Motivator 2. Increase Your Authority

There’s a reason the word authority starts with author. Becoming an author grants you instant authority!

And that’s not just a clever play on words. No, the link between writing a book and increasing your authority is as old as the year 1200. According to one etymological dictionary, the noun authority comes from the 13th-century word autorite. The meaning: “book or quotation that settles an argument.” See that? A book! Even 800 years ago, people knew that books convey authority.

That old word autorite comes from an even older word—the French auctorité. It meant, "authority, prestige, right, permission, dignity, gravity." All these qualities are yours when you become an author.

Simply defined, authority is the power to influence others. This sort of power doesn’t have to be negative or scary (though some misuse it). Rather, you should use your power of influence to benefit others. Will your strategies and teachings benefit others? Then you want to influence them! If your prospects consider what you say but leave unchanged, you have failed.

Remain unsatisfied with your authority until your prospects take your advice. They will benefit if you can influence them to follow you. You should want to be an authority—so choose authorship.

Motivator 3. Set Yourself Apart

You know your business inside and out. You know how you are different from your competitor down the street. You know why you will serve the client better than they will.

But does the average prospect know all this? No.

To most prospects, you look largely the same as your competitors. Similar logo, similar offering, similar service, similar marketing. They might as well flip a coin to make their decision. That’s why you need to set yourself apart. Don’t blend into the crowd—be different! Do something unique!

How about authoring your own book? I’m willing to bet none of your competitors can say they’re an author. (And if they can, then you need to catch up quick.) As an author, you stop being “the attorney” or “the real estate agent.” 

• You become “the attorney who wrote the book on personal injury cases."
• You're seen as “the real estate agent who wrote the book on finding your dream home.”

When you set yourself apart, your current clients will be more likely to tell their friends about you. Or better—they will give their friends a copy of your book! A volume filled with your words speaks volumes (pun intended). It highlights your professionalism, expertise, and trustworthiness. While your competitors fade into the background, your name will boldly stand out on your prospect’s bookshelf. Becoming a published author is the quickest way to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Motivator 4. Educate and Motivate

Lee Welfel is a mortgage loan originator in Little Rock, Arkansas. When I met Lee, he was looking for a way to explain his unique approach to potential clients. He felt he was spending too much time in consultations, but not enough time closing sales. I suggested to Lee that he become an author. His book would legitimize his unique perspective on mortgages. Plus, it would shorten consultations. The book would answer his prospects’ questions before they ever set foot in his office.

After Lee published The Mortgage Book, his prospects stopped asking the same old questions. Their questions and objections were already handled—in the pages of his book! Now Lee was experiencing shorter conversations with more contracts at the end.

Anticipate and answer your prospects’ objections in your book. If you do, they will be more receptive during your consultation. That is how you can educate and motivate through authorship.

Motivator 5. Be the Expert

Millions of Americans listen to the advice of financial gurus like Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman. Why? Not because Dave and Suze have secret strategies no other advisor knows. Rather, because they are recognized experts. Both have written many books to establish their expert status. Now they also host their own radio and television shows.

Experts have books. If you want to learn about a subject, chances are you’ll check out some books at the library. Maybe you’ll browse the Amazon bestseller lists. Either way, you’re intuitively acting on the principle that experts have books. Because you want to find a credible expert, you naturally search out published authors. After all, authors obviously know what they are talking about.

My friend Henry Evans is the author of The Hour a Day Entrepreneur. He once shared with me an exercise he performs with his coaching clients. This exercise demonstrates the power of authorship, compared with other expert-status-building activities. These activities include writing articles, earning certifications, or speaking to large audiences.

Most people rank the expert power of authorship alongside speaking to an audience of 300+ people, or authoring an article in a large national newspaper.

Here’s the key. If you want to be perceived as an expert, which of these is within your power to attain? Which one will give you the most results for the same amount of time and energy?

Undoubtedly, the answer is becoming an author. Contrast it with the other two:

• Becoming a sought-after speaker takes years of practice. And you have to speak at many small meetings before anyone invites you to a large conference.
• Writing an article in a large newspaper is no easier. Before newspaper editors will notice you, many people must follow your personal blog. It takes years to achieve this sort of expert status.

But you are in control of the decision to write a book. You can become an author whenever you want. All that’s necessary is time, money, and hard work.

And guess what? As an author, you are more likely to receive invitations to speak or write articles. It’s a virtuous upward cycle that’s a thrill to experience.

If you want to be the expert, become an author.