Giving away a great deal of what you sell, for free, is such a good thing to do in business. For the confident and the expert.
I sat down with Gordon Ramsey last week in one of his restaurants, in London, and we spoke about the way he makes Gordon Ramsay’s Cottage Pie. We were eating Gordon Ramsay’s Cottage Pie as we spoke.
(I actually didn’t sit down with Gordon Ramsey last week in one of his restaurants, in London, to speak about the way he makes Gordon Ramsay’s Cottage Pie. I wasn’t eating Gordon Ramsay’s Cottage Pie either. I’m just pretending I did to illustrate a point).
Here’s how my made up conversation with Gordon went:
ME: Bloody hell Gordon. This cottage pie is fantastic! What’s the recipe? I bet that’s a trade secret isn’t it eh, Gordon? I bet that’s locked away in a safe somewhere isn’t it eh, Gordon?
GORDON: No it’s not fucking locked away anywhere. It’s not a fucking secret at all. I’ll tell you the recipe no fucking problem. Then you can fucking fuck off out of my fucking restaurant ok?
ME: Oh. OK. Thank you.
Gordon then told me every single ingredient in Gordon Ramsay’s Cottage Pie. Then he told me the exact proportions of one ingredient to another and, over a full ten minutes, Gordon told me the exact methodology he adopts in his the three star restaurants to make Gordon Ramsay’s Cottage Pie.
I still wanted Gordon Ramsay’s Cottage Pie though. That he made. In his restaurant. Because, somehow, I know I’d not do it the same.
Giving away a great deal of what you sell, for free, is such a good thing to do in business. For the confident and the expert.
If you want to build a community for the ‘not yet’ prospects, get them to sign up to your community and send them a newsletter worth reading, factsheets, training course elements they can use – and more. When they’re ready, they’ll buy.
If you really do believe in the change you want to make, let the world – including your competitors – know how to do it too. Unless you’re bullshitting of course. And instead of ‘let’s change the world in this way’ what you really mean is ‘I know how to do this thing and I just pretend to care about doing it for the grater good because I just want to make money for me.’
Brewdog care about creating more flavoursome beer. They have published the recipe of every single beer they’ve ever made, online. Tony Chocolonely believe in fairer supply chains in global chocolate production. If you want to know how they do it, just ask, even if you’re Cadbury’s, and they’ll tell you so you can do it too.
We still buy Brewdog.
We still buy Tony Chocolonely.
And I’ll still go back to see my friend Gordon’s restaurant again, to buy Gordon Ramsey’s Cottage Pie.
Giving away a great deal of what you sell, for free, is such a good thing to do in business. For the confident and the expert.
Just before I left Gordon’s restaurant, I thanked him. Here’s how it went:
ME: Thank. you Gordon, for sharing all you know about Gordon Ramsay’s Cottage Pie.
GORDON: Fuck off.