You've got to deliver value before you ever ask for anything from a prospect. Hi, I'm Dave Lorenzo. This is the Do This, Sell More show.

And today we're going to talk about five ways you can deliver value to a prospect so he will do business with you in the future. You can't push your way in and force yourself on somebody or force your product or service on somebody anymore. The days of knocking on doors, cold calling, and trying to convince somebody, anybody, to have a conversation with you about your product or service are over.

These days you can deliver value in the form of educational content or by connecting people with other people on social media via email so that they can help one another. And that's what I'm going to encourage you to do. I'm going to share with you five ways you can deliver value first and then look to make a sale.

It is easier than ever to deliver value before you ever ask someone for their money. These are five powerful ways you can deliver value before you ever ask for anybody's money in business. All right.

Way number one is to educate people on things they can do in their industry to be more successful and more effective. This is called thought leadership. You can do it by delivering speeches, by writing articles, by sending out helpful videos like I'm doing right now.

There are dozens if not hundreds of ways to educate people on ways they can be more successful in your industry. I encourage you to do that and share valuable, incredible educational content with people before you ever ask for anything. Why? Three reasons.

Number one, it makes you an expert. You're not a salesperson pushing your way in. You're an expert sharing guidance, sharing advice, sharing valuable content and information before you ever ask for anything.

Number two, it helps you position yourself so that you are the person who is the number one person in your field. You're the person that everyone has to go to because you've differentiated yourself from everyone else. You don't just have credibility.

You are the ultimate person. You are the thought leader because you're the one out there sharing the educational content. And the third reason is because it increases your visibility.

You will be able to reach hundreds of people instead of dozens of people. Knocking on doors and cold calling is a way to reach dozens of people. Educating people by producing videos or giving speeches or writing articles is a way to reach hundreds of people.

This method, the thought leadership method of creating valuable content and distributing it via social media or via speech or via articles. This way of connecting with people first, delivering value first before asking for anything, it increases your visibility, it increases your credibility, and it differentiates you. Those are the three reasons you should create thought leadership content first and deliver it to people before you ever try and sell anything to them.

The second way to deliver value is to make an introduction to someone who can do business with your prospective client before you ever ask for anything from a client. You connect them with someone who can do business with them. Bring a client, drag a client into their office, introduce them to the client, set them up to succeed, and that person will sit up and take notice and think to themselves, this is somebody I need to see more of.

This is someone I want in my life. It's somebody who's interested in putting money in my pocket. People who put money in my pocket are people who are valuable to me.

I want to hear what they have to say. You want to be valuable to a prospective client. Introduce them to someone who can do business with them first and then follow up with a sales appointment.

Deliver value first by delivering money in their pocket. Bring them a client, then ask them to do business with you. The third way, the third way to deliver value to your prospective clients is to help them recruit a new employee.

The labor market is tough. Finding qualified candidates for all positions is tough. You can help your prospective client by bringing in new employees into their office.

Look, if you bring in one new employee into a prospect's office every month, that prospect is going to think you're out to help their best interests and when they think you're out to help their best interests, they're going to want to do business with you. Recruit employees for your prospects and they'll give you the opportunity to help you make more money. You help their business, they're going to want to help you recruit an employee for them and they will reward you by doing business with you.

The fourth way to connect and deliver value before you ever ask for anything is to solve a pressing problem. And I'm not talking about solving a problem with your product or service. If your prospective client has a problem and you know someone who can help them solve that problem, make the introduction.

If you can go out of your way and help them solve that pressing problem, even if it doesn't involve your product or your service, do it. They will welcome you in to demonstrate your product or service and they'll probably do business with you. When you're out to help your prospects solve problems, you are a person your prospective client wants to be around.

And when you're that person, they will buy your products or service from you. They will have a relationship with you and that's what it's all about. The final way, and it's so obvious, the final way to deliver value before you ever ask for anything in return from your prospect is simply to listen.

Walk into your prospect's office and connect with them on a human level. Ask them how things are going. Ask them if there's anything that they need help with.

Listen to what they have to say. Ask them what's going on in their industry. Ask them what's going on in the local market.

Just be there for them. Listen, be a sounding board. Help them from a business to business perspective, a business owner to business owner perspective.

You're both in the same boat. You're both business owners. You're both trying to succeed.

See what you can do just by listening. Being a helpful ear, being someone who's there for them, just to help them get through the day sometimes is enough to say, this is somebody I want to be in a relationship with. Think about your relationship with your best friend or the relationship you have with the person who's most important in your life.

What do you value most? You value just the amount of time this person gives to you from a perspective of hearing you out. As business owners, we all have a very limited pool of people we can count on to share our problems with, who can acknowledge us and tell us that they're grateful that we're here and that we're valuable. Be that person for your prospects and they will want you to do business with them over and over again.

That's the foundation of relationships. Good communication starts with listening. Go out, talk to your prospects, but more importantly, listen to your prospects, hear what they're saying and be available for them as a business resource and they will welcome you in with open arms.

Remember deliver value first and then look for how you can connect with someone and ask for their business afterwards. This is the Do This Sell More show. We're here every day with a brand new show.

I'm looking forward to seeing you right back here again tomorrow. Until I do, make sure you do this and sell more.