Who Must You Influence in Order to Achieve What You Want?

To get what you want, you must help others get what they want." — Emerson

There’s so much to be said for this philosophy.

Start by asking yourself:

Do you know what you want?

Have you spelled it out?

Does it make sense?

Who must you influence in order to achieve what you want?

Oftentimes, it’s difficult to see the forest through the trees. Start by creating a chart for your business flow:

Map the steps involved in making and marketing what you sell.

Identify who is involved: your employees, subcontractors, distributors, customers, etc.

Define what makes each of those influential groups successful and how you currently play a role in doing that.

Identify critical timelines.

Point out the bottlenecks.

Define the success factors.

Now, take a moment to reflect on that chart. Were you surprised by anything? It’s not uncommon for a business to forget that it takes a village to be successful.

Related: Today, There's So Much More to the Equation Than the Bottom Line

So, now what? Look at all of those helpers in your village and prioritize their importance to you. For example, who is core to your success? Who is secondary? Who is tertiary?

Take each one of those influential groups and create a relationship plan:

Personify each group: demographics, firmographics, psychographics, needs, wants, interests, etc.

Identify how you want your company or brand to be viewed by each group.

Ideate ways you can help each group succeed in what they want and need.

Choose the ideas that best fit your business reality and test what works.

Recalibrate, recalibrate, recalibrate.

What results can you expect? More efficient operations, greater employee engagement, higher customer retention rates, raving fans, and/or improved profits? You’re right if you guessed that it can be—and usually is—all of the above.