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7 Laws of Influence – Entrepreneur of Influence, Douglas Vermeeren
The 7 laws of Influence – Entrepreneur of Influence, Douglas Vermeeren
By Douglas Vermeeren
(The following is a brief summary of the 7 laws of Influence as taught in the Entrepreneur of Influence program by Douglas Vermeeren.)
Influence and attention are two of the most prized assets that any company can acquire in todays marketplace. Without these assets companies drift into obscurity and the sea of sameness and as a result are left to fight amongst their competitors in price and marketing battles that can’t be won.
Influence is not just about the number of likes, shares, subscribers and thumbs up that you can acquire on a post or profile page. Influence is about the ability to become relevant to those that matter to your business. Influence is about becoming a company that people care about. The following are a brief overview of the 7 laws and things you can do that will make your more influential in your niche and will help you receive the benefits and opportunities that come with being more influential.
Law 1 – Serve the Specific – Most entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to serve masses of people and to try please everyone. The best and most influential entrepreneurs know that influence begins with serving a select group at a high level. Focus is an essential element for beginning influence. Influence starts with becoming valuable to a specific group of people. Specialists in all fields are worth more to those they serve. You only become valuable as you go deeper into a specific niche. Cover less ground, but cover the ground you have in a better way. What are you doing to become valuable to a specific group?
Law 2 – Find Relevance – Influence is all about connection. Connection comes through being of service in a way that matter most to those you serve. Your personal agenda does not matter and your audience can certainly sense when you are self-serving. Authenticity, constant learning and connection to the individual is an essential part of becoming and staying relevant. What are you doing to become more relevant to those you serve?
Law 3 – Accessibility – In todays marketplace those who are involved personally in their brand are the most influential. Are you involved in conversations with those you serve in real time? Do those you serve feel as though they know you and are acknowledged? If you consider the most influential entrepreneurs in todays marketplace their tribe feels as though they have a relationship with that person. What can you do to become more authentically connected to those in your audience?
Law 4 – Speed – We live in a world where people expect to be acknowledged and receive what they want instantly. This concept of speed has not only created a desire to have what we want now, but also an expectation that we can receive it in the way we wish. Speed therefore, is not just about timing, it is about flexibility as well. Entrepreneurs today are expected to be able to support their communities quickly and with flexibility. Influence requires trust. Trust is developed by consistent delivery. And when you deliver faster and more flexibly than others in your niche your influence grows exponentially. How can you be faster and more flexible than others in your niche?
Law 5 – Premium Exchange – We often hear entrepreneurs talking about the importance of creating a fair exchange of value. (More on this another time) I find that most do not understand what that even means. However even if they did, it is not enough. They must create scenarios where prospects and those they serve receive a premium exchange. In fact, the exchange needs to deliver higher value to the others in their niche. When they do it gives their tribe incentive to be more loyal to the brand and help it grow. How can you create more value for your audience than anyone else?
Law 6 – Build Community – A community is a group of people with similar values, beliefs, desires and opinions. When people feel as though they are part of something important they tend to care about it, promote it, support it and even make sacrifices for it. Recently a friend told me about how he woke up early and stood outside in the snow to get tickets for a concert to a favorite band.Your prospects will make the same kind of efforts when they feel this sense of ownership. When the are truly part of a community they will almost feel a sense of betrayal when they do not support you. In a sense, it is genuinely like belonging to a family. How are you currently building and supporting your community?
Law 7 – Leverage possibilities- There is a reason why this law arrives as the final step in the laws of influence. Leverage is utilizing the support, networks, knowledge, money, time and other resources from other influencers or high level partners. However, if there is one thing that is clear about leverage is that those worth partnering with will not partner with you until you can demonstrate value to them also. To use leverage at high levels you must demonstrate competence at the previous laws of influence. Who can you work with to create power and influence through leverage?
Influence is not something you either have or you don’t. It grows by degrees. As your level of influence rises you will see more opportunities unfold for you. Your profits will rise. Your name and brand recognition will improve. You will be considered an authority or expert in your niche. Your sales will arrive more from inbound inquiries rather than outbound campaigns.
Get started now to look for ways you can improve your influence today.
Over the last two decades Douglas Vermeeren has conducted extensive first hand research into the lives of the worlds top achievers. He has the success strategies of top business leaders from Nike, Reebok, Fruit of the Loom, FedEx, KFC, United Airlines, Microsoft, Disney and others to share with you. ABC television and FOX Business refer to him as the modern Day Napoleon Hill. He has authored 3 books in the Guerrilla marketing series and is the CEO of Entrepreneur of Influence . He is a regular featured expert on FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC, CTV, CBC, The Huffington Post, NY Daily News and others.
