Axis of Influence » Likeability

What you don’t know hurts your credibility

michaellovas — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:40:49 +0000

Humans hurt their credibility in the most innocent way. It starts when you make the decision that you want something. That single determination gives you a psychological agenda and focus. Thus, when you see an example of what you want, your non-verbal behavior changes. You show greater interest. For example, you’ll salivate, your eyes widen, your torso leans forward and your breathing speeds up. And, when you see something that falls outside the category of what you want, your non-verbal behavior changes in a different way. Your eyes look away, your torso leans backwards, you check your watch, your mouth shows boredom or contempt.

When those non-verbal messages are received by another person, that person gains the right to interpret them in any way that’s appropriate for that person. If he/she interprets your facial expression (for example) as negative, you just lost both likeability and credibility. It’s just that simple

What does all of this mean? It means that you need to learn what those non-verbals feel like when you’re doing them. That’s the first step in controlling your non-verbal behavior. The consistency (or congruence) of all your modes of communication make it possible for someone else to perceive you as being likeable and credible. But, inconsistency (incongruence) will most likely cause people to perceive you as fake, hiding something, unethical – or worse.

So, what does your face say when you first meet a stranger?

– Michael Lovas

Words that Sell

michaellovas — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:28:50 +0000

What does selling have to do with credibility and/or likeability? If you fail to gain credibility and likeability, you will likely NOT make any sales to that person. Consider that all of your professional activities are actually efforts to become more likeable and prove your credibility. Assuming that’s true, then what (specifically) are you doing to achieve those two trophies? In your defense, most people are doing nothing. That doesn’t eliminate the need, it just makes success easier for professionals who take this seriously! What to do? Learn the specific skills and tools that increase your credibility and likeability. Learn how to use psychology more effectively in your presentations and marketing. Get better. Visit our book store: www.aboutpeople.com

– Michael Lovas

The Sound of Credibility

pamholloway — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:07:48 +0000

We know from the research that the way we talk (speed, pauses, pronunciation, volume, etc.) triggers certain judgements about our Credibility. It seems that we humans have an innate competence detector. Research by Brandeis University Professor Leslie Zebrowitz suggests that “strangers can judge intelligence at levels significantly better than chance from bried exposures to a target’s face, voice and other non-verbal cues.”

Work by University of Victoria researchers Reynolds and Gifford suggests that auditory cues are more strongly related to intelligence than visual ones. Reynolds and Gifford found that the following speaking styles are interpreted as higher intelligence:

Less halting speech
More standard use of language
Speaking more words
Speaking each word clearly
Speaking faster

What does this mean? If you are excellent at thinking on your feet, then you are likely not much affected by it. However, if you’re like most of us, when you have to think on your feet your mouth has to wait for your brain to catch up and give direction. Thus, your delivery is peppered with halting stutters and stammers. Listeners perceive such a delivery as evidence that you lack a certain amount of mental snap.

How can you use it? Prepare. When you are prepared you can improvise more easily and deliver powerful answers in a convincing style. Practice. The more you practice delivering, the more natural and fluid your delivery will become.

Credibility – what it is and how to get it

michaellovas — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:59:16 +0000

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

We’ve been working with Credibility since 1991. Actually, I started to think about it as early as 1986. Point is, we know it inside and out. We know what it is, what causes it and what the results are. Here is our working definition:

Credibility is a combination of concepts:

Competence + Character + Consistency+Relevance.

Together, they enable a belief in the minds of your target market that you understand their situation, have their best interest at heart, are an expert at solving their specific problems, and will do so without robbing them.

That definition is nteresting and important, but not implementable. See how that definition contains nothing you can implement 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.

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

– Michael Lovas

The Principles of Likeability

pamholloway — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:25:46 +0000

One of the things we learned when researching Likeability is that there are five basic truths. We refer to these as the Likeability Principles. They are:

We like people who are similar to us in some way (Similarity)
We like people who are familiar to us (Familiarity)
We like people who like us (Reciprocity).
We like people who are genuinely interested in us (Interest)
We like people who are easy to like (i.e. demonstrate the qualities of likeability: empathetic, trustworthy, positive, non-judgemental, real).