Leadership In Law Podcast

05 Build Your Credibility and Authority with a Book | Michael DeLon

• Marilyn Jenkins • Season 1 • Episode 5

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Unlock the secrets to building unshakeable credibility through published works with our special guest, Michael DeLon, the credibility coach and president of Paperback Expert.

Ever wondered how a book could transform your professional image? Michael shares his incredible journey from an emotionally draining job to becoming a sought-after marketing expert, thanks to the power of storytelling and faith. Hear his personal tale of marital struggles and divine intervention that led him to discover his true calling. Get inspired by how a pivotal Family Life event changed his life and career trajectory, propelling him to help business owners amplify their marketing efforts.

Dive into the fascinating case of attorney William Frankie, who shifted his career from aspiring baseball player to personal injury attorney, and how his compelling narrative set him apart in a competitive field. Learn how personal stories, like William's in his book "When Life Throws You a Curveball," can resonate deeply with clients and build trust.

Michael also reveals the perks of becoming an Amazon bestselling author and the ideal book length to keep readers engaged. From leveraging storytelling to offering comprehensive publishing services, this episode is packed with actionable strategies to elevate your professional standing and credibility. Don’t miss out on the insights from Michael’s “credibility calculator” and how it can help you assess and enhance your credibility score!

Connect with Michael DeLon
Website: https://paperbackexpert.com/

Your Next Step: https://credibilitycalculator.com/

Michael DeLon on Social Media: PodMatch | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube


Get a FREE copy of "The Ultimate Online Marketing Checklist for Law Firms" at
https://lawmarketingzone.com/ultimate-checklist

Ready to level up your law firm marketing? Book a FREE Discovery Call with Marilyn Here: https://lawmarketingzone.com/bookacall

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Leadership in Law podcast with host Marilyn Jenkins. Cut through the noise, get actionable insights and inspiring stories delivered straight to your ears your ultimate podcast for navigating the ever-changing world of law firm ownership. In each episode, we dive deep into the critical topics that matter most to you, from unlocking explosive growth to building a thriving team. We connect you with successful firm leaders and industry experts who share their proven strategies and hard-won wisdom. So, whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting your journey as a law firm owner, the Leadership in Law podcast is here to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to build a successful and fulfilling legal practice.

Speaker 2:

Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. I'm your host, marilyn Jenkins. Please join me in welcoming Michael DeLon. Michael DeLon creates credibility. As the credibility coach and president of the Paperback Expert, he helps business owners clarify their message and capture more clients using their Amazon bestselling book. By implementing his credibility marketing system, you gain more clients, get more referrals and grow your revenue. Michael is the author of On Marketing and number one Amazon bestselling author and the creator of the Credibility Game Plan. Since 2013, he has worked with business owners across the United States and internationally to establish and market their credibility. Michael is the husband of one and father of four. He's a committed follower of Jesus Christ who is deeply involved in his church. You can normally find Michael investing time with his family, reading a great book or facilitating growth in the lives of those around him. I'm excited to have you here, michael. Welcome.

Speaker 3:

Thanks, marilyn, I appreciate it. It's going to be a fun, fun conversation. Always good to hang out with you.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely All right, I got to know. Tell me your story about escaping prison and how you got to where you are today. I just love that.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Yeah, I tell everybody that I started my company the day I escaped from prison, and it's not a literal prison, marilyn, it was an emotional prison, right, I was stuck in a job that I hated. So let me tell you the background. It takes about three minutes, but it'll make a whole lot more sense, okay. Okay, as you mentioned, I'm a follower of Christ, been married since 1990. So I'll let you do the math A lot of years I've got four children two biological sons, two adopted daughters.

Speaker 3:

So Jill and I, when we first got married, it was like this she and I are complete opposites and we just had conflict for the first five years and even though she and I both grew up in church, nobody ever taught us how to be married. And so we came into marriage with our own baggage and fought for a few years and then, in the fifth year, went to a family life weekend to remember married conflict. So family life is a part of Campus Crusade for Christ. We sat in a big ballroom for our weekend as they shared God's blueprints for marriage. I didn't know he had any, so we grabbed his blueprints and we started applying his blueprints and our marriage started getting better through the 90s. Now I was working in Christian radio back then and marketing and sales, and that's where I learned how to do marketing for small business owners. So at the end of the 90s, god led us out of Christian radio to a startupcom, and Amazon was just getting started. That company was way ahead of their time, marilyn. That means they went bankrupt.

