Credibility Unlocks the Doors to Success

Since we know that lots of people tend to get tense in crowds, it follows that crowded marketplaces also make buyers tense. The greatest personal challenge you face today is overcoming the tension that exists in a crowded selling environment.
Behavioral psychologists have a term known as territorial imperative. Most graphically evident in lower animals, it is nonetheless true with humans: virtually every living creature marks out an area that he or she will defend against all intruders. When that personal space is invaded, its owner examines the intruder carefully to determine if it is friend or foe. Only when one trusts the intruder will he or she relax. Without credibility, you will remain an un-trusted intruder.
If your credibility can transform this natural tension into trust, you will break through its resistance and close the sale. Failure to establish credibility with your prospects will reduce you to merely another face in the bustling crowds of salespeople they see daily. Your credibility is the key to your prospects’ view of you as an honorable person. And, in the final analysis, honor, integrity, virtue, commitment and honesty are not values of the past to be cast aside. Instead, they are the ingredients of a successful career. Yours, mine and anyone else who aspires to be a real pro.

The Strength of the Endorsement

When politicians get ready to run for election, it creates a mad scramble to
secure the endorsement of the most powerful and financially capable groups they can garner. It is no secret that these so-called ’fairly‘ elected officials will then owe their well-heeled supporters in very big ways.

In politics, it superficially appears that being endorsed by a group is a stamp of that group’s approval. Unfortunately, it is often far more than that. For salespeople though, this concept of endorsement is just what it appears to be — a vote of approval, support or belief in a product or organization. It is both sincere and valuable.

For salespeople, endorsement can be a tremendously powerful tool that can be utilized in helping prospects to more fully understand the universal acceptance of their product or service, the quality of their organization or their ability to satisfy customers.

As a consequence of the power of this concept, let’s take a look at 10 very powerful – and potentially profitable – ways that you can gain valuable endorsement for yourself, as well as your product, service or organization:

1. Seek to have your product or service evaluated and reported on objectively by a trade journal, publication, watchdog group, consumer affairs department, governmental evaluation agency or any third-party group that is perceived as being impartial by the target group to whom you sell your products.
2. Become a spokesperson or industry advocate for your customers and their interests. This act alone will give you endorsement as a top-level, professional representative for your targeted market.
3. Find ways to develop high visibility within your market. Consider becoming a contributing editor/columnist to trade journals or newsletters your customers read, perhaps speaking at seminars/programs sponsored by their industry publications or functions.
4. Consider becoming a published author. Develop books, booklets, pamphlets or your own newsletter that you use to heighten your own personal position and gain additional visibility with your customer base.
5. Learn the professional designations your customers either have or respect the most and earn them. These might be certifications, advanced degrees, awards, memberships, prizes or other forms of official recognition.
6. Position yourself among the leaders. Become known as a ‘thought leader’ – a person who is looked to for answers and futuristic interpretations of trends and waves.
7. Be conscious of everything you do, including your dress, style, etiquette and positioning. Seek endorsement as a person who is above the rest of the pack. Strive to be someone whose very presence garners attention and respect.
8. Actively seek the endorsement of every satisfied customer you have. Seek letters, notes, comments, quotes – anything you can get that says, "Yes, I endorse this product 100%!"
9. Ask satisfied customers to appear on video, give quotes on audio or agree to provide their quotes in some form of officially printed material that you can utilize as a ’proof source‘ for your sales effort.
10. Seek public relations for your efforts. Always remember, public relations works because it implies endorsement. Advertising is not so subtle, requires a totally different ’spin‘ and is extremely expensive. It is also not nearly as attention-grabbing or potentially long lasting as the far more sophisticated public relations effort.

Perhaps the most essential lesson in all of this is that the better you are positioned by and with your constituency, the better off you’ll be. The difference between salespeople and politicians? The former initiate their efforts with very clear goals and no clandestine goals. Another difference? Have you ever tried to convince a politician to vote counter to the group that helped him or her get elected? Salespeople only serve one master – their customer. Or, at least the best ones do. Where do you fit? Get the endorsement of your most important constituency and you will be the master of all you can control. And that, my friend, is true freedom!