How to come across as credible instead of arrogant

Arrogance is not an attractive trait.

We’ve all sat through meetings or listened to pitches where an individual stands up to speak, and those in the room suddenly feel smothered by the sense of superiority that’s being thrust upon them.

It might ooze through the pretentious statements that the person is making, or come through their air of entitlement, but however it’s exhibited it’s not pretty.

We don’t like what arrogance looks like when we see it in others, and so we do what we can to make sure we’re not displaying it ourselves.

When it comes to pitching and presenting, our desire to avoid coming across as arrogant can mean we end up stumbling through our script and underplaying anything which points towards our success.

When we do this, our ability to lead and communicate with others suffers and we end up lacking credibility all together.

What is credibility?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines credibility as ‘the quality that somebody has that makes people believe or trust them.’

Trust determines whether a potential client will feel comfortable enough to have a conversation after you pitch and purchase whatever you are selling them.

The difference between arrogance and credibility is that the first tends to push an audience away from you, while the latter draws them in.

How do we loose credibility?

If you are delivering a pitch about your company you need to remember that there are always two channels through which you communicate: the verbal, and the non verbal. This means that as well as thinking about your language, you should consider the tone of your voice and your body language, and whether it adds to or takes away from your credibility.

You can loose credibility through:

1. Uncertain language

Phrases such as ‘like’, ‘kind of’, and ‘sort of’ can minimise what you’re trying to say. If you truly believe you have an incredible team, saying “Our team is sort of one of the best in the field” doesn’t allow that to come across.

Notice where you use filler words, and what kinds of phrases you fall back on, especially when you’re nervous.

2. Minimising body language

As a Brit, I’ve been brought up in a culture where apology is the norm. But if you are shuffling awkwardly and looking at the ground as you describe how brilliant Q4 was, you are seriously hindering you audience’s ability to believe you.

When the adrenaline kicks in, we tend to want to take up less space with our bodies instead of more. You might find that you cross your arms in front of your body, or slouch slightly. Again, it is worth noting where you might be prone to displaying apologetic or minimising body language.

How can you come across as credible?

There are techniques you can use when speaking or preparing a talk that will really boost your credibility. These are particularly useful if you are speaking to a new or sceptical audience.

Here are five suggestions:

1. Use quotes and external authorities

You can use quotes to back up what you’re saying. We often trust the recommendations of people we know and like. So if your company has recently landed any press coverage, or a notable person has said something positive about your work, say it and own it. If you have evidence that someone else trusts or believes in you, use it to help us do the same.

2. Use personal experience and stories

Tell stories which describe your background and the moments which have brought you to where you are today.

When you are introducing yourself or talking about your experience, it is easy to launch into a dry summary of everything you have done since the beginning of your career. Instead frame your experience as a story and include vivid details to draw people in.

Talking about your experience is not the same as making a desperate plea to get people to like you. It’s about showing off your experience up front so that others get a real sense of what you’re about, which will in turn invite their trust and can trust you. 

In Chip and Dan Heath’s book ‘Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die’, they call this the ‘Sinatra effect’. This is when you describe where you’ve been and your greatest achievements to demonstrate that if you’ve ‘made it there, you can make it anywhere.’

3. Cut the filler words

Filler words can make you sound apologetic and uncertain, especially if one of your common filler words is ‘sorry’. As the name suggests, filler words can rob you of the space needed to breathe. As a result you might end up sounding more shaky or nervous than you actually are. Utilise the power of silence to build credibility instead.

4. Give specific details about your subject area

A person’s knowledge of specific details in their subject area is often a measure for their expertise. Weave in interesting facts which support what you’re saying.

You can also use statistics to bring a subject sharply into focus for your audience. For example, as a communications coach and advocate for storytelling, I often tell people that a study by Stanford University Press found that “stories are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone.” This is a helpful reminder to clients, especially when they are sceptical about the power of stories.

5. Sound excited by your own success

Write a list of some of your greatest achievements and practice using them conversationally. Think about the level of enthusiasm in your voice; if you sound uninspired, your audience will struggle to get excited by what you’re saying.

The truth is that even if you run the best company in the world, if you can’t communicate that you’ll loose out. Get used to owning your success and backing up what you say with concrete details. Then make sure that the level of enthusiasm in your voice matches what you’re saying.

Get used to talking about yourself with confidence and credibility in a way that shows the world just how great you are.