Speaker 3:

And so, standing in my living room one day after this, all fell apart and went. What am I supposed to do now, god? And he said I want you to ministry, to marriages, and I want you at Family Life, that ministry. That changed our marriage. And so I raised our support for two years as missionaries, moved from Indiana down to Little Rock, arkansas, which is the world headquarters for Family Life, started serving there, thought I hit nirvana. Why would I do anything else, marilyn, but help people build strong marriages? So I climbed the corporate ladder. Six years later I'm on their leadership team. And then they start going through corporate reorganization. Oh no, and the third reorganizational chart gets rolled out and my name is no longer on the leadership team. Oh no, and they start shuffling me around the ministry to do different things, and that began a two-year prison term for Michael. I was in jobs I hated at the ministry that I really loved. But after about two years I got fed up, I got tired, I got sucked dry and so I talked to my wife. I prayed, I said, god, I got to get out of this place. And he said, michael, what do you want to do? I said I want to help business owners with marketing because they struggle with it and I love it. And he said, ok, go 2013,.

Speaker 3:

That is when I escaped from prison and I left the ministry and started a marketing consulting firm and I had one client. I helped him break through some barriers. He'd refer me to you, marilyn, let's say, and I would call you and say, marilyn, I can help you grow your business. You'd meet with me, we'd have a great conversation and you'd say, michael, this all sounds good. Tell me who else have you helped what sounds good? Tell me who else have you helped, what have you been doing for the last few years? And I'd say I've been helping marriages and families at Family Life. And you'd say, michael, that is so honorable Way to go. Look at the time. Got another meeting coming up, let's reschedule. And so you'd usher me out the door.

Speaker 3:

So I wasn't getting any clients because you saw me as a ministry guy, not a marketing guy. So I knew I had to fix that. So I went back to my church one day. I was pacing the hallway on the second floor and I said God, how do I help Marilyn? Because I know I can. And he said, michael, take all your ideas and put them in a book. And so I did.

Speaker 3:

You mentioned I wrote my first book on marketing back in 2013. Then, marilyn, I'd call you, I'd set an appointment. I'd was. My book was on your desk, dog-eared, highlighted, underlined. You'd read my book. And in that meeting you say now, michael, in your book, you said how do you help me do that? And you'd hire me. Nice, I started getting client. The only thing, marilyn, that changed between those two meetings was the fact that I became a published author and, in your mind, when you got a copy of my book, I instantly became an expert. That changed everything for me. So my business changed and then I went and I developed a process to help business owners, attorneys, financial advisors, no matter what create a book without writing a word. And then we teach them how to use their book in their business to gain clients and get referrals and grow their revenue. So that was a really long answer, but that's a pretty wide here.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's an amazing story and I love the way that you built authority. So you're an expert now with the book. Now, you said one thing that I find interesting is you said write a book without writing a word. Are you doing an interview process? How are you doing this to get that down?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I work with really busy business owners, so I've got a staff of about 12 professional writers and we yeah, we interview our client on Zoom normally and once we capture the title and the theme of the book, then the writer comes in and just we have conversations. Because attorneys have everything they need in their head to create a book Right, they still have the time to write or they don't want to write. We do all the hard work, the heavy lifting, but the book is in their voice, their words, because we interview them using our speak to write process.

Speaker 2:

That sounds great, because I know that. You know just the feeling of coming up with okay, I want to write a book and then now it's this big gray cloud. It's like it seems like an unbearable task, right, like where do I start? You know it's so. I think that's amazing. To interview people, get their voice, how they've you know, and then what their input is, and then put that on paper for them, that's fantastic, great. And you're talking about a clear message. So how do you work to get a clear message to make them the expert?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So it's really fun because every attorney has a story to tell and they're just not telling it. And what I find is it's going to be that story most of the time. That separates them from everybody else. And so I've got a whole process I've designed to elicit that story, to extract it from their mind.

