In a previous post we discussed the benefits associated with being an expert in your niche. In this article, we will focus on the steps required to become one. So how do you become (or become perceived to be) an expert in your niche?

Being an expert coach in your niche does not necessarily mean you have to be a technical expert in the industry you operate. Obviously, industry knowledge is very important. But your clients already have good industry knowledge and they are not able to solve their own problems!

Being an expert in a niche requires you to be an expert at solving the problems experienced by your prospective clients in the niche. This is an extremely important distinction.

Many coaches decide to niche in an industry they have previously worked in. This is great, but you still need to develop intricate skill in solving the problems of the niche before you’ll have a compelling service to offer, and before you can establish yourself as an expert.

If you have previously (or currently) worked in the area of your niche, but have little knowledge of the most pressing problems confronted by the niche, and no experience in how to overcome those problems, then your chances of successfully establishing yourself as an ‘expert’ are slim.

Remember, a niche is a group of people with a common problem that they’re willing to pay to solve, and are already talking about it. If you don’t have products and services that will solve the specific problems that your niche is willing to invest in being solved, then you’re not going to have a very compelling sales offer.

Here are some tips for how you can establish and position yourself as an expert:

Know the problems of your niche. To be an expert coach in your chosen niche, you must be an expert about the problems and challenges that your niche is willing to invest in to solve. If you have not identified these (correctly) and created unique solutions, and espoused how you will go about solving them, you will never be perceived to be an expert - even if you are!

For example: Imagine you are a ‘Date Coach’ (big niche in the US). One of the problems facing people who seek out a ‘date coach’ is ‘How to behave when endeavouring to attract their ideal partner’. An experienced ‘date coach’ knows that there are certain behaviours that a man or women need to adopt when in the presence of their desired partner to be attractive. Other specific niche problems may be: lacking the confidence and ability to approach a potential partner; and fearing rejection or humiliation.

This is a simple example of understanding the problems of your niche. Based on these problems, a successful Date Coach would build specific services and products to assist clients overcome these challenges; and would clearly articulate these solutions through their USP and brand.

Develop specific solutions to the problems of your niche. Obviously, knowing the problems is not enough. You have to develop specific, unique, preferably branded solutions to the problems. It’s no good offering a generic coaching solution to a specific niche problem – even if that generic solution will solve the problem. Remember, marketing is about perception.

If you can win the war of perception, you’ll win the war of marketing, and hence beat the competition and build a flourishing business. So, develop specific, niche branded solutions.

For example: A ‘Date Coach’ develops a ‘Double Your Dating’ or ‘Dating Routine’ program for clients. ‘Dating Routine’ is a set of learned pre-organised cues and steps an individual takes to maintain confidence, structure positive conversation, and attract someone to them.

Advocate and position your products as unique. Once you’ve developed your specific coaching services and products, you need to position them as unique solutions. You need to articulate in detail how those solutions will help your client overcome their problem better than any other service. If possible you should brand your solution and associate it with your company and you.

For example: We are now seeing ‘Date Coaches’ specialise in cultural markets to position themselves and their products and/or coaching tools as unique. ‘Date Coaching’ is also positioned uniquely in comparison to ‘Relationship Coaching’.

Research clearly indicates that if people are wanting help on how to ‘get more dates’ then they’ll employ the services of a specialist Date Coach before engaging a Relationship Coach. Can you see how more refined, specific niches can be borne out of larger categories?

Highlight the financial and commercial value of your niche solutions. You need to position your branded products/services based on their value as a solution. You must always identify the financial and emotional cost to your client in NOT having their problem solved. You can then communicate the value of your services to your client in terms of the cost to them for NOT undertaking your niche service.

For example: As a ‘Date Coach’ it’s easy to establish the financial and emotional cost to your client. “Recent ground breaking research from XYZ Institute indicates that behaviours and techniques utilised by highly desired individuals to attract partners is learned, not natural.

By perfecting your skills in dating, research indicates you are 79% more likely to find the partner of your dreams”. That’s a big motivator when you think of the financial and emotional implications of finding your perfect match.

“Every prospective client, whether it’s reality or not, perceives their problems to be unique to them.”

Only by establishing yourself as an expert will you build the necessary credibility to your brand and reinforce your niche positioning. If all these elements are not totally congruent, your offer will never be compelling to your prospects.

Your marketing message will seem confusing as your prospects will not understand how you can offer solutions to their niche problems - problems they may have been experiencing for some time and not been able to solve themselves - without being higher qualified or having specialised skills and experience (being an expert).

