen For A Day" promotion.

It was an internal referral promotion whereby every time an existing member referred someone new to our gym, they would get an entry with the chance to win a weekend of indulgence (oh yes; indulgence!).

The prize included:

• A night at a local resort
• Dinner for two
• Spa treatment
• Supplement pack
• Movie tickets
• Personal Training Sessions
• And other bits and pieces

The prize pack usually had a retail value of around $1,000 so it was an awesome motivator to get our female members and clients working for us. And the best part;

We Never Paid A Cent For ANY Of The Prizes!

The most incredible thing is that we would get so many prizes given to us that we often had 2nd, 3rd and even 4th prize packs to give away, the ladies loved it and we got a ton of new business.

How did we manage to get our hands on all of that great stuff? Simple, I asked.

You would be surprised what people will give you if you ask properly and offer them value in return.

Think about it; if a beauty therapist (for example) rang you tomorrow and asked for a personal training package to give away in her promotion and it will be broadcast all over town and be in front of hundreds if not thousands of your target market...How long would you have to think about it?

It's the same for these guys. Assuming that they have any business sense at all; if you provide them with a captivating proposal, wouldn't they be stupid not to want to be a part of your promotion?

The first step to getting anything for free is to first, decide what it is you want to give away.

You want the prizes to suit your target market and be appropriate to the promotion that your planning on running so that your promotion is appealing and ultimately successful. In the case of my Queen For A Day Promotion for example; a chainsaw probably wouldn't have been a good converting prize.

Decide on what you want to offer as a prize (being realistic) and then short list some potential suppliers. You probably have clients and members who are business owners and they will be your easiest target.

Short list some businesses that you believe would be a good match for your business and clients and write down why. This information will come in handy when preparing your proposal to them.

Next you need to put together your promotional strategy.

How and where are you going to promote your offer? Potential sponsors are going to want to know What's In It For Them and generally that comes down to how much promotion they can expect in return for their contribution.

You may also want to offer your partners a deal on some personal training for supporting you, this obviously has other great side benefits besides just returning a favor.

Now that you know what you want and where to get it, the fun starts; it's time to call the businesses!

Calling Them Won't Be This Awkward

Even if this is not a cold call, you will need to have something prepared. Also, don't just start blurting out your proposal to the first person who answers the phone; you need to speak to a decision maker i.e. the business manager or owner.

Try: "Hi there! My name is Ben London from My Business Is Fitness; I was wondering if you could help me? Could I speak with the business owner or manager briefly about an awesome promotion we're running at my personal training studio?"

They're either going to say yes, no or tell you the best person to speak to. If no one is available simply ask for the persons name and the best time to call back and leave it at that.

If you are able to speak with a decision maker you're going to need 3 things at hand:

1. A VERY brief description of your promotion - Try and keep this spiel to 30 seconds at the most!

2. Where and how you're going to be promoting it - Posters, radio, Internet etc.

3. What's in it for them - How will they benefit? Are they on the posters, mentioned in advertising etc.

In my experience, many businesses will give you a pretty clear indication whether they're interested or not at this stage, however you will need to put together an email explaining the deal in more detail.

This email should focus on What's In It For Them! The target audience, number of people who will be exposed to the promotion etc.

Attach a draft copy of your poster and any other promotional material that you will be investing in to the email and give them a follow up phone call the next day.

Ideally, it would be great to meet them for coffee and present them with this material in person, but that's not always going to be the case, so have these other things prepared.

Seriously, that's it. Some will say no, but don't take it personally, just ask them if it's OK to contact them in future if you run another promotion that you think could benefit their business. Always leave things open with an opportunity to do some business in the future, never burn bridges.

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