Do You Have The Likeability Factor?

Why do you think Barack Obama overwhelmingly won the US Presidential Election? Perhaps it was because of his policies for change, or even the amount of money invested in his campaign. Or perhaps it was his ability to eloquently express the hopes, answers and beliefs of a good chunk of the American people. Some people may even say that Obama was a better bet than his rival, John McCain.

I think it is probably a mixture of all these reasons, and a few more. But more than anything else, I do believe he also has, a high Likeability Factor.

So what’s ‘Likeability’ got to do with anything? Surely we’re going to vote for the policies not the person? Somehow I don’t think so! What so many politicians tend to forget is that we voters are humans and the thing about humans is, they’ll always be driven by their emotions not their logic. We let our heart rule our head all the time. If we decide that we don’t like someone then we have a heck of a job believing anything they say. How well our politicians score on the Likeability Factor is going to influence whether we believe them or not.

Roger Ailes the communication coach to Presidents Reagan and Bush Snr. Wrote - “The silver bullet in business and politics is the like factor. All things being equal, we are more likely to vote for people we feel we like.”

However so many of our politicians seem totally unconcerned by this. Consider some other public figures that have been affected by the like factor. Bill Clinton came through some ‘difficult’ situations relatively unscathed; the reason being that the American public quite liked him. Margaret Thatcher suffered more than she needed because too many people didn’t like her. Princess Diana’s funeral gave a clear indication of how many people liked her. I don’t believe we would have seen the same outpouring of public grief, had that tragic accident happened to another member of the Royal Family.

The Likeability Factor also affects products and the organisations that supply them. As with people, it’s not so much about what the product does, but do we like the brand? Some years ago Proctor and Gamble launched Ariel to compete against Persil. All the tests proved that Ariel washed whiter, but Persil remained the top brand. P&G managers tore their hair out looking for an explanation. Until one day someone told them, “Well I believe people quite like Persil.”
If your Likeability Factor is high, votes go up, sales go up and you go up.

But what about the other people in your life, are they likeable? What about your boss, your dentist or your accountant? I get some funny looks when I tell people that I’ve no idea if my accountant is any good or not. How would I know if he is a good accountant? I’m not competent to judge. I only know that I like and trust him, and that means he’ll continue to get my business.
Warren Buffet, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, sometimes acclaimed as the world’s greatest investor, once said, “I’ve walked away from some great deals because I didn’t like the people I was dealing with.”

Harry Redknapp has recently taken over as Manager of struggling soccer team, Tottenham Hotspur. Redknapp has engineered a remarkable turnaround in a short period of time. I believe that a great deal of his success is down to his high Likeability Factor.

Phil Neville the Everton, England and ex Manchester United footballer recently commented. “If the players like you then that decides ninety-five percent of your success as a manager.”

So how do we get this Likeability Factor if we haven’t got it? Or how do we improve it if we have, and what’s it all about anyway? Well as far as companies are concerned it’s all about whether we trust them and feel that they care about us when we contact them. Do they have the human touch? The advertising agencies know all about the likeability factor and the human touch. They want to make us laugh; they use cute children and animals. They feature celebrities that we like and can relate to.
Andrex TV ads certainly aren’t about what you can do with toilet paper; they’re more about puppies and children.

Some commercial organisations still don’t quite understand this. The high street banks in the UK were recently criticised in a report that suggested many customers didn’t like their bank. One senior manager replied in the press saying, “We continue to grow our business because our products and services meet customer demand and expectation.” He fails to realise that it’s not just about products and services; it’s about the human things, like dropping into your local branch and having a talk with the manager. It’s much harder to do that nowadays, which is one of the main reasons for poor reports in customer satisfaction surveys.

Likeability is about being human; it’s about displaying warmth. Bill Clinton displays warmth, Hilary Clinton less so. Being known as the ‘Prince of Darkness,’ doesn’t suggest too much warmth in UK politician Peter Mandelson. Richard Branson has warmth so did Princess Diana. Nelson Mandela has it; Margaret Thatcher didn’t display it in her time as Prime Minister.

Likeability in people will also be measured by their ability to really listen and be interested in others. Likeable people use your name and look as if they care. We like people who have something positive to say and don’t whinge! Likeable people empathise with our problems and accept that we may have a different view of the world from them. Likeability is demonstrated by a genuine smile, good eye contact, a sense of humour and relaxed open body language.

Much of our success in life will be determined by our ability to sell ourselves to others. Whether in our personal or working lives; people will judge us by what we say and what we do. However, more importantly, this will be influenced by how likeable we are.

The Likeability Factor—have you got it?