When most businesses think about growth, they focus on sales tactics, marketing campaigns, and advertising budgets. But some of the most successful companies have taken a radically different approach: they don’t preach, they teach.
Jim Sinegal, the hot dog-defending co-founder of Costco, offered some simple advice to CEOs and founders. “If you’re not spending 90% of your time teaching, you’re not doing your job.” He was talking about management and leadership, but this lesson applies to customer communications as well. Founders, CEOs, or any other company executive have spent more time thinking about their offerings than anyone else. They deeply understand why the company exists and are in an unparallelled position to educate.
Beyond Sales
Peter Thiel echoes this sentiment, saying, “Complex sales works best when you don’t have ‘salesmen’ at all.” At Palantir, CEO Alex Karp spends about 25 days a month on the road, engaging directly with clients and prospects. With deals ranging from $1 million to $100 million, it’s clear why buyers prefer conversing with the CEO rather than a VP of Sales.
The lesson is broader than the deal size. Leaders are in a prime position to educate their customers. Educated customers who understand the product, the roadmap, and the mission, will buy more, and become advocates.
Education as a Service (EaaS)
Consider Geek Squad, which has built its business through education, not just installation. More than technology, they offer hospitality, teaching customers how to get the most out of their purchases. This leads to satisfaction, loyalty, and more purchases.
Education as a Service transforms nervous buyers into savvy users, creating a flywheel effect. For Geek Squad, that caught the eye of Best Buy, who acquired them and used the popular service as their primary customer support arm. Not just to troubleshoot problems but to educate their customers.
HubSpot uses education as well. When I have questions about sales or marketing and head to the Google machine, it almost always offers me a resource from HubSpot.
The marketing software firm attracts customers through relevant and helpful content rather than direct selling. Through their HubSpot Academy, they offer free courses and certifications that teach people how to use their products and educates small business owners on relevant business skills.
They are teaching entrepreneurship, because they know that more entrepreneurs will lead to more software sales.
This strategy not only empowers customers but also fosters long-term loyalty and advocacy. By providing these resources, HubSpot is encouraging customers to engage with their brand and mission. As their audience levels up, guess what, they just might need software to support their goals.
HubSpot is there.
This approach fundamentally changes the relationship between company and customer. Instead of pushing products through marketing, you’re pulling customers forward through education.
The Transformation
The core difference lies in focus:
• Marketing attempts to convince; teaching seeks to empower.
• Marketing fosters dependency; teaching builds independence.
• Marketing focuses on the next sale; teaching aims for enduring success.
When your focus is on teaching, you move from transaction to transformation, and you build trust. Eventually, you start building a tribe—a community. And that community becomes a partner in the success of everyone in it. Successful customers naturally spread the word.
This shift, from salesmanship to education, not only strengthens customer relationships but also builds robust, sustainable business models.
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