Anyone can say they're great. Show customers the proof.

Customers can tell a service business knows what it's doing by looking for proof: work it's completed, relevant experience and licenses, and what other customers say. If you run a service business, your marketing should make that proof easy to find. The harder that proof is to fake, the more convincing it becomes.

Give customers something they can actually judge

You want to know that the person you're hiring actually knows what they're doing. Your customers want the same thing.

Someone can tell you they're an amazing tile installer. Anyone can say that. But imagine that installer showed you hundreds and hundreds of completed jobs, videos of them actually doing the work, and customers talking about their experience on video. Now you have something to go off of. You can actually see what they're capable of.

That's an example of what useful proof can look like, not a number you need to reach before you share your work. Start with the work you can honestly document.

Match the proof to what customers need to know

Different kinds of proof answer different questions. Before you publish something, think about what it helps a potential customer understand.

• Completed work: Show examples of the service you're asking people to hire you for. Add enough context to explain what the job involved and what the customer is seeing.
• Videos of the work: Let people see how you do a task. Explain what's happening in familiar words so someone outside your trade can follow along.
• Relevant experience and licenses: Describe experience that applies to the service, and list licenses you've actually obtained. Explain what a license covers rather than expecting a customer to recognize it.
• Customer accounts: Let customers describe their own experience. A video gives people a chance to hear directly from someone who's hired you.

A finished photo shows the result. A process video shows part of how you got there. A customer's account describes what working with you was like. Together, they give someone more to judge than a claim that you do great work.

Make collecting proof part of the job

For your next suitable project, plan what you can document before the work starts. Get permission before recording customers or sharing their property, and keep private details out of anything you publish.

You might take clear photos of the completed work, record a short explanation of a task, or ask a willing customer to describe their experience in their own words. Choose what fits the job. You don't need every format for every project.

Then put that proof where someone is deciding whether to contact you. A relevant work example can sit beside the service description on your website. A short process video can become a social post, with a plain explanation of what viewers are seeing.

Before publishing, ask: does this help someone see what we're capable of? If the post only says you're great, add the work, explanation, or customer account that supports it.

Protocol Text is a marketing services business based in Lincoln, Nebraska. To discuss how you present your service business's work, visit Protocol Text or call 402-366-7249.