7 Ways to Add Value – Even If You Don’t Have Anything To Contribute

When I learned that I could add value to anyone, it changed my life.

I didn’t think I had value to add…

One of the most beneficial outcomes of adding value on a consistent basis and building a valuable network is becoming a trusted advisor to as many people as possible.

When you’re a trusted advisor, often people will come to you for advice, help you when you need it, refer sales to you, introduce others to you, and more.

It’s hard to become a trusted advisor though.
To do that, you need to establish trust.
Trust isn’t an overnight thing. You have to consistently be very valuable and helpful overtime.

If you read the previous post “ A 3 Step Process To Find the Most Important People To Network With ” and followed through with the 3 action steps, then you should have 2 things:

1. You should have a list of who to build a relationship with

2. You should know where they hang out at
That’s great, but…

You’re still not sure how you’re going to develop a relationship with these influencers so you do nothing.

Time passes as you watch that person fade from a warm relationship to someone that you haven’t talked to in many months if not years.

That’s a feeling we all know too well.

I’ve met many people that I look back and wish I kept in touch with: CEOs, influential government officials, people doing REALLY cool stuff, and others.
I still remember the first time that I kept in touch and did what I could to help someone out.
That time changed my perspective on relationships.

It changed my perspective on meeting people.
That relationship changed my life.

The Simple Offer That Changed I didn’t know it back then .

I just thought this person was “someone really cool that you have to meet” as my friend told me.
My friend introduced us since we all shared the same hobby.

When I met this person, I wasn’t sure what I could do for them. They had over 13 years experience rising to the top of their field and I had just recently Graduated college. I made sure to say hi every time I saw them to stay on their radar.

A few months later, this person was giving a speech on entrepreneurship for a group of MBA students at a top MBA program. He invited my friend and me to sit in on the speech.
Of course we both showed up.

The speech was great.

Everyone loved it. It was funny, inspiring, emotional, and ended with an actionable takeaway.

Afterwards, everyone was swapping business cards with him, telling him how great the speech was, and trying to hire him to speak at their company or class.

Once everyone cleared away, I walked up to him and said,

“That was a great speech, everyone loved it!
Hey, I noticed some things that you could change that might make your speech better.
Would you like me to send you an email with ways that I think you could improve your speech? ”

Of course he wanted to hear how he might be able to improve it.

So I went home and started writing an email. That email turned into a three page essay. As I was hitting send, I thought I was crazy, but he said he accepted my offer to give advice so I sent it off.

Within a day of sending the critique, he sent me an email letting me know he loved it and wanted to keep in touch.

I replied and mentioned that I would love to help him out in anyway possible. I listed a few ways I thought I could help.

He got busier with work so I started doing some random tasks for him on the side after I got off of work.

After helping out and keeping in touch for months, we sat down to chat and he told me that he wanted to go 100% with his new company and he wanted me to help him make it happen as the first employee.

I was extremely excited. All this time, I was just helping out someone who was busier than I was. I wasn’t even expecting anything from it.

At this job, I learned more about sales, relationships, business and life than I did in school. It absolutely changed my life.

Looking back, I had no clue this person would be such a huge influence in my life.

If I hadn’t kept in touch, reached out and added value where I thought I could, then I wouldn’t be where I am today.

When I wrote the speech critique, I hadn’t even given any speeches besides a couple group projects for school. I just thought I had some good pieces of advice and a different perspective.

That’s an important point.

I didn’t have expertise to give, but I did have a different perspective and a willingness to offer advice on a specific situation.

My value didn’t come from more years of experience, it came from a different perspective.
You don’t have to tackle a giant solution to the most important issue someone is dealing with. You can start off by helping them with a tiny problem.

Sometimes, that’s all it takes to get a foot in the door and start a relationship.

That brings us back to you.

How can you get your foot in the door with your high-impact influencers?

Here are 7 tips to start adding value to your list of influencers

1. Learn a little about their business and personal life first

Don’t go crazy and try to learn every little thing about them. That would be stalking and scary…
Instead, find out a handful of interesting things such as:

What business topics do they talk about?
What non-business topics do they talk about?
What groups or pages do they follow on LinkedIn and Facebook?
What are they currently buying?
What hobbies do they enjoy?
Go ahead and pull out your list.
Write down some interesting things that you’re finding out about those individuals.

2. Start Small with Social

Reach out via the most active channels they have.

Twitter – it’s common for people to follow, share, retweet, and favorite tweets.

LinkedIn – go ahead and connect. Send them a personalized message why you want to connect.

Facebook – avoid sending a friend request until you have a stronger, more personal relationship with them.

Blog – write thoughtful comments on their blog and return to answer questions others might have for you

Podcast – give them a 5-star rating and write a good review.

By doing this, they will get notified and you’ll start to appear on their radar.

Note: Don’t spam them.

3. Get a Referral from a Warm Contact.

Find someone that you trust and has a good relationship with you and the person you want to meet to refer you to them.

People are far more likely to listen to someone they trust, than a stranger cold calling them during dinner with their family.

4. Send a concise email

Send a very brief email describing any similarities you have with them as well as any questions you have or why you’d like to connect.
Be very direct about what you want, and then hit send.

The shorter the email, the better.

5. Ask Great Questions

Ask questions that you really care about and want the answer to. Ask simple, direct questions that have answers that you can implement.
Tell the person you’re going to follow up by a set date to implement any of the advice you asked for.

6. Follow up with the results of you using their advice.

People love to hear that their advice worked and that you actually implemented it. There are far too many people in the World who just don’t take action.

Successful people reward those who take action, especially if you’re implementing their advice with success.

7. Focus on helping them.

It’s occasionally alright to start by asking for quick, simple advice.

More often than asking, you should offer something of value to them. Have a goal in mind to help them. See what their problems are when they are talking online and offer advice.
You can never establish a relationship until you reach out and try.

Please use at least one of these pieces of advice for each person on your list. Find out which method is easiest for you to use and gives you the most responses so you can start using that one more often.

What are you ways of starting to add value and develop relationships with your high-impact influencers?

Written by Josh Sweeney