Good morning everyone,
At this moment I am getting ready to drive up to a meeting with other speakers that meets every few months. I am looking forward to meeting with them and having some knowledge dropped on me to help me grow. Growing any way that I can is something that I truly value. If you are not growing, then you are dying.
We are in the new year and hopefully you guys have sat down set up some goals and started planning how you are going to achieve them. I have dates and tasks listed out and a big calendar in my office to track how I am going to get from here to there. I am still grateful that I was able to create my book last year that took me just under a year to create, manage getting edits, layouts, graphics, cover design, etc. I think next book is going to have someone else managing all of this. It was a great deal or work. Had I planned ahead I may have actually had improvements on budgeting and timing.
Today I want to start the discussion on influence. In sales, or leading groups you need influence. This is not to be confused with persuasion. I put persuasion in the category with those sales people that make people’s skin crawl when the sales person approaches. There are sales gurus that focus on the art of persuasion. How to persuade people to buy your product. I do not agree. I want people to buy in with their own motivations and because I have answered their needs with my product or have directed them to the product that will help them based off their needs.
Influence has people following you from their own desires where persuasion uses tactics to move people to where you want. I can’t say that I have never used persuasion seeing I have kids and I do not want to pick up dog poop in the back yard. I use the persuasive power of money to motivate my son to do that crappy job. If I had a great level of influence, my son would be so happy to follow me anywhere that he would pick it up while shouting how great his dad is. This is also not likely to happen, but a guy can have a vision for where he wants to get to in the future right? 😊
I also do not want people do business with me because I have leverage over them, but that they believe in my mission to help them. I do not want to use dirt that I have dug up on a customer to make them do something. I have been told by other sales people in certain industries that they have to use dirt to move people toward doing business with them.
Leverage and persuasion to me line up on the same side of the room against influence. Influence stands trials and tribulations while persuasion is lost as soon as someone else has a better option. When people are influenced, they are willing to help your cause and move with you. They stand in your corner and help dust you off and say let’s keep going, we want to see where you are taking us.
When I work in sales I do not want to be thought of as a slimy sales guy ever. I really feel like I have failed my customer if that is ever thought about me because my heart is one of influencing people to help them. Influencers advocate for their customers and build on momentum to grow influence. Influence is not given by position it is earned over time. Influence is grown through the journey and with strategy and purpose.
The question today is what do you want to do? Persuade or influence? Next week I will go more in depth on influence and share some stories like my customer that calls me to catch up even though I haven’t called on him in 5 years.
For now enjoy the rest of your Saturday and I look forward to seeing you back here next week!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
Sales and Leadership Enterprises