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Can you compare and contrast techniques and mental frames for influencing internal c-suite people vs. external allies for ecosystem development? (... and vs. major accounts and/or major donors?) Are these all similar enough? Any significant differences? Thank you!

Sherry Wu
Gong Senior Director, Product Marketing | Formerly MaintainX, Samsara, Comfy, CiscoJanuary 11

Influencing any stakeholder (whether internal or external) comes down to two factors. Think of any stakeholder as a customer you'd like to market to. You need to know 3 things:

  1. What does your stakeholder care about from a business perspective?
  2. What information do they need, and where do they prefer to access that information?
  3. What do your stakeholders like to do, as humans, outside of these decisions? 

For example, internal c-suite folks may care about growth and scale, and you interact with them in internal meetings. When you're interacting in internal meetings, frame. your recommendations in the language of their careabouts - e.g. I'd recommend investing in xyz program or software because it will help us reach our growth goals. External allies may care about THEIR revenue goals -- frame recommendations in terms of why it's good for them. Major donors care may care about ensuring accountability and visibility for their contributions. 

On the last point -- this isn't so much about influence in a specific situation, but building good relationships in general (which are important for influence). For internal stakeholders, invest time in coffee chats and get to know your stakeholders outside of project-based meetings. For external stakeholders, this is really where the technique depends on the stakeholder, e.g. you can build relationships with major accounts by inviting them to contribute to a customer advisory board, for example, but you likely won't do that for a donor.

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