Bonnie sent this great question to me:



A problem I face is: A feeling that prospects do not perceive me as credible or believable. Perhaps it's only my "reading" of their thoughts, but it's the feeling I get from their reaction or response.

Thank you for sending this question to me. I'm going to answer this in two parts.

1.Doubting yourself

2.How to increase your credibility

Let's start by looking at what happens when you doubt yourself. You can study the most effective MLM training on this planet, but it won't do a bit of good if you doubt yourself.

Throughout my life I have had many feelings similar to this one. Looking back I'm not sure if the person I was talking with really gave that "feeling" to me or if I was the one who gave it to myself because I didn't feel like I had enough credibility to be talking to this person. Think about that for a few seconds - or a few minutes!

How can someone reach inside your head and make you feel [anything]?

I don't think there's a "no credibility" switch inside your head or mine that a person can reach in and flip.

What I'm trying to do is help you to see that this question mostly has to do with how you view yourself. Or how you allow others to influence the way you view yourself.

If you think about it, no one can MAKE you feel mad or angry or guilty or not credible - YOU are the only one who can accomplish that; even if someone says it to you.

Let's suppose you're a female and someone says to you, "You are a guy." You would just look at them strangely and continue what you're doing. You KNOW you're not a guy. But if someone says something to you that you have already thought of - then you're more likely to "allow" them to influence the way you see yourself. Like, "You've put on some weight." But in reality, the two comments don't have to affect you differently.

Here's the way it worked for me and how I solved it. I used to have this thought that because I didn't get a college degree, I wasn't credible and that no one would listen to me. This wasn't true - it was just in my thoughts. At a social gathering I would meet someone and they would ask, "Where did you go to school?" I would reply, "Hixson High School." They would then say, "No, what college?" I would reply, "I didn't go to college." To that they would say, "Oh."

I would walk away feeling like I had no credibility with them. And, perhaps I didn't. But the real damage was when I didn't talk to people simply because I thought I didn't have the right to talk to someone because I didn't go to college! That's enormous damage.

Here's how I worked it out in my head - Now, what's the "truth?" Is there anyone who has ever been successful in life that didn't go to college? YES!

People go to college so they can be more knowledgeable on a subject so they can get better results. So it's results that matter. But I used to think [incorrectly] that college equaled better results. Perhaps if I was trying to be successful as a doctor it would matter - but in network marketing it did not.

So, I just dumped the idea that I needed a college degree to be successful because just having that thought would actually STOP ME FROM BEING SUCCESSFUL!

Talk about irony!

How to increase your credibility

Now, here's the real MLM training nugget in this entire article. I knew the ONLY way I was going to gain the respect of others (college graduates or not) was to get results.

So number one I had to not stop myself no matter what anyone said to me or what I said to myself. I had to just keep on until I got results. Here's what I did and what you should do if you want to increase your credibility:

1. Talk with people - no one can be successful without this step.

*Use the 10 Communication Qualities & Inviting Formula - you will immediately increase your credibility ENORMOUSLY by increasing your communication skills.

2. Help people and allow others to help you.

*When someone helps you, give back something of equal or greater value.

*When you help someone, allow them to help you back.

3. Be trustworthy.

*Do what you say you will do.

4. Increase your knowledge

*The more knowledge you have in the area you are advising or suggesting about, the more influence you will have. So know network marketing. Know your product/service. Know your company.

5. Increase your results (doing the above will accomplish this)

*The more results you've gotten in the area you are discussing or attempting to attract another into, the more influence you will have. This is not a requirement obviously because everyone in network marketing starts with zero results.

And finally, if I could leave you with one last MLM training pointer: If you sense someone isn't giving you any credibility - move on and do not allow them to weaken your view of yourself. If your prospect needs credibility in order to listen to you then you can contact them after you've gotten results.

A person who is unable to evaluate a business has to judge the business based on their perception of the credibility of the person presenting it. Those who can not evaluate a business based on its merits will work for those who can, or miss out on a lot of money.