By Chuck Boyce
Prospects and customers are looking to identify with leaders within an industry to do business with. By positioning yourself as an authority in your space, it really makes you the go-to person, the sought-after thought leader for your space. Prospects pursue you, instead of you chasing them.
So what does it take to claim your authority position? What does it mean to be the authority?
Prospects are looking for leaders, for authorities, that have attributes that they aspire to. It’s important to keep that in mind. Do you exhibit those attributes yourself?
For example, if you’re a social media expert, your prospects would expect you have a large online social media presence, and someone that is looking to build a large online following for themselves would want to work with somebody that similarly had a large online presence.
Prospect are looking for authorities that have qualities that they identified and they recognize within themselves. People like to work with people that they feel are like them because they know that they’re going to understand the situations that they come from and what they do.
Finally, they want an authority that instills confidence. They need to believe that you can solve this problem. They have this pain or challenge that they are trying to overcome. The prospect needs to trust that you are the person that can make all their dreams come true.
Do you have what it takes to be an authority?
One of the biggest misconceptions about being an authority is that you must know everything about your field to be an authority. No once can truly know everything. This is really common limiting belief that some people will hang onto as a reason not to take this step.
There are three basic things you need to be an authority.
You must know more than your prospects and client.
You must be able to help them solve their problem.
You must be willing to help them solve their problem.
It’s not about calling yourself the expert; it’s not about knowing it all. It’s about knowing more than your prospects or customers, being able and willing to help them solve their problems.
Ultimately, the authority is an educator and an advocate for those people who they help. They plant their seeds of authority through videos, blog posts, articles, books, etc.
These seeds take root, and it is the people you help as an authority, that will start to refer to you as the expert. The authority understands we give value first, and we give that value freely to attract new business.
Chuck Boyce is a serial entrepreneur based in Newark, DE. Connect with him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChuckBoyceJr or LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/cboyce
