At the risk of inflaming debate, I want to challenge the overuse of a common marketing term …

Thought Leadership!

Look at the model – thought leadership is so overused these days that calling yourself a thought leader just drops you into the lower red section of the pyramid along with everyone else!

Basically, thought leadership has become commoditised!

It also requires your marketing to be based on ego … “I’m a thought leader …”

The problem is that no one wants to buy your ego!

In every market, there is a higher position you can occupy and, within your client pool, there will only be a very small number of people in this category.

That green zone level is where you show up in the market as a Sage of the industry.  You’ve turned your genius into uncommon wisdom and prospects want you for the impact you will have on them – rather than the bonuses on offer, the structure of your solution or the specification of your product.

Being the Sage requires no ego-based selling and yet you still get to bring game-changing impact to your clients.

Your marketing doesn’t have to be as loud, you don’t need to use pressure and false urgency in your selling and your deep and profound value becomes compelling and self-evident.