Advice Businesses Can Survive In The World Of Free

Entre­pre­neurs run­ning advi­sory busi­nesses often feel they can’t com­pete with all that free infor­ma­tion on the Inter­net. But they can if they approach it right.

A recent com­ment about a pre­vi­ous post sparked a dis­cus­sion on a forum about how to be an adviser in a world where infor­ma­tion is every­where, and usu­ally free or very low cost.

How can advis­ers make a liv­ing, one con­sul­tant asked, when infor­ma­tion is so freely avail­able? And he answered his own ques­tion by sug­gest­ing that advis­ers have to work the reg­u­la­tory end of the mar­ket, such as where com­pli­ance is an issue, or where ongo­ing edu­ca­tion is required.

I can’t dis­agree with that. It’s a tried and true method of con­sult­ing and many advis­ers sur­vive on edu­ca­tion and com­pli­ance work.

But that can be a pretty crowded field, and is usu­ally dom­i­nated by estab­lished advi­sory busi­nesses that have spent years cul­ti­vat­ing the rela­tion­ships that lead to that kind of steady work.

But an advi­sor can thrive in the world of free if they view their advi­sory busi­ness from the right angle.

Infor­ma­tion May be Free. But Knowl­edge Isn’t

First, let’s step back a bit. Infor­ma­tion is not knowl­edge. The chain goes as follows.

–Data is raw facts and mea­sures.
–Infor­ma­tion is data that’s orga­nized and put in a more under­stand­able form, like a report.
–Knowl­edge is infor­ma­tion that’s syn­the­sized with other infor­ma­tion or knowl­edge to cre­ate some­thing that’s more useable.

So, advis­ers should be most con­cerned about knowl­edge instead of information.

Let’s take an exam­ple. You’re an accoun­tant who has started a busi­ness advis­ing other busi­nesses on some spe­cific  tax prob­lem. You have a spe­cial­ized knowl­edge of all the infor­ma­tion rel­e­vant to the sub­ject, how it fits into the exist­ing struc­ture, and how it can be applied in spe­cific situations.

Sure, some of these poten­tial clients can find that infor­ma­tion them­selves, if they have the abil­ity and the time. But most don’t, and so they need some­one to explain it to them.

As an adviser, your mar­ket­ing job is to find those peo­ple who will pay for that knowl­edge and ser­vice. Here are some methods

1.    Pro­vide value. Most of that “free” infor­ma­tion is sheer low-end mar­ket­ing, and so its value is very slight. Spe­cific knowl­edge about a cou­ple of sub­jects is far more use­ful. So pro­vide some­thing that’s use­ful and peo­ple will pay for, not some­thing that’s a com­mod­ity in the mar­ket­place. This is what it’s all about, isn’t it? No one buys some­thing that has no value to them, so why would you waste your time try­ing to sell it?

2.    Be Authen­tic. The old sales model is about putting on some mask and then try­ing to con­vince every­body that you’re really help­ing them all. But the truth is that you’re only really able to help a few. So why not say so? Open the kimono a bit and be real, car­ing, and human. Let peo­ple know what you can and can’t do, and how you can specif­i­cally help them. An adviser with a heart is far more valu­able to a client than some name­less, fea­ture­less dis­penser of information.

3.    Talk to the right peo­ple. In pre­vi­ous times, every­thing was about the mass. You formed a ser­vice and tried to sell it to every­body. But those days are gone. Today, you have to carve out a spe­cific niche and pro­vide your ser­vice only to that niche, which can be quite large if you are talkign about the Inter­net. Instead of shout­ing to 100o peo­ple that you can help them, and try­ing to force them to lis­ten, find the 10o that really need it and talk with them (not at them).

4.    Be Patient. The world of free has made many peo­ple believe that every­thing has to be instant. But that’s not the nature of peo­ple who buy ser­vices. Prospec­tive clients who are strug­gling with a prob­lem need to trust that you’ll help them with it. And that takes time. You may have to be will­ing to be around for a while before they’re will­ing to trust you enough to buy from you.

Those are my thoughts on the world of free, but I’m not so arro­gant that I think they are the only solu­tions. Per­haps some of you have some that work for you. I’d like to hear them, not only for myself, but to help others.

So feel …um…free to share.