How to Have Instant and Lasting Credibility and Trust
Kevin Hogan
Page 3
Q. Are salespeople, entrepreneurs, small businesses
and the like perceived as credible by the public? How do they
work on that?
A. Most entrepreneurs aren't initially perceived as credible. They
don't have the recognizable brand name like Starbucks, ipod,
Coca Cola, Nike. They are Joe and Bill and John and Chris.
Therefore you have your work cut out for you and people rarely
take this part of business seriously, and that is a contributing
factor as to why they will go broke.
Build Expertise. You must build legitimate expertise and you must provide
evidence for your trustworthiness. Always assume there is a
high bar in a person's mind for credibility. There SHOULD be and
that fact needs to NOT be a hurdle for you.
Be Dependable. Trust... in some contexts... is more about dependability and
predictability than any other aspect. think about that. SHOWING UP
and being on time can often be up to 3 x more valuable than being
seen as honest.
Lesson: Never be late.
Credible People Have Detractors
There are no unbiased sources about your credibility or appearance
of your integrity. If you are being effective and earning money, you
will have detractors that will typically be noisier than those who
are your fans.
That is the nature of being outgroup and living the life of an
entrepreneur.
As soon as you achieve ANYTHING, your mere presence can
trigger some people to feel uncomfortable and not like you!
You're achieving, they aren't...
So you are going to get criticism.
Invite Criticism. Allow people to criticize you even in the most brutal ways and know
that to elicit that you either are as big of a jerk as they say; or
you are simply so good at what you do that you have threatened
them to the core simply by being.
We all have an innate dread of rejection. That is normal. However, do
learn to master criticism by using the most evil and vile critic's
critique of you or your work and see if there is SOMETHING to what
they say.
When I began applying this principle to books I've written, and have
control over, I have gone and rewrittern sections in those books. Often
this revision project has been profitable and created a better public
perception through better reviews.
You should be teachable and be seen as teachable.
Don't cave to pressure.
Have integrity.
Do be open to the fact that a jerk...could be right....even while
he's being a jerk.
Q. How can our listeners be more effective at all the
contact points with their market?
A. You meet your customer at various contact points. Each is a
chance to prove yourself guilty of being seen as not real, non-
credible, inauthentic, not trustworthy.
What's cool is that your BEST customers are often those who
were the most skeptical and distrusting of you; and THEN you
won them over.
How to make each contact point with your customers and market more
effective?
Customer Service - People appreciate speed. We try and get to people
who need help with something as close to "instantly" as instantly can
happen. We get more comments on speed of service than anything except
content. We were talking about dependability and predictability as
being key factors in trust. Well if people know you are going to be
there for them, they feel comfortable doing business with you. Want
to really be effective? Think, what does my customer want in customer
service? They want whatever screwed up, fixed now. How simple is
that? They paid yesterday. It broke today, so fix it because you've
already been paid.
Advertising - Credible advertising is almost a contradiction in
terms. So be credible and standout. Be effective by causing your
advertising, which is rarely profitable to BE profitable. Most people
think of advertising as buying space...with an ad. Here's a telegraph
just in from Cheyenne. It doesn't work unless you are profoundly and
dramatically branded. Half the advertising dollars don't work so
there is NOT anything to figure out as far as "which half."
Key: Hold off
on unnecessary advertising until you are branded well enough to make
it pay.
If you must, make your ad standout and offer a QUICK, almost
instant and un-put-down-able offer.
Marketing - This is what does work. And marketing and sales need to
be integrated. Sadly, a lot of companies treat them with complete
division. That's a mistake. It costs sales because the messages are
different, especially in branded companies or people. You either need
great marketing or great sales to succeed in business. If you can do
both you have a forever winner. Select carefully who you do business
with. Everyone you do business with, their halo, their reputation
will rub off on you. Make sure that is a good thing.
Product description - Be precise. Dove is 99 44/100% pure.... Be
accurate and be precise. 10% weight loss is not as good as a "median
of 9.3%." Be unquestionably accurate in claims. Tell the truth.
Want an exercise to develop credibility? 
Continue: Page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Kevin Hogan
Network 3000 Publishing
3432 Denmark #108
Eagan, MN 55123
(612) 616-0732
Photos appear under license with Stockexpert.
