Earning The Trust of Strangers

Even if you've done all the research that can be done on a subject, you may have difficulties selling your idea to skeptics. Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick, correctly note that companies establish credibility by appealing to some authority. Several problems lie in this. First, not everyone companies pick to pitch a product is actually an authority.

"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV."

Second, the methods they use to establish credibility can be misleading. It doesn't have to be true for people to believe it, and therein lies the "dark art" of earning the trust of strangers. The methods taught in the book could easily be used by scoundrels.

Credibility
Many urban legends have apparent authority because of the alleged credible source. How many emails have you received reporting on some virus that was verified by "a friend of a friend," who happens to work at Microsoft? Remember that one that promised Bill Gates would personally pay you a million dollars for testing out his email tracking program?

Of course it wasn't true, but people believed it, because it had the color of credibility. As a result of emails like this, your email box got stuffed beyond capacity with junk that wasn't quite spam, since it came from a friend, but with clutter that made you afraid to go to bars and drive alone on country roads. You even created multiple email addresses - one for business, and at least one other for this type of notice.

It's true that genuine experts can add a punch to your idea, but lacking celebrities or experts to endorse your idea, what are the methods to establish credibility, and how do we use this technique for good, not evil?

Antiauthorities
An antiauthority is one who can bring emotional resonance and detail to an idea, and they can be more effective spokespeople than celebrities or experts. If you're trying to convince people not to smoke, it's more effective to use as your spokesperson a young person who is dying of lung cancer than a celebrity like, say, Keanu Reeves -- or worse, George Burns (who smoked cigars until he died at 100 years old).

Details
Another interesting finding that the brothers Heath reported on is how irrelevant details can make an idea more convincing, but when confronted with a challenge of presenting an idea to skeptics, our details should be both truthful and more meaningful.

Human Scale
Large numbers are difficult for humans to digest. The scaling process that we might use to make them more concrete also makes them more credible. 

Above all, I would caution advertisers to never intentionally mislead. Make sure whatever it is you are pitching is objectively true or at least justifiable before making the idea seem more credible than it is. Leave the illusions to the magicians. Being dishonest just hurts the credibility of everyone else. - Cam Beck

Image courtesy of The Rocketeer

Comments

[Roger von Oech]

Hi Cam,

I'm enjoying your series on "Made to Stick." I'm sure the Heath Bros. are too!

Credibility question: would you be more or less inclined to believe someone's statement on a subject if you also found out that that person was a blogger?

[Cam Beck]

Roger - I wouldn't be more or less inclined, but I can't make any judgments about the world at large based on my opinion. I think bloggers, absent any previous experience as an industry celebrity, have to make their own internal credibility over time.

[Gavin Heaton]

Cam ... you're writing and thinking is on fire! All the points you raise are very topical at the moment -- but are coming from a different perspective. How to bring all these points of view together? Hmm fascinating.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Cam:

Interesting take. Another question on credibility, if I may:

Would the style of the "authority" make a difference?

For example, someone with a calm and confident behavior vs. someone who seems to hype stuff.

They underlying truth could be absolutely the reverse. I do wonder about magic too. Would it be ok to add some color to the way a story is told?

[Gavin Heaton]

Valeria ... interesting ... as we become more used to YouTube and the like, the more we will need to be relaxed in front of a camera. Unfortunately passion looks too close to hysteria on TV/video and a relaxed, quiet approach looks authoritative.

[Cam Beck]

Valeria - I do think style matters whether people will accept a message. I don't think it's necessarily "right" but Chip and Dan Heath make a convincing case that it is so.

Gavin's right that passion can come across as hysteria on TV, but even that, I think, depends on the circumstances and mood of the audience.