Most of my friends think I'm crazy for posting free copies on the of the things I'm trying to sell.
The short answer is that I'm not currently planning to expand the number of free downloadable tools that I make available. But, if you have a compelling reason for a particular tool to be downloadable, I'm willing to listen.
It's a balancing act. One hand I want lots of people to be able to learn to use map coordinates, so I provide lots of instructions and free versions of the tools for the most common map scales. No doubt I loose a few sales to folks whose needs are met by the free tools. But, I believe I gain more sales as people discover map coordinates, and find they want the quality and variety of tools available from the online store.
MapTools has evolved into a business with a significant investment in time, equipment, and inventory. It could have gone the other way, and been just a passion related to my search and rescue activities. In the end, I think I can provide the best quality tool to the most people using the business approach rather than the hobby approach.
0 Comments