Guide to Determining Your Credibility With Your Customers

Credibility: The perception of being believable and trustworthy.  Successfully branding your company as credible will garner gold for your business, attracting the best customers—those who pay top-dollar, allow you to do your work in peace, and refer other prospects to you. 
Lacking real credibility has obvious and opposite outcomes.  We pre-screen Austin Texas' home-related contractors and merchants for ethical business conduct before presenting a directory of the trustworthy businesses to Austin’s homeowners, so we routinely hear about the best—and the worst.  In one case, a roofer’s angry customer had distributed a letter like this to several Austin neighborhoods: “[name] Roofing did a horrible job for me.  They never returned to complete the contracted work I had paid for.  Don’t ever use this company for your roofing.  They are thieves that lack any decency.”  Not surprisingly, the company soon went out of business.   Yet if your company is credible and nobody knows it, your trustworthiness will not help your bottom line.  You must actively promote your credibility so customers perceive it.  Failing to brand your genuine credibility results in a shortfall of revenues as your former customers fail to refer others to you, or worse, disparage your reputation to everyone within their circle of influence. 

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Ask Your Customers

Many business owners assume their customers are happy with the services or product they provided. The absence of complaints does not indicate that people are satisfied with your company. Failure to actually ask them for feedback can be disastrous. If you don't know how they really feel then you have no idea what they are telling their friends and family about you.

I recommend: Conducting independent, third party telephone surveys of a sampling of your customers.  There are many companies that can do this for you.  I recommend BoxFreeThinking as they are good at creatively exploring your needs and implementing solutions.  Be sure the person being interviewed knows they will not be identified to you.  People are also much more likely to be honest over the telephone than in person.

Search the Web

Many business owners fail to search the web for what people may be saying about them. This is free, fast, and a critical step in determining if there is any bad buzz going around about your company. Remember what people are not willing to tell you to your face they sure will be willing to tell the rest of the world via an on-line review.

I recommend: Do a simple engine search to find out where your business is listed and reviewed online.  Citysearch and Yelp are popular Web sites that list all kinds of businesses, and they let you interact with reviewers.  Scope out niche forums and review sites, as well.  Chowhound and Urban Spoon are major ones for restaurants.

Review your Referral History

The customers who reffer you to their friends and family are great indicators of their satisfaction. Review your company's referral history to determine if you are receiving referrals. If the answer is "no" you need to determine why by conducting independant surveys. If the answer is "I don't know" then you need to be sure you are keeping good track of your leads and where they are coming from. Also be sure to thanks customers who refer business to you. A simple thank you go's a long, long way in the credibility department.

I recommend: A simple system for keeping track of where leads come from.  GoogleDocs is a great tool because it allows you to access and update your tracking lists anytime you can get online.

Review Your Competitor's Business

Sometimes if your competitor is growing faster than you despite the fact you offer superior services or products this can be due to a percieved higher level of credibility that the public has of them. Whether the perception is true or not does not matter. The perception is always greater than the reality.

I recommend: Determining if and why people believe another business is more credible than yours is key.  Conduct independent surveys with potential clients who contacted you but did not use your service or buy your product.  Or ask your loyal clients what's working that keeps them coming back.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• These are just a few of the many ways to help determine where your credibility stands with your customers. Your options are only limited by your imagination.