As an entrepreneur, one of the most important things you should focus on is building your credibility. Be it online or offline, having credibility is very important for new business opportunities, contacts, and your overall business experience.
There are several many ways to build your credibility as an entrepreneur. Here are 5 great ways to start:
Give Value Only
When trying to build your credibility, giving value is a must. You can easily get caught up in coming up with just about anything because many people do it and it works for them.
If you work on providing value only, people will be able to cite your work and recommend you, the more you’re recommended, the more your credibility will increase.
One great way to improve the value you give is by taking a close look at your work and by asking yourself questions like the ones below.
- Is this my best?
- How can this be improved?
- If I were a consumer will I be satisfied with this?
In order not to be biased you can ask a friend for his or her genuine opinion on your product or services. If they believe that your product is not up to standard and are not satisfied with the present quality, you should work on improving it.
Outstanding Customer Support
Another great way to build credibility for your business is by making sure you have an excellent customer support system in place.
Many people will or will not be your customer based on the quality of your customer support. Even if your product is the best, bad customer support will eventually lead to customers spreading negative views about your business – and this destroys your credibility rather than builds it.
Here are some companies that have excellent models for customer support:
Power in a Great Brand
Have you ever seen people promoting things that they’ve never used? Well, I have! Why? The power of the brand. People love to talk, and they love to be respected which is why they enjoy talking about the latest things in town.
Try as much as you can to build a great brand for your business. From your business budget, dedicate a percentage purely towards branding your business.
There are several ways to build a brand for your business and it all depends on which types of services you offer. If you offer services online you might want to buy a banner on a popular blog in your niche, but if you operate offline you might want to focus more on getting covered by the media.
It is also very important to choose a theme for your business and not just change every time, choose what you want and be consistent with it.
Be Where Other People Are
One great way to easily spread the word about your business is by being a people person. People spread the word, and you can leverage their power to promote your business.
A very effective way to make people spread the word about your business is by being where they are. Try to have your presence on all major social networking sites and always interact with everyone.
Another great way to utilize the power of people is by being everywhere. If you are an online entrepreneur, try to guest post or comment in as many places as you can. If people see you everywhere they will want to know more about you, and before you know it they are already fans of your business.
Focus on Authority
If you think about any major business there is one major name that will come to your mind. If you think about business blogging, that major name is Darren Rowse, search, Google, social media, Facebook, etc.
It is very important to build your authority as an entrepreneur because this is a key element to building your credibility, if people begin to respect and see you as someone with authority, you will become powerful.
It is also easier for someone seen as an authority to grow faster. For example, anytime something is being cited about blogging in the media, they are most likely going to link to Darren Rowse because he has built his authority over time and they have seen him as a go-to source for any information related to blogging.
The most important thing is to make yourself the ultimate source when it comes to your field and building your authority is one of the best ways to achieve this.
The power of a great reputation should never be underestimated. The above are 5 great ways to build your credibility as an entrepreneur.
How do you build your credibility?