People are persuaded to say yes to your product, service, idea, initiative, approach etc based on the quality of your proposition AND a positive impression about you. But how does one ensure this positive impression and enhance personal credibility?…
Here are 3 ways:
1. Confidence and Authority
You need to be well-prepared and look and sound authoritative and confident. Your voice/tone plays a big role in this. You can talk about your experience and track record, but do this in a matter-of-fact way without bragging
2. Honesty and Integrity
No one trusts the glib talker for long, the one who glosses over all the potential problems. Indicate the potential challenges, the risks – and be upfront about situations that may arise. The ability to discuss difficult issues in a forthright manner is in itself a great confidence booster. Then present forcefully how you would cope with such difficult situations better than anyone else.
People have a great knack of figuring out very quickly if your words and your non-verbal behavior are aligned. If you mean what you say and you are being truthful, then this won’t be a big problem. But it still pays to keep an eye on your body language.
2. Likeability
Truth be told, there ain’t much you can do about your baseline likeability, at least not in the moment. It’s not something you can switch on or off. It is possible of course to do things like smile more, pay attention to others when they speak – all these get you some points but they don’t change the baseline.
So what’s to be done? Well, the point about likeability is is not so much about getting an audience or a client or a manager to like you; it is about you getting to know them better, and to appreciate them more. As you work on this, something happens. They sort of sense your interest in them and they reciprocate…
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