Experts Have More Leverage Opportunities

By Gihan Perera © 2005 Gihan Perera. All rights reserved. Reprinted by Remacue with permission

Are you an acknowledged expert in your field? Yes? Are you sure? Or are you just the same as every other “expert” in your industry? The more you can establish yourself as an expert (and even better, as the expert), the greater leverage you have in your business.

If you’re just the same as everybody else, you’ll be compared with everybody else – on price, quality, speed of delivery, client service, and so on. But when you position yourself as an expert, your expertise will count for more than any of these other factors (If you require a heart transplant, you don’t say “Get me the cheapest heart surgeon”!)

Why become an expert?

Your expertise gives you the ability to leverage yourself into a position of choice with your clients – for a number of reasons:

• You stop competing on price. Your clients choose you because of your expertise, not because of the price of your products and services.
• You deliver value. When you establish a clear and direct connection between your fee and the increased value you bring to your clients, your fee becomes an investment rather than a cost.
• You stamp out the competition. Most businesses set themselves up as “shops”, not as “resource centres”. If you’re one of the few that delivers expertise rather than pushing products, you’ll have a clear competitive advantage.
• You work with your clients, not for them. Being an expert puts you in a different position in your client’s mind. An expert is a trusted adviser who helps the client to make a buying decision, not one of the many outsiders selling their wares.
• You solve problems rather than pushing products. Clients seeking your products and services are asking themselves the question, “How can I solve problem X?”, not “Where can I buy product/service Y?” Salespeople and order takers address the latter question, but experts make the real connections, because they answer the former.

So even if you’ve never thought of yourself as an expert before, it’s time to start thinking that way now!

What makes you an expert?

Experts have three characteristics in common:

1. hey have specialised knowledge;
2. That knowledge is rare or unique among their peers; and
3. That knowledge can be directly applied to solving problems for their clients.

The more narrowly you define yourself within these characteristics, the more valuable your expertise, and the better you can leverage it for profit. The most valuable experts are those with unique, highly specialised knowledge that solves critical client problems.

What kind of expert are you?

Broadly speaking, an expert falls into one (or more) of three categories:

1. hey know something that other people don’t know.
2. They have the same knowledge as others, but know how to apply that knowledge in a different way.
3. They know how to teach that knowledge – or the application of it – to others.

Experts in the first category are the knowledge experts who invent something new – whether it’s a new product, new management theory or a new way of doing things. Some speakers, authors, consultants and management gurus fall into this category. People buy their expertise because it gives them something new.

In the second category, the application expert takes existing knowledge and applies it in a different way. Their skill involves finding out a client’s requirements and then bringing together the resources required to fill these requirements.

The third type of expert – the education expert – knows how to transfer knowledge. The expertise they teach, and even the way it’s applied, doesn’t have to be unique, but they know how to teach it. Many trainers, authors, consultants, coaches and facilitators fall into this category.

If you’re already in the business of selling “information”, you’ll be able to see yourself already in the categories above – probably as a knowledge expert or an education expert.

If you don’t fit either of these categories, you’re probably an application expert, even if you don’t know it yet! Many businesses could be in this category if only they thought about themselves this way.

For example:

• If you own a retail shop, you can advise your customers on how best to use the products that you sell, which makes you an expert in their eyes.
• If you’re a real estate agent, you’re a knowledge expert (about the property market) and an application expert (you can show your vendor clients how to present their property for sale, and you can show your buyer clients how to select their ideal property).
• If you own a book shop, the information experts and the education experts are the authors of the books you sell, but you’re the application expert who can advise readers on which books will best suit their reading preferences.
• If you operate a professional service firm – for example, an accounting practice – you’re an information expert (about the taxation laws, for example), but so is every other accountant. Position yourself differently by increasing your portfolio of services to include financial planning, wealth creation and even life coaching.

The key is to position yourself as an expert first, and then use that positioning to create leverage opportunities for working with your clients.

Gihan Perera is an expert in creating leverage for profit. He finds hidden income opportunities in businesses, analysing what they are already doing and identifying ways to create extra cash flow with very little extra effort. For more information visit www.firststep.com.au