credibility - C-Suite Network™

Building Credibility for the Win

Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. It takes guts, a rock solid belief in yourself and patience. Success is not going to happen overnight, you’ve got to work. Hard. I started my coaching business three years ago. I floundered for a while with my message (too broad) because I wanted to help all the people. I switched gears a few times with regard to my niche (not specific enough) because I wanted to help all the people. You see the recurring theme here – I wanted to help all the people. The problem was, none of the people knew who I was (most of them still don’t!). So how was I supposed to get them to buy my coaching services and book me to speak at their events if I was an unknown?

I needed to get visible. I needed to build some credibility.

Over the last few years I’ve focused on every aspect of my business with one major thing in mind – building credibility by establishing myself as an expert in my field. You may be wondering how one does that – build credibility when they’re new in their business and have no idea where to start. Well, my friend, today is your lucky day because I’m gifting you with my top 5 tips for gaining credibility in your field. Hopefully this will help you accelerate your success and bring you clients!!

1. Network. Research and attend events in your area where your ideal client lives. Join associations. Get outside of your comfort zone and mingle with real people. Shake hands, pass business cards, talk yourself up like it’s nobody’s business. You are your greatest asset, use it.

2. Leverage Social Media. Get active in all of the social channels you hang out in. Create a Facebook Business Page and if it makes sense for your business, create a private Facebook Group for your followers. Join other groups that are relevant to your expertise and start building connections there. Over on Instagram and Twitter follow people/influencers you admire and build a relationship via likes, comments and direct messages. The lead time for client conversion is longer as opposed to in person networking, but the reach is greater.

3. Give it away for free. Seriously. Offer free coaching calls to anyone who will take one. Volunteer to speak for free at local events that are related to your business. Give away free advice, tips, and tools whenever you can. This shows your prospects you mean it when you tell them you’re there to help AND by providing useful information to them, you’re building the know, like, trust factor.

4. Contribute. If you write a blog (who doesn’t?) then you’re ahead of the curve. Reach out to publications and blogs that are in line with your message and offer to write articles and blog posts for them. Build a relationship with the editors so they promote your pieces. Become a go to authority for them. Then you can go write your book!

5. Be a Guest. This is one of my favorite things to do – being a guest on a podcast, video show or any kind of live media is so much fun! It allows you the opportunity to have a great conversation with a live person who is interested in your product or service. It showcases your expertise and gives the listener/viewer a flavor for your voice.

Credibility is so important when you’re building your personal and business brand. Everything I do when it comes to my brand includes my hashtag #WhyAmIYelling on it. In the last three years, I’ve partnered with some of the leading names in the media – Forbes, The TODAY Show, Thrive Global and HuffPost to name a few. I’ve been on a ton of podcasts, video and radio shows. I’m continually curating my network of experts, collaborators and mentors to help me continue to grow and expand my knowledge and business. And I wrote a book. Phew – that’s a lot!

And while some days it feels like I’m behind the curve on where I want to be with my level of success. The reality is that I’m exactly where I should be. So if you’re feeling like you’re not getting the results you want (yet), keep going. Stay focused on building your relationships and getting visible. You may think no one is noticing, but I can assure you, a lot of people are.

Don’t Like Conflict? Here’s How to Stop Avoiding that Dreaded Encounter

If you’ve been managing people for any length of time, you know it’s not always fun. You’ll have great days when you’re cheering about a team member’s win. And, then, you’ll have some truly challenging days. You know what I’m talking about. It’s those days when you have to address an employee performance issue. If you’re conflict-averse, you may be avoiding these encounters.

When you avoid an employee-related problem, you’re damaging your credibility as a manager. Your inaction also demotivates other team members. If they see a co-worker consistently taking long lunches, and not being asked to change their behavior, resentment grows. To stop this problem from getting any worse, take action as advised by Steve Sisler.

In a recent Manage Smarter podcast, Sisler, president of the Behavior Resource Group, discusses how to understand and address your motivations as a conflict-averse individual. He describes one situation involving a manager who didn’t want to ask an employee to stop coming in late.

“A highly altruistic person, this kind of manager [conflict averse] sees the value in other people sooner than they see the value in themselves.” As a result, these managers find it hard to say anything confrontational to someone else.

If you’re not comfortable telling an employee to change their behavior, try a different approach. Since you don’t want to be the ‘bad guy,’ one of Sisler’s suggested workarounds is to blame company policy. Tell the employee that everyone else is coming to work on time, because that’s what the policy requires. So they must follow the policy, too. By bringing in the higher authority, the conflict averse manager escapes having the employee’s resentment directed at them.

Sisler points out that conflict averse individuals often don’t possess the ability to become angry. And anger is often the emotion that drives conflict. In Sisler’s opinion, four energy systems drive human behavior: anger, optimism, fear and patience. If you have too much anger, Sisler points out, you can turn into a manager everyone avoids. Why? Because you’re looking for conflict even there isn’t any.

To succeed as a manager, think about what motivates you. Take a personality assessment and study the results. Then review the motivators of the individuals on your team. Once you have that information, think logically about the best way for you to approach each person in every type of situation. Thinking they want to be treated the same way you want to be treated can easily make things worse in many cases.

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