Tag: establish credibility

If used powerfully, case studies and testimonials from customers and clients prove to your audience that you are worth their time, attention and investment.

To tap the full power of your testimonials, you want to organically weave them into your presentation as points or stories.

For instance, if I simply tell the audience that I can help them double their income in 30 or 60 days, they might listen to me ~ or they might think I’m full of crap.

But if I tell them about Elaine Shaw, who, after a phone session with me, made $96,000 in 18 days, they’re very likely to sit up and listen ~ not only to her story, so that they can learn from her experience, but also to what I have to say.

Thus, by weaving her story into my presentation, I not only prove my point that I can help them double their income, but I firmly establish my credibility as an expert and set myself up for great sales.

How exactly would I do this? If I were speaking to a group of people, here are some of the highlights of what I would say:

“I’m going to tell you why I am so confident that I can show you how to double your income in 30 or 60 days. A woman I’d never heard of before, Elaine Shaw, called me up out of the blue, telling me that she was working her butt off, but having terrible results.

“She called me on April 12. By that point in the month, she had made $5,000 in sales, and she wanted to make $60,000 by the end of April. After talking with her for a while, I helped her tweak what she was saying to herself and gave her a couple of techniques for working with her goal.

“At the end of the month, just 18 days later, she phoned me in tears. Not only had she hit her $60,000 goal, but she made $101,000 in sales! She did more sales in her company than any other person, and won a trip to Germany.

“And, folks, it didn’t take much more effort on her part to apply the things I’m going to show you today.”*

Now, the audience is thinking, “Wow, what did she do? How is it possible to go from $5,000 to $101,000 in sales in just 18 days?”

In order to find that out, you bet they’re going to listen attentively to me. I’m also setting them up for the sale at the end of my presentation.

During the rest of my talk, I’m going to give them some of the information I gave Elaine, but not all of it.

By the end of my presentation, they’re going to be hungering for all of the details of how I helped Elaine get her result.

And they’re going to be willing to pay for my program or product in order to get it.

* FTC compliance is beyond the scope of these articles, but you do want to make sure that your testimonials comply with the latest guidelines.

When you take the stage, your audience is likely wondering, Who is this guy or gal? They want to know if you have the potential to make a difference in their lives or businesses.

With Step 4, you’re anticipating those questions, telling them why they should listen to you.

In some environments, the simple fact that you’re onstage conveys credibility to you as an expert, but that’s not always the case.

You may be presenting at a multi-speaker event with more established people in your field. Or you could have a lot of seasoned (or jaded) industry veterans in the audience. Or maybe you’re in an industry, such as real estate or insurance, where people listen to a lot of speakers.

In those situations, especially, you need to provide proof that you are worth their time, attention and investment.

How to Establish Your Credibility

You can establish your credibility in two main ways:

1. Present Your Qualifications
Presenting your qualifications is usually done before you take the stage. First, you want to make sure that they’re listed in the speaker’s agenda, so the audience has access to them ahead of time. Then you want to give to the person who’s introducing you a paragraph to read that includes your qualifications.

The paragraph should lead with a powerful statement, like in the example below, and then include your relevant accomplishments, experience, education, awards, certification and training ~ whatever will make you look like an expert.

Your introduction should be typed in large print and written like a script, so the person can read it word-for-word. For instance, “I’m so pleased to welcome to the stage the person who showed us the goldmine in social media.”

Ideally, you want the person introducing you to be the promoter. He or she knows you best, and would be happy to do it, since anything that makes you look better can boost his or her bottom line. (Typically, the promoter gets 50% of your sales.)

Before you hand over your introduction, be sure to read it first out loud. Many introductions are flubbed because they look okay on the page, but don’t translate well when heard.

2. The Testimonial
In your presentation, after you’ve delivered your grabber, told the audience what you’re going to do and laid down the ground rules (Steps 1-3), you want to begin to deliver case studies or testimonials of people who attest to the power of your work.

In fact, on an ongoing basis, you should be building an arsenal of positive comments from newspaper and magazine articles, television and radio interviews, awards, emails from clients and customers, even posts to your Facebook page. Any time someone says something complimentary about you, your company, product or program, keep a copy of it for possible use as a testimonial.

Before you actually use the private posts and emails, you need to ask permission (and make sure they’re FTC compliant*), but once you have permission, you can include them along with your other testimonials in your PowerPoint or overhead slides.

Live testimonials are also very powerful. These are clients or customers in your audience who have agreed ahead of time to give you an unpaid endorsement.

Whatever their form, you don’t want to dump all of your testimonials into the audience’s lap at once. You can start with a few, include at least one on your order form, and weave the rest of them in seamlessly throughout your talk. Or you can begin with an extended case study.

Whether long or short, you want your testimonials to feel like an organic part of your presentation.

I’ll show you how to accomplish that next time.

*FTC compliance is beyond the scope of these articles, but do check the latest guidelines to be sure you meet the requirements.