I have to chime in to veto the suggestion of free product... That will only drive the company deeper into cash flow problems, if you ask me...

We were getting dozens of requests for samples from people every week... (we still do) ... Stores, individuals, whoever. At first we would comply, we would send out the samples and although we did close orders, we weren't in fact closing MORE orders.

It was bleeding us. So, what we did was rework our system.

We created a sample package of product, included the cost of shipping and named our price for the package. We then offered to prospects that if they wanted to sample the product, they could purchase this package. Then when they placed their first wholesale order, we would deduct this amount from their order price.

We've sold a few wholesale packages who haven't become customers and we've sold even more who have become customers. What is most interesting though, is that we aren't giving our product away anymore.

I don't advocate giving away product.

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!