Welcome to another episode of Networking Unleashed,
Building Profitable Connections. I'm your host,
Michael Foreman, and today we're talking about
the kind of networking that doesn't just grow
your business, it grows you as a leader. My guest
is someone who knows what it means to lead through
challenge, to mentor through uncertainty, and
to build relationships that stand the test of
time, both personally and professionally. His
experience in leadership and mentorship gives
him a front row seat to how meaningful connections
can be the difference between burning out and
breaking through. Whether you're building a business,
leading a team, or navigating life's curveballs,
today's conversation will challenge you to see
your network not just as contacts, but as catalysts.
So I'd like to introduce Jeff Gripando. He's
part of a larger company. I will let Jeff introduce
himself and give us a little taste of his background.
Welcome to the show, Jeff. Thank you, Michael.
I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Been
looking forward to this conversation for quite
some time. To talk about my background a little
bit, it's interesting. I have to say I have a
very decorated past, and I owe that to my father.
When I was in middle school, I grew up in Chicago,
Illinois. My father got transferred to Jackson,
Mississippi. I was down there for a few years.
He gets promoted again. We moved to Atlanta,
Georgia. So I'm now in my second high school
at this time. The summer between my junior and
senior year of high school, my dad comes home
and says, I just got promoted again. They want
me to run the manufacturing facility out in San
Leandro, California, which is in the Bay Area.
And we moved to California. So I went to three
high schools in my life. And the reason I bring
that up is I was forced at a really young age.
on how to make friends quickly, and you had to
put yourself out there. And I lost all fear of
being shy, timid, what have you, because if I
didn't put myself out there, I wouldn't have
friends. And so I joined every single club, played
sports, got jobs when I turned 16, and I just
started meeting people and so forth. So I ended
up going to college out in California, and I
started my career with a printing company. And
I was a salesperson out in the San Francisco
Bay Area. This is 1990, 91. And I was trained
by a very good company on how to sell print and
how to build relationships. That was really,
it was drilled into our heads very quickly. We
sell consumable products. We sell print. We sell
stuff that people have to use over and over again
to run their businesses. And so the message was
people like. they buy from people they like and
so you so the first thing you need to do is figure
out how to build a relationship and i think i
had a lot of history doing that all through my
middle school and high school and college years
obviously and i just became pretty good at it
and i knew that i wanted to learn more about
the company and work in a marketing role and
i was then transferred to chicago where our corporate
office was built I then wanted to get into a
sales management role, and I was moved out to
Denver, Colorado, where I managed our sales office
and a variety of offices in the Rocky Mountain
region. And I continued to grow in my career
around print, around branded merchandise, promotional
products, all about marketing, all about brand.
Brand was pretty much... in my DNA. I eventually
made my way back to Atlanta, Georgia, and was
fortunate enough to get promoted in running a
branded merchandise division of a billion dollar
company out of Dayton, Ohio. And that's, I would
say, really accelerated my career. across a lot
of different leadership areas, mentorship areas,
and so forth. But I would say, if you ever asked
me, when I get to retirement someday and someone
said, what was the best part of your career?
I would say, I got to travel the country and
actually work with and meet folks from some of
the largest brands in the United States. To be
able to do business with Harley Davidson, Boeing,
to do business with Jelly Belly. I've been in
the Jelly Belly plant in Vacaville, California.
California Coors Brewing Company aggressive insurance
Geico just some massive brands and some wonderful
people that I had the fortunate opportunity to
work with and and that's probably been the best
part of my career now five years ago I in the
middle of COVID I took this new position with
a company called GBS Corporation I'm the president
of our printing and promotional product division
our division is called GBS Brand Connect And
I was fortunate enough to get this position because
of an acquisition that GBS made of a boutique
agency called Atomic Wash out of Norcross, Georgia.
An agency and folks that I did business with
for at least 20 years prior to both of us becoming
a part of GBS. And it's been, the past five years
have been wonderful. Been a lot of challenges,
as you all know, since 2020. But we continue
to grow and to help. customers advance their
greatest asset, which we think is their brand.
Absolutely. And I'm in agreement with you 100
% since half of my life is branding and everything
else also. I agree 100%. So let's delve into
the question, shall we? Sure. Perfect. In your
leadership journey, how has networking played
a role, not just opportunity, but in resilience?
Oh, that's a great question. I think it's in
terms of resilience, it's and I would almost
go back to being a starting as a sales rep. It's
you're faced with rejection every single day.
