• They usually influence multiple decision makers.
• They are expected to make value judgments.
• They’re often more accessible.

Decision makers will use their trusted advisors to bounce ideas off, to get more honest feedback, and to discover something closer to the “real story” about important issues.  When they are working on solving a problem, they’ll look to a small circle of friends and colleagues who might have ideas and wisdom.

These advisors, for you, are the Influencers.  When you are perceived as valuable by the Influencers, they are more likely to recommend you positively to those key decision makers.

But here’s the challenge:  They’re hard to find.

In theory, the staff that works directly for a manager would be the best advisors.  The problem they have, though, is that they’re biased by the fact that the manager has strong impact on their personal career and job role, and they can often be too “close” to a particular issue to see the big picture.  Paradoxically, the manager may see them as less trustable than someone else who is less visible, even outside their particular organization.

Influencers can often be found:

• In a planning, organizing, or strategy role
• In a partner organization that has an informal but important relationship with the decision maker
• In semi-professional relationships outside the workplace

Ideally, you would have access to find out where the decision maker is getting information and support:

• Who does she talk to right before or after group meetings? Who does he have lunch or coffee with?
• What semi-professional organizations is she connected with?
• Who does he connect with during more informal times, like at the beginning or end of the day?

Admittedly, it might be a bit creepy to watch someone that closely – not a good move for your career.  So the challenge is to put yourself in situations where you can increase contact with people who you suspect might be Influencers, and get a sense of how broad their impact might be.  And remember, you’ll have to give value in return in order to cultivate a healthy relationship.

An important resource

I’ve been using Google Alerts for several years now, and it sure saves me a lot of time.  You take any Google search that you’ve found to be valuable, and can set it up to repeat on a periodic basis and e-mail you the results.  I’ve found it valuable for monitoring competitors, industry trends, and even what other people are saying about me.

Since I have a unique name, when I type “carl dierschow” and “dierschow carl” into Google, I get a pretty complete listing of all references to my name.  But more important, I’d like to know when something new crops up – a review of my book, a pointer to my blog, whatever.  So I set up a Google Alert to send me a message whenever something crops up, and then I have a chance to see if it’s something I’m interested in.  I never have to go out looking, instead it comes to me.

Is there something you’re interested in monitoring on the web?  This is a must-have tool.

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