What I learned from Daniel Priestley: five lessons I still use

The lesson I hear from Daniel Priestley more than any other is to sell to the top 1%. I've asked him questions on about 50 webinars, and when my answer drifts back to helping everyone, he stops me: "You're doing it again. Top 1%." That one changed who every business I run is built for.

I met Daniel when I joined Key Person of Influence in 2016, and he has been my mentor since. Here are the five lessons I still use, in the order they landed.

1. You're sitting on a mountain of value

This was the first idea that clicked. Everyone has stories, struggles, wins and ideas they never acted on. Most people think that's nothing. It's the material.

The part I didn't expect: people want to hear the struggle, not only the win. The obstacles you got past are what makes someone trust you. It's why I'm writing posts like this one, from interviews about my own life, instead of from a list of tips.

2. Sell to the top 1%

I have loads of ideas and I want to help everyone. Daniel's point is simple: everyone can't pay, and you can't build a business out of helping everyone.

So I don't try to any more. Everything I run now is aimed at founders, CEOs and decision makers, people who can see the value of investing and have the money to do it. When I catch myself drifting, I hear "Top 1%. What can you offer the top 1%?"

3. Make sure the person you want to meet knows your name

Someone taught me years ago to make sure the person you want to meet knows your name. I can't remember who, but I used it on Daniel.

He arrived early to workshops, so I arrived early and talked with him. One morning I walked into a sandwich shop before a session, found him eating a bacon sandwich and sat down with him. When there was a task on how to brand a sock, I put a Dent sticker on mine, took a photo and tagged him on Instagram.

Daniel teaches this as touch points. People need to see you in different places and take in your content in different ways before they trust you. I wasn't being pushy for the sake of it. I was doing what he taught, on him.

4. Partner, don't compete

One of the five parts of his method is partnership. Instead of treating people in your industry as rivals, work with them.

Much of my best business has come from rooms full of other founders. In 2023 I went on the alumni ski trip in the Italian Alps. Daniel arrived a day late. He got the call for his first Diary of a CEO episode on the day he was meant to fly, cancelled his flight and recorded it. That was the method in action.

I went out early, and at the airport I finally met Sebastian Bates, founder of Warrior Academy, in person. We'd done a podcast together during lockdown, but never met. He's a good guy, and exactly the kind of person you meet in rooms like that. In 2020 Daniel wrote a piece for Entrepreneur on nine entrepreneurs who have rapidly transformed their businesses, and Sebastian and I were both in it. On that trip I met the person who later built my CRM systems and got me into building them myself, which I now do for clients. I also met a mentor I went on to pay for one-to-one sessions.

That's what investing in a room like that buys you. Skiing, dinners and time with the right people.

5. Hire people better than you (the one I ignored)

The advice in the programme was to hire people better than you. I didn't. I hired on price, taking the best of whoever fit the budget, rather than people better than me at marketing, events or operations. I never brought in someone to run the business day to day, and I carried too much of the workload myself.

Every business I've run would have been better with a strong operator next to me. That's the lesson I paid for, and it's on me, not the method.

Why I keep investing in mentors

Before Key Person of Influence I'd never spent that much on myself. Since then I've paid for programmes, trips and one-to-one mentoring, including one-to-one coaching with Daniel himself, and every time the return has come from the people more than the content.

I don't spend on cars or designer clothes. I spend on buying back my time, on experiences and on the people who are a few steps ahead of me. Daniel was the first of those, and he's still the one I'd pick first. I wrote about another of those people, the night I met Dr John Demartini, in You're not an angry person.

You can find his books and programmes at danielpriestley.com. If you want to see where your own business stands, the Product Ladder scorecard is built on his scorecard method.

Questions people ask me

What is the most useful thing you learned from Daniel Priestley?

Sell to the top 1%. You can't build a business out of helping everyone, because everyone can't pay.

How did you get to know Daniel Priestley?

I joined Key Person of Influence in 2016. Daniel was at every monthly workshop, and I made sure he knew my name by arriving early and talking with him.

Is Daniel Priestley a business partner of yours?

No. He's my mentor. I get no referral fees from Dent or ScoreApp.