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Building Credibility

Written by: Donald F. Pooley

Article Overview: 88% of you who answered the last survey wanted to know how to build your credibility before your first meeting with a new prospect.

Building Credibility

88% of you who answered the last survey wanted to know how to build your credibility before your first meeting with a new prospect.
This is difficult to do well over the phone because you're forced to tell what a wonderful person you are, which can sound boastful, and put many people off.
So write a letter, instead.
The written word has more authority than the spoken, and implies more commitment from the writer, thus adding to its credibility. And your letterhead can add to it, too.
For example:
1. Is it your own letterhead, or that of your sponsor? If your name is smaller than your sponsor's, your credibility appears less than his. So use your own letterhead. It's easy to make your own today with your word processor.
2. Do you have appropriate letters after your name? B.A. after your name, for example, says nothing about what you know about our business, while CFP, CLU, or CHFC, say that you've spent some time and effort learning about it. So, if you don't have them, start acquiring them. If you have just one or two get more. More letters = more credibility.
3. Do you have a business-like e-address with its own unique domain name? The domain name is the part after the @ in your e-address. Maybe You@hotmail.com seemed sexy when you first heard of it, but it isn't, and never has been professional.
4. Domains are cheap. My most expensive one, pooley.ca costs me only C$35 yearly. So get one that's uniquely yours, and add to your credibility economically, and easily.
Read "The Aim of the Name" for more on appropriate names.
5. Do you have your own firm? A letter from Jack Jones, President of Jack Jones Ltd. certainly carries more weight than one from Jack Jones, Representative of XYZ Brokers.
So, before he even gets to your message, your letterhead has told your prospect where you fit in the scheme of things, and he's decided whether the rest is worth reading.
But what if you're a newbie who has none of these things in your letterhead to enhance your credibility?
Then you have to grab the prospect's attention in some other way that's unique enough to make you stand out so far above the crowd that he's eager to meet you.
But that's another story.

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