Powerful Question: How Can I Add Value To YOU?

March 22, 2010 on 1:03 pm | In Internet Marketing | 11 Comments

question A friend recently shared with me a powerful distinction that I’d like to pass on to you (He may wish to remain nameless, so I’ll preserve his anonymity in this post!)

In many industries, there is a “pecking order” of key contacts, clients or movers-and-shakers who have the ability to unlock doors and smooth the way for you. Let’s call them Linchpins (with apologies to Seth Godin).

What most people do to these Linchpins is to try to extract value from them before providing value. Pitch them on something. Sell them something. Ask for advice or a favour.

Trouble is, everyone else has the same idea. Linchpins are in demand and surrounded by deafening levels of “noise” that make it very difficult for you to gain traction.

This “get before you give” approach seldom works, yet we all do it.

Rather than think about what we can get, it’s much more powerful and effective to think about how we can add value. The key question is:

How Can I Add Value To You?

This might sound like another worn-out self-help trope, but have you considered how few people put this into action?

I’m a pretty pragmatic person. I do what works. Here are three examples of this technique in action:

A friend of my friend was a successful affiliate marketer and wanted to break into the “big time” seminar circuit. He asked this question of a “household name” Internet marketer and ended up helping him with some Google AdWords stuff. Less than a year later, this friend of a friend found himself on the seminar circuit, doing what he always wanted to do.
My friend used this approach to build a relationship with the Linchpin in his market space. Within 2 days the Linchpin himself had taken a good look at what my friend had to offer, endorsed his product and tentatively proposed a joint venture to co-promote his product down the track.
I used this approach with a person of influence in my target market. It immediately got some constructive dialogue going — I was able to deliver some value and my “Linchpin” was able to do several things of value to me.

Try this question. It works!

11 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

I have tried this approach to my readers. Like how can I add value to them with regards to my blog posts. I guess it’s time that I also apply it in other areas of blogging. Thanks for your post. It is really enlightening.

Comment by Andrew@BloggingGuide — March 22, 2010 #
You’re spot on with this article. Too many times we try to shove our agenda down someone’s throat because it will be good for us. Just by trying to figure out where you add value to someone else can let you decide whether what you have needs a few tweaks to work better for everyone else.

Comment by Jared Detroit — March 23, 2010 #
Exactly. It’s all about finding the right people. Napoleon Hill allready said that! There is also a new training by Eben Pagan. It’s called get connected. I didn’t watch it yet, but the reviews are good

Comment by Lexa — March 24, 2010 #
There’s a guy called Bob Burg who writes extensively on this topic, and he answers some interesting questions on his blog on this area of give before you get.

As far I can see, there’s two extremes – the ones who give way too much and the ones who give nothing. And one needs to strike a balance between the two.

Boy, I could go on and on – but for the sake of Will , if anyone’s interested, http://www.thegogiver.com/blog/ talks at length about it.

Comment by Chris Khoo — March 29, 2010 #
I do read this “self-help trope” very often and I’m again reminded of how logical this approach to people (who are human beings in the end and not vending machines where I put some coins in to get my coffee) really is!

The odd thing about the fact you are repeating is: We all know it already since every single man and woman has come to where they are because they either treat themselves and their Linchpins like they want to be treated – or not.

It’s that simple, yet we need thousands of reminders like yours. And that’s what I like about this post: It goes into the right direction

Comment by Ramses — March 31, 2010 #
It’s similar to the push vs pull of traditional advertising compared to current day internet marketing. Instead of telling you why you need this product/service, even if it doesn’t help the customer, in today’s world you need to really get under the hood and learn what it is the customer needs, and determine how you can solve their problem.

Comment by Cleveland — April 2, 2010 #
Well, in terms of blog posting, I would say that you could add value by posing questions at the end of the blog post that inspire the reader’s response. However, I have to agree with the notion that “content is king”. If you write something of quality, people will naturally want to come back for more or will feel so strongly about what you wrote that they will naturally feel encouraged to respond

Comment by Jane — April 12, 2010 #
Yeah, can I add value to you? First, we should have brand new and practical service for our guests. Then promise free trial and support. Then we should provide all around servie. That’s a big question.

Comment by convert mov to avi — May 12, 2010 #
I agree. I ask myself this question over and over “How could I make my website more useful to visitors”. As a result it improves and attacts more visitors who stay longer. Win-win for everyone.

Comment by Best Brokerages — May 21, 2010 #
This was a question I dealt with when starting my health initiative. I wanted a website for weight loss and muscle building for men.

There was no simple way, sure I could have spun some pure seo bunk site but that will not help the world. So instead I created a real site and did real research. Even going so far as to test my weight loss theories out on my self.

The old ways won’t work anymore, we must be real now!

Comment by rays health — June 15, 2010 #
This was a great article and reminds me of a very important lesson my father taught me when doing business – Never tell people about how much something will benefit you. Always ask what you can do for them. By doing so, you’re making their matter seem important while still accomplishing yours. And if they knew how much you were benefiting from it, then they will start to measure their success by how well you’re doing. You NEVER want them to be as successful as you. You never want to give them the tools they need to get ahead of you. You give them enough so they feel good, but not enough where they won’t need you anymore. I’ve been working in garage door repair for over 3 years and I’ve never shown my cards to a competitor, customer or employee. That’s why they call it the “secret sauce”!

Comment by Pamela Anderson — July 1, 2010 #