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The power of influence in your business circles can help increase sales, bring in deals, and meet the people you need to meet to take your business to the next level.
But, how can you build influence?
How can you turn that influence from an intangible asset into cash?
Most think you have to practice some sort of sleazy sales tactics, but that could not be farther from the truth. Influence comes from being committed to providing value. It develops over time. You can’t fake it and if you do, it will come across and your business will suffer.
One of the best ways to build influence is by providing a solution to your customer’s problem.
Fix their problem and they look to you as an authority. Take away their fear and they’ll be grateful. Which in turn, will result in referrals and positive word-of-mouth advertising for you.
At the end of this article is a great resource to learn more about the psychology behind this marketing strategy.
Here are 3 ways how to wield the power of influence.
Building Your Network of Contacts
Your contacts are everything. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or a high-end consultant, a Fortune 500 CEO or a programmer looking for a job, your contacts are everything.
Be active about cultivating your network. Go to minglers, seminars and other such events in your area and get to know the players in the industry.
Seek to build real relationships. It’s not about building acquaintances, but building real friendships with people.
Help Others First and Trust That It’ll Come Back
What good will come of having lunch with someone you met to help them with their business? Quite possibly nothing. But it’s also quite possible that he or she will know someone who can help you in your business, and their glowing testimonial for your character is just what you need to get your foot in the door.
The business community is a cycle of give and take. Those who are generous about sharing their ideas, their time and their contacts often find the same kindness returned.
Be the person who helps others in your community. You might not see the benefits right away, but the goodwill you build up will come back to help you.
Sell without Selling
Many people feel that selling damages their relationships and weakens relationships. When done properly, however, selling can do just the opposite.
If you view selling as trying to force someone into a decision on something they either don’t want or aren’t sure they want, then selling will indeed damage the relationship.
However, if selling is done right, it should be a match of win-win situations. A consultant “sells” a client on being able to help them solve a problem. As a result, they both make more money. Or a headhunter sells his services to a CEO and helps him get his ideal job.
The list goes on and on. If what the seller is offering and what the buyer wants are a match, then the sales process is easy and actually strengthens the relationship.
A good sales process should be more about discovering what the other person wants and creating a tailor-fitted product or service for them, than trying old-fashioned hard-closing techniques.
This is especially true if you want to build your influence and bring in more sales in the future. Build a reputation for helping people, not taking their money. Do this consistently, and your reputation and influence will build accordingly and, as a result, you will increase sales.
To learn more about the fundamentals of the power of influence read Robert B. Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. In it he discusses how understanding 6 principles can help you build a strong relationship with your customers and increase your sales.
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If you have any comments, questions, or good-natured tidbits, please share them below.
Thanks for reading,
~ Theresa
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If you are influential it helps because if you have a product or business you can capitalize on your social power and people will trust you enough to invest in your product/service. I wish I was that influential online, alas, I am not but I have seen other people’s success stories.
Gabriella,
You’re right having influence in a market does give you leverage. However, influence doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and you have to build a trust with your target market. The nice thing is that once you have achieved this, your market starts to sell you to others.
Word-of-mouth is the best advertising, because it’s others saying you’re great at ___. Once you get to this point, and you keep providing great value, your influence grows exponentially.
Thank you for stopping by,
Theresa
Hi Theresa,
There’s a lot of conversation and pseudo-statistics on building influence through social media. For instance, the Klout metrics are built around perceived influence based on how much you tweet and who (or how many) engage you on Twitter.
This is a paradigm where small business owners should take care not to confuse the influence ascribed to them by “metrics” with the ways you describe of building true, lasting influence.
Vernessa,
Thank you for your comments.
All the “Like This”, “Follow Me”, “Add Me On G+”, etc. can distract you. These, for some, have become popularity contest instead of “these people connected with me because I helped them solve a problem”. The business owner who is really out there to help people solve problems will focus on building “true” influence and not gaming the “metrics”.
Thanks for stopping by,
Theresa