You have many choices in life and in your business. I believe one of the most significant choices you make is whether you will be the true expert in your field. By definition, the expert is the recognised leader, the one who stands above all the other people in that field – and that person is usually wealthier than his or her peers. The expert is usually the one who put more thought and attention into the goal, so that person truly deserves greater benefits. The benefits are three-fold, and I would encourage you to think about which ones would motivate you to set yourself up as the true expert in your area.

You owe it to your customers

Your customers are confused. They need direction. They have real issues and concerns that only you can resolve, but unless you are a real expert who stands out above the crowd, you are being lumped into a big group with all of the other companies that do what you do. Personally, I’m glad we have a big market and entrepreneurship is encouraged. However, you may have noticed a glut of emails, marketing material and general information from a growing number of companies that all start sounding the same. When I go to networking meetings, I can hardly remember two or three people a few days after the meeting. I’m not being mean; I just have too much happening in my life and it seems my brain will only cope with outstanding information. I have been studying this issue for several years, and most people have a similar view. The people I remember are those who say something specific and memorable – and I will only remember one thing about them. I ‘catalogue’ people so that I stand a chance of even remembering them at all. And as I said, I am not alone. By the way, I also notice those that are adding specific value in their books, blogs and articles, as well as those that others are talking about.

Make it easy for people to see the real value of what they do, as this makes it easy for them to choose you. They want to pigeon-hole you because there is just too much information coming at them from all angles. You don’t want them to pigeon-hole you but that’s what they need and want to do. If they want to catalogue you so that they remember you later, let them! They want you to stand out for one specific thing that you do better than anyone else.

The key to standing out is to have one message to share with your market and share it widely and wisely. Most people’s tendency is to diversify and talk about a range of things, but as we said, the customer would prefer to pigeon-hole you. Think of a top Internet company. Why does that company stand out in your mind? Probably because they have made it very clear where they excel and why they are the leader. Give your customers a clear message and they will love you for it. You will see more direct business and you will get others writing and talking about you, online and offline.

You owe it to yourself

Get your piece of the pie. If you haven’t noticed, it’s very competitive out there. That usually means more companies fighting for the same piece of business. If you are just ‘another one of those companies’, you have to fight a lot harder and will probably get squeezed on price. The more you stand out as the expert, the less competing you need to do and the higher the price you can command. Think about your own buying habits, in business or even at home. Have you ever purchased a premium product or worked with a serious expert in their field, willing to pay more for the confidence that you were getting the best? In today’s market, the abundance of choice means customers can shop around and get good deals, but the amount of choice available also makes it harder to find the real leaders.

Being the expert also allows you to keep things simple. When you wake up in the morning, you only have one hat to put on. It’s a great feeling and you will wear that hat with greater confidence. Over the past eight years of showing entrepreneurs how to be real thought leaders, I have noticed that those who embrace this concept of being a real expert on one area have greater creativity and fulfilment as well. It’s as if the part of the brain that was managing all the diverse roles was finally freed up to focus on being the best at one thing. It is very liberating.

You can go deep, acquiring more and better knowledge about your subject and your market. You can then share that knowledge and new insights with that market and help them even more. Knowing that you are delivering real value is a benefit that can’t even be quantified.

A benefit that can be quantified is time saving. One of the best ways to prove one’s expertise is by writing and publishing. However, most entrepreneurs do not do any writing because they think it is time-consuming and overwhelming. Experts write good quality books, articles, blogs and speeches, and they write them fast because they know their subject so well. Getting books, articles, blogs and speeches out quickly and frequently widens the gap between them and their competitors, allowing them to stand out even more. I would love it if you could do that because it makes life a whole lot easier and way more fun!

You owe it to society

Society is in desperate need of good leaders. As I mentioned, people are willing to pay more for the leading solution because they hope it will enhance their lives. You want to think about how what you do enhances lives. Then keep that picture in your mind as you go about your business day.

Inspire the next generation. The next generation of entrepreneurs are looking to us to provide guidance and direction. The more specific greatness you can share, the more you will help them realise their potential as well. It’s like providing a clear signpost, as opposed to one with too many confusing directions on it.

When you become the true expert, you will become wealthy. Wealth can be measured in financial terms and it can also be a sense of abundance and well-being. Many people want to build their businesses, write books and become experts to acquire wealth. I believe the key lies in knowing what that wealth will do for yourself and others.

So we are not just talking about you becoming wealthy to benefit yourself. Your family probably features strongly in your vision. What about other people you would like to help? A rich person can help a lot more people than a poor person can. Wealth is a great thing, if fully appreciated and used for the good. So please consider being the true expert and becoming wealthy.

