Three Aud - Influencer

Managing the Influencer is critical to staying in the game.

To assist you in crafting a compelling story that connects your content with your audience, you need to determine the smallest number of people who can have the most significant impact on what happens next for you and your content.

In the last post, we looked at the role of the Connector in detail. This is the one role that really needs to be in the room. You must bring the Connector into your story, have them connect with your content, and give them what they need to go on and do the job you need them to do.

I shared the idea of imagining your audience as three people sitting around a table with you; along with the Connector, the other two seats are occupied by:

• the Influencer

• the Impacted.

In this post, we will look at the Influencer in detail. Always there, if not in the room, then lurking in the shadows, ready to derail you if not managed properly.

They have the power to influence the other two positions.

They have the ear of both the Impacted person and the Connector. They may be a subject matter expert, a budget holder or someone whom these two people trust. When you think about the role with the most significant influence, consider what gives that role influence, and what perspective they bring that the other roles don’t have.

You need to be aware of this role and think about how you are catering to their specific motivations and what their objections and challenges to your ideas could be as you develop the content (not when you are on your feet presenting).

Their underlying motivations won’t always be as obvious as their overt objections. This role can bring what can seem as ‘out of the blue’ questions into the conversations as they try to resolve broader challenges than those that may have been previously shared. Taking the time to think about their perspective and the wants and needs of a person in this role will better prepare you to manage them.

They bring the 'why not' perspective.

The Influencer is most likely to be the negative one, the black hat. They will tend to see the world through the ‘why not’ lens rather than the ‘why this is great’ point of view. This illuminates the angles through which they might challenge your ideas.

Consider how you can give them what they need to hear or see before, during and after the presentation. Only some things need to be or should be addressed in your core narrative.

If this isn’t well managed, at best, this can become distracting both for you as the presenter and the broader audience if these almost sidebar conversations don’t flow with the main content and story you are presenting. But it can also erode your confidence and make you feel like you are on the back foot and fighting for survival through your last few slides, ready to make a bolt for the door as soon as this is over.

Actively manage them before they take control of you.

If you are clear on what your Influencer wants to know—let’s say they will have specific questions about your process, how you manage data security, or specifics around a deal structure—that could be distracting to the idea you want to get everyone across. Cover this upfront and say you have this information ready for them and will have separate follow-up conversations to cover these areas. Or send these details over before or after you have presented them.

The key is managing their expectations. There is no right or wrong as to what information they should get and when it should be delivered. But it is critical that they know you have what they want to see; you don’t want them sitting there, getting increasingly agitated when they can’t see how their challenges will be resolved.

The Influencer in action

During the presentation, the Influencers can be the quiet ones, slowly, secretly taking your ideas apart and finding all the holes. They may look uninterested most of the time, only springing to life when they sense a gap for a question or two, having crafted the curly questions to fire at you to expose what they see as holes in your story.

The key Influencer questions are:

• Who can influence the decision to progress with you?

• What gives them the ability to influence the other roles you need to win over?

• What perspective do they bring, and with that in mind, what are they going to want and need to see to satisfy their needs?

• What objections are they likely to want to raise either with you there or after you leave?

• How will you manage them before, during and after the presentation?

Influencers are not always in the room, but they always exist and can delay and derail even the best idea packaged into the most compelling story if they are not properly considered and actively managed.

In the next post, we will explore the final of the final three roles, the Impacted person.

Can’t wait?

My Audience Discovery Masterclass will teach you everything you need to know about your audience and prepare you to create more compelling presentations for those who want to elevate their impact now.