Free Advice

Source: Golden Practices

The following excerpts are from a blog entry about the excellent blog of a dentist. It’s worthwhile to use this in helping you start your own blog, but we wanted to spotlight some good advice within Michelle’s blog about free advice:

Free advice. Yeah, this is a tough one. But it boils down to common sense.

I think there are two kinds of professional service providers when it comes to marketing: those who share information liberally and realize it more than pays for itself, and those who feel the need to bill every minute they help someone.

In my years in marketing accountants and lawyers, I have seen that the former approach is much more fruitful, long-term. Look at the greatest rainmakers you know, and you too may observe that they probably follow the “share liberally” policy when it comes to helping people out, whether the recipient of the help will ever become a client or not.

This is how to develop a reputation as a caring, helpful person—what most people want in their professional service providers! And it is also how people witness, first hand, and are reassured, that you are a “pro” at what you do.

If you are worried about liability in advice provided, don’t. That is what disclaimers are for. See Dr. Brandon’s excellent disclaimer and look at the legal lingo of other blogs for ideas on how to CYA.

For the complete entry, click here and see the January 6, 2009, posting “Dentist is Shining Professional Service Blog Example.”

From Golden Practices, the blog of Michelle Golden, http://www.goldenmarketing.typepad.com/.