A published book is one of the best credentials a consultant or other professional can have. However, since writing a book is a separate job of lower priority for most successful professionals, many books that could be written never are. That’s where we can help. By delegating the routine parts of writing your book to us, your key ideas can get out and you can have the benefits.
Having a book is valuable for at least six reasons, several of which will be relevant to your situation. First of all, a book allows your ideas or concepts to be documented and passed on to others. For instance, Dr. Cooper was the brain surgeon who invented the concept of freezing parts of the brain to “cut out” unhealthy areas. He found that the procedure also helped other diseases. Without his book, his procedures and contributions would have been lost.
The second major value of a book is to attract clients. Since only the top experts in most fields have written a book, your authorship confirms that you are in the upper echelons. Many books by professionals on topics like reengineering, TQM, and marketing have made the reputations and businesses of the writers. Naturally, if clients have a choice between a professional with a book and one without, they will generally choose the author. A book can also be used as the basis of a series of other activities that reach out to prospective clients. These can include seminars, articles, and media interviews. An entire marketing outreach campaign can be built around a book. (We can show you how.)
The third value of a book is that it helps people. The information in your book can benefit your clients both before and after they work with you. By making your expertise available more widely, you also help people who aren’t your clients. Clients tend to keep your book because they know you, and they share it with others, which leads to the fourth value of books.
A book is a “brochure” that never gets thrown away. It is an ideal vehicle to generate referrals in three ways. A book produces referrals when people see it on the shelf of your clients and ask about it. It generates referrals when clients loan it to their friends who ask for ideas in your area. And it generates referrals by keeping your name in front of your clients so they remember to recommend you to their social and business networks.
A book can be a profit center in itself for consultants and speakers. If you speak to audiences, about 20% will buy your book. And it’s not unusual for consultants to sell their books by the hundreds to client companies to give out to staff. For instance, one consultant we worked with pre-sold enough of his books to clients at a prepublication discount to pay for printing 4000 large hardbacks. We have sold 500 books for a single talk to be given out to the audience as a “take home.” For some situations, a book is more likely to be given away free as an added-value item to clients or as the “brochure” already mentioned.
Lastly, and generally a smaller consideration, your book may also record the normal uncertainties of your services. That is, by frankly discussing the limitations to your services, you can create realistic expectations. This can be one small piece of documentation to limit your liability in the case of problems.
All in all, having a book out that represents you can be of considerable value if you use it well. And besides that, it can be fun to see your name in print! We can make it happen for you.
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