You tell him. Verifiable history — not just testimonials on his own profile but some form of presence that predates your contact and couldn't have been constructed specifically for your benefit. Consistency between his described approach and the actual approach in conversation — does he practice what his profile claims. And time — the only way to verify someone's approach is to observe it across enough interactions to see whether it's consistent.

Kieran says: The time answer is the most important one. Everything else can be performed for long enough to deceive. Time-consistent behaviour is harder to fake because it requires sustained effort across a period when the deceptive practitioner would prefer to have escalated to the financial stage already.

He adds: I'm going to tell you three things about my practice that are verifiable. Then I'm going to ask you three things about yourself that are also verifiable. The symmetry is intentional.

What the Screen Holds