Recently I spoke with two friends who showed me the value of expertise. One friend told me how much he had to pay per hour for some technical expertise on a piece of financial software. He needed specific help and money was no object. Good thing too since it cost a pretty penny!
Another friend set a high hourly rate to help an organization become more efficient. She was a little worried that the client would push back, but he accepted the proposal without a fight. She is THAT good!
What’s the lesson here? Even in a tough economy, people will pay well for expertise. Your ability to be the best in your career field or in any other area of life can help you make more money. Here’s what I know:
- People have a problems
- They desperately need a solution to the problem
- They find someone who is inexpensive and the problem usually doesn’t get solved
- They then look for the expert in the field to solve the problem
- The expert is very expensive
- After some deliberation, the person realizes the problem won’t get solved without the expert’s help
- They contract with the expert
- The expert fixes the problem
- The person is happy
- The expert cashes a big check.
Moral of the story? Be the expert!
It’s good to be a thought leader. It’s better to be a business expert. Read constantly about your field of expertise. Find new ways of doing old things. Become diligent in your marketing. Get people to refer you.
It’s a lot of work but the rewards are huge! What will you do this week to build your expertise?