Increasing Your Visibility & Credibility With The Gurus

Recently, I’ve had a lot of people saying things to me like “Oh, Diane, you’re so lucky” or “How do you know all these famous people, and how do they know you?” or “Opportunities seem to fall in your lap, how does that happen for you?”

Well, it was suggested to me that I share some of my secrets, so I’ve decided to do just that.

First, it’s important to understand that this isn’t about luck – the things I do to create visibility and top-of-mind awareness are intentional and on purpose. Luck, as they say, is where preparation meets opportunity. Luck happens to those who make it happen. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when you are lucky, but most of the time it’s because you’ve done a lot of things to put yourself in that position to receive the “luck”. Opportunities don’t usually just drop in your lap out of the sky.

Some of the keys to making your life be more magical in this regard have to do with the things you do. One of the main things you have to do if you want to increase your visibility is get more involved, be seen at more events and participate fully. (Events don’t have to be live events, they could be coaching programs, teleseminars, mastermind meetings, surveys, submitting testimonials and success stories or anything else where you can be involved with the organization).

Believe it or not, the event promoters and gurus know who’s around at their events, and they also know who’s in the room most of the time and who isn’t. So, if you attend events but rarely, if ever, sit in the meeting room and listen to presenters speak, you aren’t helping your cause of gaining their attention.

It would be short-sided of you to think because you are a one of 500, or more, at an event that nobody will know if you’re in the room or somewhere else. That would be misguided thinking on your part. They know and are paying attention to more than you think they are.

So, simply said showing up is an important part of being seen and increasing your visibility.

In addition to just showing up, you also have to participate. Ask questions, get involved in the event, let the promoter know you’re interested, want to learn and care enough to take the time to ask an intelligent question. This is a great way to increase your visibility because the gurus will begin to hear your name and notice that you are around a lot and contributing to what they’re doing.

Asking questions is also a way to let the other people who are participating know about you and your business. As you contribute more and more, your reputation will grow and people will want to do business with you. This is an addition natural benefit to participating.

The things that I do, that not a lot of other folks take the time to do, that make a huge difference in your visibility and reputation are things like:

•Send promoters and their staff hand-written, personalized thank-you cards (or gift) after every live event I attend, recognizing all their hard work and time involved in the great event.
• Always ask if I can help do anything.
• Always arrive early at the event and each morning of the event to see if I can help with anything. (This is also a great time to network)
• Introduce myself to new staff members or those I’ve never seen before.
• Stay until the end of the event. Sometimes, this means spending an extra night at the hotel, which can mean you have a chance to network with and/or take a key person (or even the guru) to dinner.

Please make note that I didn’t say I send emails, but instead, I send hand-written, personalized thank you notes. The reason I do this is everyone else is sending emails, so I would just blend in with everyone else.

Think about it, how often do you get hand-written thank you notes or cards from people? Probably not very often, so you remember it when you do get them. It sets you apart from the rest and shows that you have taken the time and made the effort to do something special.

Please note, although I do these things deliberately, these aren’t strategies or techniques that I use, I’m not sending these with a motive or calculating what I’m going to get out of the relationship because I did this. When I send somebody a thank you note or gift I do it because I want them to know I’m thankful and I appreciated what they did for me. It’s a genuine thank you and I don’t expect anything in return.

The fact is these things do build relationships, but as a natural by-product of the authenticity of the relationship. People do business with people they know, like and trust, so you have to build on that.