Top five Techniques of influential People

Many people get the idea of influence wrong. You may not think it matters, but influence can help you achieve your biggest dreams. But what exactly is it?Let’s start by understanding what influence is not. Influence is not a skill. It is not something you can do to someone. It is not a simple result of putting in the hard work and time at a position or job. Influence is not the same thing as fame.Influencing others has to do with spreading good ideas. This has become much easier with technology and the internet. But it is not enough to simply have these tools.You must know how to use them to your advantage.In this book, you will learn different techniques for becoming influential. These techniques fall under five categories: what you know, who you know, what you do, who you are, and how you play the game.

What You Know: Influence Through Ideas

Sharing and exchanging ideas is part of a business. The problem is that not everybody knows how to communicate these ideas well. For example, a junior partner at an accounting firm named John Turner. His boss sent him to a live interview discussing credit for small and medium British businesses.John felt scared. He was nervous. He had never done this before, and he doubted his abilities to pull it off. John’s boss assured him he was the right man for the job. He told John to handle the interview like he handles team meetings.After the interview, the boss said John did well because he made a difficult subject simple. Everyone understood what he was saying.Communicating ideas simply is a great way to become influential. When people can understand you, they are more likely to listen to you.Here are some tips on how to communicate well and influence through ideas.

First, seek to simplify and be memorable. Deliver your message in as few words as possible.Make it easy to understand and remember.One effective technique is to think about your key points in a presentation. You shouldn’t have to write them down. You should be able to remember them mentally. You can also use repetition to help people remember key phrases or terms.Make your message attractive. Try not to distract your audience at all costs when you are delivering your message. Their attention is important. Your goal is to get the audience to listen to you without getting distracted.Examples of distractions include unnecessary repetition, vagueness, and too many acronyms. Body language can also be distracting. Try not to fidget or move so much that people stop listening to what you are saying.

When presenting, do not rely on technology to deliver your message. In case something goes wrong during a presentation, you should keep going.Use technology to support your presentation and not to give your presentation. The information and impact delivered should be coming from you. Make sure you know the core of what you want to say. Remember it mentally. If you have to write it down, it means there’s too much information.Second, entice your audience. Enticing is more effective at drawing an audience than being aggressive.Aggression only pushes your audience away and makes you less engaging. It turns people off. Instead, attract your audience towards you out of their own free will.There are two ways to do this. One way is to use suspense as a tool to attract their attention.

Hold back a little bit of your advice each time. Do not give it away all at once. The delay in providing information keeps the audience hooked. Another way is to piggyback.Standing out to gain an audience’s attention is difficult. Sometimes, it helps to invite a high-profile guest speaker or interviewee. This person already has an established audience following. Connecting with this person can help you tap into the audience. It gives you the opportunity to convert some of their audience into your audience.Third, you can communicate well and influence people by telling stories. Understanding how a narrative works can be beneficial in business. It is a skill that every professional should have and use in their daily lives. Storytelling is not about trying to make a real-life story fictional. It is about communicating a story effectively. How exactly can we narrate for influence?

Personalize your story. Reveal a bit about yourself. Make it sound more like an anecdote. It needs a human element for it to be interesting and relatable. Try to express why a value or action matters to you.Another method is to bring in the specifics. Details in a story make it feel more sincere and believable. Giving examples helps, like sharing how a client similar to your audience faced this problem. Case studies are great examples of being specific about showing your talent and credibility.Or, you can try giving your audience an unfiltered version. Stories need conflict. Happy endings are boring. Without conflict, stories have no element of interest.Fourth, teach others. Spreading good ideas can make you influential.

They do not always have to be new or exciting. Good ideas add to other people’s knowledge. They help a person solve a problem. Here are some easy ways to teach others.Write a tutorial or guide. Owning a blog is one way to teach people. If you operate a blog long enough, you will start attracting an audience. Blogs are great ways to publish how-to or step-by-step posts.They tend to get popular and shared among an audience. In turn, you will have more followers.They will start recognizing you and turn to you for help.Another way to teach others is by hosting a teaching or training program. People are always looking for ways to learn and improve. This is why positioning yourself as a teacher can make you influential. So, pay attention to what and how you will teach people.Give away your knowledge for free. Let’s continue the example of owning a blog.

When you are a new blogger, your goal is to grow your audience. You want them to keep coming back. You do that by giving them high-quality content that adds value to their lives.Help them solve a problem. In the beginning, you give this valuable information for free. As you grow your audience, you can start selling e-books, online seminars, services, etc.Lastly, you can build influence through the spread of ideas by synthesizing. Most people think that influential people are innovators. They are influential because they are always creating new ideas and knowledge. That is not true. You can create influence by synthesizing information in a way that is helpful for others. Innovation is not just coming up with new ideas. It is about connecting ideas in ways that other people may not have considered. So, how do you spread information in a way that builds influence?

