Want to succeed today and guarantee long term success? Become a subject matter expert in your field. This is because selling is no longer effective; people don’t really want to just buy your product or service; they want to learn and be educated from the best.
On The Small Business Radio Show this week, Dorie Clark talks about how your ideal path to success is to become a recognized expert in your industry. She certainly has done that being named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers 50 and honored as the #1 Communication Coach in the world at the Marshall Goldsmith Coaching Awards.
With more competition, Dorie believes every business is a commodity. She thinks that the way we protect our business and get paid premium prices is to distinguish ourselves and our companies as the top experts in the field. According to Dorie, customers want to buy “peace of mind from a trusted source and are willing to pay more for it.”
Become An Expert with These Steps
Start becoming an expert and get your ideas known. Dorie describes three components in her “Recognized Expert Methodology.” They help you do this successfully:
- Content Create: You must share your ideas consistently over a long period of time. Start out by interviewing other credible people and commenting on their point of view.
- Social Proof: You need to display your credibility from affiliations with brands, testimonials and reputable publications.
- Network: Other experts need to have heard about you and then recommend you.
Dorie believes it is perfectly acceptable to be very broad in your expertise. That happens in the beginning until you figure out what you don’t want to do. Do that rather figuring out exactly what you want to do. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Dorie says this is the time for exploration. But persistence is important. Dorie thinks so many people give up along the way. She reminds us that her area of expertise was honed over 10 years.
Listen to the entire interview on The Small Business Radio Show.
Image: dorieclark.com