How To Gain Access To Influential People

Hey, this is Brad Costanzo, and I'm gonna go over the cheat sheet here on video so that I can explain in a little bit more detail what each of these means. Because by themselves, this is a cheat sheet for a reason. I'm gonna give you a much deeper insight on the things that I've done that have really worked to build up my network to influential people. So let's jump into this. By the way, I'm using a mind map. And if you're not familiar with mind maps, it's so simply kind of like a visual outline, if you will, and you'll see the way it works. It's the way that I use to plan a lot of things. It's kind of the way my brain works. And you can use a lot of different mind mapping software. That said, let's jump into this. So in how to gain access to influential people, there's a handful of things we want to cover, the very first of which is the mindset. And it may seem elementary, but so many people screw this up and it causes them a lot of problems. So number one, and I think the most important, is to be authentically curious about the people you're trying to connect with and connecting with. Really anybody you meet in life, you can learn something new from every single person you meet. Being authentically curious is also what has helped my podcast bacon wrapped business do so well, is because I only have guests on there that I have authentic curiosity about. Therefore the conversation goes much smoother and it's much more engaging for the guest and for the listener. Number two is to have long term thinking. Don't play this for instant gratification and immediate results. A lot of the best opportunities and relationships I've had have taken one to two years, sometimes from planting the seeds, watering them, and then, you know, much later coming back for the harvest. But it's very important. Also, it's more important to give than to take. I think you should probably understand that if you don't, then we've got more serious issues. Go into this with no expectations, but understanding that karma is real, both negative and positive karma, and that kind of goes with the long term thinking is, you know, if you, if you take time to build bridges instead of burn them, it's really going to pay off. That being said, there's one more aspect of mindset needing to know that is important for you to take inventory of. And that is, number one, is your why. And this may sound simple, but really think about it. Are you just wanting to connect with people to feel like you're cool? Or do you have a foundation you're trying to raise money for, a company you're trying to raise capital for, or mentors you're trying to find, or people that you're trying to joint venture with? It really all depends. But know your why the next thing you should know is your assets. And your assets can come in multiple ways. There's probably more than this, but sometimes it's just your skills. Are you great at digital marketing? Are you a great graphic designer? Do you have money? Right? If you have money, you solving a lot of problems right there. But it's an asset. Time is an asset. Especially if you don't have money. You have time and potentially skills, then you can, you can really add value to people, which is what this whole thing is about. And finally, is your network, have you ever heard your network or your net worth? Is your network or is it your network, is your net worth? I don't know. I always love that saying, but it's very true. And it's also important to understand that if you know people that the people you want to know, need to know, then you can provide value. So skills, money, time, network, and take time to actually list out, list out all your skills. Blow this out. How much money you have? Do you have access to money if somebody needs it? If you came across an insanely influential person and they needed to raise money, do you know people who might have that? That makes you valuable to them. So take inventory. Next, what are your specific needs? This is, I guess, taking your why even more detailed. Okay, like for instance. Well, let me get down to this, the questions, because this will help your specific needs. I always ask two questions. Who else has what I need and who else needs what I have? Now, these two are what I call leverage questions because they're levers. These are like the small hinges that swing very big doors. If you really start to think about this, what do you need? Right? So this is your specific needs. So who else has those? And you can think who individually, like what are their names or what are the company's names or what are the types of companies or types of people or types of organizations that might have access to what you need? For instance, if you need capital, well, you might know that Joe Smith down the street or uncle has money. But you also might know, okay, well, who else has what I need if I need money at banks and VCs and angels and maybe there's angel list and all of these other places. But if you don't Take inventory and really get it out all in writing. It's going to be a lot harder. The next part is who else needs what I have. So this goes back to your assets. Look at your assets. Well, who else might need these? You can get specific, you can get general. You might think of an industry may need the skills you've had or you have, or individuals maybe. But who else has what I need and who else needs what I have? I'm gonna go through this relatively quickly and keep on going. Cause I think you kind of get this. The next piece is who. Now if you've already got a person or people in mind, you can skip to the how. But you may need a type of person. So the type of person might be venture capitalist, experts in particular field, industry influencers, certain job