AP 0404: Why Do You Give Out T-Shirts To Callers?

AskPat 404 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up everybody? Pat Flynn here and welcome to Episode 404 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today. Before we get to today's question from Aaron, I do want to thank today's sponsor, which is ZipRecruiter.com.

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All right, here's today's question from Aaron.

Aaron: Hi Pat. Thanks for the amazing show. Really love it. The question I want to ask you is, why do you give out the AskPat shirts. I mean, people love your show, people ask the question because they want the answers to their questions so what's behind the giving out a t-shirt, a free t-shirt, to one of them? Where can other businesses use it in their business by giving out something for free and what's the logic behind it because as far as I understand, you're helping people with their questions, you're helping them with their problems and they would have asked you their questions anyways even without you giving them incentive. So we just need to hear what's the logic behind it and why. Looking forward to hearing from you. Speak to you. Bye bye.

Pat Flynn: Hey Aaron. What's up? This is a very interesting question actually. Thank you so much for it. Nobody has asked this here on AskPat but a few people have asked me this in person. I'm going to give you the answer and the answer is because I want to give back. When you leave a question, I want you to be rewarded for having your question featured here on the show. I think it does a few things internally and also motivates people to do a few things I want them to do. Obviously, ask questions and yes, I know I would get questions asked anyway but I think it's just a cool little reward and I think even though I'm not able to give a shirt to every person who asks a question, just the fact that when you're listening to this, every single episode you see that we're giving you something away for free. It just shows you that I care and I think that's the main thing.

It's just, “Hey, here's Pat. He doesn't have to do this but he's doing it. It's awesome.” That's what I've heard a lot of people say. Also, what has happened is a lot of people have taken their selfies and pictures of themselves wearing the shirt as well and they’re sharing it with their audiences too or they're out on the streets and people are asking them, “Hey, who's this Pat guy? Oh, AskPat.com. I'll have to check that out.” And the show has grown and I don't know exactly how much because of the shirt. It's impossible to tell but I know for a fact that a number of people who listen to the show are listening because somebody else had mentioned it about their t-shirt which is really interesting and really cool.

I think for branding purposes it's just really fun to kind of see this. I also go to conferences and see people wearing the shirt as well, which is pretty cool. You know what's really cool Aaron is that we're going to send you one. You're over in the UK. Doesn't matter where you are as long as you're not in one of the, I think, four countries in the world that this company doesn't send to.

But, one of the other things I want to touch on are the economics of this because it obviously costs money to get these shirts produced and shipped over and I would say at this point it's costing about 20 to 25 dollars to do all of that. The shipping. So, every episode is 25 dollars but when you consider that there are sponsors, that's helping offset the cost because the sponsorships. I’m getting anywhere between 200 and 300 dollars per episode as well. It makes it a little bit easier in my mind if that is there to offset the cost of course.

But, you also have to think about the ROI on that? Well, the ROI is for branding purposes. It's there for being a relationship builder as well and also just as a thank you for people. I think a lot of people could benefit from maybe not sending a t-shirt but even just a note card or a thank you or something like that. A little bit of a token of appreciation for doing business with you.

Now, of course people who ask a question on AskPat, they are not spending money on me in terms of having to ask a question but if you have customers in your business, it's always good to thank them. I mean, just little tokens of appreciation go a long way. They don't have to be very big either. I mean, there's a number of different examples where I've purchased products in the past and then a month later I get another just little token or something that goes a long with it or an add on that's completely unexpected.

I bought this robot for. . . that sounds weird. I bought this robot last year for my son for his birthday. It was actually one of the only times I remember purchasing something from a Facebook ad but it's this little robot that you can buy that helps your kid learn how to code and there's a little app on the iPad that goes along with it that helps you code where this robot goes or what it looks like or what it does or how often it spins around, any of that stuff. But, what was cool was after Christmas, a couple of months later, I got another package which came with some add ons. The company just decided to send these out to everybody and it was a really awesome gift and so I didn’t. . . It made me look into the company even more and even recommend it to a couple friends as well. And again, I think that's something that has happened since sending these shirts out.

Again, it's just one of those things. I know I'm in a great place with my business. I know there's money to spend on things like this and I want to give back to the community in this way. There might be opportunities down the future to actually sell apparel or gear, SPI gear. A lot of people have been asking for that actually. I don't want to turn into a t-shirt business or sell gear. I want to work and focus on my books and courses first and foremost but, I think it's great for bringing a community together.

The last conference I went to was a podcasting conference called Podcast Movement. There were literally five or six instances that I was walking around the conference and seeing different people wearing the shirt. It was really cool and it was a great way to start up the conversation. A lot of people were talking about it and we formed these circles and just talked about the question that they were featured on. It helps them remember as well. I imagine when they see it in their closet they might remember me and say, “Hey, I remember when Pat asked me that question. He's coming out with this book or course. Maybe I'll look into a little bit more or because he was so nice, I'll be nice and share his link out to my followers.”

All those sorts of things come to mind. It's really interesting because yes, it's a physical product but it's automated to a point where I don't have to do anything. My assistant goes and emails everybody whose question is featured. You'll experience this Aaron in just a sec or in a couple weeks actually and she's going to collect your name and your address and all that stuff and it'll be very easy to ship over to you. That's it.

Hopefully that gives you some information. Just a quick little fun question here today to finish off the week and hopefully some inspiration for you. If you are excited about potentially asking a question because you can get featured here on the show by going to AskPat.com and asking a question there but like Aaron, if your question gets featured, you will get a t-shirt sent to you free of charge as well.

Thank you so much for the question, Aaron. I appreciate it. Thank you to all of you out there who are asking questions as well. The show would not be here without you of course. I also want to thank today's sponsor, which is ZipRecruiter.com. If you are adding anymore people to your business, make it easy for you, head on over to ZipRecruiter.com/Pat. You can just type in one job description of the role you're trying to fill in your job or business and they're going to send it out to over 100 different job sites so you can find the best candidates. They will also highlight and mark the best ones for you based off all those requirements and things like that. It's free to use. ZipRecruiter.com/Pat. You're going to love it.

Thank you all so much for listening in today and this week. I appreciate it. If you want to head on over to iTunes and do a quick review or rating for me, that would be very appreciated. I love those and read every single one of them. Thank you so much. I also want to leave you with a quote today. This is based off of my recent presentation as well at Podcast Movement and that is, “We are our own worst hater.” Stop hating on yourself. Keep going out there, pushing hard, don't listen to that voice in the head. You got this. Cheers, take care, and I'll see you next week in the next episode of AskPat. Bye.