Take advantage of what’s in demand. Look for problems that people have. Pay attention to what people are trying to solve. People always have needs that are not being met somehow.That is your opportunity to develop a solution, help them, and increase your visibility and influence.Recycle existing knowledge and solutions. Being innovative also means applying old knowledge to new or existing problems. Sometimes, it is just a matter of changing your perspective.Maximize your resources. Sometimes, all it takes to transform a team or project is changing how you use resources. Maybe you need to pair people who do not usually work together. Try taking on a task you do not usually do. This can create new solutions and knowledge. When that happens, people will see your value. This puts you in a position of influence.

Who You Know: Influence Through Interactions

You may have your prejudices and biases. Having these prejudices and biases can make you identify with a group. But it can also set you apart or even disagree with other groups.Everyone values different things based on culture, generation, religion, etc. The trouble is when you start to think that people with different views are not worth listening to. What happens when different groups are divided on an issue?People who can bridge that divide and communicate between groups will become influential. There is a lot to gain from being able to mediate or combine two different views. Think about buying a car as an example. A few years ago, you would have to choose between an SUV or a sedan. These days, car manufacturers have combined the features of both into one car.

Here are ways you can try to build influence through mediating or bridging.Keep a foot in both camps. A great example is an entrepreneur, Melvin Lim. Lim made his fortune by connecting Western luxury brands to the Asian market. He also helps Chinese actors and actresses make it big in Hollywood. Lim does not offer any products or services himself. He specializes in connecting two groups that seem to have nothing in common. This has made Lim influential on both the Western and Eastern sides of the fashion and film industries.Act as a peacemaker. Maintaining peace between people of conflicting interests is tiring work. That is what most diplomats all over the world do. But if you do it well, you will gain influence.Resolving disputes between parties makes you valuable to both sides.

Aside from mediating or bridging you can also build influence through building alliances.Regardless of your goals, you will always achieve more by working with others.Building alliances help you get things done. For example, let’s say that you are working on a project. Working with colleagues from different departments provides you with diverse perspectives. This helps you make better decisions. On a larger scale, working with others can help you create change and innovate.Another way to build influence through interactions is to help others. Influential people go out of their way to help other people. Think about a time you met someone who generously helped you. You feel very thankful for the assistance. It is likely that when this person asks for your help, you will oblige. That is because there is an established history of help between the two of you.

This is called goodwill. Building it takes time. It does not happen overnight. The more you do it, the more goodwill you build. This gives you opportunities to receive help when you need it.Lastly, learn to speak their language. If you want to influence people through interactions, you need to be understood. You also need to understand others. You cannot influence people into action if they do not get what you are trying to say.Consider this example. You are a marketing manager. You are trying to convince the company board to invest in social media marketing. Every time you present this to them, they are either bored or confused. You cannot get the board to understand its importance. But then, you realize that the board doesn’t care about marketing. They care about risk and compliance. You know this because you’ve attended enough of their meetings. Now you realize that you need to make your case for social media marketing as a problem of risk and compliance.This is an example of speaking the language of your audience. You need to see things from their point of view. That is the only way to get them to listen and care about what you want to say.

What You Do: Influence Through Productivity

You can gain influence by being productive and adding value to other people’s lives. Doing this leaves a great impression on the people who receive your service. This is how you differentiate yourself. When you set yourself apart from others, you gain influence. That’s because people will know you for always going the extra mile.Here are four ways to influence through productivity.First, improve your performance. Focusing on constantly improving your performance will help you gain influence. If you are not improving, that means you are staying the same or getting worse.If you want to gain more influence based on your service or product, it needs to be good. Then, it needs to get consistently better. It needs to help people and add value to their lives. That is why feedback is important. Feedback enables you to determine how to improve your service or product.

If you are serious about improving performance, have a system to receive regular feedback. Be open to hearing feedback, both good and bad. Have the discipline to make the necessary changes from your feedback.Second, always share what you know. Access to the internet has made information readily available for everyone. If you want to be influential, share what you know. Adding to the growing body of knowledge helps people. If you choose to withhold information, it is self-serving. People will not go to you. To be influential, you need to build an online presence. That means participating in online communities and sharing your knowledge and experience to help people.One way to do this is to join online discussions. If you have a field of expertise, you will find online groups related to that field. Instead of just reading, contribute to the content. Comment or share resources in that group. Answer other people’s questions. If you add value, people will take notice. You will be on your way to gaining influence.

Third, implement change slowly. What sets influential people apart is that they have a history of accomplishments. More importantly, their accomplishments led to influence. So, how do you do the same? If you do not have power, fame, or money, how do you distinguish yourself from others? How do you gain influence if you are of a lower rank or a new person at work?If you have ideas to help improve something, take your time. Moving too fast will hurt your chances of gaining influence. If you are a new member, be patient and let people get used to you. They are more likely to listen and approve of you when you have been integrated into the group. Honour the group’s traditions as a new member.Ask a lot of questions. Make it obvious that you want to learn how the group does things. Immerse yourself in the group’s culture to show respect for the other members.

