When I onboard coaching clients or participants in my mastermind, I take them through a 2-hour, 7 Systems of Influence audit to find out where they’re at currently in terms of what they want, and the assets they have that will help them get there.
Here is the exact script I use as I go through this process, and which you can use to audit yourself. In some cases I have left in actual client answers as examples, edited to remove any identifying details.
—–
Influence is a system, and the most influential people in the world use seven systems to get attention, earn respect, and move other people to action.
These systems are:
- Vision
- Genius
- Audience
- Content
- Action
- Collaboration
- Love
These systems work together to create influence.
Some systems are critical and without them you have no influence. It’s like trying to drive a car without an engine–you won’t get very far.
We call these core systems, and the first five systems; vision, genius, audience, content, and action are part of this group.
The last two systems, collaboration and passion, are support systems. Without these you may still have influence, but it will be severely limited and results may be negative rather than positive.
System #1: Vision
What’s the big goal, the dream?
The first system is your Vision System. Highly influential people have a clear and compelling vision of what they want to accomplish. You could also call this vision a purpose, a mission, a calling, or a dream.
In order to turn your dream into reality we need to break it down into goals and actions, and we’ll do that later in this process, but right now let’s focus on the big vision, the big dream.
To help keep it big, let’s think about 10 years down the road, and let’s imagine we’re already 10 years into the future, looking back.
Step #1: We’ll talk here about three areas of your life:
- Roles
- Achievements
- States of being
These can be financial or non-financial goals, personal or professional.
Roles:
- Husband
- Father
- Executive
- Entrepreneur
- Business leader
- Thought leader
- Eagle Scout
- Sibling
- Son
- Christian
- Cancer survivor
Achievements (I have…):
- Gotten on the Tim Ferriss podcast
- Written a NYT bestselling book
- Sold my business
- Built my personal brand
- Build great family memories
States of being (I am…):
- Healthy and fit
- Spiritual
- Family focused
Step #2: Put those roles, achievements, and states of being together and list your dreams. You should have at least 10, but you may have 100.
- I have sold my business for a 9-figure+ exit
- I have published a NYT best selling book
- I have gotten on the Tim Ferriss podcast
- I am exceptionally healthy and fit
- I am an advocate for cancer awareness
We’re going to come back to these later in System #5: Action.
System #2: Genius
Find your genius zone.
The Genius System helps us decide who we want to be based on our unique knowledge, experience, and talents. These are the things that make us experts, and we’re all experts in a lot of areas, because being an expert is relative.
Expert zones: What are your expert zones? Let’s brainstorm a big list, put anything and everything on there. What are you good at, or if it’s easier to answer, what do other people think you’re good at?
- China
- Asia
- IPO process
- Public speaking
- Thinking on my feet
- Figuring things out
- Socratic method
- Leadership
- Entrepreneurship
- HBS
- Outdoors
- Networking
- Cancer
- Bootstrapping
- Sales and business development
- Charity
- Improving business systems
Genius zones: We’re now going to use these expert zones to create multiple genius zones, and then we’re going to choose one genius zone which will become your personal brand.
Step #1: Which ONE of your expert zones has to be one of the circles that creates your genius zone?
- Supply chain
Step #2: What are some other expert zones you think may be part of the genius zone you want to focus on?
- Leadership
- Entrepreneurship
- Asia
Step #3: Having a genius zone is kind of like having a superpower. Within your genius zone, with your superpower, what are the top problems you can solve?
- Help companies save tens of millions around supply chain.
System #3: Audience
Find your ideal audience.
Step #1: Identify your potential audiences.
We learned while analyzing your genius zone that you have a superpower and can solve a certain problem. What are ALL the types of people who would be interested in having that problem solved for them? Even if you’re pretty sure they’re not going to be your ideal audience, let’s still list them out, just to make sure we’re not missing anyone. Let’s list everything; age, title, location, language, role, interests, etc.
- Care about consistent, reliable performance
- Values customer experience
- Values trust and transparency
- Able to spend at least $1M per year for 5+ years
- VP Ops
- Business owner
- C-suite
- CEO often knows us
- Mid 40s
- Western
- Business owner
Ideal audiences: From this large list of potential audience factors we’re going to zero in to find your ideal audience we can really focus on.
Your ideal audience will:
- Be like you (it’s easier to relate to and communicate with people like us and vice versa)
- Want what you have
- Have $$$
- Energize you
Step #2: Narrow your potential audiences down to your ideal audience.
Which ONE of your potential audience factors has to be part of what creates your ideal audience?
- Signature authority on a 9-figure purchase
Step #3: What are some other audience factors you think may be part of the ideal audience you want to focus on?
- Care about consistent, reliable performance
- Values customer experience
- Buying $250-500M in equipment per year
Step #4: Create your personal brand tagline.
Now that we know who you are and who your audience is, and what the problem is that you solve for this audience, we can create your personal brand tagline. This is very simple, we just fill in these blanks:
I help (this is where we put your audience) to (and here we put in the problem you solve, or the results you deliver that solve the problem).
Let’s try this out and create several variations we can consider:
- I help _________ to _________.
- etc.
Please bold the one that stands out as matching best how you want to present yourself to your ideal audience.
System #4: Content
This is where what we’ve learned so far begins to feel tangible. Content is the fuel that makes your car go, and when your Content System is working the right way you can go a long way, fast.
Message: The first thing to understand is that your personal brand tagline is not your message. Your message is how you tell your audience you have what they need. Until you have a strong message, your audience will tune you out. If you want to grab their attention and make an impact, your message will be more effective if it is:
- Customer-centric. It’s not about you, it’s about your customer. Your customer is the hero in this story and you are the guide.
- Must-have. You solve a problem. What makes the result you deliver a must-have for your audience?
- Wrapped in a story. We evolved to pay attention to stories. Stories will capture your audience’s attention.
- Credible. How can we make your message more credible? In a court of law, credibility comes from evidence and witnesses. What evidence and witnesses can we produce to back up your message and build authority and credibility?
- Individualized. The most effective message is delivered in person, one-on-one. It may not always, or ever, be possible for you to deliver your message that way, but how can we get as close as possible?
Let’s create a simple message for you.
Step #1: We already know who your customer is, but let’s make it real.
Let’s make it a specific person, and if you have a real person you want to talk about, that’s great. Otherwise we can make up these details. So remember, this is a person who is part of your ideal audience, someone who has a problem you can solve.
Include buyer personas here if you have them available.
Mid-40s, male, married with two kids, C-suite role, high-pressure, high-stakes, have a billion plus procurement budget and they need to hit a certain cost objective to make the project ROI work. Limited time. Needs someone he can trust. Appreciates the relationships my company brings to the table. Has a weak procurement team. Has been burned by increasing costs. Has an active supply chain discussion that’s happening. Imminent deadline.
Step #2: Is this a must-have?
Are we comfortable that the result you used in your personal brand tagline, the problem you solve, is a must-have for this person? If so, we’ve already got this step complete. If not, what can we change to make it a must-have?
Good for now.
Step #3: What is a multi-step plan you can create to help your customer solve his/her problem?
- Audit past activities
- Assess your supplier relationships
- Education of technology trends
- Identify pain points or listen to current needs
- Identify long term procurement objectives
- Identify suppliers they don’t know
- Negotiate contracts
- Finalize new supplier relationships
- Maintenance cycle
Step #4: How do we add authority to this plan?
For now, it can be as simple as “This is what I did for XYZ well known company,” or “I’ve taught this system to over 1,000 people (who are just like your target customer).”
We have built up the largest supply chain strategy team and capabilities. We have worked with the #1 player in the industry and taken them to 8 countries with two CEOs and numerous executives and helped them negotiate deals totaling in the billions.
Step #5: Trigger your ideal audience.
Let’s assume we’re delivering this message at scale, meaning it’s not a one-on-one conversation. Maybe it’s on your website where millions of people will see it. That means you can’t put someone’s name on it to individualize it, but there are other ways we can improve the message beyond saying “Hey you!”
One way is to call people out who have the problem you solve with this simple question:
Do you struggle to…? (and then put the problem you solve in the blank)
For you, what could that be? How would you say this to your idea audience?
- I’m in negotiation with a supplier and they’ve raised the price…
- My supplier said they have capacity and now it’s not there…
- I’m facing uncertainty around the quality of the supply I’m receiving…
- I’m working under an OEM and I’m not sure exactly where things are coming from or how to verify the quality…
Step #6: Now let’s put it all together, as though you were in a conversation with a member of your ideal audience.
Potential opening questions to a potential client:
- Have you had any issues with suppliers changing deal terms at the last moment?
- Do you have any concerns about the quality of the supplies you’re receiving?
- Have you experienced any pain points in consistent supply?
If yes…
We have built up the largest supply chain strategy team and capabilities. We have worked with the #1 player in the industry and taken them to 8 countries with two CEOs and numerous executives and helped them negotiate deals totaling in the billions.
Channel(s): What do you like best; writing, speaking without video (podcast), speaking on video, speaking in person at an event, or something else?
Prefer speaking, like public speaking and impromptu speaking. Don’t like formal, prepared speaking so much.
Room to improve at social media writing.
Existing content to pull from or better understand:
- [client generally provides links or attaches resources]
What have you already tried?
- Webinar (recruited through existing customer list)
Who are other thought leaders in your space?
[client provides list of names]
Where is your audience hanging out?
[client provides list of publications, social media, events, etc.]
What ideas do you have for what you want to create in terms of content?
- In-person roundtable
- More whitepapers
- Speaking at industry events
- Getting on relevant podcasts
System #5: Action
Putting it all together.
Your Action System is where we put together a plan to create content that your audience will love so that they do what you want them to do and your vision becomes reality.
Before we dive into this, I want to go over the last two systems briefly.
Collaboration, System 6, is about how we can increase our influence a thousand-fold by working with others.
And the 7th System is love, which is passion, empathy, and wanting what’s best for your audience. Without love, you can’t build lasting influence.
Let’s jump back to Action and list out goals for what you will accomplish within the next 90 days.
When you think about your top goal for the next 3 years, what’s something you can do within the next 90 days that will help make that goal reality?
Step #1: 90 day goals
What do you want complete? What is most important? What’s the ONE big thing?
Getting on relevant podcasts
Step #2: 30 day goals
How will you start? What do you need to understand better? Who do you need to talk to? What do you need to do first? What’s the next step?
- [podcast 1] – call host, friend of mine, set up a time
- [podcast 2] – contact host, friend of mine
System #6: Collaboration
Who can you work with?
A few years ago my friend Derek Andersen began interviewing entrepreneurs in front of a live audience. At first, he had one or two meetups each month, and a handful of people would attend. But word spread that his events were great places to learn about startups and network with other people interested in startups, so he created an organization called Startup Grind and began recruiting others to start new chapters and hold a monthly meetup using the same format Derek had created.
Today there are over 600 Startup Grind chapters around the world in more than 125 countries, and 2M people have attended Startup Grind events.
That’s a lot of influence, and Derek never could have done it alone. He had a Collaboration System that helped him enroll others so that their success became his success.
To build your Collaboration System, answer these questions:
Who do you share your genius zone with? Who are other experts doing what you’re doing whom you admire?
[It’s ok to say “no one” if you really have narrowed your genius zone to the extent that nobody can do what you do within that niche.]
Who do you share core expert zones with? They may not be doing exactly what you’re doing, but their knowledge and experience overlaps with yours.
[client provides list of names]
Who else is targeting your ideal audience? They may or may not compete with you, but because you have the same audience there may be a win-win opportunity.
[client provides list of names]
Are there any other individuals, groups, or conferences that come to mind as collaboration opportunities for content.
[more names]
System #7: Love
The kind of love we’re talking about here is passion, empathy, and good will. It’s a passion for your focus, your genius zone, and your audience. It’s also an intimate understanding of your audience and their needs and wants. Finally, it’s wanting what’s best for your audience, and the desire to make a positive impact on them.
Love is the difference between persuasion and manipulation.
- How do you feel when you’re doing work you love?
- What excites you the most when you engage with your audience?
- How do you feel about your audience and what makes you the happiest when working with them?
Although I always start out with a script, I often ask follow up questions during the onboarding process. I also often think of ways to improve this script and as such it frequently gets updated.
Got a suggestion on how to improve it? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Liked it? Share it!