We Are In The Credibility Economy

The internet is a groundbreaking invention. That is the obvious statement of the century. The business world was transformed when we became connected, the ability to work with clients in every corner of the planet from the luxury of your own home or office is an amazing thing.

With that being said, the internet did something that made it both easier and harder to thrive as a business. Yes, we are more connected than ever and can reach an exponentially wider audience, but the barrier to entry to most markets is also exponentially lower than it was before.

Anybody with a wifi connection can set up a business, launch their website and start going to market. This is great in many ways, however, it's made it a lot harder to know who to trust. After all, if the barrier to entry is so low for providing consulting, coaching, marketing, accounting services, etc - how do you know who is any good?

This is why credibility is crucial. I would go as far as saying we are in the credibility economy. What's the first thing you do when you go to book a restaurant or Airbnb? You look at the reviews. What about when you order a product on Amazon? Again, reviews.

Reviews provide credibility in the form of social proof. As humans, if we see that others are doing something and enjoying it, that creates trust and safety for us to do the same. We are hard-wired to think this way and have literally evolved to follow what others are doing (thousands of years ago, if we left the safety of the tribe we opened ourselves up to being attacked by a wild animal or a neighbouring tribe and getting killed).

What does this mean for you as a business owner? You must create credibility in your business. Credibility will have one of the biggest, if not the biggest impact on the trust and ultimately relationships you're able to build with potential clients.

A credible business will outperform a business with no credibility or social proof every time. Would you rather go to a restaurant with 500 4.5-star reviews or no reviews? Would you feel comfortable ordering an expensive product on Amazon that has zero customer reviews? Or working with a service provider that has no testimonials? This is the power of credibility, it's the difference between business taking place, or not taking place.

So what can you do as a service provider to build credibility? Here are some of the best ways.

• Consistently collect client testimonials and positive reviews.
• Highlight the track record you have working in your specific niche.
• Maintain a professional, clean personal and business brand.
• Create content and communicate in a way that shows your expertise.
• Actually deliver results for clients and then share those success stories.
• Talk to potential clients in stories about others like them instead of just what you do.
• Foster the ability to share the contact information of referrals that potential clients can speak with.

All of these things will create more credibility in your business and when developed will improve every single area of your marketing and sales process - from leads generation, inbound enquiries, sales converted and revenue generated - not to mention the people and businesses you can help with your service.?