Free Clinics are a waste of time

Here’s a famous quote from my Dad that one of my high school friends texted me when I told him I was offering a free clinic. 

My buddy sent this when I encouraged him to take a free clinic

“Anyone can give something away” - Eric’s Dad

Now, this made me feel a bit less than and I’d forgotten about this incident until my buddy brought it up. My dad was a big entrepreneur in the 80s and loved enterprise software sales. He hated giving anything away. I, on the other hand, spent most of my career in SaaS sales, doing many small transactions, and offering a free trial was typically the easiest path to identify interest. So we have widely differing viewpoints on the subject. 

Now that I’ve purged my soul of this early adulthood slight, I wanted to provide some understanding of why I offered, and will continue to offer, free clinics. To put it simply, free clinics are far cheaper, and a more effective way to identify potential customers than spending thousands of dollars on social media and Google Ad Words.  

Generally, people want to experience the sport before investing heavily on equipment/lessons and free clinics provide a small taste of what the learning curve is like, at very little risk, and provide a frame of reference on what it will take to become a competent wing foiler. 

Additionally, folks that participate are 90% (made up statistics) more likely to actually pursue the sport in one way or another. These people are not random internet surfers that click a link just because you caught their eye. They are motivated to get into the sport. 

From a value perspective for the student, doing a free clinic gets some of the basics out of the way, i.e. understanding wind, winging jargon, wing handling and land drills, and subsequent “paid” sessions will be more advanced and more productive. 

The clinics are informal events and conducted on floaty SUPs which are easy on the knees and a great learning tool for wing handling and management. People take turns, joke around, and focus on having a great experience rather than progression. 

Finally, it’s great watching those initial successes and seeing the fire in people’s eyes when they catch the gust of wind that propels them into the bay. Helping folks experience the joy of riding the wind is extremely gratifying and fun. 

So join us for the next clinic by joining subscribing to the newsletter and following me on Facebook,  SFWingsurfing. I’ll probably do one, or two, a month depending on how busy I am.

P.S. my friend who sent me the text pays double, F’that guy.