Hello, and welcome to Networking Unleashed Building Profitable Connections.
Now what we really talk about is networking, networking and communication.
Now, networking may be a general type term, but if you really think about it, how to network,
and as we were discussing a little bit before the podcast, is really ever since the pandemic,
people lost their minds.
They forgot how to communicate.
They forgot how to network.
They think everything is by Zoom, everything is by Zoom, and you lose the personal touch.
You don't get the vibe of the room.
If you go to a networking event, yes, you're talking to one person, but you're getting
a vibe from the rest.
And though you're talking to the one person, just somebody to your left or to your right
really give you some important information.
So be that as it may, I have an incredible guest.
He's a master of networking and communication, and really he talks about everything that
I go on stages I talk about.
So I would like to introduce Scott Schilling.
He also has a book that I feel will be very interesting, but I'll let Scott introduce
himself.
Go right ahead.
Well, thanks, Michael.
I've been very blessed.
I've done over 3,000 live events in my career, selling millions and millions of dollars from
the stage.
Along with that, I've put the sales systems behind those and took one of my clients from
8 million to 100 million in five and a half years.
So this isn't guesswork.
This is proven tips, techniques, and strategies that work.
And as we were talking earlier, people do business with people.
And that's the one thing that seems to be forgotten in the marketplace today and quite
frankly needs to be resurfaced if people want to be successful.
Yeah, listen, you are 100% absolutely correct.
And I think that people not only forgot it, but as we were saying before, whenever I go
to a workout, a workshop, or a breakout session or something, I ask the audience, I say, how
many 20-somethings are out there?
How many 20-somethings are out there?
And they raised their hands and I say, look, what we're talking about now is completely
Greek to you because you rely on a cell phone and Zoom calls and you're missing out on that
personal touch.
So, let me ask you, Scott, just give me an idea of what your journey was from beginning
to now.
And how did you get here?
Well, I was like many people.
You graduate high school, you go off to college and I was very blessed.
I wanted to play football and I was able to play Big Ten football at the University of
Iowa, Go Hawks.
But while I was going to school and playing football, I was doing that at a time where
it didn't seem like I could come out with a Baskerville Business Administration degree,
but I was, so were a whole bunch of other people.
What was going to make me different?
Well, personal face-to-face communication ability.
So I actually became a licensed life insurance agent at age 18 while I was going to school
and playing Big Ten football.
Well, what that gave me is personal face-to-face communication ability, value-added conceptual
presentation skills.
And what that means is I've never sold on price in my life.
I always sell on value.
So as a sales guy, I don't ever want to sell you anything, but I always want you to buy
a lot from me.
So it's my responsibility to create an environment where you want what I have.
Well, the real differentiator became the ability to communicate and to speak with people.
People do business with people.
Well, no, I'm doing it online.
No, ultimately you're doing it with people.
There's somebody behind the product somewhere and you can't do everything.
You might be able to be a purchaser in that direction.
You have to know how to communicate with people.
You have to know how to create relationships.
You have to know how to start a conversation.
In fact, I was at a networking event last week and there were about 100 people there.
And I was kind of standing to the outside of the gathering for a moment and this woman
walked in and she said, man, I'm already overwhelmed.
I don't even know how to get started.
And I turned and I went, she goes, you just smiled at me.
Why did you do that?
I said, you ask how do you get started.
That's how you start.
See, now you asked me why I was smiling at you.
Now we are in the middle of a conversation.
Now we can get to know each other.
She goes, wow, you're good at this.
I said, it's not really that hard.
And now she was in the financial services business.
How do you go into a room with a hundred people and not know how to start a conversation?
As Zig Ziglar said, you can always tell the salespeople that can't talk to people, they're
the ones with skinny kids.
So that's true.
I'm a big fan of Zig Ziglar.
That's the category of, listen, people hate to be sold to, but they love the body.
Okay.
So if you keep that in mind and everything you're talking about is exactly what I talk
about.
But, so let's bring this down a little bit.
Give me a personal experience that impacted your career.
