One Coach

You’re in business to make money, right? So why would you want to give away any part of your product or service? 

Giving it away can actually a winning strategy, if you do it properly. OneCoach members learned this last year through OneCoach CEO John Assaraf’s interview with Mitch Axelrod, author of The New Game of Business.  Among Mitch’s new rules:

Position yourself as a trusted advisor.  The old game was all about positioning yourself as a vendor or salesperson first and then as an ally or friend.  In the new game, it’s essential to establish yourself first and foremost as a trusted advisor.

To become a trusted advisor, add value to the relationship before someone becomes a client.  Ask your prospects questions like, “What’s the single biggest problem that keeps you up at night?  What excites you the most?”  Then isolate their biggest issues and give them as much support as you can. 

Treat your prospects as if they were already clients by giving them valuable information. Present them with articles, special reports, DVDs and other resources that help to address their problems. 

Most of all, don’t be afraid to give away your advice and counsel.  Find out what keeps your prospects up at night and offer ways to resolve the problem or achieve the opportunity.  Once you achieve the position of trusted advisor, it is very difficult for someone to take it away from you.

Give your customers the opportunity to be heard.  People are sick and tired of being talked to.  They desperately want to be heard.  To allow your prospects and customers to be heard, set up processes whereby they can present their problems and ask for help.  For example, offer an “instant chat” feature on your Web site where customers can get real-time help with their issues.

When you give people the opportunity to be heard, they will tell you everything you need to know to help and support them.  No longer will you have to pitch, sell and persuade them.  Most people already know what they want.  If you can help them get it, you’re in the game for life.

Give away your gold.  Most business owners fear that if they show somebody what to do without getting paid for it, they will give away their gold.  Truth is, most of the time people already know what to do.  They just don’t know how to do it. 

Give away the “what” and focus on getting paid for the “how.”   If people know how to do it, you become a trusted advisor by helping them understand and identify what to do.  If they don’t know what to do or how to do it, then they can hire you.

Some companies actually sell the “what,” and have to be more careful about what they give away for free.  But every business has the ability to give away plenty of good advice.  Most customers want you to show them how to do it or actually do it for them, and that’s where you get paid.

Chances are, your competition is holding on to all their gold.  Give away some of your nuggets and you’ll be set for life.
 

For more on the why and how of giving away your product or service for free, see Chris Anderson’s cover story from this month’s Wired (available here at no charge).