Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, Building
Profitable Connections. I'm your host, Michael
Foreman, and today we're diving into the future
of networking. What if you could use AI and automation
not just to grow your network, but to monetize
it, turning your connections into real measurable
revenue? My guest today is an expert at doing
exactly that. We're talking about scaling relationships
without losing authenticity, using technology
to deepen trust, and building a network that
actually works for you. If you've ever wondered
how to stay human in an automated world, this
episode will change how you think about connection,
influence, and income. So let's get into it.
Arias. Let me just welcome you to the podcast.
I'm so thankful to have you on. And why don't
you give us a little about your background and
what got you here today? Sure, Michael. Thank
you for having me. It's an honor to be here.
I really appreciate you've been teaching for
years that this Know, Trust You framework. And
that's something that I personally subscribe
to. So I'm really happy to be here. So in terms
of me, I have around the world and back again,
I've been through trials and tribulations. But
as we said before, we jumped on every day that
you are on this side of the dirt and vertical
is a gift. I'm just a kid from Dallas, Texas.
I grew up in San Diego, California. So I always
tell people that I get my heart from Texas and
I get my brain and my hustle from California.
And I'm just I'm in love with business. I love
all things commerce. I love the free market.
I love seeing entrepreneurs take their dreams
and their hopes and build it into something that
helps add value to other people's lives. Sounds
great. That sounds like great. And it's a great
beginning to this podcast since right now we're
all about you. But let's start to go from relationships
to revenue. You teach that a professional network
isn't just a collection of contacts. It's a revenue
generating asset. What's the first mental shift
someone needs to make to start treating their
network that way? First mental shift they need
to make to start treating their network that
way. I would say that you have to, we all know
that the money is in the follow -up and in that
follow -up, you need to look to deepen the relationship
first before you ever start looking for money.
There's no shortage of people that are out in
your inbox, following you around on social media,
calling you and leaving voicemails that are looking
to get your money. But there's very few people
that are honestly. trying to develop a relationship
and figure out what it is that they may actually
be able to help you with so when you are networking
and you come across someone who wants to exchange
information take the time to actually build the
relationship first and the best way you can do
that is by ensuring that you automatically follow
up with them I cannot tell you how many times
I personally, before I built the companies that
I've built, would get a business card or put
a number in my phone and I'm tired. I go to sleep
and the next day I've got meetings and it's three,
four or five days before I remember to follow
up with them. And these days I realize I'm bad
at it. So I put a system in place to make sure
that the very next day an automated message goes
out. And it's not me trying to pretend it's.
me in something heartfelt. It's just there to
get the conversation going, right? That message
gets triggered, an email and a text message goes
out so that I'm on their radar, they're on mine,
and hopefully a conversation can ensue. Absolutely.
And I'm a firm believer that the follow -up is
probably more important than actually meeting
the person themselves, right? Because the answer
is in the follow -up. It's how quick and when
you follow up. will determine whether or not
you'll have success in that relationship. But
we'll go into that a little bit later on. AI
is helping people build networks faster than
ever. But speed doesn't always mean substance.
How do you balance efficiency with genuine human
connection? That's a hard one. It's all about
how do you keep relationships personal. How do
you keep it from being robotic? And that's a
fine line. You want the efficiency and the speed
and accuracy of automation, but you still want
it to be you, for lack of a better term. And
that's a fine line to walk. It's something that
we do all the time. Actually, currently, we are
building out models to handle incoming inquiries
and a lot of people on social media. So we have
multiple social media accounts. I don't know,
maybe 100 to 200 people having conversations
through those accounts every single day. It can
get daunting unless I want to hire an army of
people to handle those conversations. So it is
the best way that I can say instead of giving
you some generic answers is you need to figure
out how to distill down your brand voice. You
have terms that you use. You have a background
and a story and an origin that makes you uniquely
you. There's a certain way you speak. There are
certain terms that you go to and reach for automatically.
You have to figure out how to take those things
and put it into a document so that if, let's
say, an AI agent is responding on your behalf,
it sounds like you. But you also need to put
some limits on its abilities. It doesn't need
to pretend. that you need to be honest with people,
have integrity. If it's an AI agent, say so.
But you can make a joke out of it and say, hey,
but I've got all of Michael's best qualities
and none of his worst ones. So it is trying to
pull as much of your personality in lending this
to AI as possible while also maintaining integrity
and using the best parts of its efficiency and
automation. That sounds great. When you go into
a... networking event i i coach i mentor i teach
but i always tell them to go in with a servant's
heart to not expect to receive anything but expect
to give when i have them at a table or something
and i'm speaking with somebody i use another
form situation like that but After I'm active
listening to them and I listen to what they have
to say, I say that I like them. I like how they
do business. How can I make you more successful?
How can I be a good referral source for you?
And they're like blown away. They used to say,
Mike, you know what? I don't even know what the
hell you do yet. And you're already trying to
make me better. Yes, I'm trying to make you a
better version of yourself. So if you go into
a networking event with that, you take all the
pressure off and you go on your way. All right,
enough about me. Indeed. When someone automates
outreach or follow -up, how can they keep from
sounding robotic or transactional? Yeah, I think
it's all about authenticity. Authenticity comes
from... relevance. And you being able to, one,
know what is relevant for that person very much
to what you just said, go in looking as to what
you can add rather than what you can get out.
Staying in and making that the core objective,
or at least one of them, when you're building
out some of these automations in AI, makes it
so that it takes that with it. If you set the
core objectives of, hey, get some contact information,
book a call, sell them on something, then that's
the language. That's the basis. If you go in
and you infuse, hey, how can you figure out what
it is that they need? How can we add value? What
pain points are they having? What are they struggling
with? How can we pair maybe some of the things
that we offer with those pain points? And even
something that most people don't think about,
telling it to back off. Hey, if you don't see
an actual need, something that we can actually
help with, it's okay for you to end the conversation.
Again, that integrity, that authenticity of taking
that good part of you and lending that to these
AI models, right? They're just like children.
If you teach your children a curse and you teach
them to not respect their elders. By your actions,
they're going to mimic that. And these automated
and AI models are very much the same in that
whatever you feed it, they're going to obey and
mimic. Absolutely. And really what you're talking
about is so spot on. But you have to realize
that when you back away from a situation, from
a problem that they're having, knowing that truly
that you cannot solve that problem, because after
all, we are. problem solvers. So if we can't
solve the problem because of all your networking,
you know somebody who can. So you can then put
those two people together. I'm in my area known
as a super connector, right? Because every week
I try to find two people, one with a problem,
one with the solve to that problem, and I put
them together and I back away. I say, look, I
don't want anything from it. I'm just putting
you two together. So that's what enables you
to do exactly what you said. You can say something
you're best off if I don't help you, but I know
someone who can. Again, that integrity is what
draws people to you. You may not be able to help
them today, but they'll remember the fact that
you didn't try to sell them something that they
didn't need. And when they do have a need for
your services. They are wide open to you because
you live with integrity. And they trust you.
And that's the biggest thing. Know you like you
trust you, then they'll do business with you.
So you've really gotten right to the point. All
right. Everyone talks about building at scale.
What does scale with integrity look like in networking?
That's a good one. What does scale with integrity
look like? I came up with a couple of good ones.
Actually, I think it's what we just spoke of.
I believe that it is utilizing your taking the
integrity and the honesty that you have as a
business owner and just as a human and putting
that into your system, but using the system and
making sure that you are doing the same thing
every time. My networking. took off when I had
the ability to no longer have to take a whole
bunch of business cards and go home and try to
enter it into my system and then put it on my
call sheet for the next day and figure out what,
hold on, what was it that guy said? Was that
Tuesday he said to call or was it Wednesday?
I've had 40 conversations over a few hours. It
can get hard to keep them straight. Setting up
a system. So in my business specifically, what
I do is I have a form and a QR code. So it's
a funnel of sorts. So the first page is a QR
code. So when I meet someone, I say, hey, we'll
scan this. When they scan it, it takes them to
the next page, which is just a simple form. Name,
phone number, email, and maybe the name of your
business or your website. Once that happens,
it immediately sends a text and an email. and
then it puts it on my pipeline tomorrow to follow
up. And then it also has an email and a text
message set to trigger 9 a .m. in the morning.
So it then frees me up to really engage with
them, knowing that I don't have to try to, okay,
what was the guy's name and all these different
things. And then what I do at the end, at the
end of the night, I usually try to go through
and make some notes if I can remember them. And
then that way I go to sleep, I wake up tomorrow,
I forgot most of the conversations I've had,
but maybe I have a couple quick notes that I
can enter in reference. So I think that's it
at scale. And then if you have a follow -up sequence
that's already built, an email follow -up sequence
that's not just that first email, maybe the conversation
stalls or goes cold, maybe over the next few
weeks, you send a few more emails that are value
-based in order to rekindle that conversation.
That's exactly right. If I could just add something
to what you said. You said at the end of the
night, you're going to write down all these notes.
My suggestion is after you take their business
card, write down the date, the name of the function,
and something you spoke about. Write on that
card right after your conversation. Because really,
a three or four hour event, you shouldn't talk
to more than... 15 or 20 people, because that
meant that you have that relationship with those
people. But if you write down those notes, as
soon as you get back that evening or the next
morning, you have it all right. Oh, that's right.
That was that guy. Oh, that's right. Oh, that's
right. He's the one with the big nose. Oh, yeah,
I know. I got it. But it's something to make
you remember. And then if you include something
in your email about what you spoke about, he
will remember you. He or she will remember you.
And so it goes back and forth that way. So it's
good. Okay. What are the signals that tell you
a relationship is ready to move from connection
to collaboration or from rapport to revenue?
Signals from, okay. I would say that they are
asking for the details once the you have explained
what it is that you do. Maybe some of the features
and benefits. Once they start inquiring about
cost, more of the features and benefits, does
it do this? Does it integrate with that? I've
tried something like this in the past, and the
issue that we had was XYZ. We're not getting
into the weeds. of your actual offer, your product,
your service, that's when it's time to turn up
the heat a little bit and really get down to
sitting at the table and figuring out if this
will actually work for them. Your goal is not
to push people into the sales environment. It's
to gently guide and nudge. And once they start
asking more questions and they start inquiring
more, you've got them in a buy state of mind.
If people are interested, they're going to make
it clear. They're going to ask lots of questions,
especially the more high ticket you're offered.
And if they're not doing those things, you're
talking to them, you're pitching, you're emailing,
and the responses are dry. They're short. They're
not asking any follow -up questions. That tells
you that they're either not interested or you
have not come to the point where you've explained
the benefits to them adequately. Absolutely.
Absolutely correct on both sides. So I can't
even add anything to it because you were spot
on. You said it exactly the way it is. Okay,
so AI thrives on data, but people thrive on emotion.
How do you bridge that gap when using data -driven
tools to deepen relationships? How do you bridge
that gap when you're using... AI is data and
people look for emotions. So you're trying to
bridge the gap between the data and the data
-driven tools to deepen the relationships. How
can you do that? Yeah, I was a salesman and a
sales manager for many years. And that was the
secret sauce, if you will, of the great. salespeople
that I've met, their ability to get down to the
emotional parts. And after you have so many conversations,
you realize that you kind of have a script or
you have a talk track, some points that you hit
in your pitch. And typically people only have
a few answers. They fall into a few categories.
And when you start realizing those categories,
then it makes it very easy for you to figure
out what those responses to their response is
going to be. What is your rebuttal? And what
are those emotional triggers and pain points
that fall in that particular part of the conversation?
When you start to figure those things out, that's
the data. Once you've had 10, 20, 30, 100, 200,
1 ,000 conversations, you've collected an enormous
amount of data about how this thing typically
goes. And if you're paying attention, then it
allows you to navigate the conversation. When
you hear those key phrases or things come up,
you know what they're really saying. what they
may not be actually saying. You're able to read
between the lines. That data allows you to personalize
it. It allows you to strike a chord with them,
get them into an emotional state. We all know
that when people are buying, if they're in an
emotional state, it's more likely that they will.
When it comes to networking, I always tell everybody
there are three words that will help them succeed
in networking. Practice. Because the more you
go out and practice, look, the first time you
go out, you're going to suck. That's horrible.
But move on. You're going to find out. But when
you get your answers, as you said, when you're
talking to them and they're giving you data back,
and if it's not landing, you have to go back
and say, okay, they said this. I said that. But
that was probably wrong. You have to get the
answers. to those questions so the next time
when you go networking somebody will give you
those same questions you'll have a better answer
practice absolutely okay most opportunities are
lost in the follow -up funny we're just talking
about that how can ai help professionals stay
consistent without coming across as pushy or
keep it short Keep it short. One of the things
that we've learned is most people, when they're,
especially in text, in more informal modes of
communication or social media, they're not really
long winded. And AI is. It is lengthy. It decides
it wants to give a whole diatribe on a simple
hello. I would focus on trying to keep it short
and simple and sweet. Try to boil down that.
four sentence response to one to one and a half
so that it seems more natural it seems more human
and it's not overly verbose sure that that that's
probably the best advice that i can even think
of is because listen i tell my wife all the time
why Do you explain things in three paragraphs
when you can do it in two sentences? Right. But
I don't say that too often because it's hard.
Okay. But that is the way that I'm used to going.
Let me give it to you in a few short sentences
and just tell me what you think. So that's really
what you're saying that AI is turning into for
you to start your conversation. AI won't replace
your conversation, but they can help you start
it. Absolutely. Absolutely. So as AI begins to
predict who we should connect with, what role
will intuition play in future networking? I would
say that the savvy entrepreneur is learning to
niche down. And you can go into networking events
just looking to connect with everyone, or you
can have your antennas up. to find people that
are in maybe a specific industry, specific vertical
that you can help. If you can tailor your solutions
to provide specific solutions or to solve specific
problems for that industry or that vertical,
now your intuition is that antenna. You're in
the room and you're looking for this particular
type of person. And not that you can't interact
with other people, right? You want to add value
to everyone. You can have just a good conversation
and that's okay. But knowing who your archetype
is, who your persona that you're looking for,
the specific person that you can most likely
help. And also on the flip side, those that you
can't, right? Knowing that asking those strategic
questions about where they are in their journey
to say, hey, you may be a little too early. in
your journey for you to be a good fit for me.
But you know what? There's a smaller company
that does something similar to us that only works
with people that are where you are. And maybe
I can connect you. I think that is going to be
something that in networking is going to help
you. It's going to help you filter the list of
people that end up in your database in the first
place, which then allows AI to give you better
results. That's right. And I'm going to revert
back to what I said before. Because the more
you practice, the more you're going to see more.
When you walk into a room, you're going to say,
OK, that's the person that I want to talk to.
That's not the person I want to talk to. And
the only way you're going to get there is to
practice, practice so you can get the answers
you're looking for. OK, there's a fine line between
automation that serves people and automation
that manipulates them. How do you keep networking
technology ethical and authentic? How do you
keep tech from manipulating people? That's essentially
what the question is. I think that it comes down
to something we touched on earlier. One. It's
okay to let people know that you're using some
automation. It's becoming common practice. So
don't lie about it. That's actually probably
the best way to lose a connection with someone
is to be dishonest. I would say that overall,
I've seen a lot of that. And a lot of people
that are using AI for the first time, especially
when it's personal, they feel like it makes it
awkward. So be honest about that. But I think
that the... The way that you can keep it from
manipulating people is giving it very tight parameters,
telling it what is off limits. If you don't have
a guarantee of certain things, or maybe you do
have a guarantee, but they're looking for 10x
what you know you can deliver, say that. Put
that into the model. If you know that 2 out of
10 times your product or service doesn't work
for someone. Built that in. Hey, we've got an
80 % effective efficacy rate. Just try. These
are things that you know because you've been
doing it for a long time. But when we're taking
these systems and we're deploying them, many
times we forget these little nuances, these little
pieces that we've collected over time of doing
this time and time again. So it's about taking
all of that. infusing it, making sure you put
some guardrails on, making sure that you are
regularly analyzing its responses. Don't just
set it and forget it because it can just have
all kinds of wild conversations on your behalf.
Check in on this thing regularly and make sure
that it's still on track. It's not saying things
that are not accurate. And it's not being dishonest.
Again, just like a human, if the conversation
goes a certain way and that's a place where you
haven't set guardrails or it's a question that
it's never been asked before, who knows what
it could say? The more conversations it has,
the better it's going to get. But if you're regularly
checking on it and making adjustments, it's going
to get better and better. Perfect. Perfect answer.
Okay, so I'm going to bring this podcast full
circle. And I'm going to ask you the last question.
If we fast forward five years, what do you think
a top performing networker will look like? Someone
who truly masters both human connection and intelligent
automation. Five years from now, what does a
master networker look like? Yeah, I think that.
That looks like someone where you can't tell
where they begin and the AI ends. I think that
it's a seamless transition and we're getting
pretty close to that right now. On my social
media, a lot of times people will reach out.
Sometimes I respond because we've got time periods
and or sometimes it'll say something and I'm
like, oh, I got an answer for that and I'll cut
it off. But they are none the wiser. And that's
the goal. The goal is for it to. have the versatility
to answer whatever you throw at it, but also
allows you to bring your unique personality to
it. And that's not going to be done in one day.
It takes a long -term commitment to you training
and educating and developing and tweaking and
filtering with this technology so that it truly
becomes an extension of you and your brand. Absolutely.
I 100 % agree with you because we don't know
where AI is going. Okay. We have a good idea.
We don't know, but we know what networking can
do for you and how you can do it. So as you said,
when it becomes seamless, that I think is the
perfect networker five years from now. So I'll
tell you how I do in five years. Okay. All right.
So, Arias, let me ask you a question. If somebody
wants... to get with you. They want to talk to
you about networking, about AI or both, or have
you coach them or whatever the case may be. What's
the best way that they can get hold of you? Sure.
I'm not hard to find on the internet. If you
look up Arias Webster Berry, A -R -I -A -S, last
name is Webster like the dictionary, and then
B -E -R -R -Y, all one word. My personal sites
and social media comes up. But if you're specifically
wanting to talk about how maybe you can use AI
in your networking, how you can create some systems
that help you do more faster, do so ethically.
Then Ignite Funnels, one of my companies, is
amazing. We are developing omni -channel AI agents,
which means that they can have conversations
across social media, email, text, WhatsApp, live
chat on your website, and keep all of those conversations
straight and know that they're coming from one
person. If you're looking to maybe deploy one
of these things and you don't want to break the
bank in the process, ignitefunnels .com is your
best bet. Go there, set up a demo. Me or someone
on my team will be more than happy to speak with
you and see if we can help. Perfect. Thank you,
Arias. I can probably talk to you for another
hour because you are so in tune with what you
do and from the sounds of it, you do it very
well. So I implore everybody who's listening
to give him a call and just give him a shