A commercial came on the radio the other day, and I was struck by how often the advertiser emphasized that it offered a free consultation. Yes, absolutely free. No strings attached. Yours for the asking. You know what I thought to myself? Duh.

Who doesn’t offer that? We can call it a free initial consultation, an obligation-free quote or a no-risk trial, but it all boils down to the same thing. And because everyone does it, it seems silly and self-serving to make such a big deal about it.

If that’s the only thing you have to offer or spotlight, you need to go back to the drawing board. That’s not an offer that is significant enough to make people raise their hand and say they want to buy. That’s just the price of admission.

Pull out your brochures, Web copy, radio scripts or whatever communications tools you use to sell. Circle any of these phrases that you find:

● Free consultation

● Free initial visit

● No-risk trial

● Obligation-free quote/meeting

● Money-back guarantee

● Convenient hours

● Guaranteed 100 percent satisfaction

Are these important elements of your offering? Sure. Should they be bolded, highlighted and put in the center? No. They are givens. It’s the bare minimum of what people expect. Does including some of this language reassure your audience? Maybe, but if they need that reassurance, you’ve still got a lot of work ahead of you.

If you can’t find it within yourself to not include this language, be sure it’s in the background, not front and center. In the meantime, start to figure out all the reasons people should be tripping over themselves to get to you, not all the ways they can weasel out if they’re unhappy.

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and the author of “99.3 Random Acts of Marketing.” He can be reached at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com.

© Drew McLellan