The Business of Authority

Why would you want to become an authority? Talking Points Main reasons to become an authority Making more money Choice of opportunities Clearly defined thought leadership Building a business model that suits the way you think and work Shorter sales cycle Simplified selling Power to influence More effectiveness The difference between an expert and a thought leader Energizing others to further the mission Momentum over the course of a career Stages along the way to being an authority Quotable Quotes “The way that an authority is in the market is automatically going to be seen as a luxury purchase.” –JS “Really, most of us didn’t get into this business to sell, and what we like about the selling process is that we’re solving a problem.” –RM “An authority to me, has an imperative to teach other people, and to keep thinking about what’s the next thing in their area of expertise.” –RM “My way or the highway, to me, is not a leader.” –JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How can you align client experience with your brand? Talking Points How client experience relates to brand How appealing to potential clients differs from the actual client experience Disconnects in marketing What bad client experiences feel like Aligning experience with intent How technology contributes to your customers’ experiences and your brand Your responsibility to clients Customer satisfaction as a product Being professional without being fake What being a pro looks like How the clothing you choose speaks to your brand Finding clients for whom you’re a good fit Client feedback Quotable Quotes “Marketing and branding should not be about pretty pictures and telling a story that is not real.” –RM “I can feel the difference when I onboard people now, I can feel them sit back and relax.” –JS “In an ideal world we use technology in a way that makes our brands stronger, that ties people more closely to us.” –RM “My actual product is customer satisfaction.” –JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Thinking through the ramifications of the experience economy. Talking Points How the economy has changed over time The journey from providing services to providing experiences and then transformations Customization Clients or customers as guests or aspirants How language can change the way you think about your work Creating memorable experiences Work as theater The backstage part of the theater Avoiding dissonance Quotable Quotes “If you’re like me and you want to charge for outcomes and not hours, then it’s incumbent...to try to be climbing up that progression.” –JS “Even transformation experiences, there should be some parts of those that are fun.” –RM “We’ve been taught we have to take ourselves very seriously because we’re an expert and we’re becoming an authority on whatever it is so we must be formal and we have to do all those things. But really, it is theater.” –RM “When you’re on stage it doesn’t matter if you’re in the performance or in pre or post. It all counts.” –JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Are you in the transformation business? Talking Points Applying the concepts in The Experience Economy to small authority businesses Moving from economies to experiences and transformations How better experiences can lead to worse service How acting factors into your business model Why acting isn’t equivalent to being fake or phony Pricing transformations The stages of transformation Choosing who you work for When to reject clients Guiding transformation Quotable Quotes “We only ever change through the experiences that we have.” –JP “Understand that embracing theater as a model requires zero capital or equipment. It just requires understanding that you’re onstage.” –JP “Acting is simply being intentional about everything that you do.” –JP “With transformations, the customer is the product. The inputs you do, the activities you do, the functional things that you do, the whats – don’t matter unless the customer achieves the aspiration that they want.” –JP Joe’s Bio Co-author of The Experience Economy, Joseph Pine II is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and management advisor to Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial start-ups alike. In 1999, Joe and his partner James H. Gilmore wrote the best-selling book The Experience Economy: Work is a Theatre & Every Business a Stage, which demonstrates how goods and services are no longer enough; what companies must offer today are experiences – memorable events that engage each customer in an inherently personal way. Related Links Joe Pine The Experience Economy Strategic Horizons Joe on Twitter LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How do you keep your network in motion? Talking Points What it means to keep your network moving How to keep reaching out on your radar Scheduling Sensitivity to organic opportunities to reach out Maintaining relationships Keeping tabs on what’s happening in your industry and who needs to know about it Working with people you like Helping people Making introductions Quotable Quotes “We’re in the relationship business at the end of the day.” –JS “There will be things that trigger your thinking of someone.” –RM “It is about helping. That’s really what this is all about. It’s about helping people.” –RM “Almost always, at least with