It's Not About You! Reframe Your Expertise Into A Customer Journey

In this episode, I'm going to share a hard truth with you. Here's the deal. Your business assets, your offers, your package programs, whatever it is that you have, is not about you. And as a scalable expert, it's so hard to remember this, right? Because it's about our expertise. It's about our intellectual property that we have been working so hard to build over our entire career, over all of the things that we've been doing, that it's hard to remember that it's not about us. When we go live on Facebook or we are out really sharing our authority with our potential customers as we go out and become the go to expert in our space, our goal there is to show people that we actually know what the heck we're talking about and that we are an expert in this space. That is the time for you to shine as the experts, show your ability to help people get results, to show them that you've put in the reps and that you know exactly what's going on, and that you can help them solve the problem better than anyone else. That is your time to go out and be the expert and show that you are the authority in the space. Show that you know what the heck you're talking about, right? That is your job. However, when they become a customer, it is no longer about you and your expertise or your authority. What it is, is all about that customer and what they need to be able to solve the problem that they have. So often when we're building an asset or a solution for somebody, right? So somebody is coming to us because they have a problem and they can, they, they see the solution that we have that will help them get to the result that they're looking for, right, that's why people hire us, so they've, they've seen that you have the solution as the expert and now they've come into our world and now it becomes about their journey. It becomes about how do you help them go through your solution, right? How do you help them show up and solve the problem that they have using your solution? Here's where the rub comes in, is we're used to kind of being out in, in, in, you know, internet land and out in the world saying, hey, I'm the expert, you know, I know what I'm talking about here, all the things, here's my model, all the things. And then we have a customer come in and at that point it becomes about their journey. It no longer is about you and your expertise. You've created the system, you have created the step-by-step path for them, right? That's what they signed up for when they, when they heard you talk about it out before they were a customer. And now it becomes about the journey that they're going to take to go from, from the beginning of your solution to the end of your solution. That is your whole focus when you are building that package solution for your customers is what does my customer need, and when do they need it, and how can I help them overcome any of the obstacles and hurdles that they're going to have along the path. So sometimes you have built your business, because you're the one who has gone through kind of all of the, the trials and tribulations of getting to the outcome, and now you're like, okay, great, now I've figured out how to do that, now I'm going to help people get to where where I know that they want to go without all of the crazy that, that you had to go through, right? That, that's usually one approach that people take. Or they're an expert at something that have the, the simplified path and they can you know, help somebody go down that path and be able to kind of navigate them through all of the various things you know, a little bit different nuanced there, but usually that's how it works. Where people get really tripped up and I would say like one of the biggest mistakes that people make is to think about the content, to think about all the things around their topic or their expertise that they want to talk about that are more just sort of either things that they're interested in or things that help them kind of elevate their, their expertise even more. And that's not a good place for your customer to come into. So let me just break this down just a little bit further, which is there's, there's a, something that we call the expert conundrum. And here's the biggest problem you're going to have. One is, you don't really remember what it's like to not be an expert, and it's very, very hard to kind of unravel that, so I, you know, in, in the instructional design sort of curriculum design space where we go out and help corporations, they literally are hiring us for this, to solve this problem. Because there's lots of subject matter experts. There are a lot of people out there who know all of the nits and nats of everything around their job, but they're not able to help somebody who doesn't know all of the different things be able to learn it to get to that expert status and and honestly, that's that's why they hire hire us to do that. And so there's a, there's a, like a whole discipline of people who are are helping, you know, kind of get the expertise out of someone's head and put it in the right places. But here's the conundrum. As an expert, you're like at a level 10, you know, all the things you're super passionate, you're super interested, you know like, way more than anyone in the world needs to probably know because you're so excited and passionate about your expertise. Or even if you're not, you're still at a level 10, you know, you've gone through the reps, you've done all the things, you've made the mistakes, you're at a completely different level than your learner. Your learner is usually at like a 2 or a 3, so if you're looking at a line and you have zero on one side and 10 on the other, your learners are usually at a 2 or a 3, your customers are a 2 or a 3, and you're usually at a level 10. And so when you build a, a, a training, a course, a program, a coaching program, whatever it is, you build your solution. At a level 10, you've just lost all of the people that are coming in who need you to solve the problem with them, right? So when you're building something, you want to build it at a level two or three, which means you have to go back and be like, okay, well, so what, you know, where are they right now, right? Like, what is their level of experience with the step-by-step methodology that you are giving them? And that means a couple different things. One, it means, like, you've got to remember where you were when you weren't an expert. Number two, how do you simplify something to the point that somebody can just, like, be in action, right? Like they don't need to do all of the