Speaker 3:

Let me tell you a quick story about an attorney. Okay, he's down in Florida. He came to me. He was a little David against two big Goliaths, okay, and he was just trying to make ends meet. He says I can't compete on them for a marketing. And so I said all right, tell me, tell me your story, william. Why do you live where you live? Why do you live in Florida?

Speaker 3:

So he went to Florida on a baseball scholarship from the Northeast. He was going to the pros for baseball, for pitching. He was that good, wow. And in his second year of college he threw out his pitching arm and had to have rehabilitation. Surgery killed his baseball career, killed his college scholarship and he had to pivot. And so he pivoted, became an attorney. Now he's a personal injury attorney.

Speaker 3:

And I said, william, have you ever told anybody that story? And he said no. I said, well, we're going to. So we took that story, marilyn, have you ever told anybody that story? And he said no. I said, well, we're going to. So we took that story, marilyn, and we wove it into his book and we published his book and it's called when Life Throws you a Curveball. I love it what to do when you're involved in a serious accident.

Speaker 3:

By William Frankie, baseball player turned attorney. Now that's a very compelling story. So when he goes on the TV morning show or his website or whatever he can easily say, you know, if life's thrown you a curveball, you get hit by a truck or bit by a dog or slipped at work, I get it because life threw me a curveball. That's number one, that's message. Then I told him.

Speaker 3:

I said, wait, if you're going on these morning shows, you always show up dressed like an attorney. That's pretty boring. Why don't you wear your suit and carry your baseball mitt and your glove, your pitcher's mitt, right Right, carry a baseball bat, because it all ties into your story and that's what's going to connect people with you. So that's, marilyn, how we position our clients and get that compelling story. Our clients and get that compelling story Because I ask a lot of questions about their background and there's always a theme of why they do what they do, and we just utilize that theme to create the book, and now they can talk about that all day long, and that separates them from all their competitors.

Speaker 2:

And makes them memorable. So I love that you're not looking for the classic hero's journey. That was a tragedy, you know, a fabulous, a tragedy, a fabulous. And now I'm, I'm riding away. You know, sometimes that's just, it's overdone. I love that you find the little nuggets of why this actually happens. But those things happen in our lives and we just think it, it could be anybody. It's not something special absolutely yeah.

Speaker 3:

And and the cool thing about William, that story for him was very therapeutic because losing a baseball career was tough. He was able to then go back actually to his alma mater, speak to their baseball team and talk to his former baseball coach and share that story with him, and the coach had never heard that story. It was amazing how much that's helped William. But it's such a personal story and that's really in marketing. What we want to do is we want to connect at the heart level with our audience, and so many attorneys don't.

Speaker 3:

They're just talking about the law and you're missing so much opportunity.

Speaker 2:

Exactly I agree In what we do for attorneys, we try to do the same thing. Make exactly I agree in what we do for attorneys, we try to do the same thing. Make them approachable. You know they're so, like you said, stuffy and it makes normal people feel like they're unapproachable. And they are there that you know. Their job is to help you get through some of the toughest times of your life.

Speaker 2:

So we want to make them approachable. I love the idea of the book and finding that story that sets them apart. That's's fantastic. And how do you establish and market their credibility once you have you know whether they have a book or not. How do you, how do you do that?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so. So our clients, you know obviously. They come through, they get, they get a book and then, after their book's published, we promote them to be an Amazon bestselling author, and we've got an entire team in the process to guarantee to make that happen. Because in the mind of your audience, when you come on and say, hey, why don't you get a free copy of my Amazon bestselling book, just those words cause people to lean in and go, wow, you must really be an expert number one. So we help them market their credibility by giving their book away.

Speaker 3:

I will tell you, don't sell your book. It'll be on Amazon. You can get a few dollars in royalties, yippee, skippee. What I want you to do is put the book in the hands of your audience, of your prospects. Put it as a free download on your website, allow them to opt in to get a free PDF copy, and then the thank you page comes up with a nice video of you saying thank you so much for downloading my book. It'll be in your inbox in a couple of minutes. It's filled with great information that help you recover from your accident or whatever you need right, and if you'd like, I'd be happy to mail you a free copy Won't cost you a penny.

