I was lucky enough to attend a dinner as the guest of Warrington and Cheshire Sports Partnership last night. The compere for the night was the Olympic swimmer Stephen Parry and his introduction made me think about the different ways you can make an impact.

Stephen won the Olympic Bronze for Great Britain in Athens in 2004. His most famous moment, however, was in Beijing when covering the 2008 Olymics for the BBC. He was mobbed by hundreds of Chinese fans who though he was Olympic swimming phenomenon Michael Phelps. If you watch the clip below, you'll notice how many times Stephen says "I'm not Phelps" before the adoring local fans actually believe him.

Stephen made an impact when he opened last night's dinner by showing this video clip and explained how painful it is to be remembered for the Phelps mistaken identity incident having spent an entire career trying to compete with his swimming nemesis. He jokingly complained that it was ironic that he was famous, not for his achievements, but for being mistaken for somebody else.

This got me thinking...

When you introduce yourself to others and try to make an impact through your credibility, you can sometimes come across as arrogant. There's a risk you'll come across as saying "look at me and what I've achieved, aren't I great". It's actually quite difficult to state your credentials without sending this kind of message.

Unless you do what Stephen Parry did.

If you tell your story by diverting attention away from yourself, your achievements can become the back story instead of the headline.

You can sell your credentials by focusing on a particular project or success that you were involved with. Tell people what went on, who was involved, what the challenges were, why it happened. By simply associating yourself with being there, people will make the leap that you're credible just for being involved and knowing the facts. Make yourself part of the story and not the story itself.

So, when I walked up on stage to shake hands with Steve Parry, I wasn't disappointed that I didn't win Cheshire Coach of the Year. It was pleasing being nominated in the first place and to have met a sportsman who made an instant impact on me.

On instant impact we focus on helping you build credibility subtly so that you don't rub people up the wrong way.

The upshot? You build rapport and trust more quickly.