You Need A Credibility Device

Our society today is quite skeptical on some levels but overly gullible on the other.  In one way we don’t believe anything except the news.  But on the other hand we’ll believe anyone with a blog, or a website, or a book.  Or better yet, someone who has been on the news.  (Not “in” the news.  O.J. was “in” the news.)

The majority of the North American population will NEVER pick up a book after college.  Too hard to read.  Most people don’t work out to stay in shape and they read at a seventh grade level so picking up a book is a struggle let alone reading it.  Writing one?  Now, whoever writes one must be a God!

The truth is that if you have a book (preferably), a blog (solid), a website (at least), or some press in either print of on T.V. you will be perceived as an expert whether you are one or not.

Your Book Is Your Story

If you’ve read past that last subhead I commend you.  It shows me that you are at least open to the fact that you need a book.  It is your primary marketing tool and one that will open doors that would normally never swing open.  In fact, your book may just cause some doors to swing open so fast that they hit you in the rear-end because you’re looking away from the door wondering if it will open.

My friend Ruben Gonzalez is the world’s number one Olympic speaker.  He’s been speaking for a number of years now and it all started when his twelve-year-old neighbor asked him to be his show-and-tell at school.  Before Ruben knew it he was speaking all over his home town of Houston,Texas.  The money was good, and the speaking engagements were fairly consistent, but once he put his story into a book, things took off.

Getting your book done is as easy as writing your story.  People love stories and they want to be inspired by yours.  Sit down and get it out of you.

The toughest thing about writing a book is actually writing it.  People have different ideas about what a book is.  Is it as thick as the Bible?  Or is it thinner?  For great examples go to the bookstore and check out the self-help section.  There are all sorts of books.  Thin.  Thick.  Wide.  Skinny.  From all topics to all sizes books vary.

The other thing to notice about books is that inside  they are all formatted differently.  I’ve paid twenty bucks for a book that was stuffed with text and I’ve paid that same twenty bucks for a book that had double spacing between the lines and had paragraphs that were three inches wide.  Now at first glance that might have seemed a rip-off, but what I learned inside was invaluable.  People buy books for the content and not for the layout.  Maybe some do, but you don’t need to worry about those “someone’s”

Your Blog:  Your Book in Evolution

One of the things I love about blogs is they’re like compounding interest.  As you add to them they look better and better and better.  You can also splinter your ideas into tiny chunks that fill up a blog easily.

Here’s an example:  I run a little blog for lacrosse goalies called www.LacrosseGoalieTips.com and in it I splinter ideas left and right.  For instance I can do a book chapter on Clearing the Ball Upfield.  But within that chapter I can “splinter” it into a ton of different little blog posts such as, Clearing Off the Endline, Clearing off a Save, Clearing off the Sideline, etc.  Each one of these little blog posts add up and instead of writing that whole chapter for the book, I will outline the book and chip away on the blog.  Over time, I’ve got my book done.

Writing a blog keeps you motivated because you can write in bits and pieces.  It’s like eating a box of chocolate chip cookies.  You swear to yourself that you’re going to eat one.  But then when you eat that first one it’s not too hard to go back to the cupboard and reopen the bag and get another one.  Even though you put the bag of cookies away as a deterent the reward of getting that cookie again makes going through the work of opening the box a non-issue.

And so it is with blogging.  Write a thought and leave it alone.  Write another thought and come back to it later.  Before you know it you’ve got a lot of content out of your head and down on paper.

While a blog is not as good as a book it is still a valuable piece of real estate.  It is a way for people to learn more about you.  What you think.  What you do.  Who you are.  You can’t give a blog to someone but you can direct them to it.  And when someone is trying to choose you over someone else a well written blog can be a great competitive tool for you to use.

To get started with your blog go to www.Wordpress.com and sign up for one.  It’s free!  Pick a name.  Get going.  You can be blogging in minutes.  Pick a topic you are passionate about and start writing.  It’s that simple.

Now when you register for Wordpress  you’re going to want to pick a name that matches the domain name that you want for your business.  So I suggest going to www.GoDaddy.com and playing around with their search tool to see what domains are available.  Then go to Wordpress and pick a blog with the same domain.  It will save you hassles later.  Trust me.

Your Website

Now if  you’ve got a Wordpress blog you don’t really need another website.  Your blog is fully capable of being your website.  Now that being said, if you already have a website you can (and should) add a blog to that site for search engine optimization etc.  Don’t get bogged down in the details right now, you don’t need to.

Your website is another place where you can capture leads and build your “school of fish.”  I like to call websites Overblown Business Cards with the sole purpose of capturing leads.  To capture leads you’re going to want to go to Aweber.com and sign up for an autoresponder account.  The investment is somewhere around $19 a month but it can be used acrosse a bunch of different sites and you don’t need to buy multiple one’s as your business expands.  I’ve got one account right now for five blogs I’ve got running.  It is super-easy and fun to work with.

Don’t forget, the purpose of your website is to build your list.  You want your interested clients and prospects to come to your site, learn more about you, and leave their email address (at least).

You Are Newsworthy

When you are building your business prospects are going to want to learn more about you.  They are going to want to compare you to others.  So if they are comparing you to someone else who has a book, has a blog, and has a website, the thing that is going to break the tie is any news coverage you may have had.  And to be honest, if you lack some of those other things but you have news coverage you might just win that competition for the prospects dollars.

Getting on the news can be a tough task, but it’s not impossible.  Today more than ever, TV and newspaper editors are looking for unique content that can drive eyeballs to the show.  By sending them a press release and keeping them informed about what it is you are doing you can stand out quickly and easily from your competition.

After you are featured on the news you want to stay in touch with the reporter who did your piece so they’ll want to come back and interview you again.  After the interview get the paper laminated, or the show recorded so you can use it in your press kits to help gain future media attention.

Build Your Shock and Awe Package To Wow Future Clients

One of the best ways to win business from new clients is to present them with your Shock and Awe package.  This package can be any number of items that establish credibility with your client.  I have some friends in the speaking business who, when approached by a prospective meeting planner, send them a FedEx box of testimonials, their book, newspaper articles, screenshots of their website and blog, as well as bobblehead dolls.  Pens.  T-shirts and other amazing things to Shock and Awe the client into choosing them.

Now your shock and awe package doesn’t need to be as significant.  But you can build towards it.  Either way, all of these items build up your Credibility Device.  Build your device and watch your clients, their referrals and your fees soar.

Jonathan Edwards is an Olympic Athlete as well as the CVO of www.TheBusinessCalledYou.com.  He helps solo-preneurs, coaches, trainers and other skilled service professionals build their businesses so that they can break out of the dollars for hours trap and live the lives that they’ve imagined.  <strong>You can go to his website and receive a FREE audio CD titled “How I Turned My Passion Into Profits and Escaped The Dollars For Hours Trap and How You Can Too!”</strong></em>