We're still obviously faced with rejection and
it teaches you and it forces you to think, how
can I get into my walk in my customer's shoes,
get into their, we used to call it, get into
their odds are understanding their business.
And then being able to mentor a sales force to
think and understand the same way. No only means
no for now. That's kind of the philosophy. And
I think a lot of that comes through resilience
and not getting frustrated and so forth. But
I always like to tell my reps, and I have the
same philosophy, when you're having a bad day,
pick up the phone and call one of your best customers,
one of your best relationships you have, and
just talk about the business and their lives
and their families and so forth. Or go out and
have... dinner with them or take them to a ball
game or something. That always makes the day
better and helps you get through those tough
times when you need to be resilient and patient
and always moving forward. On top of that, to
answer your question, I think the ability to
set goals and objectives is very important too.
And before you sit down or venture out into something
new or start something different, build a goal,
build the objectives, build the action steps,
and then hold yourself accountable, hold your
team accountable to what you wrote. All goals
should be written down. You type, write them
down, type them up. They need, and they need
to be posted somewhere. And then always go back
and evaluate and review where you stand against
those goals, whether it's a weekly, monthly or
quarterly basis. I think that's very important
in anybody's leadership style. Absolutely. I
used to have a whiteboard behind my desk and
I used to put my goals up there. And I very quickly
realized that a whiteboard is erasable. So one
day when my brother, who was in the company at
the same time, changed a few of the words and
I was in trouble. But putting your goals written
down on a ball, on something, very good advice.
And that's something I think that everybody should
do. It's funny, if you came into my office and
you probably can't see it very well, but right
behind me is two whiteboards and there's every
single goal and objective for my business unit
for 2025. And I actually, which is interesting,
and I'm a big believer as a leader, manager,
what have you, your teams need to be a part of
that goal setting process. Probably in November
-ish of this year, I will gather up my director
of operations, my customer service manager, my
director of sales. I'll take a few key people
off their staffs. We'll all go into our boardroom
down the hall over here, and we'll start building
our goals and objectives for 2026. I won't erase
that until January 1st because we like to always
go back and do a quick review. How did you finish
the year? Document it. That'll all get erased.
And then everything that we worked on in November
and December will go up on that board. By January
5th, that board will be full of all of our 26
goals. So yeah, I'm the big believer in looking
at it every day. I look at that every morning.
Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. As did I. As did
I. And in a mortgage business, I had 15 people
under me and they always saw the whiteboard when
they came into my office. They always saw my
goals and they saw that I was serious. I wrote
down my goals and I was serious. And that was
one thing that I hope that they picked up on.
Yeah. And as a manager of an operation, yeah,
that those goals and objectives. They should
cascade down to everybody. So everybody's tied
into, obviously my salespeople have specific
goals. My customer service people have specific
goals, but those goals should all bundle up,
roll up to what's on that whiteboard back there
for the entire operation. And I think over the
years, we've done a very good job of making this
a team effort, not just me. standing here as
a dictator saying we're going to do this. It's
a team effort. We win and lose as a team, not
as individuals. That's always been my philosophy.
That's key in leadership. That's key in leadership.
You want to be a team, but your team, you have
to... create other leaders you have to give them
the responsibility and so that they feel like
they are part of it and so by them feeling part
of it they're more accountable and then you can
hold them accountable so it's a whole big process
but very good that's can you share a moment when
a mentor or a key connection helped you overcome
a major obstacle Yes. And I think the example
that I'd like to give was we were challenged.
It was a promotional product customer. This was
in my previous job. We were challenged by this
organization to set up a separate operation in
Mexico City. So this organization had their headquarters
was in Chicago. They also had another headquarters
in Mexico City because that's where a lot of
the products were manufactured south of the border.
And they wanted a website, everything in Spanish,
obviously. They wanted a supply chain where they
wouldn't have to pay duties and taxes. So as
you may or may not know, a lot of our branded
merchandise items are manufactured in Asia, in
China. They come to the United States, and that's
where they're decorated and so forth. And then
if they were then shipped to Mexico, you're paying
duties and taxes. And nowadays, tariffs is the
big word of the day. But they didn't want to
have to pay that. So we had to build a supply
chain that went right from China into Mexico.
So it never touched the United States and so
forth. So it was a big challenge. And my mentor
at the time was my chief executive officer. And
he, for first, was very... negative on the fact
of sending a team down to Mexico City. They were
worried about our safety, obviously. I had never
been to Mexico City before and so forth, but
the requests kept coming from the customer that
this is something you all need to do. If you
ever want to get into the European marketplace
with us, you're going to have to start here.