Once you have been established as a welcome member, start slowly. When making suggestions, start with small ones. Make sure that people do not expect too much from the beginning.   Make your small suggestions like experiments with a small group of people.Accept feedback and listen. A practice you can try when making suggestions is to pitch the outcome and not yourself. If you want to gain influence, never make something about yourself. Always draw people’s attention to the value you are adding.For example, let’s say that you are a marketing associate. You want to improve how your department collects client feedback. You come up with an idea to create a Client Feedback Report. This will streamline all the pain points those clients have.

It provides your team with better insight on how to improve your services.Try this out within your immediate time. This is where you are experimenting with a small group of people.If you have gathered evidence that it works, then you can try rolling it out. For example, you can join a company-wide meeting to pitch this Client Feedback Report. You present the data on how the report improves client satisfaction.If people like the idea, they will associate you with it.You do not even need to promote yourself. Your work will speak for itself. Your influence is backed up by your accomplishments.

Influence Through Personal Impact

The first step to building influence through personal impact is to know your strengths. Being influential requires believing in yourself. It means knowing what your strengths and talents are, as well as your weaknesses. Why does this matter? Knowing your strengths gives you the confidence to develop those skills. They are your assets. When you face roadblocks, you will go back to these strengths.Here are some ways that you can build confidence in your skills.Document your wins. You can seek out feedback from others when you do something well. You can also keep a detailed record of your success stories. Write what you did well and why. Write how it benefited other people. Think about the actions, behaviours, and thoughts you had to execute what you did.

Maximize your strengths. Find opportunities to apply your strengths and excel. This helps you continually improve your skills through new challenges. Why is this beneficial? Because you can apply your strengths to a variety of contexts. You are not stuck being good at improving one product. You can improve different kinds of products or services. When you build a successful track record of this, you gain influence.Get help for your weaknesses. No person is perfect, including influential people. Of course, you can always attend classes to improve your weaknesses. However, this is time-consuming. It is more efficient to partner up with people who have the skills you do not.The second step to building influence through personal impact is to master first impressions. No matter what anyone says, first impressions matter. It takes only a matter of seconds for someone to form an opinion about you.

If it isn’t a good impression, it is difficult to change the person’s mind. This will work against you if you are trying to become influential.When forming first impressions, looking the part goes a long way. Dress appropriately for the event that you are going to. People unconsciously notice what you wear, which can affect their judgments. If you are trying to look professional, dress professionally. Wear a suit if you have to. This can make you appear more credible to clients.The third step is to admit your weakness. Admitting a mistake or weakness is difficult, especially in the workplace. You may worry that it makes you look incompetent. However, this works in your favour if you want to gain influence. Nobody is perfect. Anyone who tries to appear perfect can look suspicious. People may be less likely to trust you. Being honest about your shortcomings makes you look genuine. It sets you apart from others.

It makes you seem more human, and people will admire you for it. Lastly, work on reinventing yourself regularly. Do not get too comfortable staying in one field or niche. It may be tempting because you excel in those things. In the end, this will lead to you becoming irrelevant. You must continue to grow and develop to stay relevant. That is how you maintain your audience and influence.What are some ways you can work on constantly growing and reinventing yourself? Here are some ways.Be a lifelong learner. Continue to learn and add new skills. Keep up with new information and technology that affects your business or industry. Find more than one way to learn. You do not always have to take a formal class.You can take informal training too, like reading books, listening to podcasts, or attending workshops. Always be open to new ideas and perspectives.

This will help you develop new ways to take your business forward.Have more than one interest. Try to develop and invest in a hobby unrelated to your current job. It will be a great backup plan later in life. It also makes you more flexible and well-rounded. Sometimes you can apply the skills you learn from this other interest to your benefit. Volunteer your time. Put yourself out there and get involved in helping others with a project. It is a good way to gain influence because you show up to something most people would not. It makes you stand out.You also open yourself to more opportunities.

How You Play the Game: Influence Through Politics

Influence is something that spreads throughout a network. If you associate with influential people, you will also gain influence. It’s not a matter of just knowing influential people. Being friends with them gives you access to their knowledge, expertise, and connections. That is why associating with influential people is an effective practice for gaining influence politically.What are some effective ways to build relationships with influential people in an authentic way?The first step is to know the difference between power and popularity. They are not always the same thing. Don’t be discouraged by thinking you have nothing to offer to influential people.The higher people rise, the fewer people they are connected to. They are more distanced from the general public.

You can offer value to influential people by being a sounding board. Influential people struggle to get perspectives from others. This is because everyone will want to agree with them due to their position. If you can offer an outside perspective on something and show trustworthiness, this builds goodwill.The second step in building influence through politics is to make them look good. Help influential people protect their reputation and public image. Making them look good earns their gratitude. When they are grateful to you, they are more willing to return a favour when you need it.Another way to make people look good is to compliment them in public.Positive and public endorsement is impactful. This is why politicians publicly announce their support for specific candidates.