Now as important as tip #1 above is, it is #2 that holds some great gems. How much would it cost you to share your intellectual capital with your market and your clients? How much easier could you make your client’s journey with your products and services if you shared even a small amount of what you know?

And BTW - I don’t think that it is just women’s trust you will gain by offering a knowledge resource to customers - guys like that kinda thing too you know.

Think about the equipment, products and services you use - do you use them as effectively as you could? Are there others things you could use them for, if you only knew how? How often do you even bother to read the manual?

How would it be for you if the supplier of that product or service shared relevant and easy-to-access information with you not just how to use the product, but about how to get the best out of your purchase from them. It would probably make shopping with them again next time (instead of shopping around for the lowest price) an easier decision.

The other thing that Andrea shared is one of those SBO moments (statements of the bleeding obvious) -

There is so much experience and insider/secret
knowledge floating around in the brains of retail owners, managers or longtime
employees in any industry, it is amazing. Still – many of the web sites for those same businesses are basically
brochures. And, many of those industry masters don’t quite know how to go about
sharing those helpful tidbits in their heads.

Now it may be obvious to me, and may even be to you, but how many times has your market yawned when reading your glossy brochure or website.

People don’t want to be bored to death with specifications, features, and statistics they don’t care about and don’t understand, let alone take the time to use. (Unless of course you are in engineering where specifications still count - but you don’t have to make them boring).

Stop telling people what you do, or what you sell, and start telling them what you know! Tell them things that can help solve their problems, fix their challenges, or get them where they are going quicker. They are interested that.

Take all that expensive real-estate on your brochures and website and start using it to share your wisdom about things that people could make use of. (BTW - that’s what I see blogging is about - sharing your wisdom).

Do it this week !! Write down the top 10 things that would solve a customer’s problems. List the things you would share with your best friend about getting the most from your service. Share the handy hints that you use and think that everyone else also knows about your product (because they probably don’t).

And if you are in a business where you normally charge for your wisdom (eg. some form of consulting) you also have an opportunity to give your wisdom away as well. Not everything that comes out of your mouth or your head is worth charging for. And even the good stuff can occassionally be shared without you having to be compensated or being able to bill it in 6 minute increments. Start sharing!

If you get stuck then start asking questions - ask your customers or your market what they would most like to know about using your product or service. Even ask yourself “what is the best thing I have learnt about ….”?

If you pour your wisdom into the sea of people around you it won’t be diluted and lost, it might just come back as a wave of support and interest on the door of your business.