Thoughts on Trust, Likeability, and Consistency

Over the past several days, I have run across commentary from others on trust, likeability, and consistency that is too insightful not to share.

The Great Thing About Trust

My friend Michael Katz is the guru of newsletters for service providers. As you might expect, the newsletter he produces for himself is terrific. (Go subscribe and thank me later.)

He recently offered an excellent commentary on trust . As service providers, we know that trust is vital to our business. One particular point he made on trust stood out for me:

“The great thing about trust is that it can’t be bought or traded for. Its power lies in the fact that it’s grounded in reality and based on actual experience, not hype or promotion."

Trust comes from always offering value. If you always offer value to others, their perception of you as a professional is based on their reality, not yours.

That's much more powerful than any of your own promotion.

You’re Better Liked Than You Think You Are

A recent?Harvard Business Review article on likeability caught my eye. Researchers found that people systematically discount how much those they interact with like them. They call it the "liking gap."

They go on to point out that our tendency to be self-critical is a big aspect of the problem. It's good to analyze and learn from mistakes in our personal interactions, these researchers say, but we often take it too far. Our thoughts about ourselves are often much more negative than the thoughts others have about us. We tend to underestimate how well-liked we are by others because of our own negative self-talk.

What's the solution?

"Try to zoom in on your conversation partner, be genuinely curious about them, ask them more questions, and really listen to their answers. The more you’re zeroed in on the other person, and the less you’re focused on yourself, the better your conversation will be and the less your mind will turn to all the things you think you didn’t do well."

Sounds like The Generosity Mindset at work to me.

Consistency is About Being Adaptable

In a recent newsletter from James Clear , he shared catalytic thoughts on consistency:

"In theory, consistency is about being disciplined, determined, and unwavering.

"In practice, consistency is about being adaptable. Don't have much time? Scale it down. Don't have much energy? Do the easy version. Find different ways to show up depending on the circumstances. Let your habits change shape to meet the demands of the day.

"Adaptability is the way of consistency."

Want to take some pressure off of yourself? Incorporate adaptability into your consistency.

Here’s one way this works: I’ve been too busy this week to write the newsletter I'd normally produce. I reviewed several recent items I'd clipped, all of which were too good not to share. So I adapted. As Clear says, I found a different way to show up this week.

What do you think?

#trust #likeability #consistency #professionalservices #pricevaluejourney

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John Ray advises solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their two most frustrating problems: pricing and business development. John is passionate about how changes in mindset, positioning, and pricing change the trajectory of a business and the lifestyle choices of a business owner. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

John is the author of the bestselling book, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices . The book covers topics like value and adopting a mindset of value, pricing your services more effectively, proposals, and essential elements of growing your business. The book is available at all major physical and online book retailers .