Customer Reviews

How to Position Yourself As the Obvious Expert: Turbocharge Your Consulting or Coaching Business Now!

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Elsom Eldridge's book is a hidden gem. Some might not buy it becuase the subtitle is "How to Turbo Charge Your Consulting Business." All you have to do is susbtitute your profession for "consulting" and this book is for you.
He emphasizes that writing information for your potential clients/customers in the form of books, pamphlets, free reports and the like is the best thing you can do to let people know you are the obvious expert because just being an expert is not enough--they have to know it.
It's an easy read--he lays a program out step by step. The great thing for those who take the steps necessary to write is that most of your competition is just so lazy that they will never even start.
I would recomend Tom Ross' book on Self Publishing if "Obvious Exert" tickles your writing fancy.
I got through both books and immediately published two books for my prospective clients, "The Five Deadly Sins That Can Wreck Your Virginia Accident Case" and "How to Buy Car Insurance in Virginia--What the Insurance Industry Doesn't Want You to Know."

Over the last 15 years, I've "stumbled" my way through consulting, finding some of the techniques Elsom suggests by accident. Never before ahve I found - until this book - a complete guide to building, growing and maintaining a successful consulting business all in one place.

In "How to Position Yourself As the Obvious Expert: Turbocharge Your Consulting or Coaching Business Now!", Elsom (with 10's of other experts from various industries) gives you a step-by-step plan to becoming a known expert in your field. The methods translate to any field, not just consulting - with specific examples of the techniques in practice from experts in extremely diverse fields.

What I like most about this book is the way it breaks each large "step" into smaller, immediately actionable tasks that you can start using today. With each task, there is are specific examples from industry experts on exactly how they used the technique in their own field.

At the end of each chapter are exercises to get you started and additional print and online resources at the end of each chapter.

One final note: this book, unlike any other book I've found on similar subject matter - is extremely easy and fun to read.

"Two thumbs up"

Elsom Eldridge writes with authority and interviews those who have the expertise in their fields. The Obvious Expert is a book that lives up to it's billing. 100 experts give USEFUL and SPECIFIC advice on building a powerhouse of a consulting or coaching practice. All the success stories are here with HOW TO in step by step format. I love it.

Kevin Hogan, Author of The Psychology of Persuasion

This book has little new advice. I do like the spin of becoming "The Obvious Expert" in your field, but the path to this goal is about the same as can be found in other books for consultants or freelancers. In a nutshell:

* write a book
* write articles for a trade journal or magazine
* engage in public speaking
* offer seminars
* get free/low cost press coverage
* join a professional society or trade association
* build a website
* network

There are some useful tips, and the sidebar stories from various consultants are interesting. Overall not a bad book. A better choice is "Getting Business to Come to You" by Paul and Sarah Edwards -- less expensive, much longer, and with deeper coverage of each topic mentioned above.

I have several books in this area and I think Eldridge and Eldridge do the best job. They cover many recommendations, the information is in great detail, the addition of other experts making comments on the techniques works very well.

The layout of the book makes the reading easy. There's loads of references and places to visit on the web and otherwise.

Lastly, I like that this writer has previously associated with two other noteworthy experts: Howard Shenson and Dan Kennedy.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

Please do not let my title fool you. This book shows all the tricks of the experts that make them experts. A perfect book for those that know their jobs, but are having trouble telling others that they are good. The book came with lots of great promo ideas. I used just one idea from the book and already I have more work than I can handle.
The book comes with over 100 ideas from expects in almost every field, you are able to mix and match ideas to creat the pefect promo piece that will make you look great (AN EXPERT).

I can tell how good and useful a book is by the number of pages I turn down so I can go back and re-read and absorb them and take some action. This book is the most dog-eared one I own! In almost every chapter there are 2-3 ideas that I can really use to promote my consulting firm and bring me more business. I received the book for free because I am one of the 100+ people who contributed some ideas that have worked for me, but I would have been more than willing to pay three times the price for the amount of helpful information that is in it.

This is a great book for the beginning or established small business owner / consultant who wants to maximize exposure and reach out to their target audience at low cost and DIY. Not only do the authors' tell what should be done, they provide steps, and side bar quotes by 'names' in the industry we readily recognize and how they got that way. Packed with information with little 'fluff'. Much of the basic information builds on the late Howard Shenson's advice to whom the book is 'dedicated'. I'm working on several of their suggestions, and I've been in the medical device consulting business for over 10 years.

If you want to let your existing and potential clients know that you truly are the Obvious Expert in a particular field, then Elsom Eldridge's well-written book should definitely be in your bookcase. His recommendations, supplemented by in-depth examples of how they have worked, provide a number of pathways to achieve the coveted status of Obvious Expert. While the title suggests one must be in the coaching or consulting fields to find it useful, the ideas in this book can be applied to any business or profession.

For example, in one of my favorite chapters, not only does Eldridge discuss the value of being a published author, he explains the detailed steps to accomplish this, including actually writing your work and getting it published. Then, he provides ways to get your publication into the hands of potential clients. This type of detail is present in all the recommended approaches he discusses to showing your expertise to those in your area of interest.

The author's enthusiasm for helping readers become known as Experts to their current and potential clients/customers is very apparent. If you are looking for a detailed "map" to becoming the Obvious Expert in your field, buy this book, pick out an idea you like, and put it into action!

You have to write to establish yourself as an expert. You may know more than anyone else on a subject, but until it's in print, few people get a chance to know that. Once it's in print you've got a great marketing tool, whether it's a blog on your personal website sent to an opt-in audience or a tome published by Random House. (He doesn't talk about blogs, but he does talk about email newsletters, and blogs are the latest incarnation of that sort of thing.)

This is a very useful book- I'm on my second read-through.