What are the benefits of establishing yourself as an expert in your niche? Being an expert or specialist in your niche affords you many benefits and competitive advantages including:

As an expert you can market with dignity! You won’t have to ‘chase’ clients. Clients will come looking for you because of your ’specialist’ tag. Remember, clients are searching for someone who is perceived to be as knowledgeable and skilled as they are in their niche.

There are substantially fewer barriers to conversion because your prospective clients are pre-sold by perceived knowledge and specialisation.

Limiting the number of competitors you have because you are perceived as one of the few (perhaps only) coaches that can meet the clients unique needs.

Building your reputation and reinforcing your positioning as a superior (if not ‘the’ superior) coach in the niche. 

Being given the opportunity to speak, comment and or write about important issues, challenges or opportunities within the Niche. By default it gets you involved in industry events and networking opportunities.

In turn this opens the door to have your ideas and insights published and talents recognised by important industry commentators, which in turn assists in developing your image as an expert! Your reputation as an ‘expert’ will endorse your business and vice versa.

It allows you to be more selective with the clients you work with and you can deliver products and services you are most passionate about.

You can take advantage of powerful and highly leveraged marketing strategies such as publishing, public speaking, networking opportunities, JVs, referrals and endorsements.

You get a much higher return on your marketing dollar, reducing your Client Cost of Acquisition, improving your bottom line net income (and breaking even earlier as a business start-up).

You are able to build greater client loyalty which significantly increases your new client referrals, which in turn dramatically reduces your cost of client acquisition. You also get a higher conversion rate to your services. Prospective clients are far more likely to trust and appreciate the wisdom and knowledge of a coaching specialist.

The ability to solve a broader range of client problems. Once you’re an established and trusted advisor for the client you will be able to expand the range and scope of services provided. The chance to better educate clients to the value you provide and charge fees based on the cost of the niche problems rather than on an hourly rate.

You can expand your services from 1 to 1 coaching to include highly leveraged product based and 1 to many services and are able to work with more astute and strategically beneficial affiliate partners who will provide higher value to your clients and ultimately better financial return to you.

Due to your strong client rapport and expertise, your clients will have a greater propensity to take up your endorsed affiliate services. As an expert in your niche, your service becomes the only logical choice for your prospects.

In this article we look at two inexpensive, highly effective and leveraged ways to reach thousands of prospects via the Internet: affiliate programs and link exchanges.

Affiliate programs (also referred to as “reseller” or “associate” programs) are a great way to get other people called “affiliates” to promote your product or service for you. For every paying customer your affiliates refer to your web site, you pay them a commission. And since you only pay when you make money - it’s extremely low risk.

Your affiliates send visitors to your web site using banner ads, text links, letters of referral, and so on, while you track these referrals using special software. It’s an extremely powerful way to grow your business because it automates your traffic generation.

To get started with your own affiliate program, you need to:

1. Set your commissions. (To keep your affiliates motivated, you should pay them 40% to 50% of your profits per sale.)
2. Get software to track the traffic and sales of your affiliates so you know what to pay them.
3. Provide your affiliates with tools they can use to promote your products (like e-mails, banners, etc.).
4. Recruit your affiliates. (Look for sites that target your market, and invite them to become affiliates.)

Affiliate programs are an ideal way to automate your traffic generation because other people market your web site for you - and you don’t lift a finger. Your sales increase on a daily basis - but they do all the selling for you, and it doesn’t cost you a dime until they send you paying customers.

Link requests require minimal effort from you, but they can explode your traffic numbers overnight. How? If your site is a featured link on a major site in your industry, one that receives a ton of attention, your site immediately benefits from all the exposure their site receives.

Getting started with this strategy is simple, but you should follow a structured process every time you request a link. Let’s break it down into a few easy steps:

1. Do a Google search for your standard keywords - the ones that people generally use to find your site.
2. Make detailed notes about the sites that appear regularly in the top ten listings for your major keywords.
3. Use the Alexa Toolbar, LinkPopularity, or Technorati to find out who these sites are linking to, who is linking to them, and how much traffic they are receiving, then look up their contact information.

Make sure you know the correct URL for the site, the URL of the sub-page on which you want your link to appear, the name of the site owner or webmaster, the date you last visited their site, and a brief description of the contents of the site.

When you’re ready to contact these web site owners and request a link, write a personal e-mail - don’t use form letters. Be sure to include some positive comments about their site, information about you and your site (along with your URL), an explanation of why a link to you would benefit them, and instructions for contacting you to get started.

You want your request to be thorough and professional. If you can present a persuasive argument for why the link request benefits both of you, you stand a better chance of forging a connection.

