"Trojan Horse" strategy for Leadership Positioning

Hello friends!

Last week I asked for feedback on a number of topics to see what people were most interested in, and the #1 vote was leadership positioning.

It turns out I am not alone in the belief that it takes a creative strategy to stand out today.

It’s been that way for a long time, but even more so now. But a lot of folks aren’t sure how to do it, so here is an easy way to go about it.

Most of us have a lot of competition. You can’t just yell “I’m the best” and “I’m the leader in the industry” and expect people to believe you. Because everybody is saying the same thing.

And so if you want to reach new prospects online, you need a novel approach.

I call it a Trojan Horse strategy. Coming up with a creative way to get your foot in the door.

I love using LinkedIn groups for this purpose.

When I started my cfo business in 2010, I started a group called Small Biz Forum. Because I was the leader of this community for St Louis business owners, people instantly saw me as a leader. A true player, if you will. My prospects were much more open to connecting with me. Then the group allowed me to stay in touch with them. And then when I would reach out to talk turkey, my success rate went up because they felt like they knew me.

Since then I’ve helped thousands of others do the same.

One long time client Swip Systems (software development agency, great people and I recommend them if you have a big software project) wanted to reach manufacturing executives. So we started a community called Midwest Manufacturing Leaders. It worked quite well, and they even turned it into a real world community with quarterly in person events.

I could go on and on.

Another way to do this is with a podcast where you interview your potential clients.

If you serve a particular industry, make that the focus. If you serve a specific geographic area, make that the focus. There’s a lot of ways to skin the cat.

Then it’s easy to reach out to prospects and invite them on for an interview. People love to be interviewed, and most don’t get asked very often. This gives you a foot in the door and an opportunity to build rapport.

So whether it’s a LinkedIn group or a podcast, or some other vehicle…

I think anybody can do this. It’s a great way to instantly position yourself as a leader in your market. And it sets you up to market in a way that people actually enjoy hearing from you, as you’re not just talking about yourself all the time.

Hope this sparks some ideas.

2 pieces of news:

A. Quick reminder that we will be live tomorrow at noon central for my show Mostly Business on YouTube and LinkedIn Live . I hope to see you there.

B. There’s a cool new documentary that you might want to check out. Click here for that. I’ll be sending more info on it tomorrow for those who receive my Substack messages at https://jtblueprint.substack.com/ .

Until next time!

~Josh

Josh Turner

Multiple times Inc 500 + 5000, Sold multiple business for 7 figures plus, WSJ Bestselling author, now helping other businesses grow via my proprietary Blueprint methodology.