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Here Are Four Ways to Lose Credibility Quickly

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Now that I’ve shared four ways to boost your credibility, here are four ways to jeopardize it.

There is only one condition worse than not having credibility, and that is having had credibility and losing it. Credibility lost is extremely hard to regain, so let’s look at key causes and successful prevention techniques:

1. Your success track record ends.

When that happens, so will your credibility. You either will make continuous progress and achieve victories, or you won’t. The choice is yours.

2. You become deceitful.

Most unethical conduct is committed for the organization’s gain, not personal gain. But that doesn’t lessen the impact. “White lies” in business — unlike those in family situations, where the complete truth might significantly hurt a loved one — can be tolerated in very few situations. When someone knows that you’ve lied, that person immediately questions what else you’ve been lying about, are lying about or will be lying about. And that, friends, throws your credibility over the edge of the cliff.

3. You fail to share credit, thus undermining credibility.

That’s why I continue to emphasize accepting blame and sharing credit. It’s better to risk providing credit to even peripheral contributions than to fail to reward it for just one person.

4. Your ego becomes bigger than a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

If you think only of, about and for yourself, that will become quickly apparent to those around you. You must demonstrate that you’re acting with others in mind via gestures of generosity that are clearly visible. A simple and public “thank you” often packs more punch than a reward handed over in the privacy of an office. There are reasons why the U.S. military puts medals on people in front of a lot of other people.

Can you return from credibility self-immolation?

It’s tough, but yes. And when you do, you’ll be joining a club of famous people who came back from the abyss to reinvent their careers and (in some cases) attain even higher heights — including Bill Clinton, Hugh Grant, Robert McNamara, Tiger Woods, and Jack Welch.

How Much Credibility Do You Have?

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Credibility cannot be achieved if you do not possess the following three attributes: expertise, track record and respect.

1. Expertise

Expertise means that you actually comport yourself as an expert. Experts’ opinions are believed and sought; they are not generally subject to quibbles or arguments. No one has ever walked up to Peter Drucker and challenged his thinking about management strategy.

You gain expertise through experiences, education, observations and boldly moving on from both your victories and your defeats. It’s fine to be defeated in a good cause if you learn from it. That’s how you hone your skills — through continual application and real-world use. It’s often said that saints engage in introspection, while sinners run the world. Think about that.

In a rapidly changing world of technology, globalization and shifting social mores, expertise is an ongoing act, not a static position. How do you know you’re an “expert”? Because people cite you, quote you, defer to you, ask your opinion and use you as the standard. Even if all that only happens within your own organization.

2. Track Record

Nothing succeeds in promoting credibility like results that others can see, touch, feel, hear and smell. In other words, don’t just talk the talk; walk the walk. Track records don’t require uniform and unblemished successes. In fact, it’s better that they show variation. The idea is to constantly improve.

The best batters in baseball, on average, only get a hit in every three at bats. The key idea regarding looking back on your successes and failures is to build on your strengths. We spend too much time evaluating defeats and focusing on correcting weaknesses. Determine how and why you were successful, and seek to replicate that success. Weaknesses will simply atrophy.

3. Interpersonal Skills/Respect

By “respect,” I mean not merely affection. No one respects people who can only win if someone else loses, or who see life as a zero-sum game. You don’t have to like everyone, but you do have to remain civil. When you share, you gain respect; you also gain respect when you accept responsibility, when you volunteer and when you effectively negotiate and honestly resolve conflict.

Engendering respect requires the savvy use of interpersonal skills. The ways in which you communicate with colleagues, associates and clients play a large role in credibility and prove your ability (or inability) to create allies instead of adversaries.

Advice from a Yogi

An important factor in leveraging these three components is the willingness to coach others. Coaching builds your expertise, your track record and your respect. It’s like “one stop shopping.” As Yogi Bhajan, the late spiritual leader and entrepreneur who introduced kundalini yoga to the United States, once said: “If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it.”

How to Persuade Large Groups of People

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You know the feeling: You must make a big presentation to a group of stakeholders or potential partners and convince them to support your idea or do business with you.

Presuming you’ve done all the necessary prep work — researching your audience and its needs, developing your case and having the data to back up your pitch — you’re not done yet.

Think about your audience and determine how you want them to act upon conclusion of your presentation. Do you want people to donate money to your new fundraising effort? Spend time thinking about alternatives to reducing staff in the marketing department? Leave the room more fired up than ever to go out and acquire new high-end clients?

