More and more evidence is showing that life is one big popularity contest. While that might be your high school self’s worst nightmare, it appears to be demonstrably true.

Think about it in the context of your business. You may or may not have the best sales team in town. But even if you do, there is no truly empirical way for your customers to measure that. Given two equally qualified options, people break that tie by deciding who they like more.

In fact, a recent study showed that credibility is very closely linked to likeability for most individuals. We tend to mentally discredit people we don’t really like and vice versa.

Given that explanation, it is clear that the likeability of your store's staff could be critically important to your success.

Use Likeability in Your Favor

There is power in understanding this paradigm. Luckily, likeability is something you can learn and train for rather than something you are born with.

Tim Sanders popularized this idea in his book, The Likeability Factor. Sanders relates likeability to the following factors:

• Friendliness — Are you able to communicate in a warm and pleasant way?
• Relevance — Are you able to connect with other human beings’ wants and needs?
• Empathy — Can you recognize and acknowledge other people’s feelings?
• Realness — Do you have integrity and authenticity standing behind you?

It is easy to see how all of those things are hugely important, because they all revolve around trustworthiness. If you or your employees are showing up at your shop without these key factors, there is a good chance it’s holding your company back from success.

If you can harness likeability in your business — hire and train for it — there are ways that this success relates directly to your bottom line:

• Word-of-Mouth — You’re never as good or as bad as people say you are. But likeability makes people more prone to forgive mistakes. If your customers genuinely like you, they want to see you succeed and they'll recommend your shop to others. More importantly, if they don’t like you, they are going to spread negative word-of-mouth. That is a frustratingly powerful way of losing business.
• Credibility — When you are liked, your insights are taken more seriously. People will trust your opinion and, if your shop offers bow repairs or gunsmithing for instance, they'll be more open to your diagnosis.

Learned Behavior

The good news is that likeability is mostly about actions. It is possible to train yourself and your employees to be more charming and likeable. This may seem like an odd place to focus skill-based learning, but it's the intangible soft sell of your company's personality that ultimately leads to the money-making sales of hard goods and services. 

Here are some key behavioral elements to appearing likeable:

• Make eye contact — but not too much. This is a delicate balance. Complete lack of eye contact is considered untrustworthy, like you are hiding something. Too much can be deemed “creepy” behavior. How much is the right amount? It’s better to go for “longer glances” rather than “intense stares” says one expert.
• Smile. Especially upon greeting someone, it is important to smile. Don’t downplay the importance of a genuine grin, one that tries to reach your eyes. It will help give an appearance that you love your job and are there to help.
• Speak enthusiastically. Sometimes what you say isn’t quite as important as how you say it. Speaking with confidence and enthusiasm is another cue to customers that you enjoy your job and they are in capable hands.
• Show respect. Figure out the common goal and keep the tone of the conversation cooperative. You are there to help, after all. Don’t belittle their knowledge or other people’s work, and withhold any other judgments. Whether you’re doing work for a mayor or an individual on a fixed income, the quality and tone of the communication should remain the same.
• Be present during conversation. Make sure that when speaking with the customer, you aren’t multi-tasking. Put away your phone, ask them engaging questions and listen without presumption. It’s about them, not you.

No one is born with these conversational skills, although it does come easier for some than others. The best thing to do is hire for these traits, which you should be able to note quickly. The way people present themselves at an interview should be very similar to how they present themselves to customers. So take likeability into consideration when making a hire.

Word of warning: Training on likeability can seem a bit awkward at first, like you are coaching someone’s personality. It is important that your staff understands why you are focused on these skills, just as you focus on more technical skills. This is a business skill and one that could lead to serious improvement to the bottom line.

Think of likeability as insurance against a bad day. It will help your customers cut you some slack and help your profits soar.

Anja Smith is based out of Greenville, South Carolina. She can be reached at anja@acpupstate.com.