Yes, confidence matters in sales — but do you know just how much?

It’s something every salesperson is aware of: Confidence is a key quality for sales success, along with such traits as honesty, persistence, optimism and empathy.

But even knowing this, you may be surprised how much confidence matters and why, as revealed by a fascinating piece of behavioral research.

A research team at Carnegie-Mellon University set up an experiment in which volunteers tried to win money by correctly guessing the weight of people shown in photographs. The participants were allowed to choose one of four “expert” advisers in making their guesses.

These experts presented their advice by saying how likely it was that the people in the photos fell into a given weight range.

‘I’m 100% certain’

The researchers found that the guessers were more likely to take advice from experts who expressed closer to 100% certainty about a weight range. Experts who said, for example, “I’m 95% sure that man weighs between 170 and 175 pounds,” were favored over those who claimed, “I’m 85% sure that man weighs between 170 and 175 pounds.”

So, said the study, the more confident you appear, the more likely people are to see you as a credible expert.

The research also showed that in successive rounds of the guessing game, even after some of the experts were shown to be wrong, participants were still more inclined to trust them if they continued to express high confidence in their advice. So, the experiment demonstrated that confidence can not only convey an impression of expertise, it can even take its place.

It’s not about fakery

This doesn’t mean that salespeople should try to fake buyers out with cheap displays of phony confidence. You want to be a real expert, not a pretend one.

The good news is that you really are an expert in your product and should derive great confidence from that expertise. Although buyers know their own business, they don’t know your product and don’t have insider knowledge of how other businesses have deployed it successfully.

You have that knowledge in spades, and your buyers know it. They need the guidance of an expert salesperson to help them make high-stakes decisions. And, as the research suggests, they’re likely to go with the seller who expresses that expertise with a high level of confidence.

Action steps

So, how can you convey genuine confidence that will establish you as an expert authority in your buyers’ minds? Consider these action steps:

1. Do your homework. Think how confident you’ll feel if you can open a conversation by saying, “I saw that your company recently announced three big goals. Talk to me about how this purchase fits into your plan.”
2. Ask smart questions. Stay away from fact-based questions whose answers you should know from your homework. Ask thoughtful questions such as, “Of the hurdles you face in achieving your goal, which do you need to tackle first?” Or, “What will happen if you don’t achieve your goal?”
3. Tell stories about other companies that had successes, or failures, when pursuing goals like this customer’s. When you speak from relevant experience, you sound expert and inspire confidence.
4. Talk less, listen more. Talking a lot is a sure sign of a lack of confidence. When people speak loosely and repeat themselves, they sound desperate and unconvincing.
5. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.” If you can’t answer a question, boldly admit it. Then confidently promise to look into it and find the correct answer.

This blog entry is adapted from the BTS Total Access micro video “Confidence: The X-Factor That Drives Credibility and Sales Success.” If you’re a Total Access customer, you can watch the video here. If you’re not, but would like to see this video (or any of our other programs), request a demo and we’ll get you access.

The blog post and BTS Total Access micro video are based in part on the following article: Aldhous, P. (2009) Why Confidence Matters More Than Expertise. New Scientist, Vol. 202, Issue 2711, 15.