Entrepreneur of Influence and Effective meetings
Entrepreneur of Influence and effective meetings
By Douglas Vermeeren
Meeting are required for operating an effective meeting. Some of these meeting swill be with potential clients, hiring people to help and support your business, potential partnerships and joint ventures and to train your staff to implement new strategies and take over jobs you need to delegate. Whatever the purpose of the meetings they need to be effective if your business is going to thrive.
For those of you familiar with our Entrepreneur Influence program you will know that I had the chance to observe and learn first hand from more than 400 of the worlds top achievers. Some of the companies whose leaders I was privileged to learn from included FedEx, nike, Fruit of the Loom, Uber, UGG boots, Disney, JW Marriott and others. In this relationship of learning I was able to observe how they prepared for and participated in meetings.
The following suggestions will help you to make your meeting more effective and valuable for you:
1) All meetings should have a clear outlined purpose. One of the top achievers that learned from stated it this way, “We don’t attend meetings without a purpose and we don’t attend unprepared.” Speaking to the point of purpose first, all meetings must have an objective. I see many entrepreneurs who will accept and participate in nearly any meeting that any one wants to have. This included meetings with a client. Many small business owners and entrepreneurs take meetings too easily and too quickly. They meet with anyone who could be a potential client or relationship without qualifying that individual and without determining a purpose for the meeting.
Everyone in the meeting should be aware of and in harmony with the purpose. The more all involved are moving in the same direction and with the same conviction the more powerful and effective your meetings will be.
If you come to the meeting in a careless and casual way your results will be the same way.
You can’t create results without creating a purpose.
2) All meetings should be timely — What I mean by this is that all meetings should be at the right time and have a time limit. Firstly, what I mean by the right time is that meetings should be in their proper sequence and when those in the meeting are in a position to act on things. Part of this can be described as qualifying. For example, you wouldn’t meeting with a customer who is not ready to make a decision. But I also see many entrepreneurs who meet with potential services even though they are not yet in a position to hire those services. They claim they are just doing research. Why would you research services in an ever changing marketplace if you are not ready to act. Research when you are ready. Have meetings when you are ready to take action.
Another important consideration is to take the appropriate time to have your meeting. As I interviewed the worlds top business achievers I had one of these leaders teach me this lesson in a unique way. When I first approached him I asked if I could have fifteen minutes of his time. I believed that asking for less time would make it more likely that he would say yes to meet with me.
I was surprised that when I showed up for our meeting he placed a stop watch on the table and indicated he would measure our fifteen minutes. Thankfully I was prepared and the timing worked. After the conclusion of our fifteen minutes this individual thanked me for being on time and commented that I had earned his respect to be able to qualify for future meetings.
In a future meeting we talked about time. He pointed out something very interesting to me. He observed that most people when they meet with a client or group meeting they feel a need to have it be at least an hour. He further pointed out that this was a pattern we grew accustomed to through our time in school,. The teacher told us it took one hour to learn math or social studies and so therefore that’s what we think it takes. And now when we meet with people we automatically assume it takes the same. When people plan on meeting for an hour they fill up an hour.
He then asked me to think back over our fifteen minute meetings and point out how much more we had been able to get accomplished because we were focused.
In all our business activities we are training people how to treat us and respond to our business and brand. How you use your time in meetings is a powerful teacher.
3)All effective meetings require preparation — Determine ahead of time what you would like your outcomes to be, your objectives, your questions and what you would like to have taught. Make sure you consider all possible questions and difficulties. As I observed and worked with the top business leaders mentioned about I found it interesting that their meetings were rarely brainstorming sessions to consider questions that they were paying other people to come up with solutions for. Most of the time these meetings were session where people presented their findings and answers they had already prepared and thought about.
As we work with top entrepreneurs and train them for success we encourage the same patterns. When you meet with a client you should have already considered their questions, challenges and objections. You should have answers to these that make sense. This is what will position you as the expert. No one wants to hire a brainstorming partner. They all want resources they can trust and benefit from. The more you can demonstrate competence in your relationship the more trust and confidence you will earn.
In addition, when it is time to meet with someone for the purposes of hiring, partnering or joint venturing the more clarity you have around what you need and can offer and how you will support and train that individual the more likely success is in the end.
While there is more more that could be said about meetings these are three of the most important things to get you started. Remember never take a meeting unless it has the potential to reward you for your time and effort and move your business forward.
Over the last two decades Douglas Vermeeren has conducted extensive first hand research into the lives of the worlds top achievers. He has the success strategies of top business leaders from Nike, Reebok, Fruit of the Loom, FedEx, KFC, United Airlines, Microsoft, Disney and others to share with you. ABC television and FOX Business refer to him as the modern Day Napoleon Hill. He has authored 3 books in the Guerrilla marketing series and is the CEO of Entrepreneur Influence . He is a regular featured expert on FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC, CTV, CBC, The Huffington Post, NY Daily News and others. Come listen to the Podcast Entrepreneur of Influence for more business ideas and support!
Business Networker is NOW LIVE!!!!
Business Networker
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