Before They Buy

Turn a free tool into your best salesperson

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What this episode covers
  • Why free tools (calculators, estimators, graders) attract buyers, not browsers
  • The difference between a tool that gets traffic and one that generates leads
  • What makes a calculator "warm" — the user has already done the math before they talk to you
  • How to gate the result (or not) and what actually converts
    • Examples mentioned
    • Baremetrics — revenue recovery calculator that leads directly into a trial signup
    • HubSpot — free website grader drives millions of leads; no sales call needed up front
    • Ahrefs — free backlink checker as a top-of-funnel hook into a paid product
    • A simple "how much are you losing to churn" calculator that a solo founder built in a weekend
      • Why it works at the bottom of the funnel
      • Visitors who use a calculator are already thinking about the problem in concrete terms
      • The tool pre-qualifies them — they know the number before you pitch them
      • It shortens the sales conversation because the buyer arrives educated
        • One thing to do this week

        Open a spreadsheet and write down the single most painful number your customers track — churn rate, hours wasted, revenue at risk. Then search "[your category] calculator" and see what already exists. If nothing good comes up, that's your opening.

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        Before They BuyBy Deian Isac