Doing that kind of persuading requires the need to motivate and move people, giving them reason to believe in your cause.  You would be dumbfounded to know how many presenters fail to articulate this in their own minds. If they can’t even do that, how are they expected to persuade others?

So make sure, to paraphrase Renée Zellweger’s character, Dorothy, in Jerry McGuire, you have them at “hello.” Tell a little joke, share a fascinating fact or scintillating statistic, ask a rhetorical question, or recite a short anecdote about something that happened to you on the way to work this morning. Whatever you do, stay away from kindergarten teacher and rock star banter: “I can’t hear you!”

Then quickly move on to presenting your case, introducing third-party research to support your statements and citing examples to provide context for your specific audience. Take time during your presentation to answer questions that arise, which suggests you’re open to what others have to say and are not driven exclusively by your own agenda. Asking your audience to save all questions until the end of your presentation dilutes your message and significantly diminishes your persuasive potential — especially if there are a lot of questions.

Responding to questions throughout rather than at the end allows you to conclude with a memorable call to action and an anecdote.

Then, all you need to do is wait for that “yes.”

Be More Persuasive By Asking More Meaningful Questions

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Obtaining meaningful background information is critical when in the process of making a sale — and it will make you appear more persuasive in the eyes of everyone from your buyer to your boss.

In order to do that, try asking questions like these:

  • “If I may inquire, how long have you been thinking about this?”
  • “What prompted your research for this [car, computer, consultant]?”
  • “You sound informed; where have you done your research?”
  • “What do you know about [some feature, product, or approach]?”
  • “Have you determined a reasonable budget for this purchase?”
  • “Are you hopeful to have this done by [this quarter, the end of the year, after the snow melts]?”

These questions will give you a fairly solid idea of where your buyer is in his or her purchase cycle. Don’t be afraid to ask for specifics. If the buyer says, “I’ve looked online.” You can come back with, “Where, specifically?” The idea is for you to augment the prospect’s online research with your own knowledge, company information, and other services, and to obtain enough background information to help move you to the head of the pack in terms of being able to help this prospect.

A jumbled, incomplete account of a prospect’s history – “The company is thinking about maybe hiring a consultant to help with employee stuff; not sure what made them call us; sounds like they’ve talked to some other firms; they think they have budget and are planning to do something sometime next year” – does no one any good.

The prospect’s history, as obtained by a high-performance salesperson, should read something like this:

“Mack & Howe are looking for a consultant to help reduce employee turnover; they came to us because they read about our company in Forbes; they have already talked with two other firms: Deloitte and Stevens & Associates; are looking to spend between $50,000 and $75,000; and they want to have an initiative in place by the first quarter of next year.”

Or this:

“Prospective buyer is named Kurt Samson and is currently driving a 2007 Lexus; has heard great things about the new Lincolns and wanted to check them out; he’s considering a Cadillac, too, and has visited both local stores; customer is working at the medical center as an anesthesiologist and is expecting a nice end-of-year bonus to put toward this purchase, which he doesn’t want to cost more than $500 per month; open to leasing.”

In both of these sample profiles, the salesperson has gathered the prospects’ names and interests, as well as key details about employment, what prompted them to consider the salesperson’s organization, where else they’re looking to buy, their purchase time frame and a good deal of info about financials. All of these details should be recorded in the organization’s customer relationship management system, on a spreadsheet or even in a notebook. They will likely be referred to time and again before the deal closes.

As a salesperson armed with this information, I know with whom I’m potentially competing. Combine this knowledge with other information I’ve acquired about the prospective buyer, and I now possess very specific details that will help me best serve the customer. And when my sales manager inquires about the crucial information I’ve obtained from a prospect, I can emphatically answer in the affirmative and show the information.

This is performance-based selling — and it makes you more professional, more credible and more persuasive.

 

How to Create Your Own Halo Effect

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One idea critical to increasing a person’s persuasiveness is the so-called “halo effect” — which doesn’t receive as much attention as it should. When we judge others positively in one aspect of their lives, we often judge them positively in other unrelated aspects. This is known scientifically as exaggerated emotional coherence, and more commonly referred to simply as the halo effect.

Edward Thorndike first observed the halo effect in 1920 via a paper called “The Constant Error in Psychological Ratings,” which analyzed military officer rankings of subordinates. If a soldier boasted a strong physical appearance, he also was considered to have impressive leadership abilities. If he were loyal, he also was rated as highly intelligent. The correlations proved way too consistent for Thorndike, who determined that officers’ impressions in one area of a soldier’s experience too often colored their impressions in another.