titles, it all depends. But it's important to know what you need, right? It's an actual person. You already know their name or position. But all too often people really plan to kind of really build out a framework for, you know, for their networking and influence needs. Alright, now let's get to the fun part. How so number one we're going to talk about is you're going to give value and there's multiple ways to give value. And a lot of people get stuck because they think there's only one or two things they can do. But let me pose a few ideas here. So number one, you can promote somebody else's content, their products, their projects, whether you have a platform or not, promote it, share it in social media, talk to other people about it, help make a difference. Number two, this has worked great for me. Offer unsolicited testimonials and if by video, that's even better. Is there a software that you use, is there a book that you've read? Is there some something that you really like and you want to get the attention of the creator of it? Well, as a creator of things myself, I mean we absolutely love it when we get people to offer testimonials. It's one of the absolute best things you can ever do for somebody and it can lead a very long way. So think about that. You know, what products or services do you like that you can offer? An unsolicited testimonial are the people that you're trying to meet, whether it's an individual or a group, are they having events, attend them, go to them, can't tell you how important events are, buy their products and you know, if you want to get the attention of somebody, there's no better way to do it than to be a customer of theirs. Because you're the most valuable person in their life, well, aside from their family. Right. Is their customers. So. And if you have their products, you can do testimonials and you can get the ear of people, especially if you're offering them constructive feedback, send them referrals, send them business. You don't have to know the person, but if you know what they do and if you know they've got, you know, you know, somebody else who would be a great fit, that's another way to give somebody, you know, to really get on their good side is to send them business. Now, do you have an audience? Do you have a platform? I do. I've got a podcast. Interview the person. Give them access to your audience. This, as I've talked about, potentially, you've read some of my articles. I talk about it on my podcast a lot. This is really, for me, the most powerful thing is to build a platform and give the people that I want to meet access to my platform because it's. It allows me to build rapport and a relationship with them immediately. But if you don't have one, we'll get that right down here. So we'll come back to this. Another one is share their content on social media with thoughtful. This should be comments. We're going to change this. And actually this one is very, very similar to the very first one. Promote their content. So this is promoting. This is simply just sharing. Very similar. Next, ask how can you be of help? You hear a lot of times people say, what's the biggest challenge you're having? Or how can I help you? Is there anything I can do to support you? I like that. It's better than nothing. What I found is better, and I use this on my podcast is I ask specifically what's a nut you're trying to crack right now? And it's just a more visual like when they say, what do you mean? Well, what's a, you know, what's a skill you're trying to learn? What's a person you're trying to meet, et cetera. What's a challenge you're trying to solve? And I'll talk about these here just a moment in one of the more, you know, in one of the other modules here. But ask them, you know, how can I be of help? They'll tell you. And if you already know the person that they need to meet, connect them. That goes back to your assets. If you have asked, you know, if you have connections there or if you can Find connections there through doing all of this. Like, let's say that there's a person you. You meet or you want to meet, and you know that they're looking to meet somebody else in a particular field. Well, go out and meet that person in a particular field because now you have a bigger why, which is, hey, I know I can introduce you to somebody who's really important. And now you're kind of brokering a relationship. And it's one of the most valuable places to be, really, as a human being. Okay, continuing on. These are just some of the ways you can give value. The next one is to build your platform. So, as I mentioned, I've got a podcast, I've got a blog, books, a web show. It really doesn't matter. But a platform is a way that a bigger audience can engage with you. And if you have a platform, this means you have distribution, which is one of the most valuable things in all of business. If you can feature them on your blog, podcast, books, or a web TV show, then you're adding value to them. You're giving them more exposure. And most people need and want exposure in their. For themselves or for their business. There's many ways to do this. This is a cheat sheet. It's not something that we go into depth on this next meaningful engagement. And that simply means providing thoughtful comments on their blog, participating in their group or community, or if it's individualized, make it meaningful, not just engagement. I know I'm on Facebook and I'll post a pic. I'm sorry, Facebook. I mean, Instagram. I'll post a picture and you get all these robots adding great picture. That's not meaningful. They're not. It doesn't mean anything. They're not adding anything to it. And it's very transparent. So don't be transparent. Be meaningful when you engage. Another one of the most powerful things you can do