---
title: "Key Person of Influence, and where Tom differs"
description: "Kevin Harrington and Daniel Priestley's Key Person of Influence in 11 frameworks with steps. It backs four of Tom Sharman's lessons and argues with one."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# Key Person of Influence: The Five-Step Method to become one of the most highly valued and highly paid people in your industry

> Kevin Harrington and Daniel Priestley's Key Person of Influence in 11 frameworks with steps. It backs four of Tom Sharman's lessons and argues with one.

The frameworks here are Kevin Harrington and Daniel Priestley's, from Key Person of Influence. Claude read the book in Tom's Brain and linked it to his lessons.

## How Tom uses this

- [People online are selfish, so lead with what they get](https://tomsharman.com/lessons/people-online-are-selfish-so-lead-with-what-they-get/index.md): The book says a pitch must state the payoff for the listener, with three core benefits, and that talking about what you do and are qualified for is irrelevant until translated into a payoff. (pp. 69 and 70)
- [It is about their business, told as what the audience learns](https://tomsharman.com/lessons/it-is-about-their-business-told-as-what-the-audience-learns/index.md): Priestley says give your ideas away in books, podcasts and webinars and let people hire you for implementation, so the business is told through what the audience learns. (pp. 99, 100 and 101)
- [Find the voice in what already worked for them](https://tomsharman.com/lessons/find-the-voice-in-what-already-worked-for-them/index.md): The book tells you that you already stand on a mountain of value and that your voice is found by reflecting back what has already worked in your story. (pp. 36, 40, 59 and 60)
- [A brand that compounds has a mission and an enemy](https://tomsharman.com/lessons/a-brand-that-compounds-has-a-mission-and-an-enemy/index.md): The Big Game is a mission with rules, players, a prize and a way to lose, and the micro-niche focus is the same discipline of choosing a clear territory to defend. (pp. 60, 62 and 64)

### Where it disagrees with Tom

- [Agencies over-index on the founder's journey](https://tomsharman.com/lessons/agencies-over-index-on-the-founders-journey/index.md): The book puts the founder's own story at the centre, saying it is what people buy into, while the concept warns agencies to focus on mission and what the audience gets. (pp. 36 and 39)

- Author: Kevin Harrington and Daniel Priestley
- Pages: 167
- Chapters: 14
- Frameworks: 11
- Categories: Offers and pricing, Sales and negotiation, Life and thinking, Lead generation, Hiring and teams
- Book 25 of 46 on the bookshelf: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/index.md

## What it argues

Kevin Harrington and Daniel Priestley argue that the top slice of every industry takes the best opportunities, and that anyone can join it within about twelve months by doing five things in order: Pitch, Publish, Product, Profile and Partnership. The world has gone digital and niche, so the valuable person is vital rather than functional and owns a micro-niche instead of being a generalist. Your own story and skills are already a mountain of value, and the job is to turn them into output: a sharp pitch, a book or articles, a product ecosystem built on implementation, a profile that shows well when Googled, and win/win partnerships. Influence comes from finished output and leverage, so you commit before you feel ready and surround yourself with coaches and peers. The book doubles as the free product that feeds the authors' paid KPI Program.

## Worth keeping

- Influence comes from output, not from hard work, and almost finishing a step counts for nothing (p. 53).
- Pick a micro-niche and pitch to it with a sniper rifle, since casting the net wide catches no one (p. 64).
- The Big Game gives a pitch its why, built from fun, rules, players, a prize, a way to win and a way to lose (pp. 60-62).
- A polite response to your pitch is a failure signal, and a strong reaction either way is the target (p. 58).
- Products and services do not make money, ecosystems do, with free products spreading ideas and paid ones selling implementation (pp. 92, 98-102).
- Information has lost its value, so productise implementation and give the ideas away (p. 101).
- The book exists to promote you, and the aim is to be the author rather than a bestseller (pp. 87-89).
- You are who Google says you are, so build a profile that shows well and is targeted at people who care (pp. 51, 108-112).
- Network for partnerships and leverage rather than clients, and make three calls on any idea (pp. 122-123).
- Speak the language of opportunities rather than requests, and commit first because resourcefulness follows commitment (pp. 139, 144).

## Which project it moves forward

**The Content Operators launch**

The book's pitch, free product, productised service and partnership sequence is a ready ladder for launching The Content Operators with a first cohort.

## The questions it answers

### How do you build a personal brand that generates inbound rather than requiring outbound?

The whole method is a sequence for becoming the person opportunities come to, with a Googleable profile, a book and partnerships replacing chasing clients (pp. 43, 51, 53).

### How do you price and sell a tool you built for yourself?

It says to give ideas away free, sell implementation as a productised service and sell industry specific products to your competitors (pp. 101, 102).

### Which of my stories travel, and which only feel like they should?

It gives the polite response test, where a strong reaction either way shows a story landing and a nod means it did not (p. 58).

## The frameworks

1. [The Key Person of Influence Method](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/the-key-person-of-influence-method/index.md): Five steps, done in order, that make you the person an industry's best opportunities go to.
2. [Big Game](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/big-game/index.md): The reason behind every pitch, built as a game worth playing over the next three years.
3. [Foundations of a presentation pitch](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/foundations-of-a-presentation-pitch/index.md): What a pitch must rest on before it is structured.
4. [The presentation pitch structure](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/the-presentation-pitch-structure/index.md): A seven part order for a pitch that runs from a few minutes to a few hours.
5. [Planning the book](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/planning-the-book/index.md): How to plan a 30,000 to 50,000 word book so it is easy to write.
6. [Ten intangible qualities of a successful product](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/ten-intangible-qualities-of-a-successful-product/index.md): Kevin Harrington's checklist of ten questions to ask before launching a product or service.
7. [Five starter partnership deals](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/five-starter-partnership-deals/index.md): The deal types the authors recommend while building partnership skill.
8. [Meeting a potential partner](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/meeting-a-potential-partner/index.md): Six habits for a first partnership meeting that leads to a lasting deal.
9. [Three calls](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/three-calls/index.md): Replace "How do I make it happen?" with "Who do I need to talk to?".
10. [The three factors of resourcefulness](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/the-three-factors-of-resourcefulness/index.md): What decides whether you can get the resources you need.
11. [Eight ways to reignite your passion](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/key-person-of-influence/eight-ways-to-reignite-your-passion/index.md): A checklist for when the pilot light goes out.

## More by this author

- [Entrepreneur Revolution](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/entrepreneur-revolution/index.md)
- [Oversubscribed](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/oversubscribed/index.md)
- [Scorecard Marketing](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/scorecard-marketing/index.md)

## Working with Tom on this

Tom works with creators and founders one to one, from a single session to a fractional role. [Work with Tom](https://tomsharman.com/consulting/)