In this monologue Adam Hernandez explains a sales tactic he calls the “free pick‑your‑price” attraction offer. He opens with a June 2020 COVID‑era anecdote in Austin where a car‑wash operator offered a free wash and accepted donations, illustrating how goodwill can generate high‑margin revenue. He then outlines the core mechanics: market the product or service as free, then at checkout invite the customer to choose any price they wish, framing higher payments as investments that yield better results. He provides tiered bonus structures (small, medium, large) for multiple business types—lemonade stand, car wash, gyms/weight‑loss coaching, dental cleaning, coaching/mentorship, and an art gallery paid‑version example—detailing specific price thresholds and associated bonuses. Hernandez describes a sales script that pre‑frames the pick‑your‑price model, uses confrontational qualification questions to weed out low‑commitment prospects, and emphasizes the importance of low‑cost free offers to protect margins. He discusses operational considerations (staff costs, payment methods), the psychological impact of giving customers control and generating goodwill, and the high conversion rates despite lower average ticket size. The piece concludes with a checklist of implementation steps and a pro tip about using a paid version of the model where price ranges are displayed, blending generosity with capitalism.
Chapters
Attraction offer: free, pick your price. Lost chapter author note: I removed this upsell because I thought some businesses might lose money doing it since they wouldn't be able to close the upsell that makes this profitable. But with skill, it's a great goodwill play that makes money and generates leads. June 2020, Austin, Texas. I could see the Texas heat bouncing off the hood of the car as we drove. The roads were empty, not a car in sight. It was like driving through a ghost town, except the town was our home. It was in the thick of COVID-19 lockdowns. As Layla and I were driving back from the pharmacy for some goods, we saw a young girl on the side of the road frantically waving a sign: "Free car wash!" Intrigued, I said, "I wonder what the deal is. There's gotta be something. Wanna check it out?" Layla obliged my whim, as she had done many times in the past. She knew just how much I love going through sales processes. So I turned the wheel of the car toward the girl and headed up the ramp next to her. Around the bend, we rolled our car into the main car wash lane. As we pulled up, a man stood in front, his seat in the shade. We came to a stop and rolled down the window. He pointed at the pricing chart and exhaled his spiel, which it became clear he'd already done hundreds of times already that day. "The standard wash is 100% free, but we're accepting donations on behalf of the staff to help the guys feed their families and get through this. We accept cash, credit, and Venmo." Then he shut up and said nothing. I got the hint and took out a $20. Looking at the pricing board, it was more expensive than the most expensive automated wash they charged for even during normal conditions. He grabbed the $20 and gave me a ticket and waved me on. I'm always pro-business and I always will be. I felt great about helping a group of working men out. That being said, it had a very different feel than any normal purchase. Normally we buy things and don't think much past the transaction. In this instance, my purchase was funding something great, the American dream. As we went through the car wash lane, I couldn't shut up about it. I was like, how great was that? Goodwill, lots of new business, cash flow, and high margin service. Brilliant. I'm definitely figuring out a version of this for gyms. And in the middle of COVID our gyms began using this scripting in their sales process, and it worked wonderfully. People who couldn't normally close were able to get an average ticket of about $99, which is more than the average low barrier offer. It was splendid. I'll give you the details about how to do it below, and you can apply an offer like this to attract new customers. Description. You market the promotional offer as free. When the person gets to the checkout, you give them an offer to pick their own price. You'll explain the benefits of investing more equating to higher investments and their own results. If they're after results, the more they pay, the more they will pay attention. Examples: Lemonade stand. Offer: Free lemonade cup. Upsell: But you can choose to pay something to help the family of the employees. As an additional bonus, the crew offered to make a cup of hand-squeezed lemonade for anyone who pays over $5 and give you a pitcher to take home with you for any donation over $25. And give you 3 months of shipments for anything over $99 plus. Car wash. Offer: free machine car wash, water and soap. Upsell: but you can choose to pay something to help the families of the employees. As an additional bonus, the crew offer to wax anyone's car who pays over $30, hand buff anyone over $67, and do the entire interior of the car for anything over $99. Weight loss. Free 21-day weight loss. Upsell: pick your price. Most people pay $99. We just give this to their coaches and their families. If you pick $99, we'll give you an extra one-on-one call. If you pay over $199, we'll also provide our entire supplement handbook. If you pay $499, we'll guarantee that you lose 10 pounds, and if you don't, we'll use that credit towards any service we have. Dentist. Free dental cleaning. Upsell. Pick whatever you want to pay. Most people pay $99, which also gets them an extra XXX, or $299 for an extra YYY. Coaching. Free coaching/mentorship. Upsell. Pick your price. If you pay $299, you also get the course that goes with it. At $997, you also get 6 group calls on top of it. The $0 price only comes with access to the group. Details. To further incentivize them paying, you offer bonuses for 3 levels of payment. Think small, medium, large. To encourage them to pay something more than zero. Ultimately, if someone doesn't want to pay for the first thing, you must give them the basic level for free. That being said, you can and should still upsell them on other products and services during their time with you. This is similar to a limited free offer, except instead of either/or, you have a sliding scale with no predetermined amounts, only rungs. It also has no max. People can pay whatever they want. You want to make sure that at the beginning of the sale you explain that you do have a pick-your-price type setup and that the staff is offering different quote bonuses at different levels, but they are not obligated to pay anything. It'll seem like they are paying the employees, not the business, which for some reason people feel better about, even though businesses pay employees. Sigh. Explaining that you're accepting donations/allowing people to pick their own price will avoid any awkwardness at the end. You also get the goodwill of the prospect by being upfront. When selling with that preframe though, you can and should hit the prospect hard with confrontational questions to ensure that they would be a good long-term candidate. If you feel as though they have no intention of staying ongoing in any service that you have, weed them out. Be genuine about this. This should feel like an interview. The types of clients you want are the ones who are willingly going to pay and are appreciative. This is the sort of mini test for that. Ask real questions to gauge commitment level for their own good and yours. Examples: Are you willing to change the way you do X? Are you willing to stop doing Y? What if life gets busy? Will you keep showing up? Will you attend all of these appointments? Make sure that the thing that you were giving away for free has low operational costs so that you can still give it to people without burning out your staff. Save the higher operational cost stuff for the people who choose to pay. After you get to the end of the pitch, you'll outline what they get at each level. Then say, "We accept Visa, MasterCard, or XYZ payment. Which would you prefer?" Then shut up. They will take out their card and tell you what level they want. It's hard for people to say no. Summary points. These offers can generate a lot of goodwill when done properly. People feel good when they buy them because it's not a demand, it's a choice. It pulls on people's generosity. People feel 100% in control of their own destiny, and you can play up the fact that you were helping folks for free. It sets up a relationship based on goodwill and sets the stage for future upsells. On top of that, conversion rate is very high, although the average ticket is typically lower with this type of play. It works well in low trust environments because it has so much goodwill loaded into it. It's one of the easier, quote, free upsells that exist. Pro tip: paid version of pick your price. I saw an art gallery use this play this way. Every art piece had a price range. They said people could choose how much they wanted to support the artist. For example, this painting is between $149 and $299. I asked the owner how it worked. She told me that most people pay more than halfway because they don't want to seem like cheap or unsupportive. This version is half goodwill, half capitalism. I like it. Give it a try if it fits your business.
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