Presenting You and Your Business with Confidence
Presenting You and Your Business with Confidence
Why does it matter how confident we seem?
As clients and customers, when choosing who to do business with, we use all available signals to determine “is this a business that I can trust?”.
As the face of your business, this means that every time you communicate with potential and existing customers and clients, you need to display the confidence that will build their trust and allow strong and lasting relationships to grow. So how do you portray that confidence, even if you don’t feel it?
The words that we choose
- Whether face-to-face, on the phone or through written communication, the words that we choose say a lot about how confident we seem. The words and phrases that we use will also tell potential customers whether we seem genuinely interested in them – so choose carefully!
- Replace “we try…”, “we endeavour…” and “we aim…” with “we do…”, “we deliver…” Don’t give people reason to doubt that you will deliver on your promises – they don’t want to gamble; they want to be sure.
- Avoid using “don’t”, a word that plays tricks on our brain and that compels us to do the very thing that we are being told to not do. If you tell a client “Don’t’ think for a minute that we’ll let you down”, you are actually inviting them to doubt you.
- Start meaningful conversations with clients by asking them questions that begin with “What, how, where when and who”. Be very careful when using “Why” to ask a question, as you need to be very careful with your tone to avoid sounding accusatory or judgemental.
- Use their names, it shows that you recognise them as individuals and that you remember them as individuals. Get it right though! Don’t overdo it, (it very quickly becomes an irritant) and make sure that they are happy for you to use it and that you are using the right name in the right form.
Using a confident tone
Learning to use your voice to portray confidence can take work and effort, but it ‘s worth it. Your voice is the most powerful tool at your disposal. Make it work for you by focussing on the 4 P’s:
- Power: if we speak too quietly, it tells those around us that we are not confident in our messages, so speak up! Take deep breaths and use your diaphragm to support your voice as it comes out strong and clear (without shouting!).
- Pace: when we are nervous, we garble – we want to get it over with and we go off like a train. The problem being that no one can take in what we are saying! Slow it down and allow people to clearly hear your great messages.
- Pitch: we take low voices more seriously and high voices put us on edge. Train yourself to use your “chest voice” and remember to use higher tones when you want to bring excitement to your message.
- Pause: embrace the poser of the pause! Don’t “um…er” to fill gaps, just pause. This allow people to absorb your words and it gives you time to think and breathe. When delivering a key message, especially when giving a price, state it and shut up!
Confident body language
Show the world that you have no reason to be afraid. Ground yourself, stand tall (with your shoulders back and down). Make eye contact and smile at people – simple ways to make a human connection and build trust. Avoid the temptation to obsess about your hands, they know what they are doing so let them get on with it and allow them to naturally talk along with you.
Power stances
Do yourselves a favour and learn how to power-stance to raise your confidence hormones and reduce your stress hormones – it works! Check out Amy Cuddy in her Ted Talk, “Fake It Till You Make It”.
Learning these top tips (and practising) will allow you to put your most confident foot forward and show the world that you are the ideal choice to do business with.
Deborah Clark
Get Real Leadership
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