moving forward, expertise alone won’t matter.
why?
because anyone can pose as an expert, anyone can post a thread, drop a course, or recycle AI-generated content.
what your clients need isn’t another “expert.”
they need someone they can trust.
When I ran a cohort of agency owners nearly every single one of them asked:
“how do I move from a vendor (aka expert) to a trusted partner?”
Here’s my refined answer as I work as trusted partner with clients:
1 – Live your lessons:
don’t just teach what you’ve read: share what you’ve done.
I don’t help people how to grow to $100m because I’ve never done it (yet)
but what I have done (AKA getting punched in the face by my own mistakes and turning them into frameworks) that’s what I share and help clients customize to implement into their business to get the results they’re looking for
2 – Put their success above your paycheck
A lot of people can say this, but here’s what I do to live it (I don’t recommend doing this, this is just an example of what I do)
• I put my money where my mouth is and offer to refund even after 45 days of work if we aren’t moving in the right direction
• I recommend vendors without expecting a referral fee…
• I constantly do things without the intent to feed my own bank account…
3 – The future of business is human
I’ve said this for years now, the future is very well human
for your business:
2 Rs will dictate your client LTV
R: results
R: relationship
results are self explanatory, relationship is an art:
every client holds a constant conversation in their head.
you might not hear it but it’s shaping every decision they make. It’s determined by how they view themselves, their world and their circumstance
and if you don’t understand it, you’ll never connect with them in a way that truly matters.
why does this matter in your client relationships?
because every action, goal, and decision your clients make is rooted in their inner dialogue
if you want to move beyond results and surface level rapport, you need to understand:
• who they are
• how they see the world
• what they believe is possible
in order to build what happens to be rare in today’s society:
trust.
You might be thinking, “is this necessary?”
How you answer that question will determine if you’ll end up another expert
or
replaced by a bot agent
or
be a trusted advisor, a strategic partner to your clients.