After I convinced my CEO, who was a great mentor
to me, he was actually my vice president of sales
when I was a regional sales manager in Atlanta.
So I worked for him. years and he was promoted
to CEO. His leadership and mentorship around
the conversations we had of everything that we
had to get accomplished and being able to sit
down, document, meet regularly to go through
that process. He assisted in working with key
decorators here in the United States. We found
out who had operations in Mexico City and we
built a complete strategy of how we were going
to get this accomplished. Funny little story.
At the time, we only had one gentleman in our
whole company. And this is a billion -dollar
company. One gentleman that spoke Spanish. That
was bilingual. And he's actually still with this
company. He's one of their sales reps in Miami,
Florida. He's from Cuba. So when I first flew
from Atlanta down to Mexico City, he flew over
from Miami that Sunday morning. And our folks
from Chicago flew down. And we all met up at
the airport in Mexico City. And it was just classic
having him there because none of us spoke Spanish.
And it was an interesting experience. I'll admit
it was a little scary the first time because
you hear about corporate folks getting kidnapped
and this and that. And they warned us and told
us how to dress and what to do. But that mentor
was very, he's still, he's retired now, but we
still talk and stay in touch. And he's been a
mentor to myself and a lot of other people over
the years. That's probably the biggest challenge
where I needed him to assist me in my career.
Everybody needs a mentor. As big as you are,
you always have a mentor. I feel because I have
a mentor also, but I mentor other people. Okay,
so I feel like I'm in the middle. Everybody asks
me because the people who I coach and who I mentor,
they look at me and they say, who do you have?
Because if we're asking for you for problems,
who are you going to? I'm to a higher authority.
You know, that's all I say. Exactly. That's all
I know. Okay. What's the difference between managing
people and leading through relationships? Oh,
that's another good question. You know what?
I think at a very high level, when you say managing
people, that kind of strikes me as an eight to
five job. That's someone coming in, punching
the clock. Making sure that whatever needs to
get done that day is getting done and so forth.
My other mentor in my life, and he has passed
away a couple years ago, is my father. And I
mentioned my father earlier in this conversation.
And I used to go to work a lot with my father.
When I turned 16, when I was in college, I worked
at that manufacturing facility out in California.
And then my father... My father led by example
when he told me a long time ago that a good leader
is a servant to their teams. And coincidentally,
years later, I'm in Denver and I have a new vice
president of sales that I'm now reporting to.
And I remember he walked into the office in Denver.
And he'd be another mentor in my life, too. I've
got great stories about him. But he handed me
a little paperback book, and it said, a leader
is a servant. And I already had that philosophy
that was in my DNA because of my father. And
I read that book. And I'm a true believer that,
you know what? Leaders, you lead by example.
And you roll your sleeves up, and you get in
the trenches with your team. That's the one thing
I loved about my father was we lived 45 minutes
away from that plant that he was running. And
his goal was to be in that office, in the facility,
because the first shift started at 6 a .m. And
he wanted to be in the building. He wanted to
be one of the first people in there. He didn't
need to be. He probably could have showed up
at 8 o 'clock if he wanted to. But he used to
drag me, and I used to complain. Here's a high
school kid, and we're getting up at 4 .30 in
the morning and going to work every day in the
summer. I'm home for summer break during college.
But boy, he... That I saw what he did. I watched
it with my own two eyes and his people really
respected him. And because he led by example,
I think that's how I lead my life. You know what?
It's not beneath me. If we have a big kidding
job going on right now out in our warehouse here,
a hundred feet away from me. I'll go right out
there and help them get that team gets the job
done. And it doesn't matter what your title is.
You do what you need to do to get the job done.
And ultimately, we all at GBS here, my philosophy
is we work for our customers. That's who my boss
is. My boss is all those customers that we service
and have relationships with. So I think that's
the difference. Absolutely. And really. The key
to, now I'm going to combine networking with
leadership. So the key to networking, there's
a mantra, know you like you, trust you, they'll
do business with you. Everybody knows the mantra.
But when you go to a networking event, you go
with a servant's heart. You go for the act of
giving, not receiving. So everybody thinks that
you go to one of these networking events that
you're going to sell. That's the absolute wrong
idea. When you get... to having a relationship
with somebody say, you know something, I like
you. I like how you do business. How can I make
you more successful? How can I be a good referral
source for you? That usually blows them away.
You know what you do yet? And you're saying,
how can I be more successful? But that's what
you do. So that's the mindset that you get in.