That practice holds true today. If someone is attractive, he also usually is considered smart.  If a person appears enthusiastic, she often also is perceived as hard working. Friendly? Must be a good leader, too. We draw generalized conclusions based on a specific data point.

Priming the Halo Pump

First is foremost. People’s impressions are colored by the first piece of data they receive, and their subsequent impressions are shaped by that data. One of the earliest and most enduring studies of first impressions and the halo effect was completed by psychologist Solomon Asch, who asked people to evaluate the personalities of two individuals named Alan and Ben.

Alan: intelligent – industrious – impulsive – critical – stubborn – envious

Ben: envious – stubborn – critical – impulsive – industrious – intelligent

Obviously, the series of adjectives used to describe Alan is simply reversed for Ben. Here’s the catch: Although the same words appeared in a different sequence, test subjects always viewed Alan significantly more favorably than Ben. Even Alan’s negative characteristics were seen more positively, because of the positivity applied to the initial descriptors. If someone you view positively possesses a stubbornness streak, you consider him a person who takes a principled stand. On the other hand, if you already have a negative impression of that person, the stubbornness can be seen as a sign of inflexibility and unwillingness to consider new ideas.

Creating Your Halo

The clear takeaway here is to attempt everything you can to make your entry point with a target positive in some way. As a general rule and in the earliest stages of a relationship with a target, you should dress well, be friendly and approachable, and be well read, well traveled and conversational. Be able to articulate your value and add important contributions to discussions. Make a favorable impression early, and you’ll dramatically improve the likelihood of hearing “yes” later.

Meeting an important target with whom you want to cultivate a positive and persuasive relationship? The savvy professional puts thought into not only how to make a positive impression, but also how to shape conversations. For example, consider the context of the meeting. Will it be a formalized business setting, such as a boardroom? Or will it be a more casual one-on-one exchange in an office? Conduct some research and explore similarities, interests and unusual aspects of the target’s background. Be prepared to speak intelligently about the issue at hand, ask intelligent questions and add a thought-provoking perspective.

Your halo will be showing soon.

What Is Enlightened Self-Interest — And Why Should You Care?

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Although technology, society, demographics, and economies have changed greatly, some persuasive patterns remain remarkably unaltered by time.

The oldest method of getting someone to do something is to reward or punish, typically known as a “carrot” or a “stick.” Common business incentives include an increase in compensation, recognition or responsibility.  That’s the “carrot” side of this equation; the “stick” side involves punishing someone for either doing or not doing something. Pay is docked, participation in a project is cancelled or the highly anticipated business trip is withheld.

Rewards and punishments are largely considered coercive actions. The moment you remove the coercion (the carrot or the stick), the coerced individual regresses to previous behavior. Long-lasting career success requires real agreement, not a momentary nod.

Another age-old approach to attaining buy-in is through normative means, or via the “norms” of a group. As in, “all the kids are doing it.”

This is a very difficult way to reliably achieve agreement because people are so mercurial. Today, you must be savvier than ever in your approaches to persuasiveness. And the savviest approach of all involves appealing to your target’s enlightened self-interest.

The concept of enlightened self-interest is largely attributed to 19th century French economist and social observer Alexis de Tocqueville and his landmark work, Democracy in America.

de Tocqueville’s idea involves doing things that are positive and right (profitable and ethical, in other words). If it’s positive for you (your increased income, your professional status, strengthening your organization), positive for other parties involved (your target and your target’s organization) and positive for the larger whole in which you operate (your industry or your community), then why not do it?

Self-interest can be good; enlightened self-interest is tremendous.

Appeal to the enlightened self-interest of others and prepare to hear “yes” again and again.

Do You Possess These Five Essential Persuasion Behaviors?

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A behavior is how you conduct yourself in a given situation. In professional settings, wildly persuasive people are:

  1. Assertive: Inclined to be bold and self-assured
  2. Empathetic: Possessing the ability to see the world from another person’s perspective
  3. Communicative: Adept at applying verbal and nonverbal communication
  4. Tenacious: Extremely persistent in adhering to or accomplishing something
  5. Resilient: Possessing the ability to recover quickly after hearing “no”

How many of these persuasion traits do you possess?

How a Little ‘Yes’ Leads to a Bigger ‘Yes’

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The scientific psychological evidence is clear: People are more willing to take you up on larger requests later if they’ve said “yes” to smaller ones first.