the folks I work with, the thing that the other person needs to help you is more specificity.” –JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Is It Marketing BS Or Genius? Talking Points The $36 jump rope Sometimes you pay a premium for things outside of the thing you’re actually buying, like an experience or a lifetime guarantee Why it’s important to understand why people are willing to pay more money for a thing or a service Understanding how your audience likes to get information Getting past the demographics Being clear about your values Best is subjective Noticing the story that you tell when you recommend something or give a gift Picking your battles Connecting a desire to a product Quotable Quotes “When it’s real, it’s not BS.” –RM “It’s not just the information transfer. If it were just information transfer, then everything would probably be a book or an audio file. You’d do everything in one medium. But you don’t.” –JS “You’re not making it up, it’s your story but you pick the points you want to tell and how to tell them based on what the pull is between you and your audience.” –RM “If you’re trying to help people who are into renewable energy, it’s going to be pretty hard to sell to climate deniers. Pick your battles.” –JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

What is the best home for your content? Talking Points Controlling your content Are you building someone else’s platform with your content? How search engine and social media platforms get in between creators and their audience Putting the same content in more than one place Knowing how much traffic you’re getting when you post on a platform Guesting on someone else’s podcast Sharing audiences Yelp as an example of not being able to control your content Platforms that can help you build an audience can also take you down Hedging your bets Breaking through the gatekeeper to get to an audience Working with editors Custom domains Controlling your links Quotable Quotes “Google being between me and the people I want to help – I don’t like it.” –JS “You do have to have control, at the end of the day, of your content.” –RM “If I’m going to be chipping away at something every day, you’d better believe I want those chips to fall in my basket, not someone else’s basket.” –JS “Own your content. Let it live with you.” –RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How can you keep producing killer content? Talking Points How to measure engagement What’s repeatable about going viral Knowing your audience Understanding your audience’s baseline knowledge Terminology How often you should put out content Why you should write every day How often podcasts and videos should come out Separating what you have to do from what adds value but isn’t strictly necessary People trust videos more if they’re more natural Quotable Quotes “Killer content is content that engages your ideal audience.” –RM “If you know who you’re talking to, it dramatically increases the odds of being able to help them.” –JS “If you go from publishing weekly to every weekday, that’s five times more chances at bat.” –JS “There’s something about being accountable every single day that makes you literally look around you to find that inspiration.” –RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Are you ready to take your summer back? Talking Points How client work downshifts in the summer What you can do instead of client work during the slow season Planning marketing for the fall Taking care of things that you’ve been putting off or that weren’t high enough priority to get done at other times of the year What energizes you during the summer months Using the block of time to get yourself ready for the next thing or set yourself up for a new phase in your business Diversifying your income streams Ranking clients Rethinking your technology choices Cleaning up broken links and stale language Avoiding the hamster wheel Quotable Quotes “There’s all these little things that you can do that don’t usually make it up to the top of your priority list.” –JS “Take your summer back. Don’t just sit there at the whim of the client” –RM “There’s something about having a great idea to work on in the summer that’s energizing.” –RM “So when things slow down it does, for me at least, give me that headspace to be like “let’s sit back for a second and think about what’s working, what’s not working as well and what I could do to do more of the stuff that’s working.” –JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Do you have an unconventional niche? Talking Points How to choose a specialization What you can find out when you go deep into a specific area Picking a niche that’s intriguing to you How much choice people really want The Why Conversation Focusing your limited resources onto a specific point Why you should do a search to see what clients will see when they search for businesses like yours Incorporating your interests or passions into your branding Why money-based decisions don’t help you find your niche Who you want your message to resonate with and who you don’t want it to resonate with Making changes for the better Experimenting with a change in order to test the market Quotable Quotes “Best practices only get you so far.” –JS “The easiest way to solve problems is to focus on some aspect of who you’re serving and figure out how your expertise can tackle that problem.” –RM “It’s like hope is not a strategy—luck is not a strategy either.” –RM “If you want things to be better, well, better is a change. You have to change something if you want things to be better.” –JS Sharing is caring! If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a few friends who might find it useful. Thanks! LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How do you handle the twilight zone between when a client buys your stuff and you actually start delivering it? Why the time between purchase and delivery is the twilight zone Different twilight zones for different products Explaining the onboarding process Giving buyers something to do while they wait for what they ordered Setting expectations Helping clients trust the process Envisioning what you want the client experience to be What happens in more high-touch sales scenarios How much contact you need when you’re billing by the hour Keeping clients engaged Quotable Quotes “You’re treating that book like a product, like a service, like part of your business. It’s not something that’s separate.” –RM “Even though I’m not winging it, I want it to feel like I’m not winging it.” –JS “For somebody to see that you’ve laid some breadcrumbs… it’s reinforcing. It builds confidence.” –RM “In a coaching situation, the person who’s being coached really does have to do all the heavy lifting.” –JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

What to do when you screw up. Talking Points How you can turn a screw-up situation around Thinking about how the story is going to be told How empathy can help you understand how the story will be told and how you can turn it around Asking clients to trust you after screwing up Avoiding defensiveness Helping clients dealing with difficult situations Responding to unsolicited criticism Remaining respectful in the face of aggressive criticism or complaints Quotable Quotes “We ask our clients to tell us what’s wrong, what isn’t working, to be vulnerable that they’re not perfect.” –RM “Step one for me when it happens is don’t get defensive.” –JS “Sometimes maybe it’s not about you.” –RM “Take a breath, think about the other person, try and be empathetic to their situation, try to see it through their eyes.” –JS Related Links: Getting More by Stuart Diamond Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

What do you need to do to build trust as an authority? Talking Points Charlie Green’s mathematical equation for determining trustworthiness Getting feedback about what you need to work on How your website or marketing materials could reveal gaps in credibility Seeing your credibility indicators through the eyes of your ideal client Demeanor as a credibility factor Making and keeping promises Consistency Being on time Intimacy Making yourself vulnerable Building intimacy by asking questions Taking the low-status role How to look for self-orientation on your website Quotable Quotes “The easy box to draw is what the world sees as credibility.” –RM “I’ve had people tell me a bunch of times that my demeanor is what convinced them.” –JS “In a service business there’s a whole lot of collaboration with your clients.” –JS “One way to build intimacy is to ask questions – about them. And listen to the answers.” –RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Charles Green, legendary author of The Trusted Advisor, shares years of wisdom on building trust with clients. Talking Points What a trusted advisor is Why people in the authority space want/need to be trusted advisors The trust equation How people view women and men in terms of trust Most trusted profession How taking risks builds trust Strength of ego The trust-building process Cues clients give that show they feel heard Trust mindset Social media and trust building What Charles would change now if he could How the book fits with Charles’s business model The evolution of the products and services Charles created around the book Quotable Quotes “A trusted advisor is someone you feel comfortable telling your innermost as well as your outermost thoughts.” –CG “The truth is trust doesn’t just aggregate naturally over time. It accrues in little step functions, moments when you say the right thing and somebody opens up to you.” –CG “If you aspire to be a trusted advisor to your clients, the wrong strategy would be sitting around aggressively waiting for the phone to ring.” –CG “We said it’s really not a data book, it’s more kind of a wisdom book.” –CG Related Links Charles Green Trusted Advisor Associates The Trusted Advisor - the book LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How do you define your competition? Talking Points Why you need to define your competition Brand neighborhoods Communicating with competitors Being choosy about who you work with Empathizing with potential clients An authority versus_ the_ authority What you can learn from sales interviews Defining yourself as well as the competition Researching the competition Quotable Quotes “I think it’s important for authorities to understand who around you you should pay attention to.” –RM “I find that a lot of people who I work with have a really hard time defining their unique difference.” –JS “I don’t want to take somebody on that really should be with someone else, because it’s not going to go well.” –JS “You’ve gotta get really clear on your special sauce.” –RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

