Stakeholders, Advocates, Gatekeepers, Influencers, and Inner Circle
You can’t (and don’t need to) keep up with everyone you meet at the same level or frequency. Not all feedback is equal feedback and your marketing doesn’t translate to every last person you interact with.
Your business isn’t relevant to everyone.
But that doesn’t mean some people are more valuable than others or deserve to be discounted. Everyone you meet and interact with is part of a beautiful, rich tapestry of relationships. And every relationship looks a little bit different.
In this episode, I’m sharing a concept called “5 Spheres of Influence” and showing you how you can use each sphere to intentionally nurture and grow in various areas of your business.
In the episode:
- What are the five spheres of influence, and why do they matter
- How do you identify and nurture your Stakeholders?
- Who are your Advocates, and how can you give back?
- What to do (and not do) to offer value to Gatekeepers
- How to reciprocate to the Influencers in your life
- What the Inner Circle can offer as your deepest connections
- And more
You aren’t building this on your own. You’re not building a business on an illusion of a person or an ambiguous avatar.
We build our businesses alongside real people and by nurturing relationships with real people.
When you know who those people are, what role they play, and how to care for the relationship… things get a whole lot easier.
5 Spheres of Influence (you’re the center of this particular orbit):
- Stakeholders – clients, team, and collaborators
- Advocates- cheerleaders, past clients, and super fans
- Gatekeepers – the people who open doors (or close them)
- Influencers – mentors, people who shape your thinking, set you off on a new path and inspire you
Inner circle/trusted confidants
The Stakeholders
Stakeholders have something tied to you being successful. This category contains your ideal clients, team members, and collaborators. Your success is their success and vice versa.
They’re likely a part of your success and growth, and you all mutually benefit when the other person wins.
What you give: clear expectations, building trust, delivering on promises, leadership, and guidance.
What you receive: honest feedback, growth, shared goals, alignment in vision, and the “rising tides raise all ships” feeling.
Tone: Friendly, supportive, clear.
Caution: Be authentic and real. People pleasing, hiding yourself, or dishonesty in these relationships is rarely a path to success. You can best nurture these relationships with clear boundaries, regular check-ins, a spirit of giving and gratitude, and transparency and trust.
Who is a stakeholder in YOUR business?
Maybe send them a handwritten note, a personalized gift, an email or a text, call them and tell them you appreciate them, set up a coffee check-in with them.
Nurture these relationships with consistency.
The Advocates
These are your cheerleaders, super fans, past clients, and people who sing your praises. They may tag you in posts, share your podcast, or refer people to you. They don’t even ever have to have bought anything or will buy anything from you. But they know where to send people who need what you have.
What you give: Gratitude. When someone sends a referral, makes an introduction, passes along your podcast, or shares something for you – say thank you.
You might consider offering these folks insider updates, sneak peeks, upgrades, and such. Depending on the nature of your business and your specific advocates.
What you receive: Referrals, word-of-mouth, testimonials, and brand reputation boost.
Tone: Tends to be very excited, relationship-oriented, and filled with gratitude. These advocates are helping you build your business.
Caution: Don’t over-rely on your advocates to be your entire marketing team. That works in some cases, but not all. They also might not be your best source for input or feedback. They may love you, but not be aware of the ins and outs of your business.
Who’s an advocate in YOUR business?
Nurture them with thoughtful thank yous, shoutouts, and more. Get creative! There are all sorts of things you can do behind the scenes. Sometimes helping them back with something is relevant, but not always. Creating affiliate links or special referral bonuses. Be intentional with these folks and love on them as much as you can!
The Gatekeepers
Quite literally, the people who open and close doors for you…
Think podcast hosts, event organizers, referral partners, and media spots.
What you give: value to their listeners and audiences. You make their life easier. You bring professionalism, organization, good follow-through, and preparedness (ideally, of course).
What you receive: You usually gain something like more visibility, traction, etc.
Tone: When you’re trying to reach them, you want to speak in a way that shows the value you’ll be providing. How will you impact their audience? How will you make their lives easier? How will you show up on time and with all your slides and a tucked-in shirt or at least not looking like you rolled out of bed?
You want to be personal but professional and direct. Gatekeepers can sniff out a kiss-up or a fake pretty quickly.
Caution: Careful not to come in cold (ew) or unclear (agh!). These people are getting asked for things all the time. Gatekeepers often get a lot of pitches. Set yourself apart in the sea of askers.
Who are the gatekeepers you’re looking to reach?
The best way to nurture these relationships is personalized, authentic reach-outs and establishing a relationship. Getting an introduction is a great way in, and then be the person to follow up. Do NOT push when the answer is no.
The Influencers
These are the people who inspire you, mentor you, shape your thinking, and lead you. You might know them and work with them directly, or not.
They play a HUGE role in your success, even if you never meet.
What you give: engagement, appreciation in some cases, and amplification. If someone has had an impact on you, tell them so! Write a review! Share about them.
What you receive: These people give you new ideas, mindset shifts, motivation, conversation starters, food for thought, new ways of being, thinking, feeling, knowledge, and information. The list goes on.
Caution: Don’t get caught in comparison traps with these people. Second, don’t copy them or allow their influence to cause you to lose your own voice. That’s yours. And theirs is theirs.
Tone: If you decide to make a reach out, just tell them you love their stuff or how it’s impacted you. Let them know it was relevant, relatable, and hit the nail on the head. Plain and simple. Be YOU, be authentic.
Who is an influencer for you?
I encourage you to let them know how much they’ve changed your world for the better.
The Inner Circle
These are your trusted confidantes. These are the ones you call crying and rejoicing. Your business and actual BFF’s.
What you give: friendship, support, vulnerability, honesty, care, love, reciprocity, joy and fun!
What you receive: all the above and MORE! Truth, deep emotional backing, creative sounding boards, I could go on and on.
Tone: These are the people you don’t have to think about what’s my voice here? It’s the real, true blue, unfiltered you.
Caution: watch for those you bring into the inner circle and do whatever you’ve got to do to make sure you have those seats filled appropriately.
It’s ok to be judicious in this area. And you should be.
Reach out to your inner circle people!
Nurture one of your inner circle relationships with a check-in, a get-together, or a phone call. Lift one of your inner people up! Cheer them on! Ask how their day is going. You’ll figure it out when you get there.
In closing…
When you clearly think through and define these 5 spheres of influence, you can stop asking the wrong people for advice.
You’ll know which relationships need deepening and which need detangling.
You can know that your voice is still authentic across all these spheres, and you can use it more intentionally in these various areas of reach out.
And you’ll feel less alone, more grounded, and more supported across the board. Especially when you’re looking to the right people for the right support.
Your business isn’t built on your own. It’s not built on some illusions of an ideal person, avatar, etc.
It’s built on real people and nurturing relationships with real people.
When you know who those people are, what role they play, and how to care for the relationship… things get a whole lot easier.
