Everyday Marketing Ideas

Perceived Unreliability Can Be Death to Your Marketing

“Here we go again,” Harry heard himself grumbling under his breath. Once again he was waiting for his marketing seminar partner, Tom, to bring the audio-visual equipment. It needed to be set up and tested well in advance of their 7:30 a.m. presentation for the local Chamber of Commerce. Harry’s PowerPoint was on the fritz so they were resorting to a last-minute slide presentation.

Tom arrived at 7:20 a.m. and had forgotten the spare bulb for the slide projector. Since bulbs burned out with great regularity, Harry sweat and prayed that today wouldn’t be one of those times. But as a result of Tom’s tardiness and forgetfulness, their presentation was 20 minutes off schedule and had to be cut short. Potential clients in the audience looked as unimpressed as Harry felt.

We all want and expect others to do what they say they’ll do. When they don’t, we feel annoyed and frustrated. Our confidence in them either slips or flies out the window. Anxiety and suspicion color our perception of them and we worry about the risk of relying upon them, like Harry and his audience.

What causes people to mistrust us or others and assign the deadly label of “unreliable”?

Unpredictability – If others can’t be sure of what you’ll do and when, they’ll be less likely to trust in your doing what you say you’ll do. It doesn’t matter if you’re straight-arrow honest and wouldn’t deceive a fly if you can’t be counted on. Furthermore, the reason for the unpredictability is of less importance than the unpredictability itself and its implications.

Loose Communication – Sometimes you say things casually which may lead others to interpret them as commitments when you don’t intend them that way. Like saying, “I should have the marketing copy ready at 1 p.m.,” not meaning you plan to have it ready on the dot of 1 p.m. but that is our general estimate of completion. This kind of communication creates misunderstandings and hard feelings. As before, it doesn’t matter if the other person’s interpretation is reasonable or unreasonable. If your communication is loose and sloppy and not representing what you intend, you’ll be seen as undependable.

Not Taking Promises Seriously – Each of us gives different weight to promises and different weights to different promises. We’re all not on the same wavelength, whether it’s the promise to “Talk to you later” or “Til death do us part.” Promises mean commitment. Commitment means implicit conditions. For most of us, if means we expect people who give their word to do what they say they will do unless something serious and important arises to prevent them from doing so.

Using Deception and Dishonesty – If you deliberately mislead or lie to others, they will have reasonable cause to find you unreliable. The reason for deception or dishonesty, even if it’s covering a mistake or sparing someone’s feelings, is less important than the fact of the deception or dishonesty. It takes only one ounce of the two “Ds” to create a pound of mistrust.

To minimize being perceived as “unreliable,” you need to

1. Improve your predictability by keeping others informed of problems or changing circumstances then work to help them see your behavior as stable and consistent over time.

2. Clarify what you mean, indicate if you’re making directly affected by it.

3. Abide by promises, both large and small. This helps create your credibility and enhances your reputation for dependability over time and across situations.

4. Be open and honest about what you say and what you choose to disclose.

Trust and reliability go hand in hand. Together they are the single most important component for building and maintaining your rapport and marketing relationships.

Want to learn more about marketing reluctance, confident self-promotion, and education-based marketing strategies? Dr. Signe A. Dayhoff, Ph.D., can show you more. She teaches professionals who are marketing reluctant how to create profitable visibility and credibility confidently with integrity … without selling, using a method called the “VODKAA Process.”

See her other EzineArticles here and check out her blog, http://www.ConfidentSelfPromotion.com/blog and her blog podcast.