Contents
- You’re a CEO but are you a KPI?
- How billionaires do it
- Me, my wife, my clients – obviously sold
- The 5 P’s
- Pitch
- Publish
- Product
- Profile
- Partnerships
- 1 (234) 5
- Bandwidth considerations
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
You’re a CEO but are you a KPI?
A Key Person of Influence (KPI) is someone whose personal brand is at the apex of their industry.
KPI’s are the most well known, well connected and highly valued names in their domain.
Whether or not you’re a fan of Apple products, you expect an iPad and all its accessories to perform and be priced significantly higher than a tablet of equivalent spec from another brand.
Similarly, everything within a KPI’s orbit is imbued with superior value.
When a CEO becomes a KPI:
Apple fans are famous for happily camping overnight in freezing conditions to be first in line to buy the latest iGadget.
They volunteer for discomfort in order to give Apple their money.
So too will clients, investors, collaborators and A-Players beat a path to your door when you’re a KPI.
Rather than jousting for what you want, you take your pick from the wealth of opportunities thrust upon you, leaving the rest for the non-KPI’s in your wake.
The difference between becoming a KPI and remaining amongst the masses comes down to five simple steps.
Let’s find out what they are.
How billionaires do it
The term Key Person of Influence was coined by Daniel Priestley, a serial entrepreneur who’d built his first seven figure business by the age of twenty-three, and several more before his thirtieth birthday.
His early ventures were in event marketing, following a simple business model:
- Use established personalities to attract audiences.
- Sell to those audiences.
At the events, Daniel observed how selling was superfluous when billionaires like Richard Branson and other lesser known names were inundated with thousands of people queuing up to see them, eager for any opportunity to form a partnership.
It became apparent that the magnetism of their personal brands had not arisen by chance. Rather, they methodically sculpted the halo around their reputations.
Several recurring themes emerged from the myriad strategies employed by the KPI’s attending the events.
In 2010 Daniel codified these into a five step roadmap in his book Key Person of Influence:
- Pitch
- Publish
- Products
- Profile
- Partnerships
This framework has since been proven:
- across more than fifty different industries
- in over a dozen countries
- by 1000+ entrepreneurs
Leaders in every walk of life bear testimony to how the KPI playbook has launched them to the top of their respective worlds, from Kevin Harrington* and countless CEO’s, to yoga teachers, pilots and film producers.
* a $400m entrepreneur and one of the original investors on Shark Tank.
Me, my wife, my clients – obviously sold
Whilst Tom Peters is often credited with kickstarting the personal brand movement with The Brand Called You in 1997, Key Person of Influence is in my opinion the definitive guide of the modern era.
Packed with practical insights, it’s designed for a social media world yet to exist when Tom Peters wrote thirteen years previously.
Yet whilst technology has further moved on and Daniel himself notes that, “your best thinking five years ago is your baggage today,” its foundational concepts remain as relevant as Maslow’s Hierarchy or Tony Robbins’ 6 Emotional Needs.
Technology changes but human nature persists.
In twenty-seven years of marketing and board level experience, I’ve yet to encounter a more useful framework for accelerating executive identity with the express intention of creating tangible value.
At the first time of reading, I stopped mid chapter to add a ‘Pitch’ section to my Brand StratPlan template.
Two chapters on, I stopped again to rethink my Product ecosystem.
My wife immediately understood KPI’s pertinence when I took her through it, and we’re using it as the foundation to relaunch her spiritual wellness practice, post-maternity leave.
Every client I ghostwrite content for and have referred to KPI, has come back with a new light in their eyes and an augmented belief in the benefits, nay the necessity, of the content we’re Publishing to enhance their Profile.
Their approach to Partnerships often completely pivots from their original stance to the mindset espoused by KPI.
Not because I’ve worked hard to convince them.
But because they see the self-evident logic, every major revelation passing the acid test for insights: the instant reaction,
“Aha! That’s obvious… now you’ve pointed it out.”
