Powerful Ways You Can Earn Credibility in Your Industry
When you hear the word credibility … What comes to mind?
Most people associate credentials, titles, degrees and status with it.
Because it was the old currency of credibility, before technology democratized knowledge.certificates, years of experience .
However, in today’s knowledge economy which I argue is becoming more and more a relationship economy, there’s more to it than just that to cut through the noise in a very competitive market.
The new currency is reputational capital built on an “the sum value of your online and offline behaviours across communities and marketplaces.” (Rachel Botsman).
Credibility goes beyond credentials and that applies especially to topics and trends that are up and coming.
Think of Web 3.0, NFTs or Meta - that are literally growing - there’s no official title or education that makes you qualified to talk about them.
So in today’s episode, I discuss the credibility framework and how you can leverage it to fast-track your personal credibility, no matter where you’re at in your journey.
People can like you and still not hire you, invest in you or engage in your offers.
This is when they don’t think you’re credible and with that, trustworthy. It’s all connected because in the end, people engage with you when they a) see you as a reliable resource and decision maker, b) when they connect with you personally which comes down to value and personality alignment and c) when they see that others have trusted you before (this is where social proof comes in).
Being credible means more than just being capable. Capability is one of the core pillars of being a Trusted Authority and I’d say it’s literally the bare minimum to show. Capability in the Trusted Authority context means the translation of your credentials into a value proposition, meaning: explaining how your package of experience, expertise, education and personality can add value to your decision maker by creating a specific outcome or result.
Credibility is the next piece to the Trusted Authority puzzle and I explain the 3O credibility framework, in my book, the Trusted Authority. The 3-O’s stand for:
Own
Others and
On the Go
Depending on where you're in your journey, you can use one or all three in con
Let’s start with your own credibility:
This is what I split into 2 categories: science and story.
With science, I refer to fact based credibility and includes anything that you own, from your education, your expertise, awards, but also your own signature framework, your method that helps you create the predictable results you want to be known for.
This is the by-product of your expertise, education and experience but to be honest, this is exactly what separates those who simply have all the credentials and those who can package and communicate in a way that makes it a value proposition and with that, more valuable and credible for their decision maker. Plus- when we talk about commercializing your authority status - this is exactly what gets you the premium engagements as when you use someone else’s framework or IP, you have to either pay a fee and/or are subcontracted to deliver the format and with that, also lose a chunk of the revenue.
The other part of my own credibility is the more emotional aspect to it: this is where stories come in.
From your own story to stories you can tell from clients and projects you’ve worked with. I didn’t realise the power of my story until about 2 years into running my own business. All of the keynotes I had given up to that point were actually more educational speeches and workshops now looking back, not so many keynotes that actually inspire action taking through a changed way of thinking about the topic. Anyway, that's a different story.
Back to my point - it was at the Future Females Leaders launch event in Brisbane that - for the first time in my speaking career - i got off a tangent (by accident) and told my story about how i got put on a performance improvement plan, how it turned my world upside down because i didn’t see it coming and how i never want to be in the position again that someone else has control over my future, my level of income and the impact i can make.
After the keynote, there was literally a line up that I had never experienced before and i got another few paid speaking engagements out of that particular event from universities and also a company who wanted to teach their staff how to take control over their own career and not rely on their hiring managers or HR teams to do it for you. In the end, no one is as invested in your success as you’re so you may as well curate the narrative and lead the direction how you want it.
Both aspects are very important to build credibility- simply having the best framework but no supporting story that your audience can see how you actually arrived at this framework, the scars you have building it and also a way to connect with you won’t get you far.
Also simply having a powerful story but no logical way to lead people from A to B, ensure a predictable outcome through tried and tested methods and systems won’t get you the buy in either. So when you look at your own credibility score, make sure you align the story you choose to tell (as there can be multiple ones that you use) with the framework you put out there.
Let’s move on - the next O stands for other people’s credibility and that simply means how you can ‘piggyback’ on others who’re already established, trusted and credible in the field.
It might be that you’re part of a well known and respected industry association, that you’ve been working with a highly regarded mentor/ coach or that you contribute to publications that have a good reputation in the industry. It basically is all about social proof.
Do others support you?
Can you support your claims that you know what you’re talking about?
Are they happy to make introductions and referrals?
