Helping Others Is Your Most Valuable Offering Focus on providing value and you won't have to wonder how to grow your business.
By Sujan Patel Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Lawyer, Civil War veteran and political leader Robert Ingersoll famously said, "We rise by helping others."
I've found this true. My business grew 300 percent in a single year with a combination of helping others and growth hacking my content strategy. My approach to giving without expecting anything in return is authentic. At the same time, it's true that helping others can dramatically benefit your business.Helping is the new economic currency that can revolutionize businesses in every industry. Here's what to expect if you take this new approach to your business.
See big paydays in mentorship.
According to MicroMentor, mentored businesses increased their revenue by 83%, while non-mentored businesses only increased revenue by 16 percent. Meanwhile, 83 percent of mentored businesses survived, while only 74 percent of non-mentored businesses stayed afloat. There's not a lot of room for interpretation here: mentoring and helping others directly impacts business.
But does offering mentorship affect your own business? Absolutely. Today, our generations young and old mentor each other. It's not uncommon for Millennials to mentor their own managers on technology and social media marketing, while the Baby Boomer mentors talk career longevity and management styles.
Make rapid connections.
Reaching out to others doesn't have to take a lot of time. Make it a goal to invite someone out to lunch or coffee at least once a week and ask them what's going on in their business. Offer your insights and expertise. Listening to others makes a lasting impression and makes people feel valued.
Your new connections will remember your conversation and your desire to help them, and will be much more likely to pass on the word about your services if the occasion arises. I've met hundreds of amazing people this way, and even landed opportunities for silent business partnerships and consulting.
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Attract quality clients.
Eliminate the stress of lead generation in your business, and just offer your help instead. You'll end up on a path towards authentic relationship building where your potential clients already know who you are, what you're about, and what you can offer.
By the time they're ready to use your services, you've already become friendly and know exactly what they need. That's a far more effective approach than trying to attract a patchwork group of strangers and turn them into paying clients.
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Establish yourself as an authentic expert.
Having trouble getting a leg up on the competition? Crush them by showing your network how you can best serve them. When you take the time to help others, they get to see your expertise in action. Think of it as a mini-consultation, but with the expectation of building relationships and helping instead of just getting hired.
Offer your advice and insights, and help out with an area you have experience in. Your network is more likely to hire you after seeing what you can do, than just being told what you can do.
Benefit your community.
Helping others figure out how to grow their businesses and create passive income has always been a labor of love, and can make a direct impact on your community.
For example, I enjoy helping others invest in new real estate ventures with RealtyMogul and consequently help to develop their communities. I also help entrepreneurs and startups figure out how to scale their content marketing needs and grow their businesses. Everything you do can create a snowball effect that expands past a single business venture and trickles into the community.
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The value you create inspires confidence.
It is a leap of faith for someone to invest thousands in a new service. They are taking a chance on a company they've never worked with. But it's easier for them if you've been offering to help all along. They've already seen the value you bring to the table. Make every word of advice and strategy-brainstorm count.
Helping others is as simple as creating a valuable, free resource like a marketing newsletter. The more value you pack into everything you do, the more people will automatically trust that any paid product you offer is going to be phenomenal. And clients pay big for phenomenal services they see real value in.
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Become more productive happily.
The Journal of Social Psychology found that participants who performed a daily act of kindness reported higher levels of happiness than those who did not. That makes a lot of sense and holds with traditional wisdom.
But happiness also makes us more productive in our work. The Social Market Foundation and the University of Warwick found that participants' productivity increased by up to 20 percent when they were given happy triggers like watching comedy clips. The domino effect is powerful. Helping others makes us happier and consequently boosts productivity. From there we can thrive and improve our bottom line while growing our businesses.
We're really just scratching the surface of how helping can create a cycle of rapid success from business to business. I hope to see more people embracing this technique and making a real impact in their own personal and professional lives.