things, they just need to take the first step in order to get them to that next level of knowledge, right? Like you're never going to get somebody from a 2 or a 3 to a 10. You, you gotta, you gotta baby step them in, right? And the opportunity is, it allows you to grow your business because people are going to go from 2 to 3. Then they're going to be, you know, interested in getting up to level 10, some of them but you got to start there. The other thing is, is the amount that you need to give them in terms of content is much less than you think. Right. So often we're like, ah, level 10, we need to give them all these things. And we actually, we actually give them a lot less. So I always illustrate this with one story and I will just briefly tell you what, what the story is because it's, I think it's the best illustration of this concept is so if you are a skier or you're not a skier, imagine that you were learning how to ski for the first time and you went out west to the mountains and and your your job, your task was to ski down one of the mountain passes to learn how to ski. Okay, so that's, that's the task that you have in front of you. Now you've been given two instructors. One instructor is a very nice gentleman who is a top skier and is, is amazing at all things skiing. And and then you have a gal next to you and she is also an amazing skier. And and a different type of instructor. So you have both of them next to you. You're going up the chairlift and you're looking around and you're like, I don't even know what is happening right now, but I'm going up a chairlift and I'm seeing myself go higher and higher and higher on this mountain. What in the world is happening? Right? So you're maybe a little panicked because you don't know what you're doing. And the, the gentleman is talking about the history of skiing. He's talking about how skis were made. He's talking about all the ski resorts in the United States and maybe some in Europe. And and all of the things like he's just getting in and telling you story after story after story after story of all of the things around skiing because he's an expert at skiing. He knows all the things, and he's going to tell you all of them. So you're going up the chairlift, he's talking about all of the things, and you're, you're, again, higher and higher and higher. The gal on the right is, is, you know, talking to you about what it takes to get down the mountain. She says, you know, pizza is to stop, french fries is to go, and if you just remember those two things, then I am going to help guide you down the mountain, and we are going to go down you know, in a, in a slow methodical way, but you know pizza is stop and french fries is go. And that's all you really need to know at that, at this moment for you to get down the mountain safely, right? So you've got. Two different perspectives, two different people who are helping you get to the same outcome. So now you're at the top of the mountain, you're looking down and and you know, do you want to hear about the history of skis? Or do you want to hear how you can stop or start? Do you want to have the confidence that someone is going to guide you down the mountain and tell you exactly how to get there? And you know how to start, and you know how to stop. Okay, I don't know about you, but that's what I want to make sure that I'm getting down to the bottom of the hill. Because then, when you're down at the bottom of the hill, then you're in the chalet, you're enjoying a soda or a beer or whatever it is that you like to drink, then you're going to be interested in listening to all of the the other cool things about skiing, you're just not ready yet to hear all of that when all your head is doing is like, I just need to know what I need to know in order to get. to to the outcome. In this case to make sure that I don't die on the mountain as I'm going down it. And so remember that story when you're thinking about what you're going to to create in terms of content. And And for some of you, this should just like free you up to not worry about filling your whole solution with tons and tons and tons and tons of content. Keep track of where your person is and what they need just to take that next step. And usually it's a lot less than you think it is. Right, so think about those two stories as you are building because when you're building to your customer and thinking about your customer and looking through the lens of your customer, you can see where they are, right? Like, read the room. This, you know, you're at the top of the mountain freaking out hoping that you don't die. You don't care about the history of skis. You don't care about the resorts in the U. S. Right? You don't care about any of that. You just wanna make sure that you don't die. Your customers are feeling that same sense of, I just wanna get through some success so that I know that I can keep doing this. Right? Like if, if your customers are coming to you because they have a problem. They want to solve that problem. They don't want to take the windy route to fix that problem. They want to put themselves in action so they can be successful. So when you think about it from a customer's point of view, your job is to guide them to the result and give them exactly what they need when they need it. That is, is the gift that you have as the expert is you can see the whole path and how to navigate through that path without hitting the dead ends, without, you know, ending up in the toboggan, in this, in this in the hospital, right? Like you, you already can navigate them through that. And that is your job as the expert. So when you're putting together your assets, always remember that when you're putting something together, because when you're out in social media, yes, it's about you showing that you're the go to expert in the space. When you have a customer, it is all about that customer and what that customer needs in order to, to go on the journey from their problem to the solution. And that, my friends, is where the beauty of you know, helping them stay accountable, helping to support them through all the obstacles and hurdles that they're going to have and giving them the context and and examples and activities that allow them to keep moving on the path. That is where you're going to be successful as a scalable expert. So hopefully this episode serves you. I would love to hear your feedback on this episode. Go ahead and give us a review if you are inspired to do so, share it with a friend, and as always, go on out to taralbryan.com for free tools and resources that will help you build a thriving, scalable business.