is host an event or a group. Whether it's a meetup group, a Facebook group, a live networking event, a virtual networking event, this is where you put yourself at the hub of the wheel. I used to say, like, I had a mastermind in another industry that I created in order to create social capital. And I said, look, I may not be the coolest kid on the playground, but I'm having the party at my house. And it generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for me as a result. Now this is another one. This is a trick that most people don't understand, but it's ask for someone's advice. So there's something really Interesting. That happens when you ask for somebody's advice and is if they decide to give it to you, they are already going to be looking at you in a positive light. In Robert Cialdini's most recent book, Pre Suasion, which I highly recommend, he talks about asking somebody for their advice is a great way to set it up. Set up the fact that they like you because everybody likes to be asked for their advice and more importantly, they love it if you take their advice and you act on it and then you report back on the results. But sometimes they don't want to give you advice for free. Sometimes it will only take a few seconds. You can sometimes get advice for somebody in a Facebook or tweet in the comments. Otherwise you can ask for their advice because it shows that you value their advice, right? Another thing you can do is you can buy your way in. Do they offer paid access? So maybe they are a consultant or a coach and you can become one of their clients. Maybe you can use something like Clarity fm which I'll show you over here. So it's startup advice from world class experts and for instance you can browse topics like marketing strategy and you can find people like this. For instance if you go to, you know, you find me on here, you can find me where I offer. You can buy my time by the minute, you can request my time by the minute. It's not cheap but I do offer it and I've had some amazing relationships built off of Clarity. So you can use that. Are there any organizations that your audience belongs to that perhaps you could get access to? Whether it's a local Rotary Club or whether it's a paid mastermind or anything else like that. How can you be in front of those people? Buying your way in only works all the time by the way. Just letting you know as long as you're cool and you've got the right mindset. Lastly, follow up. Follow up is so crazy important in everything in life and there's a lot of ways to follow up. It could be a simple email and just remembering people. I use a CRM called Contactually and I use this as my personal CRM right here. It's great. I don't use this like for general business like an autoresponder, etc. I just use this to keep track of all my contacts. And if you go here you'll see how it works and all the various features. But there's a link here, if you click on it, you'll go to it. You can send postal mail and thank you cards you can send people. I love to send people books that I'm reading, just as a kind of a thank you. It's very meaningful. You can also create an advocate circle. So what's cool about an advocate circle? And I learned this from a mentor and a friend of mine named Shawn Stevenson, which is where you take 20 to 21 people that are just outside your innermost circle of best friends and you designate them as an advocate. These are people that you want to nurture, build and nurture the relationship with. So you can every, you know, three or four months, send them a letter, something special, a gift, a book, and do all of this stuff, treat them extra special, let them know what's going on, let them know how, or ask them how you can help them. Maybe send them a little surprise gift and nurture those people very specifically. You'll be surprised at how well it works. So we have gone over some of the basic mindset, the things you need to know, take care of your, Take inventory of all of these and actually take the time to do this. It's a really fun thought exercise and you'll actually help your confidence because you'll realize you have a lot more assets than you ever thought. Identify who you need to meet and find the ways to give value. There's a whole lot of ways to do this. And if you just start to make this part of everything you do in life, your access to influential people will grow and grow and grow. And it is exactly like a snowball. So when you start to pack a snowball and get it going, it's a little bit hard, but it starts to roll down that hill. And the bigger it gets, the more snow it picks up, and the more snow it picks up, the more snow it picks up. And pretty soon people are trying to get access to you. Now, if you want more help, if you want more of my insight, well, there's a lot of things you can do, obviously. Subscribe to my podcast, baconwrappedbusiness.com you can go there, find it on itunes. You can email me directly bradstanzomarketing.com and let me know if there's a nut you're trying to crack. And I said I'd get back to this. But more specifically, is there a skill you're trying to learn, A person you're trying to meet, a position you're trying to hire for, a problem you're trying to get rid of, a situation you need a second opinion on, money you're trying to raise? It really doesn't matter. Feel free to email me and let me know. Show me your nuts. Show me the nuts you're trying to crack. I'm happy to see if there's a way that I can use my assets, my network, my knowledge to help you. And if there is, fantastic. Otherwise, I hope you've gained a lot from this quick little video introduction and cheat sheet. Please feel free to keep it and let me know if there's anything I can do for you. Once more bradstanzomarketing.com Thanks a lot.