KEY POINTS:
How much of your knowledge should you give away to potential customers? Is it 20 per cent? Or 30 per cent?
And how much is too much? And how much is too little?
If you're in business, you know one thing for sure. Giving away a small chunk of your knowledge or product is a sure-fire way to get customers attracted to your product. Yet, how much do you give away?
The stock answer is about 20 per cent. And give away this information through the medium of one-on-one consulting through articles, through newsletters and free presentations they tell you.
Yeah, right. Like you know what 20 per cent is. How on earth could you gauge if 20 per cent was okay and why would 20 per cent be okay to attract customers?
The confusion lies in the erroneous question. It's not: "How much should I give away?" but rather "what should I give away?" that's important.
And the answer is ... give the ideas. Sell the system.
So what are ideas? And what is the system? An example of an idea is a presentation on "website strategy", for instance. That's an idea. A system is where every single step of that strategy is mapped out (and possibly implemented as well).
An idea is a one-on-one meeting with a client, where you give the client lots of ideas to improve their business. A system is where you sell the consulting contract for the next three months.
An idea is the ability to download and test-run software for 30 days. A system is when that software is sold to the client with all the bells and whistles.
When you and I buy into an idea, and if the idea fires our imagination, we invariably want to get the entire system. And yet, if you look around, you'll find that although there are squillions of ideas being doled out in presentations, booklets and through the internet, most businesses fail to buy into the system.
So why would a customer look at your ideas and not buy into the system?
Because you're a wimpy giver, that's why.
Imagine I gave you a presentation where there was lots of fluff but little meat. Imagine you downloaded trial software with most of the features disabled.
Imagine you sat with a client for an hour or more and tried to keep all the best ideas to yourself, and simply parted with some tepid ideas. If your sample ideas are so icky, why would anyone want to buy into your system?
Wimpy giving is for wimps. If you want to attract a client, you need to be generous with your best ideas.
But why will the client work with me, once my best ideas are given away?
Go to a bookstore and read some of the best business books. What makes them the best? You'll find they're considered the best because the most powerful ideas are presented in the book. These ideas grab our imagination. They make us want to buy more books by the author, visit the author's website and buy into what sort of system that author is selling.
And that's not even counting implementation.
When a customer gets powerful ideas, they not only want more ideas but they also want you to help them get maximum mileage from those ideas. This invariably leads to additional consulting, more training and even more purchases of products.
But the fear remains. What if you run out of ideas? What if you give away your best ideas and you have nothing left?
Well, look at the insecurity speaking.
The biggest reason why you'd run out of ideas is because you're not constantly refilling your brain with more ideas. The smartest people on the planet know they have to keep learning so that they get more ideas and, hence, make their own ideas and systems more robust. The dumbos hitch their wagon to a few great ideas and then protect those ideas like crazy.
Protecting ideas is a silly, silly way to do business.
Instead, you should be looking for even more ideas and systems to add to your arsenal of knowledge.
Because if you're not attending seminars and workshops, reading business books, being part of an ongoing training programme, then you're quickly going to run out of ideas. And the insecurity will loom large.
Of course, the more you protect your ideas, the more you're going to fight that uphill battle to get more clients.
Because it's only when you give to clients that you really start to receive.
It's only when clients know that you have a bottomless pit of ideas that they will trust you enough to buy into your system. And one of the fastest ways to wow the customer off his or her chair is to bazooka your way into the customer's brain with big, powerful ideas.
Once you've done that, you've almost certainly paved your way to selling your system.
So the next time you're feeling all miserly and stingy with your ideas, remember these words: Give the ideas. Sell the system.
* Sean D'Souza is CEO of Psychotactics and is an international author and trainer.