Oh gosh, there have been many.
Back in the day I was asked to be a speaker at an event here in Dallas.
They had anticipated about 250 people in the audience.
There ended up being about 750 people.
So they weren't staffed to handle the opportunity that existed.
So after I spoke, I said, because I train back of the room teams and because classically
I'm a sales guy, I'll go work the back table for you the rest of the weekend.
I'm local, I'm here.
I'll just be of service to you.
And they said, well, we can't pay you.
I said, when did I ever ask to be paid?
I said, you need service.
I'm going to serve you.
So we did, had a very successful weekend.
Well, five years later, the gentleman who retained me at that first event walked into
a room at the Marina Inn in Sarasota, Florida.
And I went, hey, Rick, how you doing?
He goes, you remember me?
I said, yeah, we did that event about five years ago in Dallas.
He goes, yeah, you're right.
He ended up buying the product I was representing that day.
Five years later, he was responsible for putting people on the get motivated stages, the 25,000
person events.
He the CEO and the president all said, who's the best speaker in the country that's not
speaking on our stages right now?
Write down a name, we'll pray over it and we'll open it up.
They all wrote down a name, prayed over it, opened it up.
All three of them wrote my name.
They called me and they said, we're pretty sure God thinks you're supposed to be speaking
with us.
I was a 10 year overnight sensation.
So the fact is opportunity lies in every event.
Every time you do something, you don't know what it is if you have high intention and
low attachment, high intention of doing something great in every interaction, a low attachment
as to what that might mean for either you or for the other party.
The reality is good things happen.
Again, I subscribed to the Zig Ziglar school.
You can have everything in life you want when you help enough other people get what they
want.
That's true because whenever I go to a networking event or whenever anybody goes to a networking
event, their first thought should be to give, not to receive.
If you have that in mind, because one of the things I told them is when you're at a networking
table, and everybody's interested in what you were saying, say something, I like what
you do.
I like how you do it.
How can I be the best referral source for you?
How can I make you more successful?
It usually blows me away.
You want to do this for me?
I don't even know you.
Yes, no trust.
They know you, they like you.
If they trust you, they're going to do business with you.
That's a main thought.
Let me ask you a question.
With everything you've been through, what are some common challenges that a professional
would face and how would you overcome them?
Well, there are numerous.
Starting a conversation is the first one.
You've got to create a relationship with the person to explore whether what you're offering
might be a consideration for them or not.
That's the first thing.
The environment, the pandemic changed a lot of things, some for the better.
Many things less than better.
But what it did is it stopped people talking to each other and it stopped face-to-face
communication.
People started to rely on text and video conferencing and things like that.
There's nothing better than while this is wonderful and it's better than not doing this,
it's not the only thing.
Somebody asked me, they said, Scott, you seem pretty unique.
I said, yeah, I'm kind of a unicorn.
I'm on this amalgamation of new school sales and marketing innovation with old school boots
on the ground, face-to-face, belly-to-belly, talking to people and wanting to have long-term
relationships.
I really believe that that's what it takes today.
I don't think new school can do it alone.
It can maybe in certain industries, but not for the most part.
I don't know that old school can do it alone, but I think when you put it together, it's
a great mashup of opportunity.
It's a great thing.
And really, for you and I, we've been around the horn a little bit.
It's common sense.
This is common sense marketing.
But to somebody younger than we are, it may not be.
You have to show them what to do, and they may look at you like you have three heads.
But listen, put the phone down, get off the Zoom, actually go to networking meetings.
And I say, look, because when people ask me all the time, I don't know how to do that.
I don't know how to get into the networking mode.
I said, very simple, go.
OK?
There are 1,000 networking meetings.
Go on to a, what is that, meetup.com, and you can find it.
There's 1,000 of them.
And just go.
Because listen, first time you go, it's not going to be pretty.
OK?
It's going to mess up.
OK?
But the second time you go, it'll get a little better.
The third time you go, a little better than that.
OK?
