The best way to be recognized by others as an expert in your expertise is NOT by calling yourself an expert, but rather by demonstrating it via placing yourself in an authority position.
Someone in an "authority position" is one who is identified as a leader in their field or industry. Who would you consider a key authority in your area of expertise? Have they published a book about their expertise? How does that help distinguish them from non-authors who are also practitioners in your area?
- The authority position has attributes people aspire to. You project something in your public persona that people want. You have qualities that they recognize in themselves. They're thinking, "I understand this person. They have a similar backstory to me. This is somebody I want to work with."
You can accomplish all this by imparting your knowledge in the form of a book. This will differentiate you from others in your field because it instills authority -- you literally wrote the book on your area of expertise.
Are you an authority in your space?
It really only takes three things to be an authority in your space: Do you know more than your prospects? Are you able to help them? And, most importantly, are you actually willing to help them? (The last one can be a stumbling block for some people. They just don't like working with others and prefer hoarding their information.)
If you can answer "yes" to all three questions, you are already an authority in your area of expertise, or as one of my mentors calls it, your "sphere of magic."
The word AUTHORITY begins with "AUTHOR." Indeed, creating a book gains you recognition in your field of expertise, gives you instant "expert" status.
For example, take the book "Crush It!" by Gary Vaynerchuk. He was a wine blogger who, once he put his book out about Internet branding, really propelled himself into the spotlight. He's gotten a lot of mileage out of his book, which contributed to making him one of the most in-demand keynote speakers in the U.S. as well as TV's go-to wine expert.
Writing an authority book will help you attract new prospects by helping them with their problems. Adding 'Author' to your credentials is an invaluable investment that will put you in that coveted authority position.