Should You Give Away Your Secrets?
Does it make sense to share the very secrets that make you successful? The simple answer is yes. If you make your living selling knowledge, you might resistant to sharing your how-to details for free. However, what you need to realize is that you are not in the business of selling information; you are in the business of selling results. And the results you deliver come partially from your knowledge – but also from your experience (knowing what knowledge applies in what situations), your skills (your ability to apply your knowledge – there’s a world of difference between knowing what makes a good sales letter and being able to write one, for example) and your contact base (who you know).
Here are a few thoughts for you. Our primary business is generating sale qualified leads for our clients. So why do we share a white paper that demonstrates exactly how to do this? (The Executives' Guide to Building a Lead Generation Engine) While we know that reading this will allow some readers to improve or create their own lead generation program, we also know that this demonstrates our expertise to those people who don’t have time to try it themselves. It also does not reveal the exact aspects we use to differentiate our clients in their prospects’ minds, or how we create content that will precisely resonate with their prospective audience.
What you need to do is create a “useful but incomplete” approach to your how-to articles or guides. This means you provide valuable insight, but not share everything you know. Moreover, even if you do reveal all you know, you'll still find most people can't do it the way you do. However, the response from your reader base will be enormous, as you share details never made freely available before. Besides, to tell the truth, if a blog post, article or PDF lead magnet you give away can reveal all your “secrets” so that clients don’t need you, then you don’t really know very much.
You see, no matter how much you reveal in your blog, article or white paper, it still won't come even close to what you bring to the table. And no one can do it like you can. By sharing tidbits of your secrets with your readers, you will convey your expertise to them and, oftentimes, compel them to contact you to learn more. You must provide very valuable information to your ideal readers to prove to them that you are indeed an expert. The typical response will be, “If he shared all this great knowledge, how much more will I gain by working with his company?”
Want to learn more about how to build a lead generation engine that understands how to leverage your knowledge without giving away the farm? Check out this free guide.
The Executives' Guide to Building a Lead Generation Engine
Looking for ways for marketing to show ROI? This guide will help you build a lead generation engine that maps to your customers buying process and delivers maximum measurable ROI. Download our free The Executives' Guide to Building a Lead Generation Engine.