And before you know it, you're a professional, and you're going out and you're talking with
everybody.
But here's the trick.
You're talking to people.
You're not talking to your computer.
You're not talking to your cell phone.
You've got it.
OK.
So let me ask you a question.
What is one essential tip that you would give somebody to improve their networking or sales
skills?
You know, I think it comes back down to, and it sounds a little bit like a broken record,
but it's where it all starts, is start conversations.
Have conversations.
Be inquisitive.
Have childlike wonder.
Ask questions.
It's not about, you know, I do 30 second elevator presentations.
I don't pitch.
Baseball players pitch.
I present.
I'm a professional.
But I think that, I'll give you an example.
There was a meeting one day, and there were seven people the first month they did it.
There were 57 people the second month.
Obviously, that means it was all new people the second time around.
Well, everybody stood up during their elevator presentation.
Most people do.
They tried to sell the room.
Fifty second person to go that day.
And I said, Hi, I'm Scott Schilling.
I'm a trainer, speaker, author, coach, consultant, dog walker.
I do a lot of different stuff.
But I haven't earned the right to ask you for anything.
So I do have a free offer for everybody.
You can go to TWGFreeGift.com and download one of my books.
And if you download one of my books and you read it and you go, Hey, this guy seems okay.
My contact information is in there.
If there's something that resonates with you, reach out to me and we'll start a conversation
there.
I want to give you a gift.
I don't have anything to ask for.
And I sat down.
Well, after the meeting, like 50 people lined up to talk to me because I was the only one
that didn't try to sell the room.
I gave the room something.
And so one of the other things you could do at networking meetings is say, let's say that
you and I were in a networking meeting and say, Hey, you know, I'd love to, you know,
I'm a trainer, a speaker, an author, a coach, a consultant, all those kinds of things.
That's really cool.
But recently I was on Michael's podcast and Michael is an amazing guy.
If you guys don't get to know him, you're really making a mistake and ultimately become
a third party advocate for you or somebody in the room.
See if more people would go and try to support or say, Hey, I just did this deal with Michael.
That was absolutely amazing.
He took such great care of me.
You really should get to know him.
Well, if people come over and get to know you, what are you probably going to say about
me?
You know, it was one of the best transactions I ever.
So now I become your advocate, you become my advocate and better things happen.
See when I even you said, you know, please introduce yourself.
What I said was all factual.
I've done over 3000 live events.
I've probably had a million people sitting in seats in front of me.
I've been the front man to eight infomercials.
I've sold 25 million from the stage.
That's all factual stuff.
But if I say it, it could be taken as arrogant or egotistical or don't I think I'm something.
No, I'm just spouting some facts.
But if you say those exact same things, it holds a different kind of credence, right?
You can sell you.
Typically, I can sell you better.
Why?
Well, are you going to tell me you're not awesome?
You're never going to tell me that.
But if I say you're awesome and I say, Michael, why does everybody say you're so awesome?
Then it's informational.
It's taken totally differently.
So become great at bragging on other people.
Become great at saying, gosh, it's so good to see you.
Hey, have you met Tom over here?
Man, Tom, you got to meet Michael because he's just flipping awesome.
Again, that's going to get you a whole lot further in networking than going, hey, Tom,
I'm really awesome.
You're right.
Right.
But that's why I said that when you go to a networking event or a networking meeting,
you're looking to give and you praise other people because as well as I do, what goes
around will come around.
OK.
If you do that to enough people, then they're going to start to you as well.
Now, once they do that, once you give you want to give a referral, make sure it's a
referral.
But you have to give them something extraordinary.
And I too, like on my website, I have my book sale.
But right next to it, I have a bridge version.
OK.
It's everything that's in the book as a PDF.
You download it and that will get you on your way for networking.
And it's free.
Just take it.
And people ask me all the time, they say, why do you do that right next to your book?
Don't you want to sell your book?
I said, no, not really.
I'm here to make you more successful.
That's exactly why when we were talking, you know, this just came out.
90 second success tips, 104 tips to sell more with less effort.
