Luk’s Bi-Weekly 'Think Piece' For Consultants

Edition #16 - January 20, 2020 

Dear reader, 

Here's the latest Edition of 'The Authority', helping consultants grow their revenue by sharing intriguing educational stories.

It’s my ultimate aspiration to create a bubble of calmness with this bi-weekly ‘think piece’, a place of stillness in the face of everyday stress. A chance to reflect on what really matters in your consulting work.

The Big Question

Questions I get from consultants. And my answers.

Question #16: I received this question from a reader (thanks!):

'Luk, you promote sharing all our knowledge. From a client value and trust-building standpoint, I understand. But what about the competition? Aren’t we feeding them with all our expertise? What are your thoughts about ‘dealing with competitors’?'

It’s a very interesting question, thank you!

Be the leader and let your competitors be the followers

I will be honest. I never really thought about my competition when building up my own visible authority the past decade.

My goal was and has always been to share my expertise as generously and frequently as possible.

I did it because I wanted my target audience to see me as a trusted voice on the market, as a highly knowledgeable and experienced advisor and partner. It had a massive business impact!

My competitors? I couldn’t care less!

The thought of my competitors trying to “steal my thunder” never really crossed my mind.

The only way to build up your own reputation as a go-to expert on the market in a way that helps you grow your business is by creating and sharing content that’s:

- authentic (the YOU in your content)
- transformational (solving real-life client problems)
- consistent (endless learnings to share)

By being consistent in your pursuit of sharing an abundance of ‘lessons learned’, you will, brick by brick, build up a rock-steady readership and achieve a loyal target audience.

Any attempts to replicate you will come off as inauthentic and buyers, when given a choice, will always pick the original, not a copycat. That’s what happened to me in the past decade.

I also never worried about my competitors because I saw my role as an expert to lead the way:
- proactively raising questions that other consultants were hesitant to ask
- discovering patterns and trends nobody else was aware off
- researching solutions that went to the very heart of the problems my target audience experienced
- providing detailed answers that many would have saved for a paid consultation session

Not sharing is riskier

Openly sharing your expertise sends a message that you are not afraid to reveal your expertise because you are that confident in your own skills and knowledge.

It sends the message that you have a lot more to offer because of how freely you share your knowledge. It propels massive trust.

However, the risk of not doing this is much higher and the damages to your business are much more significant. Without any visible proof of knowledge, you will remain under the radar, and google will put you on search page 27.

So adopt a leader’s mindset. Don’t worry about your competitors. You will be looking at them in the rearview mirror anyway.

Become a baker, not an eater

As my great inspirator Guy Kawasaki so wisely put it: 'Eaters want a bigger slice of an existing pie, bakers want to make a bigger pie and share it with others'.

Do not worry about your competitors trying to get a slice of your existing pie. By being intentional of sharing your real-life experiences you will enjoy infinite supply to bake more and bigger pie. Bakers will always be seen as leaders, as winners. And clients want to work with winners.

Ordinary consultants sell. Authorities share!

10 reasons why you should share

I wrote a detailed article about this topic. Everything I’ve experienced and learned myself about sharing my expertise, is captured in this 2020 article.

And here’s a quick recap of the many reasons in that article why sharing your knowledge generously and frequently is what ‘bakers’ do:

1. Expertise tops content.
2. Content doesn't replace implementation.
3. Content builds trust.
4. Content builds visibility.
5. Content builds a mental connection.
6. Writing & sharing content deepens your expertise.
7. Sharing content provides you with data.
8. Content sharing is an ideal client pre-qualification tool.
9. Content sharing propels prospect conversion.
10. Content is your alternative hiring tool.

Check out Why You Should Share Your Expertise To Grow Your Consulting Business for a more in-depth explanation.

The Next Big Question: Luk, I am fully booked as a consultant but the past 2 years, step-by-step I got in the trap of 'servicing my clients to death' and it's burning me out. I have a limitless ambition to please my clients and as such, it's rewarding. But they are often misusing my service spirit and this drives me nuts. How can I work my way up to a different status, becoming more selective about clients, client requests and projects? 

Would you like to send a question for one of the following newsletter editions? Please send it to me here. 

The Disturbing Truth

Unsettling revelations from experts I admire. And from myself.

Every Monday morning, I am sharing a consulting-related advice on Linkedin to start the new week. 

These advices reflect years of my passionate thinking about the consulting profession and span one year of writing. I've mixed my own quotes with carefully selected quotes from experts I admire and you may never have heard of.

Here are the quotes from the past 2 weeks. Let the inspiration be with you (if you let it). 

Topic 11-1-2021: Generalists confuse their clients

👉Almost every consultant I’ve talked to in 2020 has some kind of (big or small) ambition to become considered as an expert. And 95% of those consultants know pretty well that ‘saying yes’ to everything is not the best way to become proud of their work.

👉 The majority of consultants I meet don’t end up where they had hoped, however. They aren’t building a healthy pipeline or aren't working with the type of clients/projects they envisioned.

👉 They understand that being unfocused leaves them spread thin and disorganized, confuses their clients (they don’t know what they are standing for), and burns them out in the long run.

Topic 18-1-2021: Sharing propels massive trust!

Openly sharing your expertise sends a message that you are not afraid to reveal ‘your secrets’ because you are that confident in your own skills and knowledge. It sends the message that you have a lot more to offer because of how freely you share your knowledge. It propels massive trust.

The Irresistible Content

I write a lot. Here's the update from the past 2 weeks.

TVA blog: 10 Consulting Trends For 2021

I've been updating this article from the beginning of the month. Have a look!

Trend #6 (January 19th): Content is your key asset

Marketing isn’t about pushing a product or service. Instead, marketing in consulting is about sharing your knowledge and providing something of authentic value to your clients.

Amplifying your visibility as a subject matter expert in 2021 is more than a feel-good marketing technique. When done deliberately, systematically, and strategically, it is a proven business development and inbound marketing tool and there’s ample research to back up this claim.

TVA blog: 25 People I’m Thankful For This Year And What You Can Learn From Them As A Consultant

LinkedIn blog: A Summary Of My Content - October-December 2020

The Authority, previous edition: Edition #15

 The Inspiring Reading

I read a lot. Here's what I am reading right now.

I am reading between 30-50 books per year. I just finished reading:

'Never Say Sell' by Tom McMakin and Jacob Parks

Tom McMakin is a fantastic author and expert. This is Tom's second book and it’s a sequel to the first book I summarized last year – How Clients Buy.

McMakin and Parks address a topic that is spot-on for the consultants - how do you expand your existing client relationships?

The book explains how to work with your clients in a way that continuously expands your projects and relationships with them, allowing you to grow your business without being completely dependent on recruiting new clients.

My 3 biggest takeaways:

1. Focus on existing clients: A lot of the focus in consulting marketing these days is on new client generation. I loved to be pulled back by the authors reflecting on existing clients. They inspire to read and learn the techniques that will allow consultants to cross-sell, add value, and drive recurring revenue. It’s good to refresh our minds and to keep our feet on the ground as consultants, thinking about continuous improvement of our relationships with existing clients. Generating new clients is important. Growing existing client even more critical.

2. A framework for growth: I really liked the framework the authors present to explain the difference between selling to a new client and growing an existing client from within. Farming (existing clients) versus hunting (new clients). The framework is called ‘The Diamond of Opportunity’ by the authors and covers six areas of ‘farming’ existing clients: 1) More: doing more of the same work with the same buyer in a client company; 2) Expand: doing different work with the same buyer in that company; 3) Extend: doing more of the same work with a different buyer in that company; 4) Reach: doing different work with a different buyer in that company; 5) Evolve: doing new work with the same buyer of that company and 6) Innovate: doing new work with a different buyer in that same company. I must admit: I’ve never thought about developing existing clients with the help of such a framework.

3. Trust and credibility: Similar to the previous book (How Clients Buy), the authors focus on building trust and credibility as consultants. We do this to win new clients (prospects only buy when they trust - consulting is a credence business) but also to grow our work with existing clients. What I learned from the book is that scaling trust and credibility (to get more business from within) is done in a very different way, depending on which type of growth we are chasing in the framework (see #2).

Well done, Tom and Jacob! Great new thinking! Also, check out this interview with Tom McMakin where he explains why selling services is harder than selling products.

The picture below: Last week I received a box from the US, Tom McMakin’s new book with a little handwritten note from Tom himself. Cool! Thanks a million, Tom & team!

The Inconvenient Number

Visible Authorities have a better pipeline. The evidence.

65% of content producers credited support from leadership and across the organization among the most important drivers of their last exceptional Thought Leadership success.

It’s a big missed opportunity not to combine the power of the consulting firm’s brand with the visibility of the expert in the market/industry!

The Secret Backstage

A sneak peek behind the curtains of my business. Luk's lab.

You can't grow your business without taking the E.A.T. principles into account

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been sharing the trends that I believe all consultants must be aware of going into 2021. Trend #5 states that Google’s E.A.T. algorithm dominates the space.

It is NOT possible to achieve progress significant enough to grow your business without a disciplined and consistent approach to content development. And that’s because you will be irrelevant as far as Google’s concerned. Its E.A.T. algorithm - short for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness - will not rank your content nearly high enough for it to make a difference.

When I started building my new consulting business in 2019, my sole focus was on creating content that will speak to my audience within the E.A.T. framework. I did not pay a single cent for advertising. Yet, in 12 months - having started my content work around January 2020 - I was able to build my readership from the ground up.

I am now fully booked, have the freedom to select my ideal clients, and the ability to stay upstream (advisory and diagnostic work as opposed to implementation projects). I hope this early result can inspire other consultants to take the same path. 

Here’s a Hubspot screenshot of the steady 2020 growth of my organic Google traffic as a result of adhering to the E.A.T. framework in my content work.

If you would be interested in using Hubspot in the future, my incredible business platform, you can get a free 14-day trial via this affiliate link. 

The Inevitable Learning

The programs I am teaching. To become a better consultant.

My Accelerator Program, new slots for 2021: I have A LIMITED NUMBER OF SLOTS in 2021 for senior consultants eager to attract their ideal customers and grow their consulting business consistently. The Accelerator Program starts with a full audit of your market positioning and covers the necessary long-term improvements and quick wins. The number of participants for this 1-2-1 virtual training is limited. Access on a first-come-first-served basis. Here's the link to the info page with the program content. You can book a call on this info page to discuss your participation. 

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Previous 'The Authority' edition: Edition #15