This might be the most important concept that you understand for the future of your business. You need to build credibility and rapport with your clients before they even hire you, really before they even speak with you if possible. So how do we do this? Watch the video below then check out the tips and takeaways!

• Your #1 goal is to get Video Testimonials, Referrals, Letters of Recommendation and Project Demos/Material. How do you get those, by getting even the smallest of projects and the least expensive price and doing an amazing job! Then as you build credibility you can land bigger clients for more money and get even more Testimonials, Referrals, Letters of Recommendation and more impressive Project Demos/Materials!
• LinkedIn is your best friend - we go deeper into LinkedIn in other lessons but suffice to say you need your LinkedIn profile on point prior to focusing on your website. LinkedIn is where you will make organic connections and your profile page will tell everyone exactly what they need to know about your business. Share the Video Testimonials, Letters of Recommendation and Project Demos in your Feature section.
• Your website is your second best friend this will act similar to your LinkedIn profile but is a place for you to organize the materials and information the way you see fit and hopefully garner some email addresses along the way! How do we garner these email addresses? With a Lead Magnet.
• Your Lead Magnet will draw people to you, a lead magnet is typically free and gives some really valuable and meaningful information to your target audience. If your target audience is companies looking to hire consultants you might have a lead magnet that is something like. "Enter your email address here for my free guide detailing the biggest mistakes companies make when hiring Salesforce Consulting Firms" or "my free guide on why you don't need a full-time Salesforce Professional" or "my free guide on how to hire Professional Salesforce Consultants for a fraction of the cost". Be creative these are just a few ideas, think about what your target customer needs and how to get them interested. If someone enters their email address it means they are interested in your free info on the topic and they are likely interested in working with someone like you.
• The free guide can be a nice visual PDF built on a tool like Snappa or Canva. It can be a series of 3 emails sent through a tool like Mail Chimp, Convert Kit or Active Campaign and that 3 series email can end with a call to action. "I'm a real person, please reply to this email or setup a time to speak with me here {Calendly Link}". Your 3 series email or visual PDF should have links to your testimonials and project demos throughout, but take a soft approach, it's about providing the audience value first with a light sprinkle of your sales content. Again be creative, it's all about giving your audience the information they need. Just keep in mind this free material needs to be valuable and showcase why you are the voice of credibility on the topic and why they would ever dream of working with you. All of this material is allowing the client to get to know you well before you ever speak to them.
• See below for a quick video with Erick Mahle around building credibility.