The 9 Parts of a Potent Credibility Kit

Hey friends, today’s post is a follow up to a recent post I did that was all about my philosophy on when you should – and shouldn’t – use your “credibility kit” when talking with your private money prospects.

In that terrific post, I talked about how many REIers bust out their kit right away when meeting a potential prospect. I, on the other hand, choose to use it only as a back-up plan rather than as a first line of defense. I explain it all pretty well, including the 3 different types of credibility, so make sure you go check out that post then head back over here.

Today, I’m gonna go over how to create your kit and what to include… so let’s dive in…

Credibility kit specs
Keep in mind throughout the process of building your credibility kit that there are no hard and fast rules, and there isn’t just one right way to go about it.

I’ve seen credibility kits that are done in all video… others that are only on their websites… others that are printed (most common) and are fancy with great graphics… and still others that have crappy graphics but get the message across.

Look, as long as you get your message across, build the credibility and portray your company brand well – all the rest is icing on the cake.

As far as length goes, whatever it takes to get across your message is what you should use. I’d say the average is anywhere from 12 to 15 pages. Your format so be professional, simple and easy to read. And make sure you include a logo if you have one, your contact info, and a way for the prospect to easily take action.

Sections of the credibility kit may include these 9 pieces…

1. The attention-getting intro/lead section: Your credibility kit should start out by piquing the interest of the prospect and creating desire. A headline like…

“Are You Frustrated With The Returns You’re Getting With Your Current Investments”

or

“Are You Tired Of The Low Returns And Ups And Downs Of The Stock Market?”

2. Building the facts about the desire: I like to further build in the desire you’ve created on the first page of the credibility kit by quoting some news sources and quotes about the current stock market… then show other news quotes about the fact that now is one of the best times to buy real estate in the past 30 years. This keeps building the desire and makes the prospect say, “Yeah, that is all true… How do I get better returns and take advantage of this real estate market passively?”

3. Introducing your program as a solution: Introduce your program as an alternative to other investments that allows people to receive passive income from real estate by working with the area’s top real estate investment company. Introduce your program’s basic specs by describing sample transactions, case studies and returns. Explain what the program is (private lenders act as the bank and our investment company does the hard work).

4. Inject testimonials on a page: Testimonials are a huge part of gaining credibility because it’s a third party saying nice stuff about you. If you’re an experienced investor, look through your transactions and customers and grab testimonials that show your character, trustworthiness, good business sense, personal honesty, etc.

If you have worked with private lenders already, get written testimonials from them and place them, along with their picture if possible (pictures make the testimonial more real to the reader).

If you’re new, get testimonials about your character and/or skills… and you can even insert quotes from respected people about the strength of trust deeds, or how today is the time to get in the real estate market.

Warren Buffet is famous for the “If there’s blood on the streets it’s time to jump in” quote. That quote can be included and it shows that now is THE time to invest. Even though that quote isn’t about you… it gives credibility to the fact that right now is the time to invest in real estate.

5. Introduce your company and build credibility: You’ve already built the desire and introduced the basics of your program so the prospect understands essentially what it is. Now you need to make them realize why they should trust and work with you. So, introduce your company by saying a bit about what you do, your niche and where you operate. Then, introduce your team members if they can bring credibility to the table. Show short bios and their expertise and experience.

6. Inject more testimonials or case studies: Simple, right? Add more. It helps to further build the credibility.

7. Getting down to business: Educate the prospect more about your program and/or the process of a private money transaction. Give them ideas on where they can find funds to participate in your program (IRA’s, 401k, bank account, money markets, CD’s, etc.).

Spell out the benefits of your program, the process (show a process diagram of a private lending transaction, the docs they’ll get, etc., whatever you feel you need), the types of investments/private notes you offer, etc.

8. Tell them how to get involved: Now, it’s time to guide them to making a decision and tell them the exact steps it takes to get the process going or to have their questions answered. You’ve gotta spell out what they should do next – give them your phone number, website, email, etc. and specific instructions on what they need to do.

Make sure you include specific calls to action like:

“If you’d like to see the current types of investments we have available right now or you have more questions, Call Us Right Now At 555-555-5555”

9. Provide a copy of the investor questionnaire: A lot of people don’t make it easy for someone to get going on deals. To make it easier for them, include an investor questionnaire in the credibility kit and tell them to fill it out and email it back to you.

Then, you can potentially close the kit with a few more testimonials if available.

Quick recap

Look, there are a million ways you can put your credibility package together. Just make sure it has the following elements:

• Interest/desire-creating first page
• Basic info about your program… what it is and what it can do for them
• Testimonials and/or credibility building quotes (the more the better)
• Information about your company and team
• A clear call to action on how and when to get started (when… is NOW)

Tell me something good

Do you have all this stuff in your credibility kit? Did I leave anything out? Talk to me in the comments section below.