Why Should I Buy from You?

August 26, 2010 by Sam Henrie, President

Why should I buy from you? Because you wrote the book on the subject, that’s why! Nothing establishes your credentials as an expert more than a book. And, being an expert is what convinces customers to open their wallets and buy things from your business … especially during bad economic times.

About two years ago, near the beginning of the Great Recession, I was speaking with an attorney who published a book on estate planning with Wheatmark. He told me that as soon as the recession started two areas of his business dried up virtually overnight; entity formation and construction law. No surprise, as these types of legal work come mostly from the hard-hit real estate sector. In the next breath the attorney said “Thank goodness for the book, because the increase in estate planning work more than makes up for the lost entity formation and construction law work.” The book brought the lawyer more leads, turned more leads into genuine prospects, and converted more prospects into clients, because people wanted the person “who wrote the book on the subject” to do their estate planning.

How does having a book help your sales? Here’s the logic:

To get a sustainable level of sales in your business you need to be exceptionally good at marketing
To be exceptionally good at marketing you need to be exceptionally good at convincing potential customers that your products or services can solve their problems
To be exceptionally good at convincing potential customers that your products or services can solve their problems , you must be perceived to be an expert in your field
To be perceived to be an expert in your field you need to be able to present proof of your expertise to potential customer in an array of forms, from consulting sessions, to speaking gigs, to articles, to books
Of all these forms, the book is the ultimate showcase for your expertise, because it demonstrates both your comprehensive knowledge of your subject, and your dedication to it

So, congratulations on having written a book! Your business thanks you!

Tags: marketing, business
Filed Under: Publishing