5 P’s & 12 Strategies
This article summarises the five P’s of the KPI model with reference to the “12 Strategies to Build a CEO Brand That Creates Shareholder Value”.
The two frameworks complement each other: the twelve strategies fleshing out the arc of the KPI roadmap; KPI giving order and direction to the strategies.
| 5 P’s | 12 Strategies to Build a CEO Brand |
| I. Pitch | Consistency Authenticity* Relatability* Public Speaking |
| II. Publish | Thought Leadership Write a Book |
| III. Products | – |
| IV. Profile | Social Media Engagement Guesting Hosting a Podcast Personal Website |
| V. Partnerships | Collaborations |
* Authenticity and Relatability are not channels in their own right but the mindset for how the other strategies are implemented.
The KPI narrative is clear that the 5 P’s need to be accomplished in order.
For example:
- It’s counterproductive to Publish before you know what your Pitch is.
- It doesn’t make sense to build a Profile before you’ve Published thought leadership content.
- You’ll have limited success in approaching Partners before your Profile is established.
This is one of the rare instances I disagree with Daniel – but let’s come back to this below after covering the five P’s and you can decide for yourself.
1. PITCH
You’re probably already familiar with the ‘elevator pitch’.
Beloved of salespeople and entrepreneurs, it’s a short sales script ready to impress any potential buyer/investor you find yourself sharing an elevator with.
If your company is long established, perhaps you’re out of practice at selling your vision with succinct passion within the time it takes to traverse a few floors.
If so then we have a little work to do.
The pitch provides the roots from which the other KPI branches flourish.
People connect with people, not companies. As CEO, you need to be ready to inspire potential clients / partners / investors / journalists / top talent at the drop of a hat.
Many of your peers will not be so prepared. By mastering your pitch, you give yourself a momentous advantage – and we’re only at stage 1 of your KPI evolution.
Social Pitch vs Presentation Pitch
There are two levels of pitches you need to prepare:
- A social pitch – the aforementioned elevator pitch, this is what you drop into casual conversation at a moment’s notice.
- A presentation pitch – ranging from a few minutes to a few hours depending on the circumstances, this is what you present when scheduled to talk.
A presentation pitch may involve slides or other props. It will almost certainly include facts and figures on how your products and services can transform your customers’ lives.
At both levels, a pitch worthy of a KPI is distinguished from a mediocre one on two fronts:
A. What you say
B. How you say it
A. What you say
Firstly, your pitch should answer the question “What do you do?” with power and clarity.
| What do you do? | |
| Non-KPI mindset | KPI mindset |
| I’m an Executive Ghostwriter for CEO’s | I provide an executive level concierge service to help CEOs become Key Persons of Influence. From planning and perfecting their pitch, to ghostwriting thought leadership and social media content, to product and partnership strategy, every stage of the KPI roadmap is covered whilst minimising the demands of their bandwidth. As their star rises, A-Players flock to work for them, and brands queue up to partner with them, creating immense value for their shareholders and with positive implications for their personal brand beyond their current role. |
| I’m the CEO of a wellness marketplace and SaaS. | I head a talented team committed to revolutionising the global wellness marketplace. The world needs wellness more than ever and we connect clients with qualified, vetted practitioners, sometimes in different countries, to help heal their Mind, Body or Soul. For the practitioner, we take care of their business chores so they can focus on their ikigai. |
Furthermore, a KPI pitch…
- paints a vivid picture of the transformation that awaits those who buy your product or service.
- evokes emotion – not just in your customers and collaborators, but in your team.
- solves a problem – ideally one or more from the eternal triad: more money / more time / better quality of life.
- is grounded in reality.
- is aligned to your story, leaving your audience with the feeling that you were ‘born to do this’.
- articulates the payoff – ideally 3 clear benefits.
- describes how you will deliver the result.
There are many possible ways of structuring your pitch.
One way…
- Position yourself as clear and credible
- Articulate the problem and how you noticed it
- Extrapolate on the impact of the problem
- Solve it
- Prove it
- Ask for what you want
- Leave people uplifted
Marketers will recognise this as an extension of the classic Problem/ Agitation/ Solution – a tried and tested copywriting framework for converting prospects into customers.
