How to Build Influential Relationships - by Wright Chase

It’s tough building relationships with influential people within your niche.  They’ve done the hard part of building their business from the ground up and are very careful of sharing their secrets with others.

When living the Internet Marketing Lifestyle, I’ve learned you have to be the best in what you do and provide valuable content to your readers full of substance.  They are not going to consider you influential if you reiterate the same value that everyone else is providing.  I’ve learned that influential people are the first to do something and often do it the best.  They find creative ways to influence people, which is why they are very selective in who they are going to help online.

Influential people have a close circle of people who are relevant to them and as experienced.  They also have very little time to build relationships with people unless they feel you can be an asset to their business.  Even though many would agree it’s a selfish way of doing business, you’d be surprised how this mentality can open up doors for you when trying to build a relationship.

Here’s a great strategy I learned from Neil Patel of QuickSprout.

Research is Key

Make sure the person is influential in your niche and then start doing some research, finding ways to help them.  Personally, if you can find something these people are doing wrong, this will give you some leverage.  Now it’s important you don’t going around making a list of the small things because this can become annoying and disrespectful at the same time.  Find something they haven’t updated in a while or that is effecting the direction their business is heading in.  Why is this so effective?  Simple…

You’re not asking them to help you, but have reached out to help them, which is something new to them.  People are always writing emails to influential marketers, asking for advice and/or freebies.  A genuine email that provides helpful feedback will be your best option to create engagement with them.

Getting Email Ready

First, getting a hold of their email is not tough because if they are influential people within your niche, then they have it posted on their website, social profiles, and other people will even link to it.  Once you have their email address, you can start writing out a genuine email using your own voice and tone.  You want to keep your conversation as real as possible and writing in your voice will provide an insight into the type of person you are.  For example, in my emails, I add a few jokes to lighten up the mood.  However, that’s my personality and it has worked well for me because it’s genuine. 

Next…

These people are busy and you want to make your email right to the point.  Jump into why you’re emailing them and how you can help them.  It’s a good idea to let them know why the mistake they’ve made has effected you and how it’s slowing the growth of their business.  Again, it’s important you research something that stood out and how it would effect their business.

Wait For Reply

Many marketers spend hours on their computer and respond to email pretty quickly and by this, I mean within 24-48 hours.  These days, with mobile phones, you get an alert of an email right on your phone.  I always check my emails right away and depending on the importance, I’ll either reply right away and/or wait until I get back in the office.  Many marketers will even provide a typical response time under their content form.  Wait around a week for a response because this is adequate timing for someone to reply, especially those active online.

If they reply back and agree, that’s great for you and the next time you email them, you’ll have a better chance of receiving help from them.  If they reply and don’t agree, make sure you write back, outlining your points and why you feel the way you do.  After you’ve written back, you can move onto to the next step.

The Follow-Up

You’re going to have people who agree and disagree with what you’ve written in your email.  Your objective is to build a relationship with these people because they can be very influential in your success as well.  Write back to them, following up with your discussion, offering to help them make the changes to their marketing to correct the issue you found.  In most cases, they’ll accept as long as you’re genuine and willing to do it for FREE.  Personally, with influential people, I always offer to help for FREE because if you can leverage their help, you can benefit enormously in return.

Here’s something else…

Keep following up so you build a personal relationship with them.  This way, you both feel more comfortable asking for help from each other, as you start building "Your Own 7-Figure Nest Egg."  

To Your Success,

Wright Chase