Last week we talked about C.I.A. and how using these three letters are essential in growing influence. Today we are going to really grow your influence with those around you. Today you are going to find out the needs.
Whether it is a customer, a team you lead, or the nonprofit you are in charge of. You need to truly understand the needs of those around you. Needs that go deeper than just food, water, clothing, and a paycheck. People have many different levels of needs. Some of my therapist friends refer to the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs for personal needs. It is a great diagram to understand need levels.
There are also business needs that need be addressed. If you can help people with both of these needs, you are going to be generating so much influence that you will be sought after as the go to guy or girl. Now that is the influence I love to have. Not for the power aspect, but that I am helping people. That is why I wrote my book and write this blog every week. To help people understand sales and influence so they can be more effective with others around them. I want to help as many people as I can get better and serve those around them by helping them get to where they need to go.
So…where do we begin with that level of influence you ask? You ask deep questions to really understand what people need. Most people do not think too deeply that is why when you ask them how they are doing most people instantly say “good,” and ask you how you are doing. Going deeper with those people you want to address some of the deep-rooted needs they truly have.
For a salesperson they are trying to make sure their product truly answers the needs of the customer. Yes, most salespeople miss this concept, but that is why I am in business to change that behavior. For an employee that you are leading, they may need to feel a sense of belonging and that they are doing something meaningful. Especially with Millennials! Millennials align with a purpose for everything. Help them understand how they are making an impact and then watch out. They will be on fire and work with you till death, or…until another purpose that is even greater to them shows up.
Take time to understand the needs that your organization addresses to help society, the need your product addresses, the need that your team’s role addresses to help the organization grow stronger. Build up a list of needs that are addressed.
Let’s say you are an IT group, that is tasked with monitoring organization computers against cyber-attacks. The features are the software and team members in your group. The benefits your group provides the organization is protection from attacks, support if someone is attacked to fix the computer to keep moving forward.
I remember a phishing scam that had employees giving away their log in credentials and changed the location to where the employee checks were delivered. The IT team quickly closed the loop on this and saved dozens of employees from losing their paycheck in the matter of hours. Do you thing that people were grateful for that help?
After we have understood the benefits, then we need to understand the needs that are answered by these benefits. Using the above example, the benefit creates a sense of security and peace of mind for the users of the computers which are powerful. The users of the computers typically do not understand all of the code used to create a virus and how to remedy. Your team does and your providing security and peace of mind for the organization. Your team is also enabling the rest of the organization to function efficiently and safe. You are like ninjas jumping around helping those regular people.
Cascading what you are doing for others and how you are helping others is very motivating to your teams. Take time to think of some of the needs that you and your teams answer. The larger the need the more you can impact.
Now that you have the needs figured out, structure questions to ask so that you can start finding out if you are answering the needs of these individuals. If you are asking the individuals their needs and you are answering their needs your influence will skyrocket! Keep in mind that everyone is different, so being intentional and sitting down with individuals to make sure you are understanding their needs and if you are identifying them on a deep level, you will have deep rooted influence.
Have a great week everyone!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
picture used from pixabay