Strengthen Your Professional Credibility and Trust

Just like trust, professional credibility does not happen automatically. It is something that you need to ear over time. The other thing about credibility is that once you have earned it, you may easily lose it again if you are not careful, and if that happens, you will either have to work extremely hard to get it back again or never regain it. It is that delicate.

Your online presence helps to support your journey

It goes without saying that you need to have a strong online presence, which is one of the building blocks of your credibility. However, having an effective website (or other aspects of your online presence) does not necessarily cause you to be credible to others. There is a lot more that goes into your credibility. 

There are some basic principles that you should follow in order to build credibility properly.

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Whether you are just starting out or something occurred to damage your credibility and you now find yourself in a position of having to salvage your credibility, there are some principles that will guide you to successfully establishing your professional credibility.

Go with your knowledge and expertise

If you venture into foreign territory, it probably will not serve you well. The fact is that you have worked long and hard to acquire the knowledge and expertise that you now possess so it makes no sense that you would cast it aside to try to convey something that isn’t really you. If you are really good at something, it is a no-brainer that you will want to share that particular knowledge with others so that they can benefit. If you try to communicate about something that you are not sure of, you will not be able to fool anyone. People will know. On the other hand, if you stick to your area of expertise, everything will turn out great. That is certainly one way to build (or establish in the first place) your credibility. You need to make sure that your base is solid so that when you build upon it, it will stand for a very long time to come.

Don’t be afraid to say that you don’t know 

If you refuse to admit when you don’t know something, it will work against your ability to establish credibility. After all, credibility is tied to respect and other people will not respect you if you are not honest with them. If that happens, your credibility will go out the window. However, if you are honest (transparent), other people will respect you and they will view you as a human being, just like them. The concept is simple. Human beings learn to trust other human beings by establishing emotional connections. Without them, trust and credibility are not possible. Nobody will think negatively of you if you admit to not knowing something. Everyone knows that there is a tremendous amount of learning to be done for everyone. If you know what you don’t know, you can learn. You are certainly not alone. 

If someone asks you something that you don’t know the answer to, do the research, learn what you need to know, and get back to them 

If you have made the effort to find the answer to someone else’s question, it puts you in a very positive light. It shows that you value the other person and that you care enough about him or her to find the answer. That will certainly go a long way. However, one thing that you should definitely keep in mind is that you will want to get back to the other person quickly. That expediency will go a long way to building your credibility. Hopefully, you will not have to go too far to find the answer. In fact, with a little bit of luck, you may be able to find the answer within your online social community (or communities).

Conclusion

Building professional credibility is absolutely critical to your success. If you stick to basic, honest principles and always communicate in a transparent manner, you will be good. Be clear about the principles that you treasure. Other people will find it easy to relate to you as another human being in that case. Expressing sensitivity and caring about other people will help those people to relate to you in a meaningful way. As a result, other people will find you credible and they will be very happy to tell other people about you and your brand as well.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a complimentary assessment of your online presence, let’s have coffee.

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