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What makes you stand out?
I ask this question to speakers, coaches, financial planners and entrepreneurs and I always get the same answer; different words, but the same answer.
The answer is almost always about their unique solution to solve a problem, the number of years of experience in their field, and/or the number of books they have written on the subject.
All of that is nice, and it is important for credibility, but none of it is what makes one speaker stand out from all the others, or one coach or financial advisor stand out from all the others.
In fact, if you are differentiating yourself based on your unique solution, your years in the field or your accomplishments, chances are superb that you are not differentiating yourself at all.
To be honest, you’re making yourself look and sound exactly like everyone else in your field.
As a director with the Global Speakers Federation (GSF) and as the 2018 National President of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS), I see numerous speakers from every industry all the time.
And I can tell you that of all the speakers from all over the world I see in a year, there are only a small handful that actually stand out.
They stand out because they are not relying on their unique solution, years in the field or their accomplishments in order to stand out.
They have something else…something that I call “Expert Insights”.
The same is true for coaches, financial planners, massage therapists, and pretty much every other type of entrepreneur.
Expert insights are an expression of your expertise that provides your audience (or prospect) with a snapshot of their world from a perspective they had not previously considered.
This snapshot is strategically designed to position you as THE expert in your field by providing the audience with something they have not seen before.
Expert insights can be demonstrated via a three-model system:
1. Bring to their awareness a problem they didn’t know they had
2. Draw their attention to the cost of having that problem
3. Expose the cause of the problem
Once you do all three of these things, only then does your solution become relevant to the prospect.
Let’s explore the three-model system:
Each of these models might be a visual that you present on a whiteboard, flip chart, slide or even the back of a napkin.
Or they might just be represented in the discussion.
Personally, I like to use visual models drawn out as I explain them.
The first model in the series is what I call “The Problem Model”.
This is where you bring to the audience’s (or prospect’s) awareness a problem they never knew they had.
In creating the problem model through your own observation and experience, you provide your own unique perspective on the different stages, categories or positions that your audience might find themselves in as they relate to your business.
For example, for my business, I use a model that I created called “The Repumeter ™”, which identifies the four stages of one’s reputation.
The primary functions of the problem model are these:
Once they self-identify as being in the wrong stage, you have just brought to their attention a problem they didn’t know they had.
The second model in the series is what I call “The Cost Model”. This is where you are going to draw their attention to the cost of having the problem.
To accomplish this, you first need to know the currency of your audience or prospect. Not all of our audiences are driven by money in every situation. There are other currencies that become important: freedom, influence, time, etc.
Once you know the currencies that motivate your audience, you then demonstrate the costs associated with each stage on the problem model.
For example, when I apply my Repumeter™ model, and they find themselves in a specific stage of their reputation according to the model, I compare the stage of their reputation against the two currencies that speakers and coaches value most; influence and income.
Once I demonstrate that being in “Obscurity” or “Competitive” on their Repumeter™ costs them dearly in influence and, by extension, income, they become more motivated to do what needs to be done to move past those stages and into “Branded” and then “THE One”.
You need to know what currencies your audience or prospects value most and then show a correlation between the stages on your problem model and the costs of each stage using the relevant currencies.
Once they see that being in the wrong stage is costing them significantly, they become a little more motivated to explore your solution, but you’re not ready for that just yet.
The third model in the series is what I call “The Cause Model”.
This is where you expose the cause of the problem.
The key in presenting the cause model is that you must be able to demonstrate that the cause of the problem is that they are not using your solution.
But you must be able to do that without them knowing what your solution is yet.
For example, when I present my Repumeter™ model, and I then show the cost model associated with it, I show why most people are in the wrong place on the Repumeter™ because they are not applying their “Expert Insights”.
(Guess what? Helping you create and apply your own your expert insights is what I do!)
Once I demonstrate that the cause of their problem is because they are not creating and applying their own expert insights when they speak or present, they all want to learn how to do that so they can solve the problem they didn’t know they had.
So, at the end of the day, your job is not to lead with your unique solution, your credentials or your accomplishments to make to stand out. Your job is to do three things first:
Only then will your solution become more relevant than those of your competitors.
That’s how you stand out and get noticed!
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