Hi
My name is Sunny and welcome to my weekly newsletter.
Each week, I share what I have learned about influence—starting with ourselves and extending to those around us.
Together, we’ll explore life, sales, persuasion, and all the moments in between that shape the way we connect and get us closer to our goals.
Each newsletter will focus on the ‘4 Ones” of a specific topic. They are:
1 Core theme
1 Thing in Between’
1 Quote to ponder
1 Think-way
If you have questions about the content or just want to chat, feel free to reach out at risinghsun@gmail.com.
I’d love to hear from you.
Till then, let's get to know each other better.
“So, what do you do”?
We often get this one when we meet someone for the first time.
We answer it in many ways. Some start at the beginning and go right up to the current date. Some flesh out a specific part of their story. Perhaps career, family, an event or hobby etc.)
Two questions we will answer today
What is the real reason you are being asked this question? This is clarity before response.
How do you answer this question? After all, it is a precious opportunity to learn, impact and influence.
What is the real reason you are being asked this question?
In a 1:1 or 1: many settings, the person asking this question is looking for a connection. It’s a segway for him or her to understand more about you.
It is an opportunity for them to find one or two things which both of you have in common.
They don’t really care what is in the answer. All they want is to hear (or feel) is something they can hold onto and build a connection with you on.
An analogy I will use is tennis.
128 players start in the Australian Tennis Open. After each qualifying match, the winner keeps going whilst the unsuccessful bows out. This happens until only 2 remain.
Your first interaction is like the 1st qualifying round. The ability to connect on these one or two points is the difference between winning and losing the match.
If you connect, you proceed to the next round, and so on. It is in these subsequent rounds when the crowd starts taking more notice of you as your impact has grown. The same can be said of the interest in the person asking questions.
Connection is one of Tony Robbin’s Six Core Needs which are fundamental human needs that drive behaviour. The others being certainty, uncertainty, significance, growth & contribution.
People desire connection because it represents shared experience and perspective. Most people would do anything to avoid the opposite end of the spectrum, which is isolation, exclusion and separation.
How you answer this question, so it adds impact and value?
Rather than being focused on one or two aspects, tell an evolutionary story which paints a picture of you.
Not necessarily by timeline, however more so from the experiences you have had particularly the ones that stood out to you.
You could end on the one thing which means a lot to you.
It could go something like:
“Well, I started my career as a hotel manager however left to start a retail franchise business which was probably the best and worst time of my life. The lessons learned still serve me each day.
I have worked in pharma sales, sales management and L&D. I have trained in coaching and training and have a thing going now where I publish a newsletter called Impact Influence. This helps salespeople and solopreneurs increase their conversion rates.
What I would like to do is live in the mountains so I could trek them often whilst help people become the version of themselves through publishing, training and coaching my own content”
So many things to latch onto. Yours will be very different. You could include family, pets, hobbies, life experiences. It is your unique narrative.
It is useful to have a framework already prepared which you can tweak depending upon the situation.
1 Thing in Between
Know your audience.
If you know something about your audience’s predisposition to a certain behaviour type, profile or nature, you can use this to your advantage. Your narrative can be ‘tailored to connect’ with your audience.
If you are an extrovert and your audience are introverted feelers, you may consider slowing down your pace a little more to suit the crowd. Your content may include some of the ‘touchy feely’ elements of your back story which may resonate a lot more.
1 Quote to Ponder
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel"
1 Think-away
When people meet you, they are asking themselves a few questions:
Is he/she like me?
Do we have something in common?
Can I see myself spending more time with him/her?
The next time you meet someone, and you want greater influence, strategically give more of yourself by being more vulnerable and open.
On occasions, let people in the parts of your life you don’t often share.
Don’t be shy about your failures. People respect the unsuccessful stories more than the successful ones because they project reality making you more relatable.
Take care and be well
Sunny