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How To Build Credibility With Your Prospects

Written by: Mark Satterfield

Article Overview: How small businesses can quickly build trust and credibility with brand new prospective clients.

How To Build Credibility With Your Prospects

New prospects are a skeptical group. The unfortunate reality is that when someone doesn't know you, they tend to look for reasons to dismiss you rather than looking at your value proposition with an open mind.

So how do we go about building credibility with prospective clients? Naturally the easiest method is to avoid cold marketing altogether. Being referred by someone who knows you has a huge benefit in reducing the inherent mistrust we often have when we meet brand new people. However, strictly relying on referrals is one of the main reasons why so many small business owners experience the proverbial feast-or-famine business cycles.

It's easy to understand why. When we rely on referrals we are giving up control of our new business efforts. We are hoping that our network will be sufficiently large enough so that a certain minimum number of referrals will be generated each month. The sad reality is that hardly anyone's existing network is large enough to accomplish that goal.

The primary reason for this is because most small business owners use highly labor intensive methods for meeting new people. While networking events, lunches and dinners certainly have their place, when one gets busy with work, these activities typically start to fall onto the back-burner. Over time the number of new people in one's circle of relationships begins to shrink rather than expand. During tough economic times, it is easy to "lap the track" of this finite group and suddenly realize to one's horror that referrals have dried up.

Many small business owners view the process of getting brand new clients with a mixture of apprehension and fear. They are concerned that they will come across as the stereotypical used car salesman, and the idea of cold-calling someone fills them with dread. Fortunately by using one page websites that clearly communicate the benefits that you offer a specific targeted group of prospects, and offers compelling free information, it is a relatively straight forward proposition to attract brand new prospects.

But still the question remains, "How do I build trust and credibility with these people?" After all, it's easy for me to say "I'm great". Unfortunately that doesn't do much to reduce the skepticism level. The most powerful method you can use to build credibility is to offer proof. Proof that you can do what you claim. Proof that others have achieved the desired results you offer.

What's the best way to provide proof? As you may have guessed, it's by using testimonials. If your website and other marketing materials don't have numerous testimonials appearing on them, you're missing a huge opportunity to build credibility.

But, not all testimonials are equal and it's important to keep in mind that your reader is still skeptical. A testimonial that says "You're great" pales in comparison to one that says "By using your system I increased the number of brand new clients I got by 45%" Thus when you request testimonials make sure that you ask: "What was the biggest benefit that you achieved by using my products or services?" The more you get quantifiable answers, the more it will increase your credibility.

Not surprisingly, many prospects think that you're just making up your testimonials (which you should never do). Here are a couple of ideas for reducing that inclination. First, include the website of the person giving the testimonial. This adds a layer of credibility and underscores that this is in fact a real person. Secondly, consider using video testimonials. Since over 50% of web content is now video, using video not only provides strong proof, but also positions you as a leading edge provider of your particular service. If you keep these thoughts in mind you will easily reduce the skepticism that new prospects have about doing business with you.

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Article Tags: apprehension, business cycles, business efforts, car salesman, dread, economic times, existing network, feast or famine, finite group, intensive methods, mistrust, networking events, page websites, prospective clients, sad reality, skeptical group, small business owners, targeted group, unfortunate reality, value proposition



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Re: Great start, but no finish - My advise is FOCUS on your business. Focusing is the main factor to succeed on business. If you have a great idea, then follow it only, don't look anywhere else. It is especially essential in an online business. Because there are a lot of mind blowing sales letters promising millions dolllars or overnight success, people find it difficult to concentrate on one business and they lose their energy. Concept is simple. 1- Have a good idea; 2- Build your business on it; 3- Monetize your business; 4- Promote it; 5- Build list of responsive customers; 6- Maintain You Business. Focusing and not fearing from competition (instead you can learn from competitiors) are main tips of billionaires ,BTW. Orxan
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Simple way to avoid Cold Calling - Gary, A chiropractor I work with hates cold calling (me too!) and he uses a technique to warm people up to using his services - it's so simple! In Sales your dealing with 3 pools of people: 1. Strangers 2. Prospects 3. Returning Customers You need to move people from one pool to the next. We'll concentrate on #1 and #2 as it's most relevant to your question. My Clients does the following (you just have to tailor it to your situation - be creative). My Client (we'll call him Bob) Bob leverages his time and resources to only get people that need his offer (pain relief) to put their hand up. Dealing with Strangers can get expensive and they don't like to be told what to do as they have no trust or relationship built with him. So to get Strangers to put their hands up he writes up an offer with a free report on a particular pain relief - let's say lower back pain (note: he can simply just change lower back pain to neck pain and have a new report). and uses multiple marketing vehicles to promote the Free report - magazines, newspaper, forums, postcards, private clinics etc. The only people picking up this information are the very people Bob would like as customers as they have Lower back pain. Bob's Free report ends with him stating his services and includes a Free in-house Consultation with no obligation. You'd be surprised at how easily Bob converts Strangers into Prospects. Note: They become prospects when they ask for the Free Guide and in exchange provide their contact details. This gives Bob unlimited opportunity to contact them for the Free in-house consultation with no obligation to continue using him. At this stage Bob's ability to close the sale lies in his office providing good customer service, Bob's ability to help the prospect and provide value at the free in-house consultation. Notice, he hasn't had to pick up the phone to COLD-CALL his Stranger pool or his Prospect pool. Hope that example helps to increase your prospecting!


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