Networking and 60 Second Commercials--Your Credibility

Personal Beliefs

Beyond the climate of distrust, each of us has personal beliefs that screen out what others are saying in their commercials. If you have a belief that western medicine is the only answer; then any form of eastern medicine will get through our belief screen. If a person believes that you need to be rich to use an interior design service, Marilyn will never get business. If you believe that you must be a geek to have a website, you will screen out any commercial to the contrary. Part of your job as a business owner is to recognize that personal beliefs bias what people have about your business. So what can you do to prove yourself? Here are a number of different ways you can use.

Social Proof

 You drive in a strange town and its supper time. You’re driving down the street and on the right side there is a restaurant with ten cars in the lot. On the left side there is another restaurant with two cars in the lot. Which one will you go to? Most will go to the more crowded restaurant because they want feel more comfortable with what others have found. This is called social proof.

Celebrity Status

 What if you have a famous celebrity supported your business? Did you know that Shac O”Neil the famous basketball uses acupuncture to help heal his injuries. Would that make Nick’s work more believable?

Expert Evidence

 American Family Insurance gets the highest rating of all insurance companies in the country—does this make Jennifer more believable?

Personal Testimonials

 Last week Amy told us what a great job Danny did with fixing her neck. Jennifer told us what a great message she received from Denson. Both of these personal testimonials help with credibility.

A Guarantee

 Jen offers a guarantee with her program—they will beat any price. That helps give credibility to her program. These are just a few of the ways you can get more believability for your business.

Published Articles

 Publish an article or have an article written about you or your business. When people see things in print, it makes everything more believable.

What Proof Does Your Customers Want?

The key to making your commercial more believable is to know what proof your customer wants. It makes no difference what you think makes you more believable. What really counts is what proof your customers want. Some customers don’t care about expert opinions. They are more interested in personal testimonial. Some customers want a guarantee; others don’t need them. What type of proof does your customer want to make you more believable? Find the answer to this question and give customer what they want.

Conclusion

 To be effective, your commercial needs to offer proof why people should believe you. Make it proof that customers want. Here’s a wonderful exercise to make you more credible.

Write a ½ page business resume on why your business is qualified to do the work. Include expertise, experience, skills, credentials, licenses, awards, standards of performance and other elements inspiring a potential customer to buy from you.

In the next blog, I will deal with the fifth and final component of a good network commercial.  Your comments are welcomed...