[asterisk-biz] Why so many international customers ask for freesamples

Mon Oct 27 07:22:10 CDT 2008

Ah, yes.  I do remember that now.

That is good advice Dean, although you may want to put a $1 "hold" on
the credit card just to be sure it is valid, and their is no way of
knowing if it will still be valid after 45 days, or someone will do a
chargeback.

I don't know your budget or product, but I would try to emulate
Grandstream.  Maybe it was their timing and low price that got them
where they are, but they do sell.

Another very good option is to have sales reps sell your product and
attend trade shows.

Truth is, I know Andy Spring by name but I have no clue what your
product is.  I would ditch the GMail account, use a real domain with a
nice website for starters.

I would ship demo equipment to VoIP Supply, Telephony Depot, and all
of the major hardware distributors.  Believe me, if they can make
money reselling your product and not have a serious RMA issue, they
will.

When I had a webstore way back in the old days, I sold Grandstream
100, 101, 286, and 486 ATA.  I had many RMAs and complaints, so make
sure your product is solid and priced well and vendors will sell it
for you.

Thanks,
Steve Totaro

On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 8:01 AM, Dean Collins <Dean at cognation.net> wrote:
> Andy sells SIP handsets not voice minutes (as far as I remember), feel
> free to correct me if I'm wrong.
>
> I guess with hardware Andy's issue is he is delivering 'cost plus'
> hardware and not an intangible freebie.
>
> My 2c worth is take a credit card, charge it but offer full refund no
> charge if they return it within 45 days.
>
> Oh and have much better marketing material.......
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Dean Collins
> Cognation Inc
> dean at cognation.net
> +1-212-203-4357   New York
> +61-2-9016-5642   (Sydney in-dial).
> +44-20-3129-6001 (London in-dial).
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-biz-
>> bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Steve Totaro
>> Sent: Sunday, 26 October 2008 11:50 PM
>> To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
>> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] Why so many international customers ask
> for freesamples
>>
>> Really the best way to feel them out is how they speak, that may be an
>> issue since you may not pick up on some of voice characteristics or
>> the way people speak that just want something for free.  Face to face,
>> non-verbal is by far the best but that is probably out of the question
>> in 99.9% of your customers.
>>
>> Website, DNS information can tell you a bit of information about the
>> company.  It is possible, at least here in the States to pull a
>> business' credit report, although it will cost you, and many startups
>> may not have anything there but could be flush with cash (doubtful
>> with today's economy).
>>
>> I think charging a month with a refund policy is fair.  I think that
>> is how Junction does it.  I certainly would not want a "Demo" account
>> on a "Demo" server that has the best connectivity, so a day or two is
>> certainly not long enough.
>>
>> Limit them to one or two trunks with specific destinations, maybe even
>> add a GUI where they can select the destinations.  You could even play
>> something along the lines as "This is test VoIP trunk provided by X or
>> N company) and limit the calls to ten or fifteen minutes with a
>> gracious disconnect message, reiterating that it is in-fact a test
>> VoIP trunk provided by X company.
>>
>> I am not sure about how laws work across boarders or in China, but
>> maybe you can legally record or at least monitor the call to see if it
>> is truly a "test" which would be fairly obvious by the conversation.
>> If it is being used for business, then I don't define it as a "test"
>> trunk.  If people are talking about quality and "Can You Hear Me Now",
>> then that is more of a test as far as I am concerned.
>>
>> At the end of the time period, they have the option to continue
>> billing/service or get terminated.  Plain and simple.
>>
>> --
>> Thanks,
>> Steve Totaro
>> +18887771888 (Toll Free)
>> +12409381212 (Cell)
>> +12024369784 (Skype)
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 10:13 PM, Andy Spring <andyspr at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> > Do you think the way of "Charger first, Return later after placing
> bulk
>> > order"  is possible?
>> > But I think, if they are true and serious customer, they will agree
> this
>> > policy, if you are customer,
>> > do you agree this way.
>> >
>> > Thanks
>> >
>> > Regards
>> > andy
>> >
>> > 2008/10/27 C F <shmaltz at gmail.com>
>> >>
>> >> I would charge for samples but refund it if the purchase any
> minutes.
>> >> For example, if you give one 10 minutes to try out, charge whatever
>> >> you charge, and if they become a customer and end up purchasing
> $25.00
>> >> plus you give them the 10 minutes back.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 8:30 PM, Andy Spring <andyspr at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> >> > Hello everyone friends,
>> >> >
>> >> > As a chinese supplier, we often meet this kind of status, so many
>> >> > foreign
>> >> > cusotmers ask for free samples from us,
>> >> > but the sample is also high value not only several dollars, even
> if it
>> >> > worth
>> >> > several dollars, if so many customers ask
>> >> > for free samples, we also can not afford them.
>> >> >
>> >> > By this status, should we send the free samples to our customers?
> if
>> >> > you,
>> >> > how will you do? if not send them free samples
>> >> > maybe we will lose customers. In fact, the cost of sample is
> hihger then
>> >> > unit goods for bulk order.
>> >> > We have also some policy about the sample, like charger higher
> price for
>> >> > sample(s) and when our customers (especially new customers)
>> >> > place bulk order, we will return the sample cost to them, but
> even by
>> >> > this
>> >> > way, they still do not want to pay for the sample price,
>> >> > what could we do, do you have any better advice.
>> >> >
>> >> > Thank you very much, my friends here everyone!
>> >> >
>> >> > Best regards
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> > andy
>> >> > andyspr at gmail.com
>> >> >
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>> >
>> > --
>> > andy
>> > andyspr at gmail.com
>> >
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Thanks,
>> Steve Totaro
>> +18887771888 (Toll Free)
>> +12409381212 (Cell)
>> +12024369784 (Skype)
>>
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-- 
Thanks,
Steve Totaro
+18887771888 (Toll Free)
+12409381212 (Cell)
+12024369784 (Skype)