Why we need to think about free tapas

I was in Granada for a few days recently. Don't worry. I'm not going to bore you with my snaps of the Alhambra at dawn in this blog. Although you should totally go there. Anyway, after our first 'hard' day sightseeing, we found a bar and ordered our beers. And then something very exciting happened. The waiter came back with free tapas! I liked it so much I took this photo. Well, to be exact, I liked it so much that I only took this photo of the plate after we'd demolished it. So this happened practically everywhere we stopped in Granada. Order a drink. Get a bit of delicious free food. To my mind, this makes Granada just about the greatest place in the world. But why am I writing this blog about it? Clearly, free tapas is a classic loss leader. But there's more to it than that. And charities should all be thinking about it. Here's why: Encourage repeat custom - having sampled the bar's free offering, we more often than not went back for dinner there later on. In fact, it's remarkable how many places we visited more than once, given the level of competition. What can you offer that gives a good 'taster' of your organisation? How can you get supporters to return? Develop relationships - the free tapas is a chance to develop a personal relationship with a customer. I normally asked what the dish was, in my halting Spanish. How can you develop a distinctive personal relationship with your supporters? I know of one fundraising director of a major charity who s