Consider how many times your buyer has said “yes” in one form or another, even in the earliest stages of your sales process:

  • “Yes, I’ll tell you my name.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you when I’m thinking of buying.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you what aspects of your offer interest me.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you where else I’ve gotten information.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you my phone number.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you my e-mail address.”

This is powerful sales psychology. Ignore it at your peril, because a much bigger “yes” could be in your future.

How to Make Yourself A More Interesting Sales Professional

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As a salesperson, you want to – nay, you need to – engage with prospects. The problem is that many go about this process in completely the wrong way. Most salespeople, in an attempt to quickly establish rapport, will ask innocuous personal questions: “Do you play golf?” “Do you like fishing?”

At some point, you may have conversations with your buyer that include those exact questions. But if you’re looking to boost sales results, that kind of banter should be saved for later. So should talking endlessly (and usually aimlessly) about yourself. Instead, ask provocative questions about your buyer’s opinion regarding the business at hand. Here are some B2B examples:

  • “How will the recent drought in the Southwest affect your expansion plans?”
  • “Will the bankruptcy filing of your competitor’s transportation unit have any consequences for your organization?”
  • “How might the new financial regulatory reform impact your business?”
  • “Will the continued elimination of land-line phones in favor of mobile phones alter your marketing campaigns?”
  • “How will the closing of the London office impact your division?”
  • “What do you like about what’s going on right now in your industry (or your organization)?”
  • “What would you change if you could?”

Note that these questions can be categorized as either current events or related to competition, government regulation, social trends, organizational issues or experience. With a little intellectual effort, you can apply the same model to retail sales. As you might suspect, I’ll provide examples about selling motorcycles.

  • “Do you think we’ll ever see ‘green’ motorcycles? You know, environmentally friendly bikes? (Not ones that are actually green.)”
  • “Have you seen the new model the other guys just introduced?”
  • “Would you endorse hands-free mobile devices for motorcyclists?”
  • “Have you been to our newest location on the north side of town?”
  • “What do you like about our dealership?”
  • “What do you wish we would do differently?”

These questions will do more to accsellerate your sales than any personal questions about golf, or fishing or family vacations.

First of all, these probing, thought-provoking inquiries provide you with important details about what your prospective buyer is thinking and how you might be able to help him make up his mind. But even more importantly, they make the buyer think more highly of you, because you’ve asked questions that were out of the ordinary, questions that prove you know what’s going on in the industry and the world.

They probably will boost your credibility, too, because you’re asking for buyers’ opinions – a strategy that suggests their opinion is most important, not yours. After all, if you’ve got the good sense to ask for my opinion, I can’t help but like you. It’s as immutable as the law of gravity.

Five Ways to Influence Your Peers at Work

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Now that we’ve addressed persuading superiors and subordinates, there remains one last group of targets to address: your peers. This is known as “influencing sideways.” Peer pressure is among the strongest of all propulsions in the workplace (and elsewhere). How can you leverage it? Here are five ideas:

1. Cultivate favors by doing favors.

You can make people “offers they can’t refuse,” because they are obligated to you. But this requires you to do well by others first, creating — say it with me —reciprocity. A quid pro quo. Whose quid and whose quo can be worked out later. People respond to obligations.

2. Link agendas.

Strive to forge common goals in an attempt to initiate persuasion. Employees at a tech startup, for example, might think they serve two very different customers: the hardware providers and the end users. But there clearly exist areas of overlap, such as eye-popping graphics and the goal of seamless integration. Find the common areas of fulfillment with peers to then share ideas and resources. These may involve people, money, information or facilities. The cost to you is minimal; the effect potentially substantial.

3. Leverage loss aversion.

This may sound harsh, but leveraging the aversion to loss is a key factor in navigating peer pressure. Helping peers feel protected from loss of status, talent, income and market opportunities can significantly impact your desired outcome. Allow people to see that your intentions are comforting, not threatening, and they’ll remember.

4. Covet your credibility.

The fastest path to “yes” is your credibility. The more your peers can rely on your past behavior, track record, honesty and commitment, the more likely they will be to accept your claims, offers and pitches. Reliable inertia takes over when your peers have experienced positive outcomes with you in the past.

5. Be fair.

Ensure that, in reality and in perception, the support you seek is not unilateral. Make it clear and obvious that no one (most importantly, you!) is taking advantage of anyone else. Insist on establishing a win/win dynamic.