B. How you say it
Who is your favourite standup comedian?
(Mine are… Michael McIntyre, Dara O’Briain, Jimmy Carr, Trevor Noah, Reginald D Hunter, Kevin Bridges)
Put on one of their shows and observe their pitch.
Note how delivery is just as important as the content. The timing, the tone of voice, the setup, the punchline, the body language.
Everything comes together to deliver a compelling story (humans are hardwired to resonate with stories).
Everything seems so ad hoc and free flowing.
Precisely because it’s been prepared and rehearsed to the n’th degree.
They know every milestone point by heart, which enables them to engage with the audience, deal with hecklers / questions, then seamlessly rejoin the narrative arc.
And so it must be with your pitch.
Comedians strive to make people laugh. Your pitch must also inspire emotions: interest, excitement, anticipation, trust, desire…
It must convey that you are a KPI and that your audience would be missing out by not being part of your future journey.
And like the best comedians and public speakers, it must flow.
If your pitch sounds too rehearsed, you haven’t rehearsed it enough.
The singer and the microphone
Daniel cites the invention of the microphone as an analogy for the role of the Pitch within the KPI journey.
The microphone didn’t make bad singers into good singers. It just made bad singing louder.
The subsequent steps in the KPI roadmap – Publish, Products, Profile and Partnerships – will not make you a KPI if your Pitch is found wanting.
They will simply broadcast to a wider audience that you are a bad singer.
2. PUBLISH
So, you’ve prepared a Pitch that conveys the meaning and passion of your Big Idea.
You practised and role played until it’s smoother than a well aged wine.
You delivered it flawlessly to a captive audience (whether in an elevator or to a packed conference), and answered their questions with aplomb.
What next?
Put yourself in their shoes.
If they haven’t heard of you before, what do you think they’re going to do next?
They will almost certainly Google you.
What they see on page one will have a colossal effect on whether they perceive you to be a Key Person of Influence, or just someone who happened to give a good speech.
Another likely scenario is that upon finding out you would be a speaker, they Google’d you in advance.
A page one filled with reputable entries by you or about you will mean a highly receptive audience for your Pitch, already convinced you’re a KPI.
“Very few people create a significant volume of published content. If you have articles, blogs, reports, case studies and a book, you are much more likely to be perceived as a Key Person of Influence in your industry.”
- Daniel Priestley
The graphic below is from the 12 Strategies. It makes the point that effective thought leadership will also help establish your Profile by getting you invited onto influential podcasts and blogs.
In his followup book Oversubscribed, Daniel detailed the 7/11/4 rule:
For a stranger to trust your brand, they need to consume 7 hours of content, or engage in 11 interactions, across 4 separate platforms (LinkedIn / Youtube / blog / speaking engagement etc).*
* From Professor Robin Dunbar’s work, and Google’s Zero Interactions research.
The more content you publish in different locations, the greater the surface area that your audience has to engage with, whether by chance or because they Google’d you.
As with the singer and the microphone, the content must be of high quality or the interaction will harm your reputation as a Key Person of Influence.
3. PRODUCT
“Products and services don’t make money; product and service ecosystems do.”
There are 4 types of products you / your company should offer:
- Free products
- Products-for-prospects
- Core product
- Products-for -clients
NB. this would be called a ‘funnel’ by some, but out of respect for Daniel’s aversion to the term, I also refer to it as an Ascending Transaction Model:
If you only have a core product, you are missing out on a wealth of potential customers and revenue:
- The two tiers below your core product are an entry point for prospects who might otherwise baulk at committing before they know your brand.
- The higher the cost / commitment of your core product, the greater the benefit of the lower tiers.
- Products-for-clients increase your return on clients who have already bought into your brand. There is no cost of acquisition, only the cost of implementation.
1. Free products (gifts)
The best free products…
- are insightful, educational or entertaining.
