Topher Morrison Keynote Speaker at South Tampa Chamber of Commerce Luncheon

On Wednesday, July 20, the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce hosted its Membership Luncheon at the Centre Club. The Keynote speaker was Topher Morrison, Managing Director at Key Person of Influence-USA. Key Person of Influence is a program helping business owners with the 5-step sequence to becoming one of the most highly valued and highly paid people in your industry. During his speech, Topher shared some ways on how to become more influential.

The first that point he made was ensuring that you are describing your business with the upmost clarity. This means that you are able to describe the unique value, purpose and foundation of your business. In order to ensure that an individual will understand the function of your business means that you must create five different pitches – elevator, social, sales, media, and investor pitch. Each are different depending on the event. The pitch should be catered to your target audience and it is concise and well defined. Topher also points out that you get what your pitch for and you’re always pitching. Every conversation is a pitch and being aware of the words that you are conveying to your audience is important. Therefore, if you are always speaking negatively or positively about your business, others will take note.

The second topic that Topher stresses is having credibility. He explains that there are a few different ways to gain credibility. The most obvious way is to be in your industry for thirty years or more and develop the experience. However, the problem is most business owners don’t want to wait 30-years, therefore, the next best avenue to gain it is through being published. This means that you are published in your sector of business through books, articles, or even through the creation of policies and procedures for your company.

The third way to create influence is through scalability. This means to prepare your business for growth, increased opportunities and duplication. Effective scaling gives the business owner time and flexibility to enjoy life and understanding the difference between working on your business versus working in your business. There is a distinction between functional duties versus maintaining a vital role. Topher uses Richard Branson as an example. He states that Richard Branson has the ability to take vacations and enjoy his life because he doesn’t play a functional role within any of his companies. He is vital to each of his companies but he does not perform everyday duties; yet he creates ongoing opportunities due to his magnetic role as the figurehead.

Topher shared that visibility is the fourth way to create influence. He explains that a key person of influence tends to be everywhere but nowhere simultaneously. This means that they have community involvement, maintain an online presence, and are seen as an industry leader in the media (TV, radio, print, etc.). Key people of influence will go to events if invited; however their physical presence is not as necessary to be considered a person of influence. Key People of Influence rarely attend events; they speak at events and conferences, as they are recognized experts.

Finally, the last way to create influence is through collaboration. A key person of influence is not threatened by competition. These people find various ways to partner up with companies alike to work together in order to create something great. Key people of influence are not exposed by competition because they have created a great and stable business while setting themselves apart by being a contributing and influential member within society.

Topher’s steps towards becoming a key person of influence will ultimately benefit any business owner or even an employee looking to grow with a business. It is through this drive in reaching a person’s full potential and growth in which individuals as well as businesses will have the ability to create added wealth and opportunity.

Read more about Key Person of Influence!

Also visit the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce’s website for more information about upcoming events and other ways to become more involved within the community!

Categorized in: Work

This post was written by Elevate, Inc.