Teaching Sells: How to Gain Trust and the Sale by Teaching

Are you looking for a way to grow your influence while making more sales?

Do you ever wonder if teaching is right for your business?

To learn how you can sell with teaching, I interview John Jantsch for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.
More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview John Jantsch, who's written four books, including Duct Tape Marketing. His newest book is Duct Tape Selling. John helps small- and mid-sized businesses enhance their sales and marketing efforts.

John shares how teaching and sales connect.

You'll discover different ways to teach, businesses that do it well and the value of newsletter content.

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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Teaching Sells
How John got into sales

John explains that he was exposed to sales at a very young age, when his dad was a representative for a traditional manufacturer. Not only was he exposed to it as a profession, but John's dad was also a great mentor to him.

His dad always obsessed about trying to deliver value to his customers and to make sure he kept his word.

The way people sell today has changed because of all of the different tools that are available. Back then, people knew what they wanted to buy, but now it's something different.

Listen to the show to find out what John's first job was when he left college.

How teaching and selling connect

First of all, you don't want to be pushy with your product. Most people are turned off by this and build a wall straight away, even if they're interested.

Instead, you need to tell stories, share examples of other people's success and start to paint a picture of how you can solve the customer's problem. John feels that with this approach, the trust barrier is removed. It's a great way for other people to relate to you as someone who delivers value, without the exchange of money.

Some of the best ways to attract people to you is to teach through workshops, seminars or articles. A lot of people want to be taught and led by someone else. When you develop a reputation for being someone who can teach people, then you get invited to places where you have the opportunity to sell.

A lot of people still believe that if you give too much away, you won't be hired. However, from John's experience (and mine), it's the total opposite. The more you give and demonstrate your expertise for free, the more likely you are to attract that ideal customer. People see you as someone who is willing to give before they ask.

Listen to the show to discover the percentage of business that John receives from people who are not customers or he doesn't have direct interaction with.

An example of a business that is winning by teaching

One of the first companies that comes to mind is HubSpot, which makes a profit from teaching. They produce great ebooks and run live webinars with different experts.

Another company that John personally uses is REI, which sells quality outdoor gear. They do a tremendous amount of teaching on their website. The information they provide supports the products they sell. It's great for the outdoor enthusiast who wants to be part of that community, as well as buy a product from them.

You'll hear a great example of how a small software company stood out from their competitors in the way they market their product and why John believes it's the key to success.

Listen to the show to hear other examples of companies and individuals who sell through teaching.

What is the "Total Content System"?