How Google is acquiring customers using gifts

About a week ago I received an email from Google saying that because I agreed to participate in an exclusive program with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), they are sending me a Chromebook.

If you’re available in the next couple weeks, I’ll send you a Chromebook so you can hop on a Hangout with a Google Cloud Specialist.

Yes, you read it right — they sent me a Chromebook so I could take a call with it.

And you know what, I agreed to listen to what they are offering for half an hour if I get this nice toy.

So, today I received it. It is a decent, brand new $184 HP Chromebook 11 G5.

Above that, they have included a nice personalized message inside it.

Some may say that only Google can afford tricks like that, that it is too expensive for the sales process, but let’s look at the numbers.

This device is sold on Amazon for $184. I assume the wholesale price for that would be something like $120 for Google.

I don’t know the exact number, but for this kind of sale, CAC could be anywhere from $3K to $20K.

I’m sure I’m already a qualified lead for them — they know that we are SaaS provider and we need cloud services.

What this trick really helps with is getting people on the phone, which basically just improved cold email conversion rate and/or demo-to-close rate.

At the same time, if the gift is expensive (what is expensive everyone decides for themselves) — the recipient may not be in a position to accept it due to company regulations. But that works for startups like ours.

The psychological trick here is clear — they are replacing corporate motivations with a personal one. Everyone loves free stuff. And if you talk to any B2B sales person, they will tell you that personal motivations are a huge driver of an enterprise sale. Like it or not, people are still thinking more about themselves than about their companies. On average, of course. And unless it is a startup.

Do you think this kind of approach is valid and ethical in the B2B sales process?