If what you say and what you do are not the same, everyone loses.
This arrived in my email last week, when the Climate Conference was going on:
As world leaders converge on Copenhagen for the U.N’s conference on climate change — which has been dubbed as the last best chance to save the world from global warming — they’ll arrive in a fleet of carbon-coughing gas guzzlers.
140 private jets
1,200 limousines
And a carbon footprint the size of Bulgaria
So do you believe our world leaders now when they say that saving the environment is their top concern?
I didn’t think so.
One of the deadliest credibility killers in communication is conflict between what you are saying and who you are being.
Harmony between your actions and words elevates credibility. But conflict causes credibility to crumble. Your customer’s brain immediately recognizes any contradiction, and reacts by alerting its finely-tuned B.S. meter.
Steven Pinker, Director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, says, “The search for signs of trustworthiness makes us into mind readers, alert for any twitch of inconsistency that betrays a sham.”
But inconsistencies can happen to the best of us. And as I’ve said before in greater detail, there are three straightforward questions that business owners and marketers should ask themselves regularly to align their actions and words.
The Three Questions of Message Alignment:
1. What are your company’s defining characteristics?
2. What signals do your decisions send?
3. Is there conflict between what you are saying and who you are being?
Successful companies deliberately take steps to protect credibility, leading consumers to anticipate a trustworthy buying experience. Are you deliberately taking steps to protect yours?
Hire Tom to help you stay on track. Sphere: Related Content
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