Where is Your Proof?

Everyday we are inundated with marketing messages, social media stories, product packaging, and advertising pitches that promise us everything under the sun from whiter teeth and fresher breath to financial security to finding a sexy and smart significant other if we’d only order the right brand of beer at the bar.

What do you think when you are presented with these promises and proposals?

I imagine you view them with a healthy dose of skepticism. It’s one thing to make grand assurances, it’s quite another to actually deliver on them.

So… what would you guess your business leads and prospects think when you pitch them a proposal filled with promises of increased profits, on-time delivery, and whiter teeth and fresher breath?

You can’t really blame them for treating your proposal with the same suspicious hesitation, can you?

There’s one big thing missing from most proposals and presentations and pitches — and that’s PROOF.

Most proposals don’t include even the most cursory testimonials and recommendations in the form of quotes from former and current clients (which in themselves would be considered one form of proof), but almost none of them include a video testimonial from a happy client. And I have yet to have a salesperson take out their phone and dial-up a customer to brag about them while we’re sitting in a sales meeting — and I’d probably bet money that I’ll never be invited to visit one of their customer’s offices to hear them sing their praises in person while standing in front of (and using) the product they purchased.

Those kinds of examples aren’t just proof — they are incontrovertible proof that their company delivered on their promises and have real, live, happy customers who are happy to stand up and say…

“I took a chance and trusted these guys and they kept their word. You can trust them too.”

The next time you make a claim in your proposal or a promise in your pitch, be sure to ask yourself “Where’s my proof?” and then present that proof to your prospect.