So when you said having a servant's heart, it's
all over. As long as you are authentic when you
say it. And I want to tell you that there's an
old book by Ken Blanchard called The Raving Fan.
I've read other books by him, but not that one.
But okay. Yep. It's a small book. Right. I used
to give it out to realtors when I was in the
mortgage industry. It's a quick read, 45 minute
read, whatever. But it's all about customer service.
Well, I'd like to make another comment about
attending networking events because I go to quite
a bit of them throughout the year. And you're
right. I think when you first approach someone
or you meet someone, yeah, the thought process
has to be this relationship has to be mutually
beneficial. here just to sell you and sell you
gbs products and services that's it's got to
be mutually beneficial and that's about and now
what are you doing you're building relationship
you're building rapport with somebody and so
forth and that's 100 how i go into those events
and and we've had a lot of success here at gbs
doing it that way and but most people don't have
that thinking have that way of thinking and it
throws everything off. If you go in with that
in thought in your mind, then you'll be much
more successful. Yeah, I love it. That's always
been my philosophy. As you can tell earlier in
this conversation, I mentioned about all the
different places I've lived. I've traveled all
over the country for work. And again, I think
it's in my DNA that I like meeting people. I
like when I go out to dinner and if I'm alone,
I don't sit at the table by myself with my computer.
I go sit at the bar. I sit at the bar and I talk
to people and it's mutually beneficial. It's
not about me necessarily trying to sell you something.
And here's what I do. So you always have the
other person talk about. themselves. I use something
called F -O -R -M. It's family, occupation, recreation,
and a message. So you can take any, yep, you
can use it. When you speak to somebody, you have
that in mind. Husband, wife, sister, brother,
daughter, son, whatever. You can have them talk
about themselves because people love to talk
about themselves. The more that they talk, the
That barrier that they usually have between people,
that starts to come down. And that trust factor,
which is so crucial, that goes up. So you're
automatically more trusted as a networking person.
And that's before they even know what you do.
Exactly. I have another quick little funny story.
So my first day, actually, I have to say this.
This past Wednesday was June 11th. And I started
my career on, I graduated college in 1990. I
started my career on June 11th, 1990. So I just
had my 35th anniversary this past Wednesday of
being in my career, which I thought was cool.
But I remember that first day I walk into the
office at 8 a .m. in the morning and it's a sales
job. And I go into my director of sales's office
and we sit down and he starts onboarding me and
we're doing the paperwork and all that good stuff.
Then he goes, come here. And he takes me into
the conference room. sit down. And then he looks
at me and he goes, tell me something about myself.
And I'm like, looking at him like, what are you
talking about? You're my manager. You hired me
from Cal State Chico. He goes, no, tell me something
about myself. And I'm like, Dave, I don't know
what you mean. He goes, go back into my office
and sit in there for five minutes and then come
back. And I went back in his office and I started
looking around the office. I came back and I
said, okay, now I'm going to tell you something
about yourself based on what I saw in your office.
And he was a big auto racing guy, big Indianapolis
five. He had pictures of the Indy 500. He had
pictures of his family and his daughter on his
desk. And that's how you start to build rapport
with people. You're going to walk into a potential
customer's office. Talk about them. And because
like you said, Michael, people like to talk about
themselves. So I do that. I do that little trick
with any new person I hire. I bring them into
this office. We chat for a little while and then
we leave. And I say, tell me something. And if
you looked around my office, you'd see a lot
of Chicago Cubs stuff over there because I grew
up in Chicago. I'm a big golf fan. I've been
to the Masters and the Atlanta Athletic Club
and the PGA Championship back in 2011. That's
over there. Yeah. You can see things about Jeff
Rapando. And now you're starting to break ice
and build rapport with somebody. Yep. Absolutely.
Absolutely. And here's a little trick you can
give to your people, whatever. When you walk
into somebody's office and you're thinking form,
okay, that's what you're thinking. Look on the
walls, any pictures, any ideas, anything else.
But the pictures that he has on his desk, okay,
if the pictures are facing him, that's his family,
and he likes to keep them close. If the pictures
are facing out. towards you, that is an invitation
for you to ask questions about his family. I've
never heard that before. Yeah, that's okay. Yeah,
very big, very big. And that's just something
with the networking that you do. Instead of networking
events, when you're going and having a meeting
with somebody, you have about 30 seconds to check
out the walls. Is there major leagues? Is there
a youth sports, a grandson or something, something
that will tell you a musical note on the wall?
He's into music. Right. And you can talk about
that. And that's the beautiful thing. Obviously,
in 1990, cell phones weren't around quite yet
where everyone had one. There was no such thing,
obviously, as LinkedIn. So that's another tidbit.
And I do this myself because even as president
of this operation, I still prospect. Again, a
leader leads by example. Yeah, I utilize LinkedIn
all the time. Look at people's past and backgrounds
and find some common ground there. And it really
opens up that whole. process of networking and
so forth. That's true. One day you should look
at my LinkedIn profile. It's about this big.
Okay. Because it's got everything listed inside
of it. Okay. So you've mentioned others. You've
probably been mentored, which you have said before.
What makes a mentorship relationship truly powerful?
I think when that relationship maybe goes a little
bit beyond business, it becomes a little more
personal, maybe. That's, I think, when it becomes
powerful. I'm mentoring a couple of young sales
reps right now on my team. And to be able to...
almost be a part of their family it's interesting
i get asked questions and because these folks
are in their 20s and i'm in my mid to late 50s
and the questions they're asking me i've lived
those i've lived there i remember what i have
one young man who just had a baby and i go i
remember when we had our first baby and i know
what you're going through and i know you're struggling
with getting your work done because you're tired.
And actually, I was with him yesterday and we
just had a whole conversation and just some tips
that I gave him on how to get through that and
so forth because he knows it's starting to affect
his job a little bit. And so to me, that... Mentoring
typically in the beginning seems to be all about
training. I'm going to teach you something. I'm
going to show you how to get something done.
But when it becomes that next level of communication,
like I just mentioned, the relationship is growing
into areas outside of just the day -to -day business.
I think that is when it becomes powerful. Absolutely.
You have to find that fine line between business
and personal, but a true mentor. You know everything
about the person who you're mentoring and the
trials and tribulations that he's going through.
So if you can give him advice in that respect,
you become all knowing. You become bigger and
better than he even thought. And that will help
him in business even further. Okay. So some people
only network when they need something. What's
your take on networking as a long -term leadership
practice? I think my take is it's one of those
things you've got to be disciplined to the activity,
right? And it needs to be interwoven inside your
goals and objectives and your business plan.
So that whiteboard back there, there's definitely
networking objectives that you'll see up on that
board. But have fun with it. See, I like it.
I think some people look at it as a chore. I
actually enjoy it. Because I have fun with it.
I want to get out there and I want to walk into
a networking event and I got my GBS Brand Connect
shirt on and I want people to see that. I want
people to ask me, who's GBS? What do you all
do? And type of thing and so forth. So I think
it just needs to be a part of any other goal
and objective. It's just as important as us hitting
our revenue and gross profit goals. That networking,
it's just as important. And then set goals for
yourself. Yeah, I went to a networking event
in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. And my goal
was to leave that event with 10 new contacts.
And I accomplished that. It started off a little
slow. I'll be honest with you. I was a little
worried that I wasn't going to get 10 contacts,
but I stuck it out and it turned out great. I
used to go to networking when I was in a mortgage
company. I used to go to networking events and
come home with a shoebox filled with business
cards and say, look how good I did when I didn't
do good at all. Now, with a three or four hour
event, I say come back with 15, 20 business cards.
Yeah. And do your follow up. I have a whole secret
sauce for follow up. Okay. That really, you'll
know right away whether or not they are truly
interested, just a little bit interested or not.
With everything that I have, it really introduces
various ways where you will know yourself. Correct.
I know exactly what you're saying. Yeah, it's
about quality, not quantity when you go to these
events, right? Yes. Yep. Absolutely. And you
have to have fun. If you're not enjoying yourself,
that comes out. 100%. You see, I'm having a very
good time. Be yourself. Crack a joke, providing
that you're a funny person. You have to crack
a joke because nothing's worse than somebody
cracking a joke who isn't funny. You're right.
That takes the air out of the conversation or
the room real fast. Yes. Really fast. Really
fast. Okay. So for leaders facing tough times,
what role does network play in how they respond,
adapt, and grow through it? I think. Having a
solid network or even your mentors and so forth,
being able to lean on other people and past experiences
and being able to pick the phone up or send an
email, send a text to someone, hey, I'm struggling
with this right now. I'm sure you and your organization
are feeling the same pains. I'll bring up tariffs.
It's been a wild ride. I think since the start
of the year and so forth. And especially when
your business is so tied into products and services
that are coming from outside of the country.