- solve a problem or deliver an insight that naturally leads to a product-for-prospects, or your core product.
- are digital products that cost nothing to reproduce or distribute.
This article is a free product.
Another free product I offer is a Content Matrix which:
- saves time and gives direction to anyone planning content to Publish, complete with AI prompts.
- highlights the variety of ways in which I could ghostwrite for them.
- having invested hours in producing it, the marginal cost of production and distribution is zero.
Other free products you might offer include:
- Reports
- Audio podcasts
- Videos
- Samples
- Events
- Slide presentations
- Information kits
- Webinar series
- Apps
The key is that you ask for nothing in return, not even a name or an email address.
By this definition, ‘lead magnets’ that require the prospect to register an email address to receive e.g. a document or video, are not free products but products-for-prospects.
Therefore the vast majority of companies do not offer a free product.
Do so and watch your engagement skyrocket.
2. Products-for-prospects
The next level up in the product ecosystem is a ‘product-for-prospects’ that requires a small commitment of time, money or data from your prospect.
In return they get a quick win – often something that diagnoses the problem, or narrows down the decision making process. This naturally leads on to your core product.
Tripwires
Marketers sometimes refer to products requiring a small fee as ‘tripwires’. By offering something of low risk and friction to buy, it’s more likely to result in a sale.
The objective of the sale is not profit. It’s to turn the prospect into someone who has purchased from you, no matter how small the transaction.
They now have confidence that:
- They paid, you delivered
- They weren’t subjected to spam
- Their credit card was not compromised
In short, you’re a legitimate vendor.
When you next pitch them on your core product, these potential objections are no longer a concern.
3. Core product
This is your main source of revenue and what your brand will be known for.
As your hero product, commit to delivering the best, packaged solution to the customer’s problem that you can.
Strive to be the best, even if this squeezes profit margins – hence the beauty of the product ecosystem in recovering profits elsewhere, not least in your products-for-clients.
4. Products-for-clients
Products-for-clients are extensions of the journey your customers have taken with your core product.
For BMW, it’s finance, insurance and servicing, as an extension of their cars.
For Apple, it’s media, storage, software and music subscriptions, as an extension of their iDevices.
For Dent Global (Daniel’s main business), it’s book publishing, digital transformation and video production, as an extension of their business accelerators.
Products-for-clients tend to be recurring revenue products. CFO’s are particularly fond of them for their positive effect on cash flow and valuation.
4. PROFILE
Technically, your online profile starts as soon as you start Publishing and people can find you on Google.
This step refers to the active management of an online persona that can interact with your audience, particularly social media.
Google gives a lot of weight to social media sites, especially Youtube (which they own). Ensuring you have several up to date profiles significantly increases the chances of a favourable page one when someone Googles you.
At present, the leading platforms are:
- Youtube
- X (formerly Twitter)
- WordPress (your blog)
- Tiktok
You don’t have to be on all of them. Play to your strengths – if video is not your thing, it’s not the end of the world if you’re not on Youtube or Tiktok.
Per the 12 Strategies, your approach might also include:
- Guesting on blogs and podcasts
- Hosting your own podcast
- Starting a personal website
There are six clear business objectives to keep in mind when building your Profile:
- Generate leads and enquiries
- Convert leads and enquiries into sales
- Increase the average spend
- Increase the frequency of purchasing
- Reduce costs
- Improve your overall brand
5. PARTNERSHIPS
You’ve perfected your Pitch. Published thought leadership content. Constructed your Product ecosystem. Cultivated your Profile.
It’s time to nurture the deals that will skyrocket your revenue and reputation.
This is the step that distinguishes KPI’s from those who look good but don’t make the sort of money they should.
It’s understanding that whatever you want to achieve, there is another KPI who can get you there much faster, if a Partnership can be established.
- Need prospects? They’re on someone’s hard drive right now.
- Need products to sell? Someone’s already developed them.
- Need exposure? Someone already has the audience.
The question is not, “How do I achieve this?”
It’s “Who do I need to talk to?”
