Please welcome niche-y business expert Abby Kerr to the #customerlove fold as our latest guest blogger! ~ LaVonne
I jumped into this Customer Love Challenge {that’s #customerlove, for those of you who are Twitter fluent} pretty darn quickly. In fact, I think I may have been the very first person to respond to LaVonne Ellis’s Tweet back in August calling for co-challengers.
I knew immediately how I’d step up the customer love in my own enterprise: I’d rock out my expert-y mojo even more intentionally than usual.
You’re an expert, you say?
Why, yes, I am. And so are you.
Do you see yourself as an expert? Because you are one, you know.
You’ve got an entrepreneurial niche — the niche of You, culled from the best {and sometimes worst} of your life-defining experiences, your shiniest skill sets, and your truest inborn talents.
Because no one else can replicate the exact path you’ve taken to get where you are today, the exact maneuvers you’ve made and the exact responses you had, this means that no one can teach about what you do in the exact way you do it. And believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there who’d love to do what you do the way you do it.
{No kidding.}
You are a natural-born, life-made resource.
You’re chock full of expert-y knowing. You’re marinating in firsthand understanding of something. You’re a witness to valuable experiences that you could be sharing with others who want to do something like what you’re doing.
You’re not obliged to share any of it, but doing so is one way to exercise authority in your macro niche, create fame, spread goodwill, and make your customers love you.
There’s almost no better way to gain the love, respect, and appreciation of your right people than to share with them something they want that right now feels quite far away to them.
5 ways to enter into the space of your expert-y self, right now
- List 10 elements of your business that are key to its survival, well-being, and richness {and I’m not necessarily talking monetary richness here}, i.e., your blogosphere relationships, your networking on LinkedIn, the way you plan your weekly workflow. Write out a simple, 5- or 10-step breakdown of how you do what you do. Or a 3000-word blog post manifesto. Approach this in a nuts-and-bolts-y way or in a philosophical, meta way. Both approaches can help your people.
- List the 5 questions people most often ask you about your business — big questions and little. Answer them in the form of blog posts or information products that teach your right people how to do what you do. Or how to do what they want to do.
- Make a list of 100 things you now understand about your entrepreneurial niche that you didn’t used to. These are all the lessons, understandings, and knowings you take for granted that will absolutely light a fire underneath your customers. {So don’t hide yours under a bushel, so to speak.} Start blogging, teaching, and connecting from this place. At the same time, be hungry to learn more about everything on your list. True experts are lifelong learners who continually soak up new understanding wherever they can find it.
- Pretend you’re not you. Look at yourself as if you were your biggest fan, your most satisfied client, or your best friend who loves you. What would those people say you’re an expert at? Write from that place. Let their confidence in you infuse the way you talk about your Thing. {This technique works particularly well if you tend to get hobbled by self-doubt and insecurity. Not that we Customer Love Challengers would know anything about that.}
- Bravely dare to share what you know is true even if you think your knowledge and experiences are not as game changing, earth shattering, or business/life enhancing as what somebody else has to share. I can guarantee you that it *will* be game changing, earth shattering, and business/life enhancing for someone else. It doesn’t matter if your topic has been written about 15 times in the blogosphere already this month. If you can put an unique spin on it — one fashioned from the niche of you — then it’ll speak to your ideal customers in a way that only your words and experiences can.
I hope you can use one of the above doorways to enter a space in which you find yourself standing tall, beaming happily, and feeling, sharing, and teaching like the expert you really are.
Tell me in the comments which doorway you’re going to try right now.
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Great article, Abby! You know I agree with the philosophy since I’m constantly saying “You know things other people want to know”! One of the things I see people having the hardest time accepting is that they most likely have expert status in certain areas of their lives that others are wanting to know about.
Awesome practical tips for this challenge. I especially like the last one. It’s so hard to bravely share what you know is true. But even if it’s been written about numerous times, your customers may not read any of the same things you do and might never hear it if you don’t speak it. {It works well too because then YOU look like the expert.} <– Used curly brackets in honor of your post. 😉
Love it!
Hey, thank you, David! And thanks for the use of the curly brackets. They are the bomb! 🙂
I just Tweeted something this morning: “It’s not the message, it’s the messenger.” To be fair, I heard Martha Beck say it in an interview for Pam Slim’s Escape from Cubicle Nation podcast back in 2007 {just listening to it this morning — my memory’s not THAT great!}. And it struck me suddenly as so true! There are dozens and dozens — maybe even hundreds — of other articles floating around out there in the blogosphere that have similar topics, content, suggestions, etc., to one any of us might write today. {Especially if you’re posting how-to or strategy-oriented articles.} Sometimes I feel stymied when I go to write about a topic because I think, “Oh, well, Dave Doolin’s covered that better. Copyblogger’s got that one covered.” Truthfully, though, not all of *my* right people are connected to Dave Doolin or Copyblogger, and of those who are, some of them {I hope??} would rather hear it from me, in the way that I’d say it.
And that’s true for *all* of us. We’re each attracted to certain voices and certain modes of expressing expertise.
Thanks for breaking in the comments section on this post! I was a little concerned that it’d get NO comments and look like a big flop. 🙂
Abby,
I love this. I know that I have a lot of knowledge about leadership (thats my niche) but when I sit down and think it out, I get discouraged that I did not actually come up with any of it. I am just able to blend and braid what I have read out of 200+ books by others. Now I am working on writing my own stuff and I get discouraged because a lot of it does not seem organic to me. {I hope that makes sense, it did in the right side of my brain anyway}
So that being said – the part of your post that I loved was when you said – “Make a list of 100 things you now understand about your entrepreneurial niche that you didn’t used to.”
I can think of at least 100, that was really encouraging. What I got out of this is a really simple outline for a great e-book, email series to subscribers or a really valuable post on my blog. The outline of the 5 things is a beautiful set up.
I now have it bookmarked and am looking forward to carving out some time to write it up. When I do I will be sure to kick back some link-lovin.
Crandall on the other hand, no loving for you with links just a big hug next Wednesday. I am even bringing a stool so I can get around your shoulders. HAHAHA – I can not wait to meet your wife and shake your hand. I have learned to love skype but I like to talk face-2-face when possible.
Thanks again Abby. Sorry for that little digression.
Hey, Tim —
A little jealous of you guys getting to meet in person. How fun that will be! Why NYC and anywhere in particular you’re planning to go?
And — whoh! — I’m so psyched to hear that you feel you now have the makings of an e-book or e-course after reading this post. Make sure you let me know when that puppy’s ready to launch. 🙂
— Abby
I love the way you’ve taken what Abby wrote and applied it directly to your own situation — to find GOLD in them thar brain cells! You know, I have felt the exact same way about my voice coaching business, as though I’m just regurgitating what others teach. But that’s what teachers do — learn, alchemize, and pass on the gold.
I love how tangible this advice is!
Yay! Thank you, Bridget. {I’m nothing if not tangible.} 🙂
Thanks Abby – this was EXACTLY what I needed to hear today. After I read this, a friend called and we finally were able to get together (we’ve been trying all summer). During our coffee, she 1) became a client and 2) gave me all kinds of great networking ideas. She’s the kind of client who becomes a raving fan and tells all her (numerous and wealthy) friends about you. Although she wasn’t a stranger and probably would have become a client anyway, I had the courage to suggest it NOW because I had confidence (instilled by this post) that I had the ability to help her. Otherwise I would have waited until – you name the procrastination reason – my website was perfect, I had the perfect marketing plan, I had more certifications etc. There’s always a reason we aren’t perfect. But there are also lots of reasons that we are!!
Congratulations, that’s wonderful! A raving fan who tells all her numerous
and wealthy friends about you is the perfect customer, lol. Good job!
~LaVonne
Whoo-hooooooo!!! I am so glad to hear that this post emboldened you and you grabbed a new client. Yays!!!
Your comment made me think of this truth: we all have a level of “acceptable to ourselves” before we feel we can present to the world. That threshold and its location is different for each of us. For some of us, it’s an awesome looking website. If we can just present that to the world, we feel okay about other shortcomings. For others, it’s an archive full of blog posts — once we have 3 months’ worth, we think, Phew. I can debut myself and my biz now. I’m glad that this post and its permissions tipped you over the edge into full-on expert-y confidence.
Abby, this is an excellent post, and I think I’ll need to read it every week, at least.
The one item here that seems like something I could and should do is number 4. It’s also one that seems nearly impossible. So, that’s exactly what I need to try.
Is it cheating if I ask my friends? LOL
Great post, and I’m feeling better about pitching some guest posts now.
Thank you!
Hugs and butterflies,
~Teresa!
Hi, Teresa! I love No. 4, too. In fact, I think I operate out of this place a *lot* when I’m called on to be an expert. 🙂 And no, it’s not cheating at all if you ask your friends — they know you well!
And when you’re ready to submit a guest post, please send one my way. I haven’t put out an official call for guest posts on my site yet, but that’s in the plans for later this Fall. 🙂
— Abby
Abby ~ outstanding post!! Wow, wow, wow! Love it, love it! I’m late in reading your post and you know what ~ synchronicity!! Exactly what I need to ‘hear’ at this time!! Brilliant tools to use!
Pauses~ takes a deep breath ~ this is a project I am taking on 150%
Thank you (bowing down to you)
Did I mention I loved this post!!
Thank you
warm hugs
Is it still fashionable to be late? I’m hoping so right now. 😉
I just wanted to thank you Abby. I just finished drawing the front cover for ‘Like A Breath Of Fresh Air – The Manifesto’. In truth, I did that before I read this but then I read this and it was like confirmation that everything I’ve been thinking about and developing in my brain over the weekend was true.
I too love the advice in number 4. One of my best friends reads my blog and it’s great because when I get all wobbly he gives me a reality check on what I’ve just written.
Thank you so much,
El