Speaker 3:

Just tell me where to put it in the mail and I'll send it to you so you can spend some time with it. Maybe you like the dog-eared, non-aligned books, like I do. If you'd like that, just put your information below. We'll mail it out to you. It doesn't cost you a thing, okay.

Speaker 3:

And then there's an email sequence follow-up to deliver the e-book and all that. But all of this is building credibility, versus what typically is talked about is I've got to get you on the phone right now because I've got to close the sale, because I've got to get you on my client and it's like you know what. So that's one way we want to put your book into the hands of people who are a prospect. Put them in the hands of your clients because they're talking to their friends about you, and put them in the hands of centers of influence, so that, instead of giving your business card to somebody, they hand a copy of your book and say I think you need to talk to Marilyn because she rocks, read her book and then give her a call.

Speaker 3:

We build credibility by building relationships of trust, and the foundation, the cornerstone of that is your Amazon bestselling book.

Speaker 2:

Okay, great.

Speaker 3:

Okay, great, so you actually are taking the idea of a lead magnet and making that you put through together or whatever, right? There are lots of different lead magnets. A book is a high-value lead magnet because you're looking, my clients are looking for high-value clients and I'm a big fan, by the way if it didn't come through in that funnel of putting your physical book in people's hands, right? I don't know how many e-books you have on your computer, marilyn. I have hundreds somewhere. I don't know how many e-books you have on your computer, marilyn? I have hundreds somewhere. I don't know where they are, but I have books in my office and in my bookshelf and in my bedroom. If I give you a book, did you know, marilyn? It is sacrilegious to throw that thing away. You will move from house to house, and so I want to become a household name. I want your book in the homes, the offices of your people, of your audience, right? And so I'm a big, big fan of physical books. I love e-books as well. In what they can do, there's nothing like guests.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 3:

And so we teach our clients how to use physical books as well to get clients and get referrals, because it just builds great, great credibility. Get you on podcasts, get you on speaking stages. There's so much you can do when you have that status of being an Amazon bestselling author.

Speaker 2:

And is there a sweet spot in the length of the book?

Speaker 3:

There is, yeah, our sweet spot's about 120 to 150 pages, okay. And you don't want to write a brochure, right? And you don't want to write war and peace, right? You want something that when you give it to somebody, it looks and feels like a book and it's something that they can look at and go. You know what? I could probably read that in an hour or two this weekend.

Speaker 2:

That's what we're looking for. Okay, it comes to being a published author, even, in some instances, being a public speaker. You know, the thought comes by. Well, I don't have, I can't fill a speaking slot. What would I talk about for? For 45 minutes, right?

Speaker 3:

Exactly, yeah, and that's the beauty of of. It's really the beauty of talking with somebody like a writer is we will, we will extract so much information from you and then we put it all together.

Speaker 2:

Okay, excellent, and so we're talking about your credibility calculator and that sort of thing. Is that something that's a kind of a prerequisite of doing the interview? How does that fit into it and what is it?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the credibility calculator is on our website. It's absolutely free. Everybody asks me what is credibility? How do I know if I have it or not? So I created the calculator a number of years ago. It's absolutely free, Takes less than five minutes, has 20 questions. You go through, answer the 20 questions. I give you a report zero to 100 on your credibility score. And what this is is how do people think about credibility? What is credibility in the eyes of your audience? That's the 20 question. So you answer them, I'll give you a report back and I'll say hey, Marilyn, your credibility is 63 out of 100. Great. And then I have five videos that follow that up, that tell you what you can do to improve the level of credibility you have.

Speaker 3:

So it's absolutely free on my website. It's just a tool that we use because people kept asking me well, what is credibility, how much do I have? So I build a calculator so you can go and calculate your credibility and I'll give you a score.

Speaker 2:

Wow, okay, that's very interesting because that will also help with the confidence factors of moving forward. Again, imposter syndrome we all run into it at some point in time, right yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 3:

I'm sorry.

Speaker 3:

It's really interesting. My clients, the attorneys that I work with, are competent at what they do, but they're not confident in promoting themselves out. The book is about your client. It just happens you are the conduit of information and storytelling of how you've helped others navigate the legal rat maze. That it is because other people are in the same situation, so it's very story-based. We want your book to be very story-based of how you've helped other people. We also want it to be story-based on you, kind of like William in his baseball career, because you're right, it's memorable. I want to work with that baseball attorney guy and if you're a sports person in his market, he's number one in your mind because you've already got common ground, right, right, and so there's so many layers to this. All of that builds credibility.

Speaker 2:

And the storytelling is also makes it memorable and readable. You know, we don't want to know what needs a really dry. You know, if we wanted a textbook, we'd read a textbook.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly, yeah Well that's.

Speaker 2:

That's really interesting. What would? How would someone get started if they wanted to do a book, or even start exploring if it was something that would be good for them?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the first thing, honestly, is just go to our website, paperbackexpertcom, look around. We have free trainings, we have videos, we have all kinds of information there. Number one, number two schedule a call with me. We always just do. I call them credibility conversation to see if this is really the right next step for you, answering the questions that you have.

Speaker 3:

Here's what I teach my clients, marilyn I teach you to precondition prospects before you meet with them. So when somebody schedules a call with me a credibility conversation before we ever meet, they've already gotten an email with a video about me and my background and my company. Then they get a video about our process. How do we create your book without writing a word in under 24 hours of your time? How do we do that? An entire video. And then, before they meet with us, we actually send them a program and pricing video where I reveal to them the entire investment required to work with us before I ever talk with you, so that when we get on the call, you have all that information up front.

Speaker 3:

Now we can talk about your business. What are you struggling with? What are you trying to accomplish? Does this actually make sense for you? Because we're not right for everybody and it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. And if you're not right for us, I'll let you know, because I don't want unhappy clients, right? So yeah, website's the easiest thing. Just go check us out, schedule a call and let's have a conversation.

Speaker 2:

That's great, michael. Thank you so much. The question that I have about I know that when I did a book formatting and the cover art, all of that do you handle all of that?

Speaker 3:

Yep, yes, we do. Short answer is we do. I have an entire team. I am a full-fledged publishing company. We will take you from idea all the way through published author, so we take care of all of that for you. You're obviously involved in the process. You approve everything, but we're just doing all the hard work. But, yes, we do all of the formatting, the design. It's really cool. My designer, my design team, is a husband and wife. He designs the exterior cover of the book and then she takes elements of the exterior of the book and weaves them in through the interior of the book. So there's a lot of consistency, which is really cool, so we take care of all.

Speaker 2:

Excellent. I love that. It sounds like you are literally a full service. If I wanted to build that credibility, you're the, you're the go-to person. So what we'd like to think, well, and it just it, the, the the baseball book. I just love that whole idea and it just it, the, the the baseball book. I just love that whole idea, and and it makes people memorable. So I think what you're doing is a fabulous idea and it's a great service. Now I know you said paperback expert is the website where you can go and and um, get an appointment and find out more about it. Is there any other place that some of our readers can, our listeners can can follow you or find you on the web?

Speaker 3:

oh, I'm all over the place. Yeah, just google my name, go any social media, I'm, I'm everywhere. I just find that if you go to paperback expert, that's kind of the hub that gets you started. That gives you a lot of the insight. But you can find me.

Speaker 2:

Okay, great, what we're going to do is we'll make sure we put the link to the credibility calculator and paperback expert in the show notes, and this has been really exciting. I'm excited for people to get books published by you or written by you. It just sounds like such a great idea.

Speaker 3:

Well, thanks, marilyn, I appreciate it. We look forward to serving more people and just helping them elevate their credibility, serve more people and enjoy life more as an Amazon bestselling.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Thank you. This has been fabulous.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. Remember you're not alone on this journey. There's a whole community of law firm owners out there facing similar challenges and striving for the same success. Head over to our website at lawmarketingzonecom. From there, connect with other listeners, access valuable resources and stay up to date on the latest episodes. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, keep leading with vision and keep growing your firm.