I know we’ve all said things we question later. For me, I usually think, “I can’t believe I said that!” Even if we don’t catch it in the moment, we are aware.

What about those things we aren’t aware of? Those little habits, grammatical mistakes, or mispronunciations that slip out unawares, and yet are impacting our credibility, believability and trustworthiness?

I recently purchased a new car – a Honda Accord. I made it through the sales process with my dignity and sales goals intact (was very happy about that!) and was escorted to the business development manager’s office.

I’m guessing this man was in his mid-40’s. He’d obviously been at his job for a while because he had the script down pat. He told me about the extended warranties and all the other options that would add to my sales price. And, even though I had been preapproved for a loan, he also wanted to see if he could get me a better financial deal. He shared information about how I could have an automated withdrawal and get a lower interest rate, and on and on.

This was a long, tedious process, but what made it really challenging was how quickly he spoke. I had to ask him several times to slow down and explain the options again. I ended up saying no to all of it.

I left with a new car and am very happy with my purchase, but it turns out my loan ended up with a different lender than I expected! Same interest rate, so I guess he thought this piece of information was unimportant. I don’t know. This necessitated several follow up phone calls with more people from the dealership who also spoke so fast I became frustrated. What do you think this did to their credibility and my level of trust? I certainly don’t want to take my car there for service.

To learn three things you can do to clean up and clear out your language for greater credibility and trustworthiness, check out this video.

 

 

Authentically yours,

Andrea