Credentials

What qualifies you to provide the product or service you offer? Do you have a natural talent, years of experience, a degree, or certification to provide a specific service? Having a degree or certification can give you confidence and needed training, but what do customers respond to? I think it depends on whether you are offering a product (something tangible) or a service. Whether you are providing a product or service, word of mouth, reputation, integrity, and a strong network are vitally important. But trust is even more important if you are providing a service. You might provide a limited "free" product or service, but the customer still needs to trust you as a person. In his book, "Free," Chris Anderson discusses the virtues of offering something for free. His book is even available "free" on iTunes. Giving something free works best if you have a product people can see and touch. A free service is only as valuable as the person offering it.

I have degrees, certifications, and qualifications, but in my business trust is most important. Certifications are only as valuable as the organizations that provide them. Your customer needs to know the qualifications of the provider, how the certification is relevant to the service being provided, and what kind of training you received to get the certification. A formal education is easier for a customer to understand if they respect the institution that offered the degree. Natural talent is harder to quantify, but it is at least as important as formal training. Testimonials provide some verification for experiential qualifications, but there is often no way to verify their validity.

What credentials do you find most useful in your business? Whether you own a business or work for someone else, you have methods for identifying your expertise. A job seeker might use a cover letter and resume, while an entrepreneur would use business cards, brochures, and a business plan to show off their credentials. Often face-to-face contact and word of mouth show your customer your integrity better than the papers your credentials are written on. Whenever possible I hand a card, brochure, or sample product to a person so they will remember who I am and what I can do for them. Social networking and blogging can also tell your customers a lot about who you are as a person and help them feel connected to you on an ongoing basis.


This website is intended for informational purposes only. Comments are open to the public and not endorsed by the author. For career advise, coaching, or counseling, please seek out a professional who can meet your personal needs.

Nancy Miller, M.S., Career Management Consultant
Copyright Center for LifeWork Design © 2007
Reprint by permission only – www.centerforlifeworkdesign.org

Transparency

“Is lack of privacy an “opportunity for entrepreneurs?” If we haven’t had privacy for years and we want to have an ethical business, is a high degree of transparency to our advantage?” as Shel Horowitz points out. I think the transparency of the Internet and social networking can provide needed accountability. As I began to read about the lack of privacy on Google and Facebook, I felt a little bare. Then I realized that I really had nothing to hide. If I say something I regret, then maybe I needed to know that I had it in me and do something about it before the thought snowballs. I like the idea of letting people know who I am and knowing whom I am doing business with. We can accept a certain amount of humanness as we grow as entrepreneurs in our businesses and careers.

Some of my identity such as my birthdate, social security number, personal phone number and address needs to be protected as much as possible, although I can find much of it in a Google search. I don’t know how it got out there. In fact, I signed up for Google Maps and Google found websites I didn’t remember I had. I signed up for various sites to find out how well they worked and then dropped them, but the imprint is still there. Sometimes I feel like everything I ever wrote it still out there. I can see how much my writing has improved, but it can be a little shocking to find things I wrote four or five years ago still hanging out on the web. I guess part of transparency is seeing the growth through the years.

I have made it my business to be an advocate for healthy business practices and healthy employees. With so many corporations and businesses cutting back on customer service while taking advantage of a needy workforce, I want to support ethical businesses. Sometimes paying the cheapest price now costs more later in loss of jobs, economic fluctuations, and social problems. I like reading that Shel Horowitz supports ethical business practices as I do. I also like the fact that as entrepreneurs we will be accountable to our readers.

This website is intended for informational purposes only. Comments are open to the public and not endorsed by the author. For career advise, coaching, or counseling, please seek out a professional who can meet your personal needs.

Nancy Miller, M.S., Career Management Consultant
Copyright Center for LifeWork Design © 2007
Reprint by permission only – www.centerforlifeworkdesign.org