5 Ways Giving Free Advice Can Help You Earn More

Service providers earn a living by knowing things that other people don’t. Whether you’re a lawyer, financial adviser, social media marketer, or hairstylist, your specialist knowledge is what makes you valuable to your clients. So it may seem like a bad idea to give that knowledge away for free. I mean, if people can learn what you know without paying anything, why would they hire you?
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The fact is, there are probably lots of other people offering the same service as you. But many of them don’t know as much about it as you do, so you should let everyone know that you’re the expert they’re looking for. To attract clients, you need to show them that your services are going to be high quality—essentially, that you know your stuff!

By giving away tidbits of knowledge that your clients or potential clients will find helpful, you position yourself as an expert in your field, and also as a helpful person who understands what your clients need. For your clients, it shows that you care about them. For potential clients, it tells them that they can trust you to do a good job.

Here are a few ways to give away your expertise that can generate new business:

Start a blog: Blog posts about topics related to your business are a good way to touch on a small subtopic and keep your website fresh. Has some current event affected your clients? Give them an update on what they should think about doing. Do you get the same question often? Write a blog post that answers it. Remember to share your posts on social media so that more people see them, including potential new clients. If blog posts are too long for your liking, post on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram instead. Just do it regularly and make it helpful. 

Give a webinar or seminar: Putting together a presentation on a topic that you know a lot about is a great way to convince people that you’re a sought-after expert. Part of your message can focus on when expert advice or services are necessary, so that you alert attendees to when they should contact you about your services. But this isn’t a sales pitch—give them information they can use on their own, or help them to understand a topic that they might be confused about.

Offer free consultations: If someone isn’t sure how to find the right service provider, they often get a few quotes and choose based on price. Of course, they often end up disappointed with the results. Having a conversation before there’s any commitment is very helpful for both parties. A free consultation gives you a great opportunity to explain to potential clients what you can do for them. Once they hear about the work you’ll do, they may understand why your quote is higher than some of the alternatives. 

Send out a newsletter: If you’re good at keeping to a schedule, consider having a monthly (or even weekly) newsletter that your clients can subscribe to. You can write short articles about timely topics and send them links to articles you’ve found that would be of interest to them. A newsletter doesn’t have to be a lot of work, but it does take some commitment on your part to send it out regularly.

Make videos: Whether you choose YouTube, TikTok, or Facebook Live, video gives your prospective clients a glimpse at the person they would be working with. Nothing displays your personality quite like video. And if showing your face to the world is a bit too daunting, you can post explainer videos to help viewers understand something about the business you work in.

Giving away your expertise usually doesn’t result in instant sales. This is more of a long game, but one that pays off. If you want to start giving out free advice to attract and retain clients but you just don’t have time to produce content yourself, I’d be happy to help you out. Contact me to discuss the knowledge you want to share.