Increase your credibility by being exact

You can increase your credibility and convince more people by being exact. Consider various pairs of statements below:

A: I went and met 5 potential clients today but could not sell to anyone.

B: I went and met some potential clients today but could not sell to anyone.

Which one is more credible?

C: The sales growth in the last month was 20.42%
D: The sales growth in the last month was around 20%

E: The total advertising spend on TV is $1,044,329.
F: The total advertising spend on TV is 1 million dollars.

By being a bit more exact you can sound so much more convincing. The listener starts to feel that you know what you are talking and not cooking up or guessing. When we guess we talk in round numbers (100, 1000, 2500). We never guess when we say 108.66.

One more example.

G: You forget! We had changed the rates of our product on April 11, 2010.
H: You forgot! We had changed the rates of our product long back.

In our daily lives we make lot of statements which are generic, approximate and not concrete. They are not false. They are not misleading but they are less convincing. If we become more specific in the way we communicate, we can become much more convincing.


Image source: graur razvan ionut