Credibility! What it is and how to get it

Credibility is elusive. Few people understand it. Very few people can even describe it.

You may know that we've been working with Credibility since 1991. We know it inside and out. Here is our working definition:

Credibility is a combination of qualities:

Competence + Character + Consistency. Together, they create a belief in the minds of your target market that you understand their situation, have their best interest at heart, and are an expert at solving their specific problems.

That's at the high level, the conceptual level. Notice how there is nothing there that you can implement or start using today? In practical terms, the first step to improve your Credibility is to improve your Likeability, and the first step in that is to learn how to read people. Where can you go to learn that? Easy, look at our book Face Values. It is the most effective resource for business professionals wanting to improve likeability. I say that because the first way you make yourself likeable to anyone is to match that person'f face!

If you find this tid bit of wisdom interesting, you'll find our book astounding! You can find it on the Shop page at: http://www.aboutpeople.com/

-- Michael Lovas

Reading the psychology of people in the news

James E. Cayne, CEO of Bear Stearns - did you see him on TV as he announced that Bear Stearns had no liquidity problems?

Pam and I watched fascinated as he made up answers and improvised his way into history. What we were looking at was where his eyes went. Mainly, he looked straight ahead to answer questions. That's exactly what Idaho Senator Larry Craig did. Both were delivering memorized answers. Then, Cayne would look off to his right. He looked up-right and then level-right. What was he doing? He was creating his answers. They were off the script or away from the talking points.

In the study of Neuro-linguistic Programming, we learn that where a person looks tells you the type of information he or she is accessing. up-right is where people go to create a visual. level-right is where they go to create a sound.

The other thing Cayne did was the "stuck blink." That's when you seem unable to raise your eyelids, as though they're stuck. The person starts giving an answer and then blinks. If the blink gets stuck, you can tell that the person is unsure about what he's saying. The "stuck blink" is like President Bush's stammering. He's just not sure of the answer, or he's not sure how the reporters will accept it. Either way, he's not sure.

Pam and I have been studying facial cues for a long time. Normally, we just pay attention to the facial lines and movement that show us what that person's personality type and values are. But, lately, we're just having too much fun watching the CEOs stammer during CNBC interviews.

Want to learn how to do this? Just contact us via our website: www.aboutpeople.com

The Credibility Process - why bother?

The Credibility Process - why bother?

Pam and I have the unfortunate experience of getting called by people who do not care about building client relationships. Why they would call us is a puzzle, considering that everything we teach leads to enhancing or improving credibility, which directly affects client relationships.

After discussing it at length, we recognized that you could actually develop credibility without ever being liked by the other person – or developing relationships with them. Politicians and law enforcement officers have that kind of association with people – their constituents. Attorneys and CPAs often do, too. Some professionals can get away with it. Those people are acknowledged experts. You call them in to perform a highly specialized job because they are experts in that niche. You want them to perform brilliantly and then go away. Typically, you don’t want a relationship with them.

However, if having a relationship with someone is important to you, you will have to prove yourself at each stop along the way, proving yourself as both likeable and credible simultaneously. Who would this relate to? Coaches, consultants, leaders, motivators and sales people who also serve as consultants, such as financial advisors.

Credibility is the set of steps that you take to solidify your relationship, systematically proving your value and reinforcing it. If you do not know the specific steps, you’re kind of at a loss. Doing business without knowing the Credibility Process is like being a fan of the Texas Two-step and then entering yourself in a samba dancing contest. You’re in over your head and you’re likely to be doomed to repeat your mistakes over and over and over. As you should be, because you can’t fix anything when you don’t know what’s broken.

Want to learn how to build your Credibility? Just contact us via our website: www.aboutpeople.com

-- Michael Lovas

Most people see a credibility gap as the difference between the credibility you possess right now and the credibility you need right now. That perspective is impractical. It’s like working to decide what you should have done months or years before. Perhaps a better approach is to look at your own credibility gap as it affected by time. In other words, when do you need your credibility, in relation to when you start working on it. If you need credibility today, do you have it? If not, how long ago should you have started working on it?

As a practical example, let’s take the current economic situation: a downward slide. When your clients freak out over it, who are they going to call? Who are they going to blame? Who are they going to replace? You?

Let's look at this question a different way. Which of the following do you think will help you most to weather that scrutiny? Your product selection? Your firm’s advertising campaign? Marketing materials? The back office support? Your technical skills?

Unfortunately, none of the things you use to build the operations side of your business will work to improve your credibility. While those things may be important to you, they are likely to be of zero importance to your clients and prospects.

• Bottom line: our credibility is entirely in the hands of other people who don’t know or care about the technicalities or details of your business.
  
  Your clients can take comfort that you are there – but only IF you have already built your credibility with them. If you have not already taken the specific steps to build your credibility in their eyes, you’re already losing the race.
  
• Building your credibility takes time. You can’t do it overnight.
• Credibility is not the result of an event. It is the result of a scientific process.
• You can’t do it by getting a designation or by delivering a seminar.
• There is no silver bullet.

The Payoff - once you have attained credibility with someone, you open the possibility of being embraced by that person, thus launching a client relationship, one that will bring you referrals.

However - in order to do that, you have to learn the steps of the process, then strategically put each one into play. With each step, you increase your credibility a little more. The more you know about the process, the better prepared you will be to create opportunities and improve your credibility.

We’ve identified the four major steps in the process, and the variations of each step. In this space, I will illuminate and explore what the different steps are and how you can put them to work for you.

You can't improve your Credibility if you don't know how. So, want to improve your Credibility? Let us help! Just contact us via our website: www.aboutpeople.com

-- Michael Lovas