You may not need a signature book—that is your grand opus—to market your business and establish yourself as a leader.
Not gonna lie: Writing a book is a lot of work. While I ghostwrite and coach people through writing their signature books, I sometimes talk with people who have been told they need a book for their business, but they really don’t need a full-on, swing-for-the-fences, signature book. (Yet.)
In many industries, all a business owner may need (and I’ll include commissioned salespeople in this group, too), is a short, lead generation book or what I call, a “little” book.
Why?
A Book (of Any Kind) Puts You Ahead of Your Competition
Look around you. How many of your competitors have a book or eBook as a marketing piece? Most of them will have a website that is not designed to capture leads, much less have something to entice people with. The opt-in for their email list is usually “Join our email list!” or “Sign up for our newsletter.” Joy. WHY would anyone elect to have more junk mail in their inbox?
Compare this with “Have X problem? Free guide shows you how to solve it.” The specifics, of course, will vary according to your business and what’s on offer (more on what that offer should be in a bit), but you’re giving people a reason to sign onto your mailing list. (You’re also identifying your best prospects—which we will also get to.)
For starters, most of your competition won’t have a marketing piece of this caliber, whether it’s a simple guide, eBook, or printed book. I’m not saying the bar is set pretty low in some industries but, wait. Yeah. I am saying the bar is on the ground in most industries.
Honest to Pete, in many industries, it takes so little effort to stand out and above 90% of your competition. (I’m looking at you, real estate agents, life coaches, personal trainers…)
But people don’t do it—they don’t make the minimal effort to set themselves apart from the crowd. Not because they’re lazy, but because they don’t know how to. Or the idea of “writing a book” is intimidating.
In some industries, such as the professional speaking industry, having a book of some sort is almost a requirement at this point. If you’re a speaker and haven’t authored a book, you’re most likely behind the curve.
But by and large, coaches, trainers, consultants, small service businesses can raise the standard in their niche by authoring a book and have everyone else playing catch-up. That’s a great position to be in.
Qualify Leads and Prepare Your Clients
Your “little” book is an easy way to “sort and sift” to find people who are your most likely clients. Your little book should be focused on a problem that you solve, usually one aspect of the bigger problem that you solve for people. (That’s the offer you’re making to prospects.) Anyone who signs up to find out how to solve that part of the problem is someone who is a good prospect for your full services.
Your lead generation book will help people “self-select” to join your marketing funnel. But the book shouldn’t stop there. Use case studies and examples in your book to show the type of people you work with, what people can expect when they work with you, and to inform the reader as to what level they should be at when they come to you.
If you’re a real estate agent, you might mention in your book that nine out of ten times when you list a house, you ask your clients to de-clutter and give examples of that. When you meet with someone who has read your book, they may have begun to de-clutter or they will at least be prepared to do so—you won’t encounter the resistance you sometimes get. If you’re an accountant working with small businesses, you can talk about the information you need to gather when you begin working with a new client. When you meet with a prospect, they know they should have this information ready or close to ready in order to work with you.
A lead generation book helps you not only find your best and ideal client, but lets them know what to expect when working with you and what you expect from them.
A Full-On Book Might Be Overkill at this Point in Your Career
No one expects a freshly-minted, junior manager to write a book on innovative management techniques and truly, if he or she did, not too many people would take them seriously. The authors I work with for signature books have been in their industries for years in leadership roles. They have plenty of experience under their belts; they have found out the hard way what works and doesn’t work and they want to share that knowledge to help others coming up. Many of my clients are transitioning from their main career into their semi-retirement career of speaking, consulting, or training. Others are looking to make a shift up to C-suite level.
The thought of writing a “real” book can be overwhelming. It’s a large commitment of your time and brainpower. Many people are more comfortable writing a shorter, one subject (or one focus) book as a warmup to writing a more substantive book in the future. Kind of like running a 10k, then a half marathon, before attempting a full marathon. A “little” book or lead generation book is solid preparation for writing your magnum opus. There is less pressure to make it perfect and to include everything you’ve ever learned or done. It also gives you a chance to learn the basic steps to publishing a book before you dive into a larger project. Writing a little book first makes the whole “write a book” process less intimidating.
Over the years, many of my author clients have gone on to write second and third and yes, even a fourth book. So, consider this fair warning: You could be bitten by the book bug. Not the worst thing in the world…
Lead Your Field
The fact that most small business owners don’t write a book—short or long—is good news for you and precisely why you should do it. But you may not need a signature book. In most industries, having a short lead generating book, whether it is in print or an eBook (my recommendation is both), will differentiate you from others in your field. Done well, it will make you seem more professional, organized, and capable. It will reassure people that you know what you are talking about and that you are the person who can help them. A “little” book can work wonders in your efforts to find and qualify future clients.
