A radio commercial for ABC Nightly News boldly stated, "... people trust Peter Jennings during times of crisis more than any other network anchor ..."
Oh realllly? Which people?
I know plenty of people who were quite upset with some of his comments about a year ago during 9/11. The point is, the statement could be easily questioned, disputed, and was unsubstantiated.
Two weeks ago while out on the road doing some training, I stayed at a Homewood Suites hotel. On the elevator wall I read a framed reprint of an article from a travel magazine. It showed the results of an independent survey ranking suite-type hotels in several categories. Not surprisingly, Homewood Suites was the overall leader, which was highlighted in yellow in the framed reprint.
I felt good about my choice to stay at that particular hotel, because obviously, it was quite popular with other business travelers. Dr. Robert Cialdini, the brilliant author of "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion," talks about the principle at work here: social proof. He says, "The principle of social proof states that one important means that people use to decide what to believe or how to act in a situation is to look at what other people are believing or doing." Further,
"People are more inclined to follow the lead of similar others," such as in my case, reading the study from the travel magazine, while in a hotel.
So, what does this mean for us, on the phone? We are more successful when people believe what we say.
And it's not easy over the phone. Especially if they don't know you.
So, how do we create credibility with someone we don't know, or don't have a history with? You can use a variation of social proof.
For example, use the praises of others to build your credibility. If YOU say how good you are, (like the Peter Jennings example), well, they can naturally view that with skepticism. But they can't argue with the words of others, even if you're the one repeating them:
"I was talking to Pat Jones at Indy Industries just this morning, and she told me how she has increased her production by 45 cases per day after just one month on the program."
And, if you have any independent studies or rankings to cite, like the Homewood Suites example, be sure to use those.
Here are few other ideas:
1. "It ain't braggin' if you've done it."
If you've earned your stripes in your business or industry, don't hide that fact
under a rock. Trumpet it to add to your credibility! Drop in statements such as,
"In my seven years in this business, I've learned that ...," or,
"I've worked with over 550 retailers, and I always find that ..."
2. Use precise numbers.
If you told me you've worked with "lots of other businesses in my industry," that wouldn't even be close to the credibility wielded by,
"... and I've personally installed this system in 23 sales training firms."
3. Be a name-dropper.
Following a similar philosophy, sprinkle in the names of some instantly-recognizable customers, normally the larger ones, or the prominent ones in your industry.
