Like, listen, believe, buy

You probably noticed, as I have, that successful people seem to be likable people.

In fact, the likeability factor is one of the three keys to success mentioned by Tim Sanders in his book Love is the Killer App. (He's the former chief solutions officer for Yahoo!).

(The other two factors are an attitude of abundance, and knowledge).

But what's the link between "being likable" and "being successful"?

After all, the most popular cheerleader (or quarterback football player) in high school doesn't necessarily become the most successful person of her graduating class.

What I found is this sequence:

1. If people like you, they will listen to you
2. The more they listen to you, the more likely they will believe you
3. If they believe you, they will buy from you

So we have:

• LIKE ---> LISTEN ---> BELIEVE ---> BUY

Whether you're a job seeker or a high-powered executive or a launching entrepreneur or a free agent, you always need people to buy your services.

But before they get to the "buying stage", you have to make sure they like you, listen to you and believe you.

Someone cannot believe you if they did not listen to you. Likewise, no person will listen to you if they don't like you.

How to get strangers to instantly like you? Dale Carnegie wrote How to win friends and influence people, I highly recommend it.

You have no time to read it? That's okay, here's a one-line summary or master advice from Carnegie: Be genuinely interested in other people by asking them sincerely a series of questions that will encourage them to share information and stories about themselves.