There is nothing boastful about acknowledging your expertise. There is nothing wrong with using your knowledge, skill and experience to build or focus your business on the kind of work you most enjoy doing. After all, the more you leverage your expertise, the more you can charge for your work.

The first step in leveraging your expertise is for you to recognize it. What is it in your experience, skill set and knowledge that sets you apart from the crowd? What do you do that your competitors do not or cannot do? This is the kind of expertise you can leverage in a way that maximizes your business opportunities. Do not take your expertise for granted, and d not let other people do so.

The second step is for you to own your expert status. You must now become comfortable thinking about and presenting yourself as an expert. Experts are willing, when asked, to share their knowledge or to offer an expert opinion or to provide guidance to others. Experts carry and present themselves with confidence and dignity.

The third step is to develop a plan to leverage your expertise into the visibility and thought leadership that will bring people to your door because they want to hire the expert. There are two important things to keep in mind about how the average person chooses a physician or an accountant or an attorney.

The first is that our society gravitates toward specialists. Whether someone is in search of a physician to treat his migraine headaches or an accountant who happens to specialize in the taxes levied by a particular state on businesses that operate within the state boundaries, we want the expert. Leveraging your expertise, then, requires making it visible to the people who want to find you. Today, this means building an internet presence. Even for local businesses, more than 85 percent of people research professionals online.

The second thing to keep in mind is that people prefer doing business with a recognized authority. This means that just as important as the “brand” or reputation of your firm is your “personal brand.” Before making a hiring decision, people want to know who you are, what you stand for, and how you became the expert you are.

The fourth step is to demonstrate to the people you want as your clients that you can communicate information and ideas in ways that are clear and reasonable to them. Can you explain in their language and with points of reference that are reasonable to them the complexities of the issues or needs they would come to you to solve? One of the most effective and efficient ways to accomplish this today is to capitalize on the opportunities offered by the Internet.

When you learn to leverage your expertise you differentiate yourself from the universe of your competitors: you stand alone in offering something valued by clients that they cannot or do not offer. As a specialist and an expert, you become the most desired professional for potential clients. When you become the first choice because you are a proven expert and thought leader, you are the first choice of the market. This generates a steady stream of new clients and positions you to charge premium pricing for your services or products. 

We have programs to help you make your knowledge available, make your expertise known, and build your practice.  If you are depending on chance encounters to bring you the kind of clients and work you truly want, you might have a long wait. We can help you leverage your expertise and accelerate that process. 

Call us today at 732-397-8489.