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Practice Management > Building Your Business

How to create an album of credibility

By Staff Writer

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The most powerful tool a salesperson can have is a third-party endorsement. Proof: verification. This is your book of evidence. In a trial, people are convicted or found not guilty based on the quality of evidence either against them or for them.

What we are going to be talking about today is your book of evidence. What we did years ago, and I recommend for everybody today, is to create a table top book that you can give to all prospective clients. Your book should have pictures and letters of recent and past clients, thank-you letters from current clients, and also local business owners. Take pictures of your top 10 or 20 clients and have them write a letter to you, first saying how thankful they are to have met you. Have them explain how fantastic it is to do business with you and what it has been like for them. Also, get letters from local business owners and local business entities like the chamber of commerce or any organization you might belong to.

Other things to include are pictures of friends and family. Try to make these pictures as fun as humanly possible. Don?? 1/2 t forget pictures of your kids, if you have any, your animals, your activities, sporting events, or different events you have attended.

Since most of us do many client events, I would get plenty of pictures of clients; if possible, 10 to 15 clients doing something. If you haven?? 1/2 t done that yet, before you create this book, have a couple of events where you take clients to a zoo, a park, a play, or something alone those lines. Use that time to get pictures taken of you interacting with your clients. Again, make it fun. You can use a photo album for this. Make sure you take your book with you if you go to a client?? 1/2 s home. What you are trying to do here is provide proof that your current clients are incredibly happy, think you are just the cat?? 1/2 s meow, and that you walk on water. When prospective clients look at this book they are going to say, ?? 1/2 Wow, these people are just like me.?? 1/2

Letters of recommendation are another good thing to have in the album. What you are trying to do here is build credibility. In 1999, my office took a bunch of these pictures and letters and had them put into a really beautiful eight-page handout. Back in those days handouts cost me about 75 cents. Today you are looking at $1.25 to $2.50 per handout, depending upon paper quality. Handouts are versatile. They are inexpensive and can be handed out at seminars or mailed to prospective clients. Again, this is just more proof that you are a little bit different. We also developed a pair of corporate brochures: One for our core business, which is Kelly Shaw Financial Advisors, and one for the Veterans benefits program.

Again, what we are trying to do is build credibility. I think the most powerful thing the salesperson can have are letters from clients and thank-you cards. If your clients have a tough time writing one, don?? 1/2 t feel ashamed to offer to have people on your staff write the letter for them. Then all they have to do is sign it. Have them send it back to your office in a personalized envelope. Remember, we want to show proof that it?? 1/2 s coming from a client. These can be very, very powerful tools.

If you have a staff, make sure your staff hands this out before you meet with a prospective client. Have them take a few minutes to look through your credibility book, your book of evidence. You want them to see that you?? 1/2 re involved in the community before they ever come into your office, sit down with you, and get to know you personally.

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