There are many ways to do this:

•Continuing education •On-going reading •Using your skills in volunteer or community organizations

…to name a few.

And as I mentioned before having expertise is important, but being perceived as having it matters much more. Perception is everything. It might not be fair, but it is how world works.

Changing perceptions, especially of people you have worked with for a long time, won’t happen overnight. But by consciously building your expertise and applying it whenever possible your influence will grow.

Trustworthiness

The other part of our credibility combination is being trustworthy. Building trust consists of many factors and, like expertise is about more than ourselves. While there are things we can do, it is how are actions are translated by others that is true measure of our trustworthiness.

Here are three things that you can do, starting today to build your trustworthiness, and therefore, your credibility.

Build rapport. In a situation where you want to influence others, don’t rush to that point too quickly. Build rapport by building your relationship with other person. You know how to do this, just remember how important it is.

Focus on them. Be interested in them. Understand their issues and concerns. We all want to feel important. We all want to be heard. By keeping your focus on other person you are serving yourself as well.

Be consistent. Build rapport in every situation. Be kind and thoughtful everyday. Consistency in our actions is a key trust component. We trust people when we know what to expect in their words and deeds. Be consistent.

Remember that in end, this is about perception - which means in a practical way that you can’t succeed by applying above suggestions as a ploy or a technique. These strategies work when they are done with sincerity and honor, and they will backfire if people feel you are using them as a way to manipulate them or a situation.

The good news is that by applying these approaches to build your trustworthiness you will likely be building your perceived expertise as well.

Credibility is a combination of expertise and trustworthiness, but those two components, aren’t completely distinct and different as described in mathematical formula described above. They can be built simultaneously by conscious and consistent focus.

And with that conscious focus and determined actions you can build your credibility - one of golden keys to unlock greater influence.

Kevin is Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. To receive your free special report on “Unleashing Your Potential” go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/index.asp or call us at (317) 387-1424 or 888.LEARNER.

The applications of this fallacy are obvious, if you look. For example, perhaps rather than giving away tickets to those "get rich" seminars, organisers would get better attendance by putting their "$100" tickets on sale for $3. Just having paid something makes people more likely to attend, with added bonus of getting some money up front.

Extremeness Aversion

People avoid extremes. Given a choice of televisions costing $300, $500, and $700, for example, not many choose $700 one. But if you add a $1200 television to their choices, more will then choose $700 one, because it is no longer most expensive one.

The last example suggests some obvious applications of this new science of behavioral economics. In fact, if you look closely at information coming from these studies, you can find a lot to help your sales and marketing efforts. You'll find more results of these studies in Behavioral Economics: Part Two.