Graham McGregor: How to build instant credibility in 2-3 minutes

Having high credibility and trust is a lot easier to convert into a paid sale. Photo / 123RF

One of the things I've noticed during 40 years of sales and marketing is that if you have high credibility and trust with a potential client it is a lot easier to convert that credibility into a paid sale.

One of the most effective ways to build high credibility is to share helpful tips and ideas related to what you sell.

(If you do this you are perceived as an instant expert on that topic.)

That works very well but does take time.

So how can you build instant credibility in only 2-3 minutes?

The best way to do this is to really 'be an expert' around what you sell.

Here's a great example:

Chris Gilmour is a real estate sales professional based in Brisbane, Australia.

In his first year Chris earned around $100,000.

In his second year Chris earned over $700,000.

And in his third year Chris earned over $1,000,000.

(In case you were wondering Chris sells average priced properties in his area.)

However in his best month he sold 23 properties!

I interviewed Chris a few years ago to find out the secrets to his success.

And he kindly shared with me how he gets Instant Credibility with potential clients in his very first phone call with them.

Chris works in an area of Brisbane that has around 3,500 homes.

If a person rings up and is thinking about selling their home Chris asks them for their address.

Let's say the address is number 3 Smith Street.

Chris then says 'So you have the two level brick and tile house with the lovely rose garden out the front'

In other words he tells the caller he knows their home.

The caller is usually amazed and asks Chris how he could possibly know what their home looks like.

Chris says 'It's my job to know every home in my area. That way I can help my clients get the best result when they come to sell their home'.

What Chris did in his first few years in real estate was to learn the details of every home in the local area that he worked in.

He would take a street to start with and list the addresses of every home in that street. He would then take notes on cards about every home in that street.

So number 1 was a single level home with a picket fence. Number 3 was a two level brick and tile home with a lovely rose garden and so on. Chris would then learn at least 10 of these homes each day.

Within a year he knew most of the homes in his area and what they looked like.

There is no substitute for in depth knowledge about what you sell.

And the good news is that with a few minutes a day of study you can be extremely knowledgeable on any topic.

Which gives you instant credibility with potential clients when you speak with them.

Here's another example:

Many years ago I spoke with real estate sales teams and showed them how to boost their sales and listings.

When I first spoke with these teams I had never sold real estate myself.

However I had a secret weapon to build instant credibility with my audience.

Two months earlier I had bought four excellent books on how to sell real estate.

These books were written by some of the top real estate sales people in the world and they had a ton of useful tips and strategies in them.

I had read all of the books and taken detailed notes.

In my presentations to real estate teams I mentioned these books and I shared a number of the sales and marketing strategies in them.

To my surprise most of the real estate sales teams I talked with had never heard of the books let alone read them.

And the end result was I had Instant Credibility with every team I spoke because I had read the books.

"Knowledge is power." - Francis Bacon

Action Exercise:

What are you going to do over the next month so you become a 'real expert' around what you sell?

- Graham McGregor is a Marketing Advisor and helps businesses who offer an expensive service to quickly attract ideal new clients. You can download his brand new 106 page marketing guide 'The Expensive Service Marketing Solution' at no charge from www.TheExpensiveServiceMarketingSolution.com