The importance of building credible business relationships not only establishes a reputation as a person of influence, but also effectively moves your ideas, proposals, and initiatives forward.
Credibility, like trust, is a value that means something different for everyone. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to validate how your customers, your immediate manager, his or her manager, and your peers define it.
There are four stages to establishing credibility:
- Rapport Sets the Stage
- Trust Speeds time to Influence
- Influence Individual thinks differently
- Persuasion Individual acts differently
Credibility is a Measurement of Your Relationship Effectiveness
When someone gives me their word – and it stands for something – they become credible in my eyes. Planning to miss an agreed upon deadline? Just give me an early heads up so I can plan for it.
You might consider making it easier on other people, and yourself, by letting them know at the start what “makes you tick”. Share your expectations and “hot buttons” early on and you’ll avoid miscommunication and strained relationships down the road.
Rapport - Sets the Stage
Rapport is a cornerstone of trust and, although in itself cannot guarantee that someone will trust you, it certainly helps to move a relationship forward in a positive direction.
When was the last time you did business with someone where your "gut" told you the person couldn’t be trusted? Can you remember the process that you went through in assessing her trustworthiness?
Rapport is the feeling you get when you "connect" with another person. Some people refer to this as chemistry. Learning how to quickly establish rapport with others can open doors that lead to other rooms in the house.
Trust - Speeds Time to Influence
Trust speeds up the communication process and can act as a "booster" to help you achieve faster results. Not every relationship requires that you move beyond this step. In other words, you may not need to influence every person you meet or persuade him to take action.
Trust is a value defined differently for people. Ask yourself how you know when you trust someone and, just as importantly, how you know when someone trusts you.
Influence – Person Thinks Differently
Influence is about leading the hearts and minds of people based on the rapport and trust they freely give.
Influencers may not be decision-makers; however, they quite often determine an outcome. Consider them the keepers of decisions made within the company, business unit, or department.
Influence is the art of taking what you know about a person, e.g., communication style and boundaries, mixed with a good dose of business requirements, and stirred with political insight. You cannot become a person of influence unless you understand the political ebb and flow of the company’s culture and how it plays out in your business.
Someone can have power by title but lack influence, while just the opposite can prove to be true. Every day in corporations we see power masquerading as influence.
Persuasion – Person Acts Differently
Once you have leveraged your ability to influence someone to make a decision that you support, the next step is to persuade her to take action.
Commonly referred to as closing a deal (or sale), this is the point at which you lead someone to take the action you desire.
This action should benefit the company at large and as many layers within the organization as possible, e.g., your manager, cross-functional peers, influential colleagues, a senior manager or executive champion, in the hope of extending your political reach.
Credibility – Measurement of Relationship Effectiveness
A number of ways exist for measuring your credibility with others. Never underestimate the importance of credibility and be certain to quantify this value with your manager during 1:1 meetings and review cycles.
- Measure your relationship effectiveness by the speed at which you can move someone from rapport to desired action.
- Capture your effectiveness by the benefits derived in the relationships you cultivate.
- Track the number of projects that you helped locate funding for in the previous quarter.
- Quantify direct and indirect cost-savings for initiatives, or projects, which required cross-organizational influencing and selling.
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