Offered a client a 'free audit' to land a big contract and it blew up in my face

A potential client wanted a full website rewrite, so I pitched a free two hour site audit to show my value. I found over 40 broken links, a security hole you could drive a truck through, and their contact form had been broken for a year. Instead of being grateful, they got super defensive, said their old freelancer would have told them, and ghosted me. I wasted a whole afternoon and got zero dollars. Learned that giving away your main service for free just attracts the wrong kind of people. Anyone else have a 'free sample' plan totally backfire?

2 comments

2 Comments

stellabennett1mo ago

Free audits just show them their own mess for free.

the_hannah1mo ago

My friend got a free website check and they just sent back a list of broken links.