It’s like the old saying goes…

“You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Just because someone’s website is as perfectly designed as the guest bedrooms in Martha Stewart ‘s 12-bedroom summer home in Maine… does not mean they are necessary the “expert” in their field or even the most qualified.

On the other hand…

Some of the most basic, relatively unattractive websites can be the internet home-base to multi-million dollar industry experts (and up and coming experts).

Which leads us to ask…

How can we, as growing business owners, decipher the bamboozlers from the real deals so we don’t waste our time and attention on bright and shiny objects day in and day out and finally get.shit.done?

What a mighty fine question, girlfriend.

I’m sure someone could invest in everyone’s program, test them out, see if they get results from them and then come to a conclusion as to who’re the real deals and who’re the bamboozlers.

But, that would take a lot of time and a hefty amount of cash.

So, if you want to save yourself some time and money, here’s what works for me and might work for you too…

How To Decipher The Experts From The Amateurs So You Don’t Waste Your Money On Ineffective Products and Program

1) No Social Proof.

If someone’s boasting BIG results from a product or program, but doesn’t have at least 1 testimonial… that should be a big red flag. How do they know their coaching gets results for people if no one has actually gone through the program?

(Next week I’m going to share a scary insider secret about testimonials. Once you know this, you won’t ever look at some coaches the same way.)

2) Overly hyped pitches.

Think of it this way, if you’re 10000% sure your services can help someone and you’ve got the social proof to prove it, why do you need to jump up and down speaking in used car salesman dialect?

You don’t.

Super hyped up sales pitches ooze desperation and is a total turn off. If it rubs you the wrong way, simply click away.

3) Conflicting messaging.

If any of their sales pages, web pages, blog post, webinar opt-in pages, or other marketing reads like they have multiple personalities, it most likely means they cut and pasted chunks of other coach’s words onto their sites.

This is deadly for many reasons. 1) That’s called plagiarism and illegal and bad, bad business. 2) It means they must not really care about their business or helping people if they aren’t willing to put in the effort to communicate honestly with you. OR, they are amateurs. Most amateurs make this giant mistake and one of the big reasons why it takes them years to get off the ground.

Anyway, those are the 3 big ways that help me pick the winners from the… not-yet-winners… and save myself from lots of headaches and poor investments.

You can totally use them too.

Have a friend who has “shiny object syndrome” (buys every virtual product and program she sees), send her this post. You can tell her she can thank you later.) :)