That's been a big challenge. And I will admit,
I have talked a lot. to my network and contacts
about how they're dealing with it, what they're
learning, how they're educating their customers,
how they're trying to stay in front of it. That's
probably the best thing I can say about that
because that has become a huge topic of conversation
at a lot of events that I attend in the spaces
and areas that I run in now and so forth. Yeah,
I think to answer your question, having a broad
network, a very diversified network only can
help you. be open to the fact to reach out and
ask for help, ask questions if need be. Yeah,
I have a great many connections on LinkedIn,
but I have a certain few that ask me the questions
through LinkedIn or email because they're going
through a problem, usually a networking or communication
problem, and they want to know, is this the right
way or is there a better way to handle it? And
I answered a little bit. And they always are
appreciative. But A, I was asked. So it made
me feel good. My answer made them feel good.
It was always that type of a feeling. And they
would respect that and make my network grow.
And that's really what I'm after. Okay, so here
we go. How do you spot real connections? versus
surface -level networking, especially when your
time and energy are limited? Oh, that's a good
question. Now, we've talked a lot about when
you go to a networking event and it has to be
a mutually beneficial relationship. We did this
at GBS probably about the time I started here.
One of the first things that we had to identify
was... What is our sweet spot? What are the vertical
markets that we want to play in? What are the
products and services we want to sell in those
vertical markets? And what do we need to be smart
about? We're going to walk away or not focus
on, I would say, in our prospecting efforts.
So we built what we call a sweet spot. So when
I go to these events, especially like a chamber
event, I go to the Akron Chamber of Commerce.
I go to the Canton Chamber of Commerce here.
I've been to Youngstown as well. and so forth.
And there's all walks of life there, all different
kinds of businesses and so forth. I have an idea
of where I want to focus my time and so forth.
And I know there's other people there that want
to capture my attention, my time, if they're
selling something to me on a personal level,
because you get a lot of that, obviously. There's
insurance people there, the folks that want to
put the brain guard over your gutters, they're
all there and so forth. So I think you just got
to understand where you want to spend your time
in that two -hour session or three hours or whatever
it is. But always be nice. Always be cordial.
Speak to everybody. But then quickly pivot to
where you need to be and who you need to be speaking
to, I guess, is the best way I would say that.
Yeah. I'm laughing while you're talking because
I'm agreeing with everything that you're saying.
And, you know, I know a local chamber of commerce
is also part of that. It's like when I get up
in front of them and I say you're at a networking
table, you don't talk immediately. You don't
say anything. Wait for the conversation. Is this
a conversation that I want to become involved
with? If it's not, you politely bow out and go
to the next table. That's right. And if it is,
of course, then you stay and talk and everything
else. But you have to, it's called active listening.
You have to listen for what's going on. Is this
conversation? It's not. I'll see you later. I'm
going to the next table. You don't say that,
of course. You politely bow out and you go to
the next table. But it could be there. I had
a situation a year ago where I met some folks
and I didn't quite know. I just walked up to
the table and I started talking to them. They
represented the Akron Canton Food Bank. And now
that would not. fit a sweet spot of gbs brand
connect and so forth but i started talking to
them and it actually was mutually beneficial
because now my wife and i volunteer and time
and donations and what have you because of that
conversation i'm not selling to them we will
never sell to them and so forth but You're right.
You've got to walk into every conversation politely.
Everybody wants to talk about what they do because
it's important to them. And what they're doing
is a wonderful mission. And that was interesting,
but it had nothing to do with me selling to them.
Absolutely. The best way to go out and to network,
if you volunteer, volunteer for something, and
you go in, because eventually it'll come around,
what do you do for a living? Correct. You don't
come out and say it, but something will happen
and say, what do you do? And then you go and
start talking about it, but you're never pushing
it. You're trusted almost immediately when that
happens because you haven't pushed it. I do like
those events too, when you go and you, especially
the breakfast one. So everyone is sitting down
having breakfast around the table and you don't
know who you're necessarily sitting with. But
there's questions on the table and the table
has to, everyone has to answer the question.
So it just gets the conversation going and moving.
And then usually there's a guest presenter, but
then there's like networking afterwards, right?
So, you know, right away, okay, here's a table
of 10 people based on those questions that we
asked and we all talked. There's maybe two or
three there, but then when you get up and start
mingling, those are the ones that you're going
to talk to. And everyone goes off into their
proper areas, I would say. Absolutely. And I
like those also, by the way, the breakfast because
it's a very good icebreaker. Sometimes you need
that when you walk into an event or something.
