Are You Prepared to Enhance Your Credibility?

The VCP Process is the foundation of building a referral-based business.    While this general business-building philosophy isn’t going to automatically increase your business, there are plenty of benefits to increasing your visibility and your credibility.

Visibility is usually pretty easy for businesspeople to get on board with. You attend extra networking events, look into other forms of marketing, reach out to new client bases. Credibility is where, time and again, we see more people struggling to build up that quality reputation of being credible.

There are a few simple items other than business cards that you should try to have at your disposal to help you develop that word-of-mouth campaign and show off your credibility to potential new clients or business networks. Try to always have access to at least one example of the following simple items:

• Photos of yourself and your office facilities, equipment, and products;
• Your letterhead and stationary;
• Your annual report and capability statement;
• Advertisements you’ve run;
• A list of your memberships and affiliations;
• Articles on trends affecting your target market.

Most business professionals will have these few simple items at their disposal at any given point, and many won’t realize what a vital tool to building credibility these can be! You can really up your game by having a couple less common items at your disposal as well:

• Articles in which you or your business are mentioned;
• Product catalogs you use;
• Client or customer proposals and bid sheets;
• Marketing letters you wrote to clients;
• Posters, banners, and display materials used at trade shows;
• Photos of awards and certificates you and your staff have earned.

Got all that? Great! You can never have too many credibility-building items at your disposal, so the following are great additions, as well. Just make sure not to throw all of your items at potential contacts at the same time. You don’t want to overwhelm anyone, though it would be incredibly easy to do so. Look to have these on-hand in case someone requests them:

• Testimonial letters from satisfied clients;
• Photos of key customers;
• Unpublished articles;
• Any of your new-product announcements or press releases;
• Question-and-answer sheets;
• A one-page, faxable flyer.

With a little foresight, it can be incredibly easy to get all of the basic supplies you’ll need to prove your credibility and increase your word-of-mouth marketing campaign.

What items do you use on a regular basis to show your potential clients and business networks that you are a credible candidate to help them with their needs? Let me know in the comments below!