We’ve all had those moments where a salesperson calls on us and we act just little bit guarded. He will try to sell us something we don’t want. The salesperson is pushy. She doesn’t understand my business or my challenges.

Sound familiar?

Promotional Consultant Today shares these tips for serving as a genuine salesperson and for building instant credibility with your prospects.

Credibility is indispensable for sales. Of course, prospects are more likely to buy from people or companies they deem credible, and your task as a sales professional is to build credibility for yourself to conceal the risk involved. Only when concrete credibility is created can you start digging for customer information, get answers to tough questions and make yourself useful.

1. Show up at the right time. One of the best ways to build instant credibility is by serving as a helpful advisor. Prospects do not like to be sold, but they are more receptive to sales reps if they feel that you are sincerely there to help them out. Reach out to prospects when they are going through a painful situation. Always remember that their painful situations are your opportunities. One way to identify this is the presence of a new leader or decision-maker within the company. Often new decision-makers allocate the most dollars in their first 90 days on the job.

2. Get a referral. When initiating your conversation to your prospects, it’s beneficial if you mention mutual connections. See if you have any connections in LinkedIn that are respected by your prospect. Even mentioning that you have done business with them will help you in fast-tracking your credibility. Sales reps can always rely on industry connections to build instant credibility.

3. Build interpersonal trust. Building interpersonal trust is a sure-shot way to build instant credibility, and there is no better way to do it than mirroring your prospect. Most people trust people who are like themselves. This induces a subconscious connection.

4. Offer customer testimonials and convincing industry statistics. Testimonials are the most influential piece of information that can establish credibility. Offering testimonials from renowned customers can boost prospects’ confidence in you. Stating some relevant industry statistic can really help in demonstrating that you are well aware of your prospects’ business processes.

5. Plead ignorance. One of the most powerful ways to earn credibility is by admitting that you don’t know everything. This may sound nonsensical, but admitting that you do not know everything makes what you do know more believable. Your prospect will start trusting everything you say. And if you ignore this and start making mistakes, when your prospects find out, which they eventually will, they might never trust you again.

Source: Francis Cyriac is a content marketer at Ameyo and InsideSalesBox. His passion for helping businesses in all aspects of customer engagement and sales acceleration flows through in the expert industry coverage he provides.