Credentialing An Essential Part of Promoting Yourself & Your Small Business

You?ve just opened your own small service enterprise or coaching or consulting practice and you want to earn some business. Millions have done it before you, and millions more will do it afterwards. But why does it seem so tough? One reason is credibility. When you?re just starting out, you don?t have much, so your prospects will be reluctant to believe your assertions about the good you can do for them. How can you get them to trust that you?ll deliver if you don?t have a blazing track record? One answer is that you need CREDENTIALS that portend a positive outcome, that signal the probable value to come. Here are a few examples of how to do this and to jump-start your sales, according to Dr. Gary S. Goodman, top speaker, international consultant, and popular commentator on radio and TV.

You?ve just opened your own small service enterprise or coaching or consulting practice and you want to earn some business. Millions have done it before you, and millions more will do it afterwards. But why does it seem so tough? One reason is credibility. When you?re just starting out, you don?t have much, so your prospects will be reluctant to believe your assertions about the good you can do for them. How can you get them to trust that you?ll deliver if you don?t have a blazing track record?

One answer is that you need CREDENTIALS that portend a positive outcome, that signal the probable value to come.

There are all kinds of credentials, but some people are much more creative and even masterful in how they characterize them. Let me offer a few personal examples.

I studied with management guru and renowned author Peter. F. Drucker. He had a profound influence on my thinking. But there are thousands of people from coast to coast who studied with him at various universities.

What made our relationship so significant? Several things.

(1) I earned my MBA from The Drucker School, the Graduate School of Management named in his honor at Claremont Graduate University. More of my courses were taken with him, about six, than with any other professor in the program.

(2) I served as his ?informal chauffeur? on Saturday afternoons, shuttling him from the campus to his home in Claremont, California, about a mile away. We spent a lot of time talking, one on one, about his concepts and about management consulting. He was my consultant.

(3) He introduced me to his clients as a fellow consultant. Obviously, he had enough confidence in my abilities that he would entrust their care and guidance to me.

So, lots of people have MBA?s, as I do. Few of them have Drucker MBA?s, and even fewer studied as intensively with him as I did, or had personal and professional relationships with him, or I daresay, benefited as much as having had them.

My Drucker ?credential? isn?t the same as anyone else?s. As you can see, I make a big deal out of this, and as a result, I earn respect and more business than I might, otherwise.

Here?s another, quick example:

I write articles and I have more than 1,000 to my credit. There are some writers that have up to ten times more than I do.

But I can state in a biography, ?Every minute of every day someone, somewhere in the world is reading a best-selling book or article by Dr. Gary S. Goodman. His influence is significant and global.?

I?ve done a little math and based on the fact that well over 1,000 people read my articles and books every day, and many have communicated with me from the four corners of the earth, I can make this assertion.

Are there writers who have more people reading their stuff? Sure there are, but have they ?credentialized? their readership the way I have?

Be creative in identifying and in amplifying your strengths, and turn these into competitive advantages.

It is a short cut to success that few have the savvy to exploit.

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 1,000 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered "The Gold Standard" in sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: [e-mail].