My usually go -to sentence is, wow, that's a
nice blazer or that's a nice pair of shoes or
something. Something to break up the conversation
without saying, hey, what do you do? What do
you do? Why are you here? And what do you want
to sell me? Yeah. Usually they say, hey, you
know, what brought you here today? I said, my
2017 Dodge Ram. Right there. You know, and they're
like, what? Okay. So as a mentor, how do you
help others build confidence in reaching out
and connecting with people who seem out of their
league? Oh, that's a great question. The best
thing that I can say that I do, number one, I
like to role play a little bit first because
I have a couple of young salespeople that they're
very, it's interesting. You're in sales, but
you're uncomfortable in this environment, right?
So I like to role play it first. Let's just role
play. Pretend I'm the CEO of XYZ company and
you just came up to me at this event. So let's
role play that. And then when we go to the event
together, I have them, I'll have them tag along
with me in the beginning. They listen to me and
see what I'm doing and how I'm speaking. And
then I'll send them on their own. And I say,
okay, now you got to go over there, go to that
table way over there, and so forth. So it is
a definite process. It's a definite process in
getting people out of their shells. There's one
event that I love, and I'm going to take a couple
of my young reps to this one coming up here next
month. Akron has the Cleveland Guardians double
A baseball team is called the Akron Rubber Ducks.
And they play their stadiums right in downtown
Akron. And the Chamber of Commerce does business
at the ballpark night. And it's the best networking
event they do. They open up the out in right
field. There's like a big party patio out there.
There's like a tiki bar. And they open that up
to the chamber members. And batting practice
is going on behind you. The stadium's not, people
aren't coming in yet to the stadium because the
game's probably not starting for another two
hours. But everyone is out there on a nice late
afternoon, weeknight and having a beer and talking.
And everybody's very, we've gotten so much business
just by attending that one event because the
atmosphere, it's because of the environment.
And I'm going to take, I'm going to take my two
young reps to that here in a couple of weeks
in July and just wear shorts, wear a t -shirt.
And put your GBS ball cap on, and we're going
to go. And you're going to go, and you're not
going to hang with me. I'm going to go over there.
You're going to go over there. The other guy's
going to go over here. And yeah, and we're going
to have fun. And yeah, they got to get out of
the shell. You just got to keep forcing them
to get out of their shell. Eventually, they're
going to eke out themselves. But that's a great,
down here, a lot of the groups go to the stripers.
Yes, that's right. In Gwinnett County. Yeah.
Yeah, it's the same thing. And I used to, when
I lived in New York, we had another minor league
ballpark and we had the same events there. I
had the best time networking with everybody,
but we're having such a good time that, you know,
we're talking. And all I did was make arrangements
for meetings another time. Well, I told my young
reps, I go, isn't it easier? And if you say no,
that I'm going to be perplexed, but isn't it
easier going to a networking event and talking
to someone face to face than picking up a phone
cold and trying to call somebody? Don't you find
that to me, anything done face to face is a thousand
times easier than me picking up a phone and calling
someone cold. Absolutely. You're preaching to
the choir, Jeff. You're preaching to the choir
because that's exactly what, look, Zoom is great.
Your cell phone is great. But nothing is the
same as when you meet somebody, you feel the
vibe of the person, you feel the vibe of the
room, and it gets you juiced. You're with all
these people. There's just something about it
that you can't get through Zoom. That's right.
100%. Yep. Okay. Okay. What's one leadership
trait that makes someone magnetic in their network?
someone others want to follow or collaborate
with? What's one leadership trait that magnetic
person has that others want to follow or collaborate
with? Well, I think number one, having an outgoing
personality, having the trait of, like you said,
that I... Being a leader, you have to make hard
decisions at times. You have to make tough decisions
at times. Always be firm, be frank, be friendly.
Those are like some of the key F words that I
have. Firm, frank, friendly. Those are good leadership
traits, I think. And that makes people gravitate
to leaders and so forth. It was the four Fs,
and I can't remember the fourth one. It was firm,
frank, friendly, fair. Those are the four Fs.
Yeah. So remember that mentor I mentioned to
you way back when, early in my career? I remember
him telling me that. But those are the four F
words. And if you live your management career,
your leadership career, by those four things,
you'll be successful. I totally remember that.
Yep. I agree with that 100%. 100%. Before I ask
you this, the last question. Okay. You're successful.
You have achieved a presidential status and you're
mentoring. And I believe you're doing it the
right way just by listening to the way you're
doing it. But you had to have made mistakes.