“Whenever you have an idea, no matter how crazy, make at least three calls to see if it’s possible…
When I launched my company at age twenty-one, I had the audacity to call some of the best people in the industry to see if I could work with them to promote our launch.
They all said yes, and the business turned over $1 million in its first year.”
- Daniel Priestley
When at networking events, KPI’s don’t go looking for clients. This yields one sale per conversation, at best.
They look for partnerships with other KPI’s. One conversation could yield a relationship that doubles your quarterly revenue.
The spirit of partnerships
The essence of personal branding is that ‘people connect with people’, and Partnerships are the epitome of this.
To coin a cliche, it’s about a ‘win-win’ mentality.
Both sides must benefit, or the ‘partnership’ will not last. The side getting the raw deal leaves as soon as they get a better offer.
The secret that many miss out on though, is that the mindset starts at home.
- Co-founders
- Employees
- Suppliers
- Investors
- Clients
All are partners.
All should be approached with the attitude that you genuinely want what’s best for them, you celebrate their wins, and you give careful consideration to what you bring to the table.
How can you make their life better, in an enduring manner?
Types of partnership
KPI lists five types of partnership you should look for:
- Affiliate partnerships
- Free-bundle group
- Product creation
- Co-promotion
- Packaging up
It’s nice to be nice (and professional)
Daniel outlines how he would approach a meeting with a potential Partner.
- Set the scene (meet somewhere upmarket, not in a business setting)
- Bring a thoughtful gift
- Make friends first
- Do business last
- Pick up the bill (especially if you initiated the meeting)
- Follow through (no matter how small, if you said you would do something, do it)
“1 (234) 5” is the way forward
Whilst the KPI manual refers to completing the steps in order, I believe:
- 1 (Pitch) should be completed first as part of your StratPlan.
- 2,3,4 (Publish, Product, Profile) should be developed simultaneously, albeit leading with 2.
- 2 and 4 are infinite games.
- 5 (Partnerships) should be initiated when 3 is in place, and 2 & 4 are at a ‘reasonable’ state of progress.
Bandwidth considerations
The POTUS and every leading head of state in the world have armies of speechwriters to craft the words that shape world events.
Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran are notable for writing their own lyrics i.e. many of their contemporaries do not.
The CEO’s with some of the most dynamic personal brands in the world – Alex Hormozi, Gary Vaynerchuk, Steven Bartlett to name but three – are transparent that they have teams producing content for them.
Just as your PA manages your diary or a CFO prepares the figures you sign off for release, you can outsource every aspect of building your personal brand.
Either hire specialists for each dimension – strategy, content creation, media management, partnerships – or employ a brand concierge who manages your evolution into a KPI as a coordinated campaign.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A Key Person of Influence is someone whose personal brand is at the apex of their industry. They are amongst the most well known, well connected and highly valued names in their domain.
For the CEO who is also a KPI:
This article summarises the five steps to becoming a KPI from Daniel Priestley’s eponymous book:
- Pitch
- Publish
- Product
- Profile
- Partnerships
Pitch – be prepared with a social pitch and a presentation pitch to sell your Big Idea with passion and purpose.
Publish – thought leadership content, not least to ensure a Google search for you brings up a page 1 of results worthy of a KPI.
Product – an ecosystem of products in an Ascending Transaction Model that maximises attention, revenue and profit.
Profile – a social media profile that boosts your reputation with every interaction.
Partnerships – win-win relationships with other KPI’s but also every part of your value chain
Whilst Daniel refers to completing the steps in order, I believe:
- 1 (Pitch) should be completed first as part of your StratPlan
- 2,3,4 (Publish, Product, Profile) should be developed simultaneously, albeit leading with 2.
- 2 and 4 are infinite games.
- 5 (Partnerships) should be approached when 3 is in place and 2 & 4 are at a ‘reasonable’ state of progress
If time is limited, a ghostwriter can assist with the most time intensive stage – content creation.
“If you follow [the KPI plan], you will become a Key Person of Influence within the next 12 months.”
– Daniel Priestley
