Top 10 Techniques to Become Recognized as the Expert
The greatest position you can put yourself in is to be a recognized authority in your field. It is much easier than you might think.
First, think of someone in your field who is extremely successful. What have they done to become well known? You will want to emulate the path they lead towards success. It isn’t an overnight remedy; it takes time, a solid plan and focus. A word of caution, most of those who fail, do so because they get distracted or give up before they have achieved their goals.
Once you have established your area of expertise, you will want to develop a level of visibility which will support your endeavors. It is important to think in terms of being unique. You are unique so you will need to establish yourself as being different than the rest of the crowd.
The basic way of keeping up to date on your industry is to research your topic. When you spend 30 minutes a day learning about your niche topic, (which is the equivalent of attending classes 10 hours a month), you will become an expert in your field in one year’s time, or even less. If you are serious about becoming an expert, you must find the time to study before work, on the way to work, at lunch, after work, or before going to bed. If you can’t find a time when you are not uninterrupted make an appointment with yourself and stick to it.
2. I have found when I read every book I can find on my subject matter, I’m able to keep up with what is going on in my niche. The level of knowledge I have gleaned from other’s research has been an accumulative goldmine.
Make notes in the margins or make a list of questions you would like to ask the author and then contact them by email or a letter. You will be surprised at how responsive they will be. Ben Franklin said that every penny you invest in books will cause your purse to overflow. Books are great teachers.
3. Another great resource is to subscribe to your industry trade journals. Nearly every industry has a trade organization that publishes a monthly or quarterly trade journal. The information is usually up to date and unique to the industry. Make notes, memorize quotes, contact the authors of articles that interest you, and learn what’s going on in your industry. Refer to the Encyclopedia of Associations which will give you the contact information you will need.
4. One of the best methods of increasing your level of expertise is to develop relationships with other experts in your field. You may start by reading their books and listening to their audio programs. It will be helpful to learn what you can about them before contacting them in order to provide a qualified reason for them to speak with you. You can interview them for an article, teleseminar or show you might produce. One of the best tactics is to invite them to lunch. They are rarely inaccessible; they are only inaccessible when they don’t feel appreciated.
Accumulate credentials along the way. In the early stages of becoming recognized as an expert, people might require seeing your credentials. A college education, experience, certification, awards, etc. furthers your credibility.
One of the shortcomings some adhere to when beginning their business is to assume everyone is a potential client. Decide on a target a market and learn everything you can about that market. It is much easier to become a big fish in a small pond than a big fish in the ocean.
It will help you tremendously to write articles and submit them to trade journals, newspapers and magazines. You will be surprised at the long term effects your articles will produce. Be sure you provide the editor with a tag line that includes your name, credentials, telephone number, e-mail address, and an offer from your web site to drive traffic there.
4. Record your material to an mp3 file using your computer and a headset. Speak as though you’re talking with your favorite client. There are YouTube videos to help you with the technicalities and once you’ve recorded a couple of samples, you’ll find it is easy to do. Burn your one hour audio to a CD and make your own CD label. I put my CDs in DVD jackets and print the labels and jacket covers on my printer. Once I am sure of the content and reception of the material, I’ll send it to a CD burner source and get 20-50 burned at one time.
5. Speak for free until you are able to develop the resources to become a paid speaker. Look for opportunities to speak at meetings where your customers and prospects gather. This includes associations, corporations, churches, Meetup groups, chambers, etc. Virtually every organization needs speakers who have something interesting to share with their members. You can find these organizations listed in the newspaper, on the Internet and often in your local chamber directories.
Speak for a fee once you’ve established yourself and you are able to produce a seminar and charge a fee for your presentation. It’s a fantastic way to demonstrate your expertise and provide valuable information to the people who need it. If you know your material and have the ability to teach others, you will be recognized as an expert by your audience in a very short time. Hosting a seminar is a lot of work, but the rewards are well worth the effort. Research how the big seminar companies such as SkillPath, The American Management Association, Stephen Covey and others market their programs. Subscribe to their mailing list to keep up with their materials, attend their seminars and watch how they accomplish their success.
7. Write a custom introduction to make sure when you’re speaking you get your specific accolades and points of interest delivered to your audience so they understand your accomplishments. This will save you and your host potential embarrassment by being prepared.
8. Create a web site that people want to visit often. You must have a web presence if you want to be recognized as an expert in your field. Your site needs to be enticing to your customers so they will be encouraged to return often. Offer how-to articles and audio interviews with interesting people. You can offer special discounts to the people who sign up on your guest list. What are your competitor’s web sites offering? How can you do it better?
9. Write a book on your area of expertise. Other than speaking, this is the one method which will catapult you into a level of success superseding your competition. Your book can be an accumulation of many smaller ideas (chapters) you develop through your professional experience. It is best to make an outline of what you would want to share and then by following the outline, it will take less than six weeks to complete your book and in only six hours a day.
Later you can write additional books specifically for your target audience. Don’t worry about getting your book into a bookstore or how many copies you sell, the book will speak for itself when it comes to influencing your prospects to work with you or to gain high paying speaking engagements.
10. Host your own radio show. More and more people are listening to Internet radio programs, downloading them to their ipods, phones or other mp3 players. They listen while they’re working, working out, driving or even doing chores. Your show could consist of interviews of others who are interesting or experts in your field. Speak in small sound bytes, such as 30 to 60 second bursts of information. It is easier for your listeners to keep interested if you keep it conversational. When you provide entertaining and worthwhile content, your audience will become loyal, refers others and grow rapidly.
Establishing yourself as an expert will happen rapidly when you are the host of a radio program. But you can also become a substantial influence when you are a guest on someone else’s radio show. Start by calling local talk radio programs or search for them on the Internet.
You can record your radio interviews and include them on your website, burn them to CD’s and offer them free to your audience so they will be able to take your message along with them or even offer to donate them for events to get your name mentioned.
Keep this list handy and refer to it on a regular basis. You’ll find yourself standing at the top in no time.
by Sharyn Abbott
www.AuthorTrainingPrograms.com