How to Develop Mega-Credibility For Your Training Institute
Credibility is the foundation upon which your success as a person and as a counselor are built. Your credibility (and the institute's) is taken into consideration by every person who makes any kind of a decision that depends on you in any way.
You need credibility to support your claims in the advertisements or any other claim you make. It is the basic requirement without which nothing can take place. Its absolutely fundamental to build the confidence of a prospective customer.
The prospect is dependent upon you to fulfill your promises. (It may the job guarantee or the modules you promised or the syllabus coverage and the time frame or extra practice sessions.) Because of the element of risk and fear of failure that is inherent in every buying decision, trust and credibility are essential for the transaction to go forward. The more the customer believes you and your claims; the lower will be his fear of failure and risk.
But to win in an intensely competitive market, you need more than credibility. You need Mega Credibility. You need credibility that is greater than that of your competitors and here is one of the most
important rules of selling especially as it applies to mega credibility:
"Everything Counts!" "The devil is in the details."
Sales are often made or lost in the first 30 seconds.
There are several areas of Mega credibility that can impact the prospect's total impression of you, your institute or course and the idea of doing business with you.
It's absolutely essential to give careful attention to your dress, you grooming and your accessories. Customers remember and record everything and everything counts. The first area where you establish high, medium or low credibility is in your office appearance, location and the interiors. (You don't have much control over these factors.) However, you can keep the counseling table and area clean, tidy and free of clutter.
Your appearance, your attitude and your personality: First impressions are lasting. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. The customer's mind is like quick drying cement. The instant the customer meets you, he begins forming an impression which is very difficult to change later on.
Human beings are very much the same in this one area - We all judge people by the way they look on the outside. You judge other people this way and they judge you. It is useless to insist that people should judge you for your character and personality, and ignore the way you appear.
Every company has a variety of factors about it that contribute to the building of trust and credibility if not mega credibility. It is your job to identify these positive features and point them out to your prospects in the course of your counseling conversation. The first three factors are the size of the company, the years in the business, market share , or known for a particular product or course.
Larger size companies suggest a proven ability to give customers what they want.
Length of the time the company has been in business is a positive statement about your ability to serve customers satisfactorily.
Your Company's Market share is also a builder of credibility. E.g. Stating that out of 25 computer companies, Wipro has 50%market share. This percentage is a good reason for your prospect to do business with you. More market share against Your competitors suggests that you are obviously offering a better product or service which has been preferred by more people over the competitor's product.
Giving the number of people trained in your institute over the years can increase the credibility Eg. Stating that you have trained over 4000students who are placed in over 1200+ companies increase the prospect's confidence in you.
Good brochures, handouts, and business cards are a reflection of the kind of company you represent and the kind of products and services you offer.
Customers are sensitive to the visual aspect of your personal and material presentation. Leave nothing to chance. Attractive materials might not make the sale but poorly presented sales material can very easily kill it.
"Put your best foot forward." Highlight some of the most positive aspects of your company. AT the beginning of the counseling session, you could ask the prospect, "DO you know very much about our company?"
This induces curiosity, which is one of the most powerful human motivations and this question triggers it immediately like two electric wires coming together to create a spark. With this simple question, you have the prospect's complete attention after he says, "No I don't know very much about your company." Then you can say something like, "Our company is the largest company of its size in our area, with 160 business locations for the past 24 years with 9,000 employees (or whatever) and most of our students enrollment is repeat / referral business Seven Steps Of Relationship Building
The telephone manners as well as the courtesy and helpfulness of the people when the prospect talks to them makes a big difference. They make very strong impressions on the customer's mind. Being upbeat and optimistic, warm and friendly is of utmost importance.
The most important form of mega credibility which is so powerful, it can compensate for almost any other mistake you make, is of "Social Proof". The average prospect concludes, "If someone else like me has done this course from here, then it must be a good idea for me to do it as well. SO showing testimonials or better still, getting the prospects talk to a past successful student, will boost your credibility highly.
To minimize the inherent risk in the prospect's mind, of buying of investing in the course, let him know that many other people have satisfactorily done it and are happy with their choice.
Testimonial letters are the fastest way to build credibility among skeptical prospects. Testimonials of satisfied customers are so powerful that they cut through the clutter right to the heart of the decision. They make it clear that it is a good and safe product to buy. A good testimonial letter, list of satisfied customers and / photos can overcome 90% or more sales resistance that a prospect might have in dealing with you and your company. You should collect them as a regular part of your activity and use them at every opportunity.
These are the seven proven, tested steps to relationship building. They have been around since Dale Carnegie wrote "How to Win Friends and Influence People many decades ago and even before that The emotional element of caring is so powerful that it can often overwhelm concerns about price, relative quality, deliverability, size of company in market, and so on.. They have always worked, and they always will.
