“I’m the expert!”
That’s easy to say, but more challenging to prove. Becoming the authority in your field takes perseverance and hard work.
What’s more, your customers should be the ones to sing your praises… not yourself!
When you become the expert in your field, people will immediately go to you when they want something done. Opportunities open up… and you don’t have to compete on price or waste so much time with time wasters.
Here are some tips that you can do to become not only the expert but the best in your field.
1. Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk
How can you say that you’re an expert when it doesn’t show in the things you do or say?
When we say “expert”, these are the people that have total knowledge of what they are doing.
Imagine writing an instructional document… about something, you’ve never done before.
Do you think the people who would read it would find it useful? Do you think they would read it at all?
If they find that you’re not as reliable as you’re saying, they’ll never believe anything else you say.
If you want to be taken as an expert, you should show it in every move or word you say, while doing a better job than anybody else.
2. Let People Talk About You
As I’ve mentioned above, it should not be you who says you’re an expert, it should be your customers.
You should show your customers your best, no matter how small the job that you’re doing for them.
They should be so impressed with you that they will talk about you to their family and friends effortlessly.
If you keep on talking about how great you are, you’ll just come out as this narcissistic person (AKA an A**hole) who keeps on promoting themselves… and nobody really wants to listen to someone who only talks about themselves.
3. Educate and Demonstrate
If you have something awesome to sell, what good will it do if you will not show it to the world?
Real experts would want to demonstrate and share their skills. They always want to help anyone who would need their expertise.
Draw attention by showing how good your product or service is (and not by talking about yourself.)
We all know that action speaks louder than words.
Attend conventions and conferences, be a guest speaker, write a book or an article.
Creating a name for yourself is not hard, but it requires effort and perseverance. Share what you know and don’t just keep it to yourself.
Don’t be afraid to go out there and interact with people.
4. Keep Learning
Do you think that the same standards and techniques that we have about building are the same as it was decades ago?
No! It always changes. There’s always something new to learn.
Being an expert means that you are not afraid to try the new things, the new techniques, the new technology. You should always be up to date.
As an expert, it’s your role to learn all of this and share it with others in a way that they’ll understand more easily.
Keep an open mind in order to take everything in. The more you know, the more credible you’ll become. After all, knowledge IS power.
5. Charge for Your Services
Now some of you may look at this step and be thinking, “Duh, I want to get paid.”
But it’s not that simple.
Do you charge for you bids? Quotes? Proposals? Estimates?
Do you slash your prices to win jobs?
90% of people reading this are now hanging their heads in shame…. or yelling at me that “everyone does free quotes”.
Really? Everyone?
Not our clients and they win the majority of their work. (Shameless plug.)
But why is that?
Is it because overall they’re the cheapest?
Hell no.
It’s because they are professional, experienced, and don’t look “dodgy”.
If you’re busy competing on price, cutting your margin to win jobs, and doing a bunch of free estimates, bids, quotes, and proposals… you risk looking dodgy to the client.
“I’m helping them out and saving them money! How is that dodgy?”
Think of it this way… If your quote started out as an $850K build, but through tireless cuts and effort on your end, you get it down to an $800K build, your client is going to think, “They were trying to overcharge me $50K!”
You and I know that isn’t the case… But it kind of seems like it, doesn’t it?
Your time is valuable, and you should charge for it, so charge for your quotes and offer to take that cost off the overall build price if they go ahead with you.
That way you don’t lose out if they go with someone else.
Think about the $1 iPhone scams.
You think $1 for an IPHONE… Nope. That’s definitely a scam of some sort.
And you’d be right.
See how the cheap price gave it away?
We’re built to feel uncertain when things don’t seem right… That’s our instincts. So when they get other builders to quote on a house and they come back to your quote that’s 200K less than the rest… the uncertain feeling starts bubbling.
Still struggling with the idea of getting paid for your time on bids, quotes, and proposals? Learn how to do it! Click here now!
Becoming an expert doesn’t happen just because you say so, you have to work for that title. And once you have it, you shouldn’t stop there.
You have to do what you’re doing again and again in order to keep that title. You learn, then you share what you learn, and then you learn some more.
Do not be afraid to try out new things, do not be afraid to talk to people, don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth, and do not be afraid of the responsibility that comes with being an expert.