The benefits of packaging up your expertise in novel ways. Talking Points The Lambda School Changes in Schwab’s financial planning model Value pricing Packaging your expertise Making your knowledge affordable to the people who you want to help Prioritizing money Connecting the dots for clients Diversifying your income stream Starting smaller at the beginning Knowing how your product can transform a business How past client testimonials can help you box your expertise Getting feedback before you’re ready to sell Quotable Quotes “You want the price of whatever you’re creating to reflect its value to your ideal user.” –RM “Sometimes money is more of a priority than a resource.” –JS “You can create a business model out of almost anything if you approach it as a business.” –RM “If you want to come at it from an expertise standpoint, the less me-focused it is, the easier it is for other people to connect the dots for you.” –JS Links The Lambda School Charles Schwab - new pricing model LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Do you know how to build trust? Talking Points Defining trust Pre-sale trust and post-sale trust Domain-specific trust How to project an image that elicits trust from the right kind of audience How consistency builds trust Why clarity is important Who should extend their trust first Building trust during sales calls Making an impression that inspires trust Designing a website that builds trust Making yourself easier to contact Creating a page on your website that answers some of the questions you get asked most frequently Writing the way that you talk Quotable Quotes “I feel like trust is just an implicit part of that relationship, and the more we can make it explicit, I think it’s easier.” –RM “If we trust first, then the other person has the opportunity to trust back.” –RM “I don’t even call it a sales call. I call it a sales interview, and it’s just like a job interview. It goes both ways.” –JS “Tell me if you have a customer service person and I’ll tell you whether or not you should have a chatbot.” –JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Do you know when to say yes – or no? Talking Points Mile markers for when you want to say yes or no Knowing the difference between opportunity and distraction Creating a strategy for choosing yes or no Conscious yes How saying yes to the wrong things can spiral Outsourcing when you need to say no Recognizing the kinds of people you want to say yes to Recognizing what is and isn’t a good fit The effect of maximizing productive yeses Quotable Quotes Without a strategy for your business, there’s no way to distinguish an opportunity from a distraction.” –JS “A 'Yes' can spiral into a whole bunch of unexpected work and distractions.” –JS “You don’t want a client nitpicking everything you’re doing.” –RM “It’s always easier to say yes to somebody who’s got a track record.” –RM Related Links Start With No by Jim Camp LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Do you want to switch your niche? Talking Points Pivoting from one niche to another Avoiding customer confusion Building credibility with a new audience Getting recognized in the new niche How to handle audiences that don’t mix Handling social media during a pivot How to manage your website during a pivot Whether you can leverage your existing audience Opportunities to leverage the old business Quotable Quotes “Looking back on it, it really didn’t take that long, but it (switching my niche) felt like it took a long time.” –JS “The more you are recognized for the first niche, the harder it is to transition to the second.” –RM “You have to find that way, not just for your own confidence but to build your future clients’ confidence in you.” –RM “You’re going to spin down the old business one way or the other. You’re either going to sell it or you’re going to let it peter out.” –JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Can you state your positioning in five words? Talking Points The single client need A minimum viable positioning statement Choosing a target market or ideal buyer that is specific enough Choosing the right language when describing what you do Describing outcomes that you know your clients will want Brand neighborhoods Getting new clients by focusing on a smaller segment Quotable Quotes “Basically, love and fear are the two main motivators with people.” –JS “I believe that the way you pick your specialty is you start with what you really love to do and for whom you love to do it.” –RM “The feeling is more important than the words to get you motivated and started and talking to people about what you do.” –RM “One thing you’ll always see is a huge list of really impressive clients that they’ve worked with. And that, to me, becomes the thing that attracts new clients.” –JS Related Links Todd Tresidder Financial Mentor LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

What are some practical examples of leverage? Talking Points Using your time in a way that it’s most valuable Paying to have work done so that you can focus on more important things Not giving up the things you like doing that are beneficial Setting up a standard operating procedure How to leverage getting on more podcasts Knowing what to delegate Billable hours Writing down your operating procedures Quotable Quotes “Once you find someone that’s good – I don’t forget about it, but so many things happen now by magic.” –JS “When you’re working with another professional, you’re not saying “do this, do this, do this, do this, ” which is a little, kind of rote to me.” –RM “So, what are you doing that drives you insane? Chances are it’s not going to be the thing you’re really good at.” –RM “Even if you just write it down for yourself and then use it each time, you’re already ahead of the game.” –JS Related Links: Todd Tresidder Financial Mentor The Leverage Equation LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Guest Todd Tresidder joins us to talk about generating wealth by creating leverage in your business. Talking Points How Todd came to start Financial Mentor Understanding compounding wealth 3 Primary asset classes How entrepreneurs and freelancers can use leverage Leveraging knowledge and experience Delegating tasks The freedom of having a structure The time leverage angle 10X exercises Scalability Managing risk by starting with just your time 6 types of leverage that are solutions to obstacles How people can get started with leverage Quotable Quotes “Through coaching I really learned how much there was that I still had to learn.” –TT “The beauty of this is you can literally separate your equity growth from your earnings capacity or your time.” –TT “The whole idea is that you look at everything you spend your time on as a failure of your business systems.” –TT “Leverage is how you build the scalable large win, and risk management is how you control the losses.” –TT Related Links: Todd Tresidder Financial Mentor The Leverage Equation Prefer to read? Here's an interactive audio transcript of the raw audio of the episode. LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Relationships are key to being in an authority business. Talking Points How relationships manifest between clients and consultants Different ways of connecting with people The network effect You may be surprised by how willing people are to talk if you approach them the right way How connecting with one type of person can potentially open up a whole new branch of connections Helping other people connect can help you build new relationships as well How to set up systems that help you connect with other people Quotable Quotes “I’m pretty promiscuous on LinkedIn.” –JS “Part of your relationship-building process has to fit with what you like, what you love to do.” –RM “With social media, you can just explode your results 100 times over. You create the equivalent on Twitter especially, of these virtual rooms, these virtual cocktail parties.” –RM “The more interesting people you’re connected with, I think, I just keep coming back to magic. It’s like magic. Magic happens.” —JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How do you decide whose voice to listen to? Talking Points How to develop filters that help decide who to listen to Figuring out where someone is coming from when they give feedback Responding to unwanted feedback When you should be open to new opinions Avoiding echo chambers When asking for feedback, make sure that you ask specific questions Giving graceful feedback The role of your spouse Quotable Quotes “Just because it’s something that we don’t want to hear doesn’t mean we can’t still be grateful that somebody felt the need to tell us.” –RM “Being able to communicate a complex idea to a whole bunch of different types of peoples from different cultures and different languages – it’s brutal.” –JS “It’s all in who you ask, how you ask, how likely you are to get the response that you want.” –RM “In my intake form for private coaching, I have two questions on there. Are you single, what’s your marital situation, and do you have any business partners. Because both of those things need special handling.” –JS Related Links Seth Godin LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Should you build a course? How do you get started? Talking Points Once you create a course, it’s really hard to change it later Formulate a big idea and know your audience for the project Writing or speaking can help you get feedback on your ideas and help you get them into shape before creating a course Look into your options for where to develop the course Shorter courses are easier to sell You probably don’t need to communicate everything you know about a subject in one course in order for it to be useful to others An outline can be a good way to get started on your course Optimize for ease of recording Live takes Keep editing to a minimum Transcripts and video players that allow people to listen at their own speeds are helpful for students Self-host or use a hosting service Quotable Quotes “I kind of go back to this all the time and it might be just my personal bias, but I feel like writing a lot is almost a necessary precursor.” –JS “I think maybe one of your questions should be, “where do I want to develop this course?”” –RM “Any whiff of perfectionism can spiral out of control very quickly.” –JS “If you’re at all a person who gets into detail, you may decide you really love doing the editing, and that may not be the highest, best use of your time.” –RM Related Links How to Kick off a Successful Launch LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter