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title: My new bi-weekly 'think piece' for consultants
description: In 'The Authority', Luk Smeyers' bi-weekly newsletter, he shares intriguing educational stories to reflect on what really matters in your consulting work.
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'The Authority' bi-weekly newsletter shares intriguing educational stories to reflect on what really matters in your consulting work.

| View in browser   Luk’s Bi-Weekly 'Think Piece' For Consultants       Edition #7 - September 16, 2020        Dear reader,  Here's the second September Edition of 'The Authority', helping consultants grow their revenue by sharing intriguing educational stories.   It’s my ultimate aspiration to create a bubble of calmness with this bi-weekly ‘think piece’, a place of stillness in the face of everyday stress. A chance to reflect on what really matters in your consulting work. The Big Question Questions I get from consultants. And my answers. Question #7: I received this question from a reader (thanks!): 'How can I best explain (or 'promote') my consulting expertise to my prospects or market?' 1. The 'credence principle'   Consulting is a credence business: prospects need to find (Google!), like and trust us before buying.    I keep repeating: marketing in consultancy is NOT about sales. Marketing isn’t about pushing a product or service. Instead, marketing is about sharing your knowledge and providing authentic value to your clients (trust-building).    That's why content-driven visibility is the only thing that is going to make you stand out in a crowded and very competitive consulting world. The more you open up, the more your clients and prospects can relate to you as a consultant.    Related content: Doing 'Sales' in consulting is not always easy (my LinkedIn post)   2. Focus, focus, focus   I could write pages about the topic of focus but here's the essence: to better connect with your clients (both off- and online), you have to niche down and demonstrate that you’re an expert in a single, narrow area.    Consulting clients are searching for subject matter experts and trusted advisors to help solve their problems. Clients have more options today than ever before - there are more consultants and experts and advisors than ever in the past and buyers can find anything in seconds. Your competitor is only 1 click away!   The world's biggest authorities relentlessly say ‘No’ to protect and maintain their narrow positioning.    Related content: Why you should learn to say NO to grow your consulting business   3. Your unique story is your starting point   Your consulting expertise is probably not truly exceptional but YOU certainly are. Keep your audience at the forefront of your mind and your goals, and use your unique story to show them how they can implement what YOU have learned to achieve similar results. That's what I did all those years.   Related content: Consultants, unlock the teacher in you (my LinkedIn post)   4. You need a crystal clear elevator pitch (EP)   Imagine you are at a conference and a prospect asks you what you do. I bet that 98% of all consultants would give a poor and foggy answer. In 30 seconds, you should be able to provide a crystal clear pitch about who you are, who your clients are, what your problem solving expertise is and how you solve those client problems. If you can't, you will dramatically dilute your reputation.    Here's my own EP: How good is your public profile as a consultant?   5. You need a compelling point of view (POV)   It's not enough to have an elevator pitch, prospects also want to understand how you perceive current trends and how they might be causing the challenges clients will be facing tomorrow.   Here's my current POV (on my home page): "As consultants, we need to stand out! We need to consistently win profitable clients that value our expertise. Referrals work, but the pipeline doesn’t feel as reliable as it once did. The market has shifted. In a world where professional services buyers act like consumers and can find anything in seconds, whether searching for a new pair of shoes or for an expert to solve their business problem, how the heck will we stand out in a very competitive, crowded consulting market? Your competitor is only 1 click away!"   6. Explain your 'Driver of Transformation' (DOT)   The DOT approach is an important way of thinking about your consulting offering as a catalyst for change or transformation. The DOT approach focusses on moving the client from point A (problem state) to point B (problem solved) and explains your specific Driver/Vehicle (your 'secret sauce') of transformation. In your DOT, you need to explain the future state of your client, not your product or service. With your DOT, you provoke or inspire 'The Promised Land' in a credible way.    7. Your social proof   Last but not least you present evidence that you can make the story come true. I always did this with a double approach: 1) writing case studies (success stories) about how I've helped other clients (similar to the prospect) achieving 'The Promised Land', and/or... 2) pain resolution recommendations from clients, explaining how I had helped them to achieve 'The Promised Land' (and not just commenting: he/she is a nice person to work with).    Conclusion   Many consultants struggle to translate their expertise into an easy-to-understand, credible message. Unfortunately, without a clear message, a consultant can never get the right connection with their target clients, leading to poor relevance and visibility in Google on top.    Clients are searching for subject matter experts and trusted advisors to help solve their problems. And those clients have more options today than ever before - there are more consultants and experts and advisors than there ever have been in the past and buyers can find anything in seconds.   David C. Baker (see my book summary): "If you don't know what to say, you aren't an expert. If you don't know how to say it, you haven't practiced enough. If you find too many audiences when directing your writing, you haven't focused enough".   An interesting question for the next edition: I received this question from a reader (thanks!):   'How can I save time as a consultant to re-invest in building my visibility?'   Would you like to send a question for one of the following newsletter editions? Please send it to me here.  The Disturbing Truth Unsettling revelations from experts I admire. And from myself. Every Monday morning, I am sharing a consulting-related advice on Linkedin to start the new week.    These advices reflect years of my passionate thinking about the consulting profession and span one year of writing. I've mixed my own quotes with carefully selected quotes from experts I admire and you may never have heard of.   Here are the quotes from the past 2 weeks. Let the inspiration be with you (if you let it).    