It’s also a little bit like the wingman or wing woman strategy where you have other people talking you up. Of course, it needs to be in a sincere way but in the end, this is also what Cialdini identified in his 6 principles of influence that a 3rd party introduction or endorsement works wonders.
He identified it in an experiment where the secretary of a real estate agent office simply added some credentials to the person she was transferring the caller to, like by saying: ‘ah, you want to talk about commercial leasing. I’ll transfer you to Suzie who’s our principal consultant and has over 20 years experience leasing commercial spaces.’
This 3rd party endorsement could come from testimonials, when people tag you on social media channels when it comes to answering a particular question (this is how I built my first business, simply by answering a lot of personal branding related questions and eventually, other members in those groups started tagging me as the person to ask and others started reaching out to me).
Another way to get support could be through referrals to clients, in one or another way. One method that I like a lot is by collaborating with others by giving keynotes or running workshops for their audience (that of course, needs to be relevant to my target audience, to experienced experts in professional services).
Because this way, you’re not only piggybacking by tapping into an audience that’s already engaged, interested in the topic and relevant to your area of expertise but you can also demonstrate your point of difference by talking. In the week I’m recording this episode, I just did a workshop for a luxury real estate mastermind based in the US and even Tarek El Moussa joined for this call as he is part of this mastermind. So that is another layer of social proof when you have endorsement from a celebrity or well known person in this industry. Funny thing is that you don’t even need to be directly associated with them - simply being in the same room, sharing the same stage, attending the same event already shouts ‘credibility. When I was in the US for a conference just before Covid hit, I met Steve Wozniak, interviewed Charlie Sheen and Jewel, I also met jason Alexander, george Ross, Dr Phil and a few others and simply me talking to them for a few minutes or asking a couple of questions made people reach out to me because they wanted to either know what these people were in real life, how I ended up speaking to them but also, how they could work with me. It does add credibility but I strongly believe that it doesn’t need to be a celebrity who’s well known by everyone. An industry celebrity who’s known and respected by specialised professionals or the ecosystem that you want to get into is also very powerful and fast-track your own credibility.
The final way that I’ll mention for the ‘other’s credibility’ method is content contribution on well known platforms. It includes PR (nbut it’s only one aspect) and especially in today’s world, everyone can get public coverage without having to oay an arm and leg for it nor having to be a celebrity. This is a topic we’ll discuss in 3 weeks when Katie Martel is joining us and shares the good, bad and ugly of PR and also very tactical tips we can steal how each and everyone of us can get PR coverage - often without even paying a cent for it.
She goes into detail what it takes and what media outlets are looking for. My 2 favourite resources that I use regularly and that have gotten me coverage in Forbes.com, news.com.au, the CEO Magazine, Yahoo Finance etc is SourceBottle.com and haro.com. I’ll add the links in the show notes as the reporters on the platforms are always looking for meaningful and insightful content contributors across the most diverse topics.
Finally, the last O stands for ‘on the go’ and that is a great technique for when you just start out, want to pivot or embark on a new journey. It basically is all about taking people on your journey as you go, without knowing it all already or having the results.
It could also be you documenting certain events and show some behind the scenes, eg when you prepare for a client engagement and you develop your worksheets or you practise your keynote for an upcoming engagement. These ‘imperfect’ shots and insights are often more interesting and impactful than the final product as it shows that a) you’re a human and b) it connects others who may want to engage you or who want to do what you do with you on a deeper level, beyond the credentials.
It actually builds a lot of trust as people have the feeling they can look above the curtain and see how you go about your one learning and journey.
This is also what our next week’s guest has done. Justin Falk built a SaaS platform and literally onboarded clients as he was on the go building the final product. Make sure to subscribe to the show if you haven’t done it yet as he’ll share his approach very candidly next week.
No matter which stage you’re in, being transparent and also admitting when you don’t know a specific answer or when you haven’t worked on a specific project or spoken in front of a particular audience, either size or type - that’s so powerful because people are looking for authenticity over perfection in others, impact over influence and genuine engagement over superficial vanity metrics.
Now I’m curious to hear from you - which of the 3 O’s is your preferred way to build credibility with others and do you have another method you would recommend others to try? Send me a message on LinkedIn and Insta and let’s continue this conversation!
