75% of buyers choose the supplier who provides — at no cost — the most helpful information founded in a deep understanding of their customers’ world, i.e. insight.
It flies in the face of everything you’ve come to know. It’s contrary to how you believe you need to grow your business. It defies logic. It nearly defies gravity.
The very best service providers out there — the ones with a legion of raving fans and satisfied customers — dole out their valuable expertise like candy. They give it away. Coming across a website that seems more like a treasure trove of useful and relevant information feels like discovering the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Maybe you’re asked to provide your name and email address to download something, but that’s not a big deal at all, as you’ve already run the “value equation” in your head. It’s incredibly useful and it’s worth it!
If you’ve done a minimal amount of searching online, this is a familiar scenario. Every industry has a handful of information “treasure troves” — marketing pros know that Hubspot is a massive resource for marketing knowledge. The amount of relevant, helpful content they give away is mind-boggling. Yes, they are a vendor of a few technology products and services, but I’ve always regarded them — first and foremost — as the smartest group out there and a go-to for help. I’ve never spent any money with them, but its likely I will at some point. And they are always on my referral list of “go check these guys out” marketing and sales tools providers.
Key to all of this helpful information — what makes it truly insightful — is a deep understanding coupled with a frame-breaking perspective that creates a “wow, I hadn’t considered that” response from the audience and a desire to hear more. Insight isn’t argumentative, but it does seek to shift the conversation in a way that places your message in a new and better light.
The ways in which you can serve up this huge body of knowledge to your prospective customers are vast, and too involved to mention here. Websites, video, social media, and other channels are all involved. The details of the “how” are not what’s important here. The important idea of this short post can be summed up in an ages old quote from John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist faith:
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
So go be helpful, and you’ll be rewarded.