What is one of your biggest mistakes that you
made and how did you overcome it? Oh, boy, that's
a great question. I get everybody with this question.
That is, yeah. I'm trying to think of a specific
example. Here's some mistakes that I made. And
this one happened not too long ago. As a leader,
you want to rely on the opinions of your team,
right? And we were interviewing a gentleman that
I had met previously at a lunch and had talked
to via a team's call as well. We're hiring for
a sales position. And I... My father passed away
at this time, so I had to get down to Greensboro,
Georgia. And I missed the day that all these
candidates were brought into corporate here,
and they had to go through a series of interviews.
So they were interviewing with HR, with my director
of sales, with other various leaders in the organization.
So I get back from my dad's funeral and what
have you, and it was a Friday afternoon, and
right here I'm sitting at my desk, and these
three folks that interviewed our candidates are
sitting there, and they're giving me their updates
or their feelings and opinions about the candidates.
And one of the guy that I had lunch with and
the guy that I had been talking to, and I was
very strong on, supposedly he did very poorly
that day in the interview process. So all three
of my people that said to me, don't make him
an offer. We think you ought to make this gentleman
an offer. So I listened to them. And sure enough,
we made an offer to this other gentleman. And
that guy only lasted about six months, decided
that he hated this job and went elsewhere. And
then the gentleman that we didn't make an offer
to went elsewhere and is being very successful
where he's at. And so I think the mistake that
I made was I didn't trust my gut. And that's
probably, if I sat here long enough and thought
about other mistakes, it's because I didn't trust
my gut. at that moment. And that's what caused
maybe the mistake and so forth. But that one
was more of a recent one. That one happened about
two years ago and so forth. So trust your instincts,
trust your gut. But a good leader does rely on
their people and the advice of their people.
You have to allow them to have that opportunity
to share their feelings and their thoughts. And
like I said, we build our business plan as a
team. But sometimes you, as the leader, you got
to trust your gut. And I missed on that one.
I swung and missed that one. Yep. Oh, absolutely.
You take what everybody's telling you of your
team, and you have to digest it and think about
it, but you put it up against your gut, what
you truly believe in. And sometimes it may go
their way. Sometimes it may not. You, as a leader,
have to make that decision. Right. Yeah, that's
a good question. That's a hard one. Yeah, of
course it's a hard one. That's why I asked you.
Okay, so bring in this podcast full circle. If
you could challenge every listener to take one
bold networking step this week, what would it
be? I think the bold step I would say in a networking
is... Look for a networking opportunity that's
not traditional. Maybe do something that, and
this is a bold step for me too, do something
outside of the norm. Like we all go to, it's
easy to go to chamber events or other networking
events and so forth. But maybe the bold step
is network, network in a new place. Maybe it's
church. Maybe I... Try something new. And I'll
challenge myself to do the same thing. Typically,
when I go to church and I leave church, you're
talking to people more on a personal level, family,
friends kind of level. Maybe turn that more into
a networking opportunity, something a little
bit different. I don't know if that's the right
place, but yeah. Without being salesy. Without
being salesy. Yes. Yep. Yeah. Maybe just do something
that you never have done before. That's considered
networking and putting yourself out there. So
that's great. That's great. Jeff, I got to tell
you, I can probably talk to you for another two
hours. This is great. This is great. But if somebody
wants to get hold of you, get hold of GBS or
something that you have to offer them, what's
the best way for them to get hold of you? Well,
I like people. Number one is I like getting emails.
And I don't mind giving my cell phone number
out. You want the best way to get a hold of me
is my cell phone. And I respond to everybody.
I have this little weird. knack of, I don't go
to bed at night until I clean my entire email
inbox out. I don't leave stuff in there. That's
after dinner, I'm just cleaning up the day. I
will respond to you. So my email is a great place.
And then even my cell phone number is a great
place to get ahold of me. I'll put that into
the show notes. Okay. Okay. People will have
it. Okay. Great. Jeff, I'm telling you again,
this was a great, you're a great guest and I
look forward to talking to you soon. I like talking
about work all the time. You could call me out.
I'm a big green egg guy like this weekend. I
know it's Father's Day, but my kids don't live
in Ohio, so I won't see them. But I'll be outside
on my green egg smoking something and talking
to someone, I'm sure, about whatever. Yeah, that's
what happens on weekends for me. I'm sure. Okay,
Jeff, I'll talk soon. I'd like to. Yeah. Happy
Father's Day to your audience. And Michael, this
was wonderful. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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Remember, networking isn't about being perfect.
It's about being present. So take what you've
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