Why 'free' will rebuild businesses

During a (socially distanced) walk on Clapham Common with a friend, I mentioned the Timpson's offer that, if you are unemployed and going to a job interview, they will dry-clean your suit at no charge.

'What's in it for them?' asked my friend, genuinely puzzled.

'The fact that we are having this conversation about them,' I said.

Loss leaders are an established business practice. As Simon Caine points out in his excellent book How to make a living by working for free:

“Free” is a bit of a buzzword that can make artists worry. 
The reason it makes artists worry is because they’ve looked 
at how big corporations sales have been hit by internet piracy 
and believe the news media's conclusion that putting 
something online for free means you lost a sale.

If you are an artist, you're right to be nervous: Simon's hypothesis, that artists can give away digital versions of their work to build a fanbase that will pay for live events (his emphasis is on comedians), worked pre-pandemic. And artists who have followed his advice and built a following of fans will likely have seen their art continue to bring in an income in the last year - because they are communicating regularly with an engaged group which knows that if they don't pay for the work they value in these tough times, it will stop being viable to produce.

Other businesses can afford to be less nervous. By way of example, I recently offered to reduce and defer payment for unemployed clients who wanted to make a video promoting themselves. Making the offer drew attention and resulted in a few people taking me up on the offer - and rather more people wanting to engage me at full price, on the usual terms.

Could I afford such largesse? It has turned out to be a smart move with the post going modestly viral (rather fewer hits than Stephen Fry might get praising a cinnamon roll, but quite good for me) and generating a nice amount of work.

But the aim was never to fill up my diary - gratifying though that is. The point was that I've been job hunting and had people who know me tell me that I'll easily find something, only for the phone to fail to ring. I had come to regard the 'no thank you' email as a charming courtesy, given that most recruitment departments don't even bother to send these to unsuccessful candidates.

I have embraced the freelance life, but I understand it is not for everyone. Indeed, the economy needs big businesses and people working in them. As more of us receive the Covid vaccination and restrictions are lifted, we need to break the year-long habit of isolation. Businesses have a responsibility to help people along the journey out of emotional lockdown.

Timpson's have targeted the unemployed. Other businesses throughout lockdown have provided content for parents-turned-teachers. There have been online gym classes, streamed concerts and more.

Right now, we really are in it all together, slowly turning up the dial on life after lockdown.

This advert from Tesco, asking customers to visit their local pub rather than their drinks aisle, shows that they get it. In normal times, supermarket deals on drinks were regarded as the Great Satan of the publican's universe.

There is something quite heartwarming about seeing the big guys call a truce - just for now.

As we build back, we should not be too quick to pull away the rug of free or reduced products and more favourable payment terms. People still need support and help to get back to work, the pub, the theatre and the comedy gig. It would be nice to think that some sort of pressure could be placed on those companies which have made huge profits over lockdown (hello, Amazon) to channel some of those profits into making the world a better place for people other than their shareholders.

The smaller, human-sized companies are often the ones who feel the need to pay back into society first, because they are the closest to it. When choosing where to spend your money now that you have a choice, it would be good if consumers can speak in the only language big businesses really understand and by giving their custom to those who have earned it.