5 Ways to Turn Your Knowledge Into Sales

As a small business owner, you are a top salesperson for your business. In some cases, in fact, you might be the only salesperson. What you might not know is that, as the owner of your business, you are also a wise expert full of wonderful teachings, and there are several simple ways to turn those teachings into sales right now.

No one likes a preachy hard sell. It makes us feel uncomfortable. It makes us get defensive. Sometimes it even makes us feel guilty. You know what I'm talking about. On the other hand, most of us love to purchase products and services that make our lives easier, better, prettier, safer, etc. Many of us, in fact, are constantly in search of the next best thing that is going to improve our every day.

What's interesting, however, is that most people prefer to find our way to products and services through information and knowledge we pick up along the way. We react positively when we hear about a great solution, rather than a great product. When we see a beneficial service working in someone's life, rather than inside a typical sales brochure, we take notice. So as a salesperson, this is the type of buyer's thinking you need to tap into and consider when creating your sales tools.

There are many ways you can demonstrate what you know and teach potential clients the things they want to do and understand. Teach them, don't sell them, about the solutions your products and service have to offer. Show them, don't sell them, how your current clients put your products and services to use in their lives. Even let your current clients do a little teaching about your company's value and service quality.

Here are 5 Ways you can package your knowledge and turn it into a useful sales tool:

1. Make a how-to video in your area of expertise.
2. Turn your best presentations into a digital format.
3. Write a short informational e-book.
4. Create a favorable testimonial video clip from one of your best customers.
5. Maintain a blog with a daily informational tip.

But don't stop there.


In this age of technology and incredible web-based software applications, it's so easy to create knowledge-based information products that are easy to share. These types of multimedia teaching tools (a.k.a. sales tools) will allow you to inform a wide audience of clients and potential clients. And when you make your informational sales tools accessible in the digital world, your business and brand comes in a cut above the rest.

Here are 5 Easy Ways (and mostly FREE) you can share educational sales tools online:

1. Turn a PowerPoint presentation into an online slideshow via Slideshare (FREE).
   
   • Easy to add audio to make it a webinar.
   • Provides easy code to embed the slideshow on your website or blog.
2. Start a blog for your business at Blogger or WordPress (both FREE) and write daily on your expertise.
3. Send out monthly educational text or HTML e-newsletters to subscribers with iContact (FREE 15-day trial and then plans start at $10/month) or Constant Contact (FREE 60-day trial and then plans start at $15/month).
4. Hold and record instant webinars through ReadyTalk (FREE 30-day trial and then $49/month). Then publish your webinars as podcasts or upload them to YouTube (FREE) to share online.
   
   • YouTube provides easy code to embed the video on your website or blog.
5. Turn a great informational article into downloadable PDF e-book with your own PDF software or via Adobe's Create PDF (first five PDFs FREE and then $10/month) to share or sell.

You are the expert. You hold the wisdom. You know the tricks of your trade, so get out there and teach your clients. By communicating with potential clients from a standpoint of informing, you will be selling your products and services in a more positive, more value-forward way. And when your clients feel well-informed from the start, you set the perfect foundation for long-term trust and loyalty.