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Great article from author and business consultant, Bob Bly, on giving away your "free advice" when it actually might not be wanted.

See if you agree with him...

The other day a freelance website designer, sent me the kind of e-mail I've gotten many times before.

"I just visited your site, and it is not working for you as hard as it could be," he said.

He then went on to detail a list of flaws.

Some of them, being of a technical nature, I could not understand. Others were things I was aware of but haven't addressed - either because they are not relevant, not important, or I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Of course, he hinted that he could fix these errors and make my site much better - for a fee.

Did I hire him?

Not on your life.

Why not?

Because I hate getting unsolicited advice ... and many of your prospects feel the same way.

As with every other area of life, my rule for selling is simply this: Never give unsolicited advice.

Why is unsolicited advice as ineffective as a sales tool as it is in personal relationships? There are four main reasons.

• To begin with, it's criticism.

People, by and large, only do business with people they like.

When someone criticizes you - especially if you haven't asked his opinion - does that make you like that person? Or does it turn you off?

Even solicited criticism can hurt and anger people.

For instance, if your significant other asks, "Do these pants make me look fat?" ... and you answer, "Yes, they make your rear look huge" ... you will probably be sleeping on the living room couch tonight.

If, without being asked, you volunteer that your significant other looks fat in those pants ... you will probably be sleeping in the car.

Keep in mind that when you tell prospects you don't like something - say, the design of their website - you are telling them that they goofed up, either by choosing the wrong vendor or by doing the work poorly themselves.

• When you give unsolicited advice, your critique - even if accurate and sincere - is viewed as biased and self-serving, not objective and helpful.

It should be obvious to anyone but an idiot that when a website designer e-mails negative comments to site owners about their website designs, it is a marketing tactic.

Therefore, it's obvious that DF's goal was not to help me. It was to drum up business.

• Offering unsolicited advice doesn't work, because people don't value advice unless they pay for it.

If I had hired this guy as my Web advisor and asked him for his opinion, I would have listened more closely. Because I asked for it and was paying for it.

But the recipient of unsolicited advice pays nothing for it. And so, that's his perceived value of its worth: nothing.

• Finally, when a vendor calls a potential client with unsolicited criticism, he is, by definition, making a cold call.

Cold calling is rarely the best marketing strategy.

Reason: The prospect thinks, "If this vendor is sitting at his desk making cold calls, how busy and successful could he be?"

Answer in the prospect's mind: not very.

And as consultant Howard Shenson noted in his "Busy Doctor" theory, patients/customers want to work with those doctors/vendors they perceive as being busy and successful - not with those who seem hungry and need the work.

I think his advice is right on target.  As a sales professional, make sure you absorb these observations and make sure you're approaching your customers correctly in a way that will benefit your business goals.