Marketing yourself as the expert

Imagine a time when you have a constant stream of new clients charging down your door. These aren’t just any clients either; these are your ideal clients, with good amounts of money to invest, if that’s what you do. Finally, imagine that these people are desperate to deal with you rather than any of your competitors.

If this is where you want to be, would you agree that you might need a new strategy to get there?

That is why I wanted to talk about marketing yourself as “the expert.” When you are seen as the expert, people want to deal only with you. Your competitors fall by the wayside as people actively seek you out. Not only will they seek you out, but they will pay a premium for your services over others because you are the person they want to see.

It has never been easier to achieve than it is today with the technology that we have at our fingertips. If you’re not doing it, your competitors soon will be. Either your ideal clients can see you as the expert, or you are going to have to fight harder and harder just to stand still as other people in your area adopt these methods. As a result, there has never been a more important time to adopt this type of marketing.

This stuff doesn’t just affect your income either; it affects the value of your business. If you can generate mechanisms that consistently deliver new clients, the value of your business is far greater because those leads will continue into your business long after you are involved.

But you may be asking, “Who is Charlie Reading? Why should I listen to him?” There is nothing special about me. What is special is that we help our clients at a much deeper level than we have ever been able to before, and it is paying off for them and us.

On my journey through the financial services industry, I realized that if you want to attract lots of the right clients, you have got to be seen as the expert. Having read countless books, attended courses and even walked across fire in the name of improving our business, I believe now that there are four steps to becoming the expert in your ideal client’s eyes, and that is what I want to talk to you about today. These four steps spell out the word “WISE,” because that’s what you need to be seen as in your client’s eyes: The wise expert! 

W = Why. Whether it is your marketing, your recruiting or improving your teamwork, one of the most powerful aspects to promoting and improving your business is to ensure everyone knows why you do what you do.

I = Ideal client. You need to be absolutely clear on that before you start advertising; otherwise, you are wasting money marketing to the wrong people.

S = Spotlight. We don’t do much traditional advertising, but where we have, we see a much better response from sharing valuable content, each time with a call to action. For example, telling people about how they can save tax as we approach the end of the tax year, and giving them a clear option as to how we can help them

E = Expert. If you get this next step right, when people need your service, they will come to you and no one else. If you don’t, you’ll constantly be competing on price.

Charlie David Reading, APFS, is a three-year MDRT member from Rutland, England, and the founder of Efficient Portfolio. Hear more in the March episode of MDRT Presents: