Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, Building
Profitable Connections, where we don't just talk
about networking, we rewire the way it's done.
Today's episode is for anyone who's ever walked
into a room full of name tags and fake smiles
and thought, there has to be a better way. My
guest is on a mission to replace performative
handshakes and shallow chit -chat with something
far more powerful, human -first networking. We're
diving into what it means to build real relationships,
why honesty and transparency aren't soft skills,
they're smart strategies, and how niche networks
might be the shortcut to exponential growth.
If you've ever been collecting contacts, or we're
not making connections, or you're tired of networking
that feels like speed dating other than real
conversation, this episode will help you reset
the way you show up. Let's get into it. I apologize
for me going in and out like that. But I have
to tell you one thing, Brandon, before I introduce
you, this is exactly what I talk about. This
is exactly what I do when I go on stages, when
I do conferences, or when I do workshops. What
you're talking about is exactly what I'm talking
about. So I'd like to introduce Brandon Sherwood
to the podcast. And I hope all my listeners are
keeping their ears on because I think that this
episode is really going to teach him a few things.
Brandon, how are you? And welcome to the podcast.
Thank you. Thank you, Michael. I'm doing well.
Doing well. It's a balmy day in the summer in
Utah. Okay. How about if you give us a little
bit about your background? Yeah, so I have basically
done two things in my life. I have sold RVs and
I've bought teeth, which may sound really strange,
not the RV part. So I run a company that buys
dental scrap, old crowns and bridges from dentists.
And I've done that for a long time. And we have
about 38 reps around the country that I manage.
And on top of that, we've also just started a
really cool company called Gladly Network that
helps to build upon our mission. to bless lives.
And with that, we've created an employee perk
program that will help connect individuals from
offices, employees, and really cool, innovative,
and most importantly, impactful companies around
the country. Okay, that sounds great. That really
does. That sounds great. Okay, so I put together
a few questions for you, and hopefully they were
right in line with what you wanted to talk about.
But you talk about human -first networking. What
does that mean in practice, and how does it challenge
the way most people approach networking events
today? I actually hate networking events. I don't
know if it's a little social anxiety or what
it is, but if I walk into a room full of people,
I'll stand in the corner and watch everybody
until somebody comes up to me. I have a little
anxiety about that. And so to me, Human First
takes those networking events with loads of people
and trying to decide who's the most important
person to talk to or how you can mutually help
each other to... lunches and personal meetings
and calls and whatever it is that creates more
humanity than a room full of people that are
awkwardly trying to determine who can help them
the most. Okay. I understand where you're coming
from with networking events. And I agree that's
part of a social anxiety, so to speak. But if
you what I try to teach my clients and the places
where I go is that if you go in with a plan,
you don't just go in thinking like, oh, there's
300 people here. Which way do I go first? If
you go in thinking who you want to talk to or
better yet, you pick out those people and you
don't go and expect to take 300 business cards.
Right. You go in, expect to take 15, maybe 20
business cards. But that means that you've created
a relationship with those people and you can
do a proper follow up. And follow up, I believe,
is more important than meeting the people. Yeah,
I think there's some planning and strategy involved,
too. I think just saying, hey, I'm going to go
to any old networking event and I'm going to
get something out of this, certainly that can
happen. But I know for me, in Utah, we have a
really big entrepreneurial network around here.
It's called the Silicon Slopes for a reason.
There's a ton of tech companies. There's a lot
of people who have done really well for themselves.
And so when I see a networking event, the thing
that I'm looking for is who's likely to be there.
Right. Who and then I can go in and I can make
it more personal. I can find out that Todd's
going to be there. Todd works for X company and
I'd really like to meet Todd. And so. I'm going
to either send him a note ahead of time. Hey,
we're both going to this event. Let's link up.
Or I'm going to at least find out something about
him and set a goal to talk to him. And maybe
I do that with 10 or 15 or 20 people that I think
are going to be there or from companies that
I'm interested in networking with. And so that
preparation is really important as well. It helps
you to really focus on what the purpose of the
event is. And then. Again, it allows you to hit
them ahead of time, potentially, and get your
name out there. And then when you do introduce
yourself, it's not completely cold, which is
usually the awkward part. Absolutely. Absolutely.
And you're right on the mark when you say you're
going with a plan or going with thinking of who
you want to attack first. Let's move on. What's
the biggest myth about networking that's still
being taught? And why is it keeping people broke
or disconnected? I think that the biggest myth
is that you have to be a social person or you
have to be this introvert to be able to network.
And I think it keeps a lot of people from being
able to go out and... What networking is, creating
that network, creating those relationships. I
found, and I've managed a ton of salespeople
over my life, and I found that some of the best
salespeople I've ever managed have been introverts.
They don't get their jollies from talking to
people. They talk to people because that's how
they make a living. And so they've learned the
skills to be able to do that. And so if you're
an introvert, if you're a person that doesn't
like to be in big crowds, if you're a person
that doesn't like to put themselves out there
and go talk to people, That doesn't necessarily
mean that you can't network. We can do lots of
different things. Again, with that preparation
and that planning, you can decide ahead of time,
hey, I'm going to go talk to this person. This
is the purpose. And even though this may drain
me a little bit, I can still do this. And again,
I think that there's lots of people out there
who avoid networking events or avoid networking
at all. And anything that might say networking
scares them to death because they think that's
for those social butterflies. And that's not
necessarily the case. That's absolutely true.
I found that one of the biggest myths of networking
is talking. But when you go up and you just start
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, diary of
the mouth, and people are looking around like,
why? I just, I'm a firm believer in that when
you walk up to a table or something else that
you don't talk, you never talk. You wait for
the conversation to come around to you. If it's
a good fit for you. Then you either move on or
you become part of the conversation. But that's
just me and part of my teaching. You've mentioned
the awkwardness of traditional cocktail party
networking. What should someone do differently
the next time they walk into a room full of strangers?
You know, I think your recommendation to maybe
keep your mouth a little tighter is probably
really helpful. When you walk in and essentially
announce yourself, yeah, that creates some awkwardness.
Part of the kind of the people first approach
that I take to networking is looking at every
interaction through the lens of the person that
you're communicating with. It's not just me.
trying to get my message across or get some benefit
out of this relationship, if I can take a step
back and look and see how each person in that
room, that cocktail party or whatever it is,
if I can take that a step back and say, okay,
this person, how can I help them, right? What
can I do for them? Then the network just happens,
right? It becomes mutually beneficial because
you had this mentality of, I want to help this
person. And it goes back to the lens that we
look through, through Gladly and through other
opportunities that we have, which is how do I
bless this person's life, right? How do I make
this person's life better? And it hasn't failed
me yet that when I take that approach, it amplifies
everything that I'm doing as well. I agree a
thousand percent. It's called having a servant's
heart. When you go into networking, What can
you do for them and not look for something that
they can do for you? Yeah. So if you're doing
that and have to get into a conversation with
them and without you even saying what you do,
you come across with the same thing as like,
how can I make you more successful? How can I
be a good referral source for you? And, you know,
when you do that, it just takes all the pressure
off you. It takes all the pressure off. You begin
to enjoy yourself. which is the other half of
this. And you start doing it and you start connecting
people. Say, oh, you know what? You needed that.
Oh, this person is in need of that. I'm going
to put you two together. And, you know, I make
it a practice every week. I do that with two
people. I put them together and I back away.
I don't expect anything in return, but I'm just
connecting those two people. Yeah. And because
of that, you become the person, you become a
person that people want. to be networked with,
that people want to be connected with. I had
a meeting with a guy that somebody, one of my
mutual friends had connected us and we were talking
about this friend and that's the way this guy
is. He's the type of guy that connects everyone
around him and he has a huge network. And the
guy I was meeting with said, I could just tell
from the instant that I met him that this was
a guy I needed to keep up with. Right. This was
a guy that was going to introduce me to a lot
of different people. It was going to be a positive
experience and he was going to help me as much
as he could possibly help me. And that's the
people we all want to connect to. We don't want
to connect people that it's ask. It's hey, I
know this guy. I know this lady. They're doing
something similar or maybe they could be of use
to you or even sometimes just I think you really
need to get to know this person. And. Yeah, keeping
everything within your network, all those connections
moving together is definitely the way to continue
to build. Yeah, because what goes around does
come around. Absolutely. Because pretty soon
that they're going to say, well, you know what?
Michael introduced me to him. I think I should
introduce Michael to X, Y, Z, somebody else.
So it does come around. Okay, you champion niche
networks. How does narrowing your circle strategically
lead to broader and more profitable opportunities?
It's really easy in life to look at, and especially
when you're starting a business or when you're
starting this whole networking approach, it's
really easy to look at the total addressable
market, right? You hear, you watch Shark Tank
and you hear, this is a billion dollar market.
And what that means is, There's this opportunity
for all this stuff. But in reality, when we look
at networking especially, yeah, I can go into
this big room and I can have an idea. I'm going
to talk to everyone, right? And everyone is a
customer, which may be true, right? But what
if I say, okay, in my case, I've worked in dental
sales for a long time. I know that market. I
know that industry. When I hear somebody say
DDS or talk about dentistry, it perks me up a
little bit because I know that. And so if I can
go in and say, hey, I'm going to find anybody
that might have anything to do with dentistry.
Let's target it to that because we can have a
conversation. We're going to know some of the
same people. We're going to speak the same language.
Right. And in doing that, instead of getting
all this periphery. that is really just distracting
a lot of the times. We can hone in and target
the network that we're really interested in and
the people that can really help us, but also
the people that we can really help. Yes, that's
exactly right. And you hit upon so many different
little things that I agree with so much that
I can't even, I don't have time to hit them,
but you're 100 % correct. Okay. In a space that's
often filled with inflated egos and polished
personas, why does honesty and transparency actually
attract better connections and clients? Boy,
that was rough to get out. It seems like there's
a lot of alliteration in there, right? Hung twisters.
Yes, yes. Yeah, I'm a guy that I feel like honesty
and transparency is the best. Honesty is the
best policy or whatever, but it really is what
attracts people. And maybe this is just personal
preference. I know that there's a lot of people
who like the fluff and the fanboying over somebody
that has all this polish. That's not me. I'd
rather somebody walk up to me and say, hey, I
just am here because my boss told me I needed
to be here and it was a free lunch. Great. Let's
talk. That's the guy I want to talk to because
he's at least honest and transparent. And chances
are, because of that, we're going to find something
at least interesting to talk about. And if not
interesting, beneficial, right? Something we're
being straightforward with each. And so that's,
I feel like that attracts a lot of people. It's
not the norm and most of these, these situations.
And so you really stand out as, man, that guy's
just. He's correct and bold. And what's he got
to say? Because whatever he's saying, I know
is at least honest. It's truthful. And he's not
blowing any smoke. You're right. But you're leaving
out one third of that persona. That's authenticity.
So if that person is honest, his integrity is
there, but he's authentic, he's authentic to
himself and to the job. You know what? That's
the person that I want to go connect with because
you're right. Because even if you have nothing
in common, you'll find something. Right. And
you'll enjoy yourself that much more. But that
is a very distinct part of what that question
was all about. Yeah. Okay. So here, let me. I
don't want to get into that problem again. Can
you recall a moment when being real, second,
when being real rather than impressive completely
changed the outcome of a business relationship
for you? I don't know that I'm ever that impressive.
So all I've got to go on is real. I was telling
a friend earlier this morning that I don't think
I've ever had the problem of being the best at
something and not having to try. So yeah, being
real, I've been in sales for a long time. And
this may be a story more related to that and
networking, but I think it's all the same. I
think sales is relationship building. Networking
is relationship building. And so I walked into
30 or 40. sometimes more dental offices every
day for five or six years of my life. And they
were the same offices every six months. So I'd
run and see 3 ,000 offices in six months, go
back and see the same 3 ,000 offices. So I pretty
well knew the offices that were going to be cold
and the offices that were going to be warm, the
offices that were going to like me and the offices
that weren't. And I had several instances where
the... Instead of walking in with this positive,
salesy, pitchy attitude, I knew that they didn't
want me there. And I'd walk in, hands in the
air. Sorry, guys. It's my job. I'm back again.
Let's be real here. Do you have anything or not?
Right. And the reaction, because you just turn
the table so much. People just aren't, the word
you used, authentic. They're not real. And so
when you're slapped in the face with that authenticity,
when you're slapped in the face with that real
persona, it's not, it almost makes you stagger
back, right? And all of those walls that you've
put up, whether it's a networking event or a
sales meeting or whatever the case is, all the
walls that get put up, they start to crumble
because it's not what you're expecting. And so
being real, I think is as much. It does as much
to disarm someone and to put them in a vulnerable
and authentic state themselves as anything that
you could possibly do. There's a mantra. When
you're networking, if they know you, if they
like you and they trust you, they'll do business
with you. Now, you don't have that problem with
everybody knowing you. You're in and out of 6
,000 offices, right? They knew you. Now, if they
like you. narrows the field down just a little
bit, you know, not by much, but a little bit.
So they know you, they like you, and they have
to trust you in order to do business with you.
And that comes in that authentic part of that's
where the wall starts to come down. That trust
factor begins to increase. And once the trust
factor increases further than the wall coming
down, you have a shot. Yeah. Okay. Before then.
You don't have any shop, right? Would you do
business with somebody you didn't trust? No.
Not likely. Yeah, no, not likely. So, you know,
that's what you need to really work on, that
trust factor. And I think it would really be
handy. I think you have already. All right, let's
talk ROI. How does human -first networking directly
translate to revenue referrals? or reputation
over time? Again, I've managed a lot of different
salespeople and there's, I feel like a handful
of different personalities and skillset within
sales. And sorry if I'm talking about sales when
I should be talking about networking, but again,
I feel like it's a lot the same. And so one of
the most successful salespeople that I ever had
was what I'd call a hammer. He could take any
nail and he could pound it into a board. Now,
Later on, that nail would be really upset. But
they were in the board. I've never been that
guy. I've always been, again, the guy that tries
to look at everything through the lens of somebody
else, what they're seeing. And so my goal has
always been to take their view. How are they
feeling about this? How can I turn this around
and make their life better? And in doing that,
again, that human first interaction. People,
you're more likely to create a long -term relationship.
I've had competitors come in behind me that have
taken business away. And it usually doesn't happen
for more than one interaction because people
realize that's, yeah, that was forced. That's
not what I wanted. Yes, most people can be talked
into doing things they don't want to do. But
when you have that human first, again, people
first, putting them, putting yourself in their
shoes. When you have that mentality, you're going
to create more relationships. You're going to
create the referrals because that's how people
want to be treated. You're going to create revenue
and it's all going to come naturally instead
of through some sales process that you learn
knocking doors to sell pest control. No, I agree.
I feel that ever since the pandemic, because
Before the pandemic, people were all out to build
their customer list. I have 3 ,000 customers
and, right, they don't even know their name.
But after the post -pandemic, people are into
creating relationships. And where in my former
life, I was in the mortgage business, I would
go to a show and come back with 300 cards and
say, look how good I did. Did I do good? No,
I didn't. I did horrible. Right now, when I go
to a networking event, I come back with 15 or
20 business cards because I've had conversations
with them. I've had a relationship with them
and I can follow up with them properly. So yeah,
so what you're saying really comes through. What
advice would you give to someone who's been collecting
contacts but not connections? How do they reset,
re -engage more meaningfully? Just go over that.
Yeah, we just talked about that. And I do think
that the pandemic changed a lot of things. And
it did. I feel like it helped all of us understand
the importance of relationships. The times when
we couldn't just go into the office or go into
the grocery store and talk to anybody we wanted
made us realize that those interactions are important
and we may not get. All of them that we expect.
And so take advantage of the ones that you have.
Really, really make the most of them. Yeah, collecting
contacts. Honestly, I can go to ChatGPT and get
it to make me a list of contacts all day long,
right? I can get email addresses. Anymore, I
don't even really have to pay for the stuff.
I can go find it. It doesn't make a difference.
But collecting connections, collecting relationships,
and having that group of people that that you
actually know. You know how to help them. You
know how they can help you. You know who they
know, what their connections are, right? And
having that is far more important. I would much
rather have 10 or 15 people that I'm really,
really close to that I can help and they can
help me than a thousand people that I know their
name. Absolutely. And what you said was so real
about after the pandemic, because you don't know
what you don't have until it's taken away from
you. So that interaction with people, it was
taken away from us. And all of a sudden we realized,
I miss that. I miss talking to the person online.
I miss on a store line or clothing line or something
else. I miss that interaction. And that's where
the beauty. of the in -person networking comes
in because you get to feel the vibe of the person
that you're speaking to, the vibe of the room.
And you get to say, you know what? I don't want
to continue this conversation. Don't politely
bow out. Say, look, that's nice. I'll see you
around the event. I'm going to go, right? And
just do that. So you're still meeting the people
and everything else, but you're walking away
with. 15 or 20 contacts that you can follow up
with. And it goes much further. Okay, so are
there any specific tools or platforms where niche
networking thrives better than others? Or is
it really about how you show up and not where?
Again, you're talking to a guy who likes smaller
events and smaller things. And yeah, there's
different tools and platforms. I said in the
beginning that I've sold RVs. That's something
that I, my dad had a dealership when I was growing
up for the largest RV dealership in the country.
And I've worked for small ma and pa type dealerships.
And I found that going to an RV show or going
to a trade show in any capacity, to me, the easier
thing to do was sit down in an RV and wait for
somebody just. to show interest and i'd talk
to them at that point we'd have small talk before
that i'd interact with everybody but like like
we talked you have a chance to step back see
everybody how they're interacting and then you
you can hone in on and choose the people that
you want and a large trade show where you go
and you come back with 300 cards that to me it
could be a niche trade show right it could be
really focused on dentistry but If you're not
taking a niche approach and a human -first approach
to interacting with people and meeting people,
then again, you're walking away with business
cards that are kind of empty. And yeah, maybe
you can shoot an email and say, we talked, or
I got your card. But it goes a lot farther to
have those 10 or 15 people that you can say,
how was your wife's surgery? That goes a lot
farther. And it gets even more honed in, more
targeted as far as your network goes. Sometimes
that can be by industry. Sometimes it can be
by type of person, right? Like we can look and
we can go, that guy's standing over in the corner.
I'm going to go talk to him. He looks like he's
having a hard time. That's the guy I'm going
to key in on. And so it's like we've talked about.
It's about, yes, planning. And figuring out that
these are the things that I'm looking for. I'm
walking in here like with this, but also having
the flexibility and the agility to go, okay,
I've talked to three people that this is what
they're looking for. I'm going to look for more
people like that. I know that's not what I came
in for, but I think I've got something here and
I've got something that I can work with. Okay.
Okay. Before I ask you the last question, I ask
every guest the same question. You, most of the
guests, because it didn't pertain to all of them,
but it pertains to you. You are successful in
what you're doing. You've had a roundabout way
of getting to it. But why don't you give us all
a mistake that you've made and how you came out
of it? I'm not the guy who's pausing because
I have to think of a mistake. I have to think
of all of the mistakes and which one we're going
to talk about here. That's the majority of the
answers, by the way. I want to be authentic in
this. So one of the roles that I have in my current
position is to... to create new businesses, new
ways of making money, but also new ways of supporting
our current rep base and helping them to be able
to make more money. And so we've tried a handful
of things and failed. And I'll tell you that
the biggest thing for me that I've learned is
that as soon as I start chasing money and ignoring
people, that's when the failure comes. Well,
we're in startup mode with Gladly Network right
now. And it's really easy every day to look and
see all the things that we're doing wrong and
not to see the things that we're doing. I'm convinced
that the one thing that we're doing right. that
I haven't done in the past in some cases is that
I'm looking at every decision, every relationship,
every connection with that mission to bless lives
and mind. And so I'm convinced that if I continue
to do that, then we won't be able to fail. Because
to me, the perspective that you go in with, and
whether it's a project or whether hiring somebody
new or whatever the case is, whatever the problem
is that you're approaching, If you can look at
it through that lens of how can I help other
people, that servant's heart, right? And in our
case, the verbiage that we use is how can I bless
lives? And if we can look at it through that,
then it's inevitable that success will come.
It's just us getting out of the way. So right.
And you can build off of your failures probably
a lot better than you can build off of your success.
Because you learn so much more. Listen, I've
been a small business owner, pizzerias, restaurants,
graphic design studios for six, 12 years at a
time. But I didn't learn more from my successes.
I learned so much from my failures. And it made
me who I am today. So I agree with that. Last
question. If you had to build your network from
scratch today, what are the first three things
you do differently from how you started? It's
a different world than when I started, for one
thing. I think one of the things that all of
us are guilty of is collecting the cards and
not the people. And so I think that's the first
thing that I would say is, how do I, what's my
focus going to be so that I'm not just... Going
out and finding contacts or finding this customer
list, but actually finding relationships that
matter and friends and real connections. I think
that would be the absolute key there. I would
probably take advantage more of organic networking
opportunity. I feel like I've probably had more
success in networking with really organic and
unique. interactions than i have with say a typical
networking event and so for instance i had an
extra couple concert tickets and i posted them
on facebook marketplace and the guy who bought
them ended up being a guy that that was really
great to network with he was just he knows everybody
he's been around the block he had a lot of positive
things to talk to me about i introduced him to
some people and it wasn't at a networking event
it was literally selling tickets to a con, right?
And it's just because we started texting and
both of us were open to creating that connection.
And so I think that would be another thing would
just be, be open to creating connections and
whatever situation that is, whether it's at your
kid's soccer game or it doesn't have to be at,
at a big event. And then I would, I would probably
walk in a lot more authentic and real than. than
I used to probably when I started. It felt like
you needed to be all polished up. I felt like
you needed to be this, you had to portray that
you had everything together. And in reality,
none of us do. And it's refreshing to see somebody
that's willing to say it. And so I think with
growth and maturity, I would probably step back
and go, hey guys, I don't know what I'm doing
here, but let's do this together. I agree with
that. When I first started out in sales, aspired
to be that professional, everything done correctly,
nothing wrong, you know, that perfect scene,
that scenario. And what I've grown to learn is
that nobody wants that. You know, everybody just
wants you and me. I made a mistake. All right,
I'll own it. You have to own your mistakes and
correct the mistakes. But the whole thing is
to be authentic, be yourself. Brendan, I can't
tell you how much of a pleasure it was to have
you on as a guest today. It was really a great
conversation. If somebody wants to get hold of
you, whether it is to be coached or find out
about your companies or find out about networking
or whatever, what's the best way for them to
get hold of you? I'm really active on LinkedIn,
our digital networking that we all do. I'm super
active on there. Brandon Sherwood. And then email
is always easy. Brandon at gladlygood .com. And
the thing around Utah, I try to make myself known
and I try to make myself go to. Even though it's
not my favorite thing in the world, as much as
anything, I want to be there for somebody else
that's having a hard time and standing in the
corner. Maybe we can be wallflowers together.
Well, that's great. I'm telling you, Brandon,
this was great, and I look forward to speaking
with you in the future. Sounds good. Thanks,
Michael. Well, hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere.
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All right, folks. A huge thank you to our guests
for sharing such incredible insights today. And
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