People won't buy from you until they're confident you will
deliver exactly what they expect to get. You can help them
develop that confidence by making certain every claim you
make about your product or service is fully believable.
Here are 3 ways you can increase your believability with
prospects and generate more sales. All 3 work for any
business. And you can use them with any marketing method
including the Internet.
USE TESTIMONIALS
Testimonials from satisfied customers are powerful selling
tools. They establish your believability because they prove
you already delivered what you promised to other customers.
The most effective testimonials describe a specific result
your customer enjoyed by using your product or service. For
example, "In just 2 weeks I lost 9 pounds, felt years
younger and still enjoyed all my favorite foods".
TIP: Get permission to use your customers' names and
addresses with their testimonials. Personal testimonials
from real people are more believable than anonymous
testimonials.
PROVIDE SPECIFICS
You can also increase your believability by converting
general statements into specific descriptions. "It's fast,
easy and inexpensive" may accurately describe your product
or service. But a specific description of how fast, how easy
and how inexpensive is more believable.
Also, try to avoid using round numbers (10, 25, 40, etc.) in
your claims. Instead, reduce them to specific odd numbers
with fractions or decimals. Here's why...
Which of the following 2 statements sounds more authentic to
you?
1. Our clients average 30 percent more sales.
2. Our clients average 27.7 percent more sales.
Most people choose the second statement. 30 percent may be
the accurate number. But 27.7 percent is more believable.
BONUS: Specific descriptions also create impact and
excitement. They motivate more of your prospects to buy.
TONE DOWN YOUR CLAIMS
If the actual results you can produce for your customers or
clients sound too good to be true, your prospective
customers will assume it's not true. It happened to me...
I once developed a direct mail postcard that generated over
20 percent replies when I sent it to names on a special
mailing list. Most of the businesses I approached with a
lead service using this postcard didn't believe I could
really get that high a response rate for them.
The service was difficult to sell unless I substantially
understated the projected rate of response. I eventually
discovered that projecting a 7 1/2 to 9 1/2 percent response
rate produced the largest number of sales. That rate was
still a substantial increase for any company and it was
more believable than the actual rate of more than 20
percent.
SPECIAL ADVANTAGE: Understating the results your customer
can expect also enhances your credibility. Imagine your
customer's reaction when your product or service produces
substantially better results than you promised.
How believable are the claims and promises you make to
prospective customers or clients? Do you use testimonials
and provide specifics? Are there any claims you need to tone
down because they sound too good to be true? Prospective
customers won't buy from you unless they fully believe every
claim and promise you make.
About the Author
Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales
personnel and developing sales leads. Bob recently wrote a manual for small business
owners titled "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With
Simple Postcards" and several other publications to help
small businesses grow and prosper. For more information...
mailto:BobLeduc@aol.com'subjectPostcards
Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time)