If you’ve visited Las Vegas since 2023, you’ve noticed the Sphere (pictured above).
It draws visitors from all around the globe as an impressive landmark that pulls people in – it’s a beacon offering the promise of a unique experience. In short, it’s a sphere that influences people – a Sphere of influence.
And if you’re running a business, you’d love for everyone in your service area to see you, recognize you, and want to work with you. Successful businesses expand their own sphere of influence.
But we can’t all build a $2.3 billion landmark to pull people our way. The best way for most of us to expand our influence is to reach out and connect with others.
That means networking.
Now, networking gets a bad rap – traditional sales training uses it as a means to an end; typically to secure a sale. When you’re at an event where people are networking this way, it feels transactional and self-serving, with everyone focused on what they can get from others – most often their money. It makes the experience feel insincere and opportunistic.
But we can expand our spheres of influence and network in a way that benefits everyone by shifting our focus from taking to giving.
Here are a few things we can give that provide value in every networking conversation:
- Attention (Listening). The most valuable thing you can do in a conversation is truly listen to people. Turn the “curiosity” portion of your brain on and ask follow-up questions to learn more about the person you’re talking to – their needs, wants, and point of view. This not only makes them feel important, it gives you the ability to provide value when you speak.
- Knowledge/Insight. Every person learns something different from the experiences they have, people they meet, and media they interact with. When you’ve heard someone’s concerns, you can draw on your knowledge to help them see the challenges they’re facing or opportunities they’re looking at in a new way. If you’ve faced the same challenges – as business owners often have – you can point to the solutions you tried and how they worked in your case.
- Support. We don’t have experience in every situation a person can face. Even as an expert networker, you might not know someone else you can refer them to for advice. You still have something to offer, though – support. People remember how you made them feel more than anything else about an interaction – and people tend to remember those who showed an interest in them, especially at a time when so few do. They want to talk with and work with those people again.
When we give, rather than extracting value from others, we’re adding value.
We do our best to add value at Point of Rental when we’re working with people and businesses, both inside the company and out. We believe we deliver superior software, but we know that the biggest reason people stick with a supplier is because it feels like a partnership. Both parties should be growing and achieving more together than they could alone, and we hope everyone using our software feels that way.
But it requires a commitment to caring and providing value in every interaction.
So if you want to expand your own sphere of influence, and you have $2.3 billion or more to spend, go ahead and build a literal Sphere.
If you don’t have billions lying around, let’s reach out, give, and create lasting, meaningful connections to create a community where everyone thrives. Together, we can achieve remarkable things, expanding our sphere of influence far beyond what we could ever imagine.
Marketing Note: Now that Wayne’s discussed networking tips…we should mention that we’re organizing networking events in the U.S. and U.K.! Visit our Conferences page to see the events we’re building for our users.