Topic 07-09-2020: Narrow focus & specialization   Consulting clients are searching for subject matter experts and trusted advisors to help solve their problems. Clients have more options today than ever before - there are more consultants and experts and advisors than there ever have been in the past and buyers can find anything in seconds. In a way, Google is encouraging us to become more and more specialized in order to become and remain relevant. (Luk Smeyers)   Topic 14-09-2020: The competitive landscape   The consulting world is hard and is getting harder. No one is coming to save you. There are very few big wins these days but a lot of little wins. To win new clients, you have to do a lot of work and there’s no guarantee at all. You don’t get rewarded for ‘trying’, ‘failing’ or ‘working hard’. And if you hate marketing and sales as a consultant, you are in deep trouble. (Luk Smeyers)   The Irresistible Content I write a lot. Here's the update from the past weeks. My new blog: I never had to sell, persuade or negotiate to grow my consulting business Top 10 articles of September 2020: Eager to grow your consulting business?  Linkedin post: How good is your public profile as a consultant? LinkedIn post: Consultants, unlock the teacher in you LinkedIn post: Is consulting work hard to sell? LinkedIn post: Do you fear saying NO as a consultant? Content Summary: My Quarter 2 content summarized in 1 blog! The Authority, previous edition: Edition #6  The Inspiring Reading I read a lot. Here's what I am reading right now. I am reading between 30-50 books per year. I just finished reading: 'Traffic Secrets' from Russell Brunson You probably don't know Russell Brunson? Time to get to know him as you can learn a lot from him. I am a big fan of Russel for many years and I've learned a lot from him and his 2 previous books, both master-pieces of information if you are interested in the online marketing world (Dotcom Secrets, Expert Secrets). Russell is the founder of the famous ClickFunnels marketing automation software, with over 100.000 users and almost 0,5 billion revenue. When you look at his (hundreds) of videos, he probably comes across as a hyper-busy kinda guy. But Russell always brings a lot of value and he keeps sharing all his expertise in a very genuine way.  The 3 main things I learned from this book: 1. Clients don't come to you: It's the biggest judgment mistake consultants can make. I am talking to hundreds of consultants and most of them naively believe that prospects will show up, once they've built a nice website. Unless you build traffic to your website (and your expertise), nobody will ever find you!  2. Traffic means 'having a real business': Russell asks us the tough question: "If you can't get a consistent stream of traffic of new prospects coming to your website or content (e.g. blog), do you even have a real business"? Ever thought about that?  3. Dream customer: Russell is teaching us we all need to spend much more time identifying our dream customers and find out where exactly our dream customers are hanging out (or 'hiding', as Russell calls it). On top, we will need to discover why prospects could get attracted to our story and start paying attention to our expertise. The Inconvenient Number Visible Authorities have a better pipeline. The evidence. I have been talking about the Edelman Study several times already (see link below). Another important message from the study:   The study reveals that 54% of the prospects find the information very or extremely credible when it comes from a 'regular employee' from a consulting firm!   And if the information comes from a consultancy firm technician, it's even more: 68%! Wow!   Most consultancies I've met in the past are worried that employees (consultants) may get too visible and become a retention risk. Sure, some may leave the consultancy firm, especially when you don't support them in sharing their expertise/experiences.    My advice: support these (relatively rare) employees/consultants with their personal visibility efforts. And suppose you have carefully nurtured/supported the consultant's market visibility. In that case, they may take positions in other firms later on (when they'd leave in good terms) and that may benefit the consultancy firm big time!   Source: 2020 Edelman/Linkedin Thought Leadership Impact Study   The Secret Backstage A sneak peek behind the curtains of my business. Luk's lab. Another exciting story happened to me this week...   To support me with the development of my content, I get help from several writers around the world. And I am on constantly searching for new writers in my subject matter expertise (not always easy).    Last week, I got in touch with a new (US-based candidate) writer and asked her if she'd be interested in working with me. She wrote me back and asked for 2 crucial information sources to help her with her decision:   1. My keyword research: She wanted to understand what (google) keywords I am focusing on in my content, to drive Google traffic. Keywords are words or phrases describing my service and for her they are critical to understanding my future content (and the writing, of course).    2. My buyer persona: She needed my buyer persona definitions to help her to better understand my customers and prospects. This would make it easier for her to tailor her writing and develop my content and messaging to meet the specific needs, behaviours, and concerns of my target audience members.   This was the first writer ever who asked me these questions. Very professional! Could you answer those questions for your consulting business??? What are your keywords? What are your buyer persona's?  \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ The Inevitable Learning The programs I am teaching. To become a better consultant. My brand new 30-Day Program: In the 30-Days Group Program, you will learn the behind-the-scenes strategies and powerful tactics that I've used to launch and grow my own consulting business. And they can work for you too. It'll be a virtual GROUP PROGRAM, starting monthly, 4x online 2-hour training sessions, life-long access to the recordings, and exclusive Q&A access to myself for 4 weeks. First group starts in October. Here's the link to the info page.  My Accelerator Program: I have A LIMITED NUMBER OF SLOTS in 2020 for senior consultants eager to attract their ideal customers and grow their consulting business consistently. The Accelerator Program starts with a full audit of your market positioning and covers the necessary long-term improvements and quick wins. The number of participants for this 1-2-1 virtual training is limited. Access on a first-come-first-served basis. Here's the link to the info page with the program content. You can book a call on this info page to discuss your participation.  My Mastermind Retreat: Due to Corona, all 2020 Mastermind Retreats are on hold right now. I got several questions from candidates to join. Please get on the list and I will keep you informed as soon as I can go ahead again. Here's the link to the program content. Below the button to the waiting list. Thanks for your patience! Not yet subscribed to 'The Authority'? Subscribe here. Previous 'The Authority' edition: Edition #5 TheVisibleAuthority.com, Bondgenotenlaan 169, Leuven, \| 3000, Belgium Unsubscribe Manage preferences |
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