Transform Masters 2017 is brought to you with thanks to our sponsors Property Tree, realestate.com.au and Real+
Julie Masters, CEO of Ode Management and Influence Nation understands influence.
In the current digital landscape where attention is scarce, noise and complexity are high, and standing out is harder than ever before, Julie explains how to get the right type of attention from the right type of customer.
Julie will also be speaking at our event “How to lead a winning team in 2018”. For more info and to book tickets visit eliteagent.com/win2018.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Hi. I’m Julie Masters. I am the CEO and founder of Influence Nation, the founder of ODE Management. I’m so excited that I’m going get to talk to you guys about influence, about owning your space in a room, owning your space in the industry, and becoming the go to authority in your field.
Influence is traditionally known as being a compelling force on the behaviour or action of somebody else. That hasn’t changed. That’s still the same now as it was before.
What’s changed is the how. It’s the how we become a compelling force. We’ve now got a digital landscape where attention is scarce. Noise is high. Complexity is high. Standing out is harder and harder, harder than it’s ever been before. The second thing we’ve got is the rise of the influencer. It means that we’re now no longer following brands. We’re now following human. We’re now following individuals. L’Oreal used to be more powerful than Taylor Swift. Now Taylor Swift’s more powerful than L’Oreal. Nike used to be more powerful than Renaldo. Now Renaldo’s more powerful than Nike. There’s been this complete about face. 93% of people make buying decisions based on the recommendation of an actual human being. Only 14% trust a brand message. That makes you more powerful than Microsoft, most powerful than Apple in a way.
Now that the marketplace is completely democratised, you can’t own one particular space anymore. You can’t be the guru of real estate. It’s very difficult, but you can own a small space, a small space that contains enough people to keep you very happy for a long time. That’s what a micro authority is. Now to figure out how to be a micro authority, you have to figure out where your influence intersection is. What are two worlds that you can own that nobody else can own? You need to contribute an epic level. You need to know the pinpoints of your target. You need to know what they’re struggling with. You need to know what your opportunities are. You need to keep contributing so they keep looking to you for what’s next. What do we do? How do me master that?
Often, we stay quiet because we’re not perfect and we don’t share because it’s not perfect and we might change our mind tomorrow. If you look at the people you follow, I guarantee you their authentic in their journey. They got their ups, their downs, the things that they try, the things that didn’t work. Get clear about who you serve. Get clear about why you serve them and everything, every piece of communication needs to come from that place if you’re going to garner trust in a new age of influence.
So a few months ago, I was on a panel and it was a panel about influence and somebody from a very respected brand, someone that I respect and still respect greatly was asked what the key to influence was from his perspective. He said, “I think that there needs to be at least an element of aggression. I think you need to be forthright and aggressive and assertive,” and I sat there and I thought, “No. No.” If that myth doesn’t get busted soon, the world is going to continue being a very dangerous place. For me, the key to influencing anybody is gravity. It’s the opposite. It’s a stillness and a certainty about your person. It feels very different to confidence, for example. Confidence is an upward motion. It’s a rush of energy and a rush of adrenaline. Gravity feels like that. It’s a grounding. Often, the most powerful person in the room and the person that has the most influence is the quiet. It’s the one that listens most actively. It’s the one where you trust their intention. It’s the one that sit with you in space and come up with a great solution in collaboration with you.
That’s the opposite of aggression. You can outshout somebody. You can outbold them. You can outsize them. You may look at gorillas, how they influence. You can outsize them and all of that will work in the short term. But it won’t work in the long term and in a new age of influence, those strategies are getting less and less successful.