Mindy Gibbins-Klein is best known as Founder and Managing Director of The Book Midwife Co-Founder of Ecademy Press business publishing. Her mission is to create thousands of real thought leaders who will change business and society with their ideas.

An international speaker, trainer and consultant with 20 years in marketing, and over 100 clients who have written and published excellent books and articles quickly using the Book Midwife methodology, Gibbins-Klein shows top business leaders how to turn their expertise into enhanced credibility and more business. Read more at www.bookmidwife.com

Have you ever opened a favourite magazine or journal only to find an article by or about your biggest competitor? How did that feel? Not too great, I imagine. Especially when you know that your product or service is superior. Some people just seem to get all the media attention. They also tend to get more business than those with lower profiles. In my experience, media attention and increased business go to those people who have established themselves as the experts

Finding the Needle

In this day of information overload, it is harder to find the needle in the ever-increasing haystack. There are many new businesses entering the arena because of redundancy (layoffs) and the attractiveness of becoming an entrepreneur. These new companies just crowd the market, confusing and diluting the messages from serious players. So, even if your company is the best, you need to shout even louder than before to be heard above the din.

Economic drivers and time pressures cause decision makers to react in ways that may not be ideal. For example, instead of taking the time to read the hundreds of emails, direct mail pieces, magazines and other print and online media, they resort to simpler methods of choosing suppliers.

The vast majority of companies I speak to say that they have seen a tremendous fall in the number of proposals they are asked to generate as well as the number of proposals to which they are being asked to respond. It seems no one wants to spend their time putting together lengthy documents and even fewer people want to read those documents. The nature of business decision making is changing, and it is going back to more old-fashioned values.

People do business with people they like and trust. They get to know about those people by meeting them, reading about them and hearing about them. So, a combination of personal relationships, public relations and word of mouth. The people who stand out are those who write and speak like they know what they are talking about, and the PR serves to validate that perception. And it is always a person who is a leader, by the way, not a company. Companies don’t have opinions, companies don’t sign agreements – people do. If the top executives create the right reputation, the company will do well as a result, and clients will be attracted to you.

Therefore you will be doing your clients a favour and saving them time if you stand head and shoulders above the competition, thus eliminating the need for complicated buying processes.

Someone has to be the expert; it might as well be you

If we look at the market as a pie, we must admit that the pie is a bit smaller than it was before. However, companies still want the same size slice of pie they had last year. Well, that’s simply not going to happen. As a result, the rate of business failure is up while a larger number of businesses than ever before fight over the smaller pie. And the table manners are not always pretty!

In every industry, one person is always going to get his or her slice of the pie, and that person is the obvious expert in the industry. The top person (or company) is the one that stands out in a decision maker’s mind because of their reputation. And, as I mentioned above, that reputation is built by good relationships, good PR and positive word of mouth. If you make yourself visible and share influential views on key topics in your industry, you will become known as the go-to person, a highly valued opinion moulder.

Executives cannot afford to be too busy to write or speak in public

I speak to hundreds of executives every year and one comment I hear consistently is that they are very busy running their businesses, and there is no time to do things like writing or speaking. My argument is that there are always some people who make time to distil their thinking and share their wisdom with the market. I call them the ‘REAL thought leaders’. Their willingness to be visible and vocal as well as bold and opinionated gives them an edge over those who have their heads down, buried in the business. It is not always easy to prioritise these kinds of activities, especially when business pressures intensify.

In fact, it is precisely when times are tough that creative approaches are necessary. The payoff can be more significant since so few are willing to do what it takes to be seen and heard.

Real thought leaders find the time to write and speak about their area of expertise. Steve Glowinkowski, PhD is founder and managing director of Glowinkowski International, a firm of management consultants specialising in organisational and leadership development. For 25 years, the company worked at building their reputation as a leader in this area, with an innovative process and framework, and an impressive client list. However, it was the publication of Steve’s book It’s Behaviour, Stupid! – What Really Drives the Performance of Your Organisation that consolidated the many years of work and established Steve and the firm as the go-to people for people development. The timing could not have been more critical, with the launch of the book taking place in the spring of 2009 when consultancy work began to dip dramatically.

One person is standing out above all the others in your industry. It may be you, or it may be the other guy. Being seen as the expert is no longer a luxury since a shrinking market delivers business deals to the obvious experts or the REAL thought leaders only. The good news is that it is easy to set yourself up as that top expert, if you have the resolve and determination to win. I hope you see your name the next time you open your favourite magazine.