If you are really eager to get your link on their site, be prepared to up the ante by offering them a commission or a link on your site in return. The investment could be well worth the extra exposure your marketing message receives.

But be stingy when other businesses request links on your site - just as links on others’ sites serve as a personal recommendation of your site, links on your site are recommendations for their businesses. Only recommend the best.

Related Articles from IQ:

1. Testimony Power
2. Gro.www. Your Business
3. Simple Viral Strategies
4. Bring BUZZ to Your BIZ

What is IQ?

IQ is the official CoachIQ Coaching Club newsletter. This eZine is distributed free of charge to thousands subscribers on a weekly basis. It is a powerful source of content for coaches and entrepreneurs who wish to build a flourishing business.

But business is not the only focus of this eZine - each edition is packed with personal and professional development content too. IQ’s categories include:

IQ Biz (business insights, strategies and know-how);
IQ Tech (technology, website building and web marketing strategies);
IQ Book (reviews of best-selling and recommended publications);
IQ Out (reviews of resources and websites for coaches); 
IQ You (personal development tips and strategies);
IQ Opportunity (training and development opportunities and events).

This is an extremely valuable resource that you should definitely tap into.  There are presently 74 editions available online via www.coachingclub.com.au/ezine, and 100s of articles to read and constantly refer to. You can also subscribe, at zero cost, and receive the eZine directly into your inbox.

To become a subscriber (which means you will receive member-exclusive offers and invitations), go to www.coachingclub.com.au and enter your details on the box at the right-top corner of the page. You will also have the option of subscribing to a FREE 1-month trial with Coaching Club - and access 100s of resources for your professional, business and personal development. Act now, and enjoy the benefits straight away!

You have an invisible business! What you sell is not tangible. You can’t drive it home, wear it, sleep on it or consume it. As a coach you are in the Service Industry. The service industry has many unique attributes that differentiate it from the product industry.

There are both positive and negative differentiators to a service industry. How you optimise the positives and mitigate the negatives impacts on the effectiveness and success of your business. And it impacts dramatically.

This article will provide you with some strategies to optimise your services in order to stand out from your competitors. The strategies will include: information products; establishing your credibility; Post Purchase Reassurance and; low delivery costs.

Information Products

Information products are a very powerful tool. They can be used in many leveraged ways. In the context of this module, information products are one of your best means to build trust, rapport and credibility.

They are one of the best mechanisms to overcome low credibility and high perceived risk in the early stages of your client relationship. They can be used as a very low barrier to entry device to allow clients to ‘test drive’ your service.

In the initial stages of your relationship with your prospect there is a significant Credibility Gap. This the gap that exists between the level of credibility you need to sell your prospects into your higher priced service, and the actual credibility you have with them. Information Products allow you to demonstrate to prospects the value you can provide them.

For example, let’s say your core product is a 6 month, $500 per month ($3,000) 1-to-1 coaching program. This may initially pose a significant barrier to your prospects.

To bridge the Credibility Gap and promote your service, you speak at an Association meeting for your niche (Information Product 1). Due to time constraints, you’re allocated 30-minutes.

Whilst your content may be compelling, it’s most likely the 30-minutes of content will not be enough to bridge the Credibility Gap. But you came prepared.

At the seminar you used a Green Sheet technique (Information Product 2). At a critical point in your speech you channel people’s attention to a green A4 page containing incredibly important information.

You say something like: “If you’d like more information on this, I have a free resource guide that I can send you.” Hold up the green sheet and continue: “If you want a free copy, just write “GS” for “green sheet” on your business card and hand it to me after the presentation.”

When you do this, you’ll be swarmed by prospects eager for more information. In return you capture their names, addresses and emails. By giving more information you bridge the Credibility Gap a little more. And now you have their contacts, you can continue to nurture them (Information Product 3, 4, 5) until your credibility reaches the point they are willing to invest in your higher priced services.

This example is just one of an infinite combination you could use.

Establish Your Credibility

As a service professional it’s crucial you establish your credibility. Most product businesses establish their credibility through their brand. For instance, Nike has immediate credibility. As does Porsche. You know what you’ll get for your money.

These brands have so much credibility it becomes a shortcut to decision making. Their brands have so much credibility that prospects do not need to consciously consider or validate the value of the proposition.

But as a service professional, do you have the same? Anthony Robbins does. Jay Abraham does. As do many others. What are you doing to establish your credibility?

Post Purchase Reassurance

You must have a system in place to reinforce your clients buying decision. Once your client has overcome the mental hurdle to commit to buying your service they are immediately seeking validation of their choice.

In a service business your client has no tangible product to look to as validation. You must therefore nurture them, particularly in the honeymoon stage. This will improve your client relationships, make your client feel positive about their choice, and also improve referral.

Low Delivery Costs

A significant benefit for service businesses is their shorter development timelines, lower development and delivery costs and higher profit margins. If you use these attributes to your advantage you can gain considerable upside advantage.

These features allow you to create multiple services to utilise in your sales process and sales funnel. You can create services with very low perceived risk as incentives into the top of your funnel, then incrementally more valuable services to sell as you demonstrate and increase your credibility. You can offer services as value-adds to your sales proposition in place of discounting.

As you have much greater net margin, your risk of loss on returns is significantly lesser. As such an extremely powerful psychological tool to use as a conversion inducement is a risk-reversal or guarantee.

You remove the risk to your prospect of losing their money but giving them a fully refundable guarantee. In this way, the risk is reversed from your client to yourself.

Host-parasite relationships are a powerful way for you to grow your business. You may recall the term ‘host-parasite’ from your high school science or biology classes. It refers to a mutually beneficial (symbiotic) relationship between 2 entities. For instance, a protozoa living in a termite that enables it to digest the wood it consumes, or mistletoe growing on a host tree.

Host-parasite relationships also exist in business. In business, a host-parasite relationship occurs when two or more businesses willingly enter a joint venture to their mutual gain. In most instances, one business will contribute to the wellbeing of the host; and the host will provide a reward in return to the parasite. The resultant benefits are greater than one business could capitalise on alone.

The key to an effective host-benefit relationship is exploiting an exhausted or passive asset in your, or the other parties, business.

An effective host-parasite relationship provides the parasite with a highly targeted prospect group, leveraging off the established rapport with the host; and provides the host with a means to re-sell to a passive asset base.

Put yourself in this scenario… you have a current prospect or customer list that you have fully exploited for all it’s worth. You’ve established excellent rapport and trust, yet have nothing further to sell or offer them. What’s your next step?

OR

Consider this scenario… you’ve spent months developing a niche leading product. You’ve commercialised it as well as you can amongst your clients and prospects. What’s your next step?

In most instances, the host in a host-parasite relationship is the entity that owns or controls the distribution channel that the parasite wishes to exploit.

You’ve no doubt received a statement or bill in the mail from an airline, credit card company, accommodation group, or bank with inserts offering another business’ products or services. This is an excellent example of a host-parasite relationship.

The Power of Host-Parasite Relationships

Host-parasite relationships are a highly leveraged way to grow your business. They are your best means to commercialise a dormant asset; and open up a whole new qualified prospect channel.

Commercialising your dormant assets

Despite how well you optimise your sales processes and sales funnel, you are going to have clients that won’t buy more of your products; and prospects that despite your best efforts will not purchase off you (at this point in time, with your specific offer).

In both instances, these groups have ALREADY cost you a significant investment. If you don’t commercialise that investment it’ll remain a lost expense to you.

Just say you have 300 dormant prospects and inactive clients on your list. Each of them have not purchased at all, or have not purchased for months. They each have valuable, qualified attributes – geographic proximity, niche interests, socio-economic profile, etc. These attributes make them a valuable commodity. And significantly, because of the trust and rapport you’ve build over months of added-value education-based communication, you are in a position of authority and influence.

Let’s say you become aware of a high ticket product of interest to your list (for instance, a Bootcamp) offered by someone else. You may approach this person (the host) with an offer to promote their product to your list in exchange for a commission (you may also want other things such as re-distribution rights of DVD/ CD’s etc).

The host, knowing his cost of acquisition for clients is $500 per person, is willing to pay you this as a commission. If you convert just 10% of your list into this product, you make $15,000.00 in commission.

Leveraging other people’s assets

Imagine you’ve developed an excellent product in your niche. You have a client and prospect list of 300. You commercialise your product to your list as best you can, converting 25% over 6-months, resulting in 75 clients.

But you now realise that getting new clients is difficult and expensive.

If you utilise the host-parasite relationship concept, you can approach different groups already dealing with your profile of client. It may be another type of business or membership association.

Let’s say your product is in the health and fitness niche. You can approach all the gyms, physiotherapists, health centres, sporting associations in your area with a host-parasite offer. In this way you may access thousands of pre-qualified prospects.

For instance, a gym group may agree to promote your product to its 10,000 members, resulting in 200 sales.

Have you put any thoughts into how you can develop host-parasite relationships to benefit your business?