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We’ve looked at how influencers impact on the decision process, and we’ve mapped a series of specific messages that are carried, based on various key points in the process. This allows us to identify a number of roles that can be played by influencers (Figure 5.1).

We should make it clear that these influencer roles are not necessarily played in each decision. Their impact is specific to the decision being made.

There is a logical sequence of progression from role to role, but it’s not mandatory to fill every influencer role, and the decision process may skip several steps. Decision processes are not linear and don’t follow a predict-able path, other than they start somewhere and end somewhere else.

In addition, the locuses of influence roles overlap, so that there may be more than one influencer role relevant at any one time.

Finally, our influencer roles do not describe types of influencer, but rather the roles that they may play. A single influencer may play a number of roles throughout one decision process, or have a single impact at one particular point.

Idea planters

Idea planters are the thinkers in your industry. These people ask what if?

They are the innovators, and may be drawn from outside the normal How influence works 39

industry boundaries. Typically, they provoke and challenge opinions and conventional wisdom, and raise questions that begin to break inertia. They are disruptive forces, but may be ignored or sidelined if their ideas are too wacky or controversial. Still, they sow the seeds that grow into future agenda items, point out deficiencies and inefficiencies in current practice.

They are the sources of uncertainty.

Authors and thinkers like Seth Godin, Tom Peters, Trevor Bayliss (inventor of the clockwork radio) and Nicholas Negroponte are all idea planters.

Predictors

Predictors tell us what (they believe) will be adopted soon. They ask what next? Much of the origination of this kind of influence comes from the supplier community, which is essentially telling us what’s next in their product pipeline. But this market priming is held in check by third parties such as analysts (who sanity check the plans), financiers (who fund new product development) and other commentators such as bloggers and management gurus.

Predictors come from analyst firms like Gartner and Forrester, but venture capitalists like Jon Moulton at Alchemy and Akhil Gupta at Blackstone are also known predictors.

Involvement of decision-maker(s)

Low High

Timescale for decision-making process

Decide what to do Decide to do

something

Aggregators/

communicators

Idea planters Trend setters

Scopers

Recommenders Persuaders Negotiators

Validators

Proclaimers

Predictors

© Influencer50 2007

Figure 5.1 Influencer roles in the decision process

Trendsetters

Trendsetters are the early adopters. They set themselves as reference points and create the direction for the rest of the market. They are important because they not only validate the market but also communicate success to the market. They are influential due to their early adoption, and the fact that they spread the news of their success.

Trendsetter status is specific to a specific market and doesn’t translate from one product type to another. So for instance a trendsetter in imple-menting financial management outsourcing could easily be a laggard in adopting lean manufacturing principles. This is because the influential individuals within these organisations tend to be executives responsible for specific operations.

Citigroup has become a trendsetter in homeworking policy, and Dell was a long time trendsetter in supply chain management.

Proclaimers

Some influencers just stand up and proclaim that the world will be how they want it to be. They mandate (as far as they can) the what and how. They are therefore in a position to be listened to and acted upon. Sometimes this is due to their position (such as regulators), sometimes just down to the weight they carry in their market. Some financial analysts, for example, proclaim the top of a bull market, which then fulfils the prophecy.

Proclaimers most often work for government agencies and depart-ments, regulators and legislators, or standards bodies, but may also include buyer groups or co-operatives, and industry commentators.

Aggregators/communicators

One of the most important roles an influencer can play is that of informa-tion gatherer and disseminators. It’s where the media and analysts get the majority of their influence: their knowledge of the detail of the market allows them power as to who has access to that knowledge. The market, of course, for information aggregation and communication has changed radically in the past 5 years, due to the emergence of web-based media such as blogs and social networks. This has both reduced the influence of traditional information sources and boosted that of newer players.

Non-media aggregators/communicators might include events, indus-try commentators, buyer groups, government agencies, indusindus-try bodies and industry analysts.

How influence works 41

Scopers

At some point a definition of the decision to be taken has to be made. That’s the role of scopers, to map out the limitations, parameters and dimensions of the problem and its likely solutions. Scopers tell us what now.

Scoping a decision is critical because it defines the likely set of solutions and, by implication, the likely set of suppliers. For example, a firm may have a problem with its customer service operation, but the scopers will determine whether the decision to be made is to outsource the operation, invest in training or implement a new customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Scopers usually work for suppliers/vendors, consulting firms, other customer organisations (via forums and networking) and events.

Recommenders

Recommenders suggest what you should do. They are sometimes, but not often, able to dictate a decision. Most often they will make their profes-sional judgment known, and then leave the final decision up to the ultimate decision-maker. They are therefore usually somewhat passive in their influence, which is advisory in nature.

Players in the supply chain are typical recommenders, as they’re in the best position to recommend. Independent they are not, as they’re trying to sell something, but they still wield considerable influence as part of the DME.

Persuaders

Persuaders tell you what you must do. They are not passive at all, convey-ing precise direction rather than advice. These are your closers, salesmen in Gladwell’s terms, the people who are able to make or break a decision.

The balance and interaction between recommenders and persuaders is always an interesting one, especially if they happen to meet.

Recommenders tend to gain influence by weighing up the options and making a judgment on balance and analysis. Persuaders may not have the evidence to back up their opinions, but they convey them with passion and conviction.

The most effective persuaders work for supplier firms: you and your competitors. It’s their job to swing the decision in their favour. To balance this bias, some firms employ independent influencers from (typically) external consulting firms.

Negotiators

Once the supplier is picked the fun begins. How are you going to implement the decision, and how much do you, or should you, pay? Cue the negotia-tors, who decide how and how much, advising on the financial elements of the deal, as well as the mechanics of how to construct a deal. This may mean procurement procedures, adherence to environmental and ethical codes of practice, clawback clauses and so on. Some of these elements may be non-negotiable, but others are tradable, so be aware of the differences that apply.

Validators

Validators say it’s okay, and are the safety net for a decision-maker. Not the oft-perceived rubber stamp, they give any decision the health check, to make sure the decision-maker has covered all options. They can halt a deal, or send it circling back for additional scoping or negotiating.

The best examples of validators are reference site visits. In the majority of cases these exercises occur after the decision is made, but before it is communicated to the supplier. The decision-maker is using the validator to prove to his superiors that the decision is low risk.

Super-influencers

There are in some markets super-influencers, key individuals that com-mand the highest respect and attention. Super-influencers are rare, and it is even rarer for one to appear in a DME. These people typically influence macro industry directions, rather than purchase decisions within a market.

Think Steve Jobs at Apple. His keynote speeches at US conventions have massive repercussions on the global entertainment sector these days.

Many thousands of companies worldwide quote things he did or didn’t say as backing for decisions they then make in their own businesses. And his words arguably have indirectly altered or shaped decisions within tens of thousands of additional companies. His influence is immense at an industry level (though we wouldn’t advise including him in your top-tier of influencers to target).