OK, OK, I realise Justin Bieber's not everyone's musical cup of tea – but there's a lot we can learn from how he's risen to fame.

Now I'm not talking about the marketing machine surrounding him today. I'm talking about how he started out.

He recorded videos of himself performing and posted them on youtube. He built a fan base by giving his “target clients” a sample of what he could do. Eventually his manager spotted him and it took off from there.

It's what Amazon do too with the Kindle. Rather than making you buy a book sight unseen, you get to download a couple of free chapters first to see if you like it.

All the best selling iPhone apps do the same. The free version of Angry Birds has been downloaded over 2 billion times – triggering hundreds of millions of dollars of sales for the business.

But it's not just an internet age phenomenon. Retail stores like Costco have been giving free samples of their food away for decades to shoppers as they browse the store.

Using free samples works partly because of reciprocation – you got something for free so you feel obliged to give something back.

But it mainly works because it reduces risk. You get to experience what you're considering buying to see if it's any good – whether it works for you.

In the world of consulting and coaching there are far too many “best kept secrets”. Far too many brilliant coaches or genius consultants who scrabble around for work.

And one of the key reasons is that no one knows how good they are.

They don't allow people to sample their work before they buy. They don't want to “give away the store”.

But from a client's perspective, it means that hiring them is a big risk. They don't know exactly what they'll be getting. And they don't look any different to all the other coaches and consultants who say they're great too.

So how do you “do a Bieber”? How do you allow your potential fans to sample what you do before they buy?

You've got a week to think it over!

In next Sunday's email I'll be sharing some successful and less successful models for how consultants and coaches can do this.