Continuing the New Client Acquisition Series, the third approach to New Client Acquisition is the Intrigue & Inspire approach: Attracting new clients by becoming a Thought Leader.
What does that even mean?
It means positioning yourself as an expert in your field, known for your unique perspective. It means you become the prize, not the price. It means you set trend and challenge the status quo.
Times of pure pushy selling are over. The “1% rule” claims that only 1% of people are actively creating new content. The rest 99%? Well these share/repost or consume such content. Shocking? Well, not really. In our private or business lives we became heavy content consumers. We get up in the morning checking the news, get a new recipe online for our vegan pancakes, then we check the news for any trends and …voilà , we are using and recycling existing 3rd-party developed content, but don’t engage in our own content creation.
Though Leadership is about becoming a key expert in a specific field or niche. It is about sharing your own and unique personal or business perspective. Your own way of thinking, working or doing whatever you are doing. It is about building a strong personal brand.
So how can you (yes you!) become a Thought Leader?
#1 STRONG VALUES
Majority of experts out there have clearly defined values they are strongly committed to. There are no exceptions. No cutting of corners. No just-this-time exceptions. Their values are set in stone. Non-negotiable! What are your values? Peak into the list of values here.
#2 VISION – PASSION
Thought Leaders are visionaries. They have a BIG clear vision in front of them. Being their target, driving them every single day. And trust me…they think BIG, almost in hard-to-achieve terms as that is the truly stimulating and exciting challenge one likes to address. They love their topic, being passionate about it day and night.
#3 AUTHENTICITY
They are very authentic and open about sharing their private and business journeys (including their struggles or failures). They are their own selves – even if that creates hurdles on their way.
#4 NICHE / FIELD
They have one (or more) niche areas / fields they focus on rather than talking to general and too-broad topics. They simply have a focus…target it…and get hands-on into the nitty-gritty world. How do they do that?
- Research – They do a deep dive into the topic through quantitative & qualitative research making sure they get all the old and fresh data for their subject matter.
- Education – They continuously educate themselves and build experience by courses, trainings, workshops, university degrees and Mentors. They don’t believe they are the “know it all”. On contrary, they are curious to learn as much as possible and … this learning NEVER stops for them as they know there is no finish-line to learning.
- Involvement – They get hands-on, not only speaking about the topic, but actually getting involved in experimentation, implementation or (client) case studies…gather necessary feedback for the iterations ahead (and usually there is a never-ending series of those too).
#5 COMMUNITY & PARTNERS
They surround themselves with other experts, other individuals and organizations that are on the same mission (not competing but rather cooperating and joining forces) and other successful professionals who thrive. They are very social, network a lot and support reciprocity and win-win partnerships.
They are careful who they spend time with and who they are associate with. They partner with influencers, building their crow of followers who they engage with.
They are very keen on asking for help, support and guidance as know this will accelerate the progress they can make…significantly.
#6 Â COMMUNICATING & PRESENCE
Thought Leaders also make sure they get their message out there in the right form, channel and time.
- Disruptive: Their ideas and thinking usually disrupts and challenges the norm, making them stand out of the crowd…being the outliers compared to others. They don’t try to please everybody.
- Channels: They have a great Online presence – covering majority of (relevant) social media, running their own online Blog, website/s,…
- Share & Give: They continuously share…and often for free. As their main drive is not purely financial gain, they are not afraid of sharing their approaches or “secret sauce” with the world.
- Range of products: They offer a variety of products: Webinars, webcasts, podcasts, they write books, whitepapers and publications, share videos, articles…
- Appearances: They appear often at cherry-picked events as guest / keynote speakers or run (online and offline) events on their own. They appear in TV, radio or other media.
READY – STEADY – GO!
It is your turn to start your journey of becoming a Thought Leader.
Of course you don’t have to do ALL of these things at once. Or overnight. It will take you time, effort, maybe even some passion-searching to truly get the niche right first. Simply take small steps keeping these 6 points in mind.
Because you can!