Somebody said, well, why are you putting it out?
And I said, well, it's pretty simple.
I don't think people want to sell less with more effort.
You know, I mean, I think it's pretty self-explanatory.
I was paid a whole bunch of money for what's in that book for a company that we took from
eight million to a hundred million in five and a half years.
And I was taught, well, you don't take things that you could sell in a seminar and put it
into a book.
Why would you take thousands of dollars and turn it into $20 on Amazon?
Well, but we're at a time where people need that information.
So it's time to put it in a book so that people can get it so they can sell more with less
effort so that they can enjoy life.
Because we've got to do what we can do to serve people, to help people, again, get in
these conversations.
Because as nice as the conversations are for business, they're having the same challenges
in life.
They're not talking to their wife.
They're not talking to their kids.
They're not talking to who could be friends.
They're not friends because they're not talking to them because they don't know them.
And so there's so many different things that can be done if in fact we simply engage with
people.
Well, how do you do that?
You walk up and you capture their interest and attention.
You say something about them.
Wow, that's a good looking shirt, man.
I love that green.
It doesn't take much.
It usually surprises them like my shirt.
So why don't you give me a little sneak peek of your book?
Give me one little excerpt from your book that you really feel passionate about.
The one that always comes up because it makes me laugh and hopefully it sets a tone.
But one of the tips in there is sell dog food to dog.
Sell dog food to dogs and cat food to cats.
Because if you sell dog food to cats, it just pisses them off.
Like I say, it's a little tongue in cheek and a little funny, but people try to jam
their solution, their round peg into too many square holes.
And that's what that tip is all about is when people say, Scott, what is it you do?
I identify problems and provide solutions.
It's only four words.
But most people are so enamored with their solution that they try to get it to fit everywhere.
And the reality is more than likely it doesn't.
And so you're not doing yourself any good.
You're not doing them any good.
You didn't solve their problem.
You ultimately, while you may have made a sale and made a little commission, they're
going to return it.
So the commission's going back.
Now the company's got to do all the paperwork.
Now your merchant services gets dinged.
There's more negative to selling something that shouldn't have been sold than there is
positive.
And so I'm all about doing this the right way for the right reasons with the right people.
Pretty simple.
And I realized that a lot of these tips seem very simplistic and on one side they kind
of are.
But then why aren't you doing it?
So just because it's simple.
I learned a great lesson from Zig backstage one day.
He's talking with Les Brown.
And Les said, you know, Zig, we go from city to city and I change my talk every week and
I got a fresh talk and you use the same dang talk every week.
And he says, why?
And Zig said, well, that's for two reasons.
For one, because the people in this city need to hear this message and they haven't heard
it yet.
But more importantly, I teach truth and truth never changes.
This book is truth.
They might be 90 second success tips, but they're truth.
You could do them today.
You could have done them five years ago.
You can do them five years from now.
It doesn't matter.
Truth works.
Treating people with respect, honor and dignity is truth.
Absolutely.
Novel concept, right?
So that's I'm on a mission to return respect, honor and dignity to the planet and get people
enjoying their life again.
As a military veteran, honor is very big with me.
The truth and honesty and all that resonates with me greatly.
So I just want to thank you for everything you're doing, everything that you've done.
Please read the book.
Scott, if people wanted to get hold of you, what's the best way?
Man, my email, I don't hide very well.
It's scott at scottschilling.com and my website is aptly named scottschilling.com.
Just seek me out, reach out and let's have a conversation.
I'm here to be of service and love meeting people.
That's great.
Scott, I want to thank you again.
This was a great time and everybody, if you really want to learn more about Scott, please
go to his website and you'll learn oodles more.
Okay.
Absolutely.
I'm committed to oodles.
Okay.
I'll see you soon.
See you soon.
This has been another episode of Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable Connections.
First of all, to all my brethren, all the veterans of these United States, thank you
for your service.
Second, if you'd like to offer me a call, I always give to Tunnel for the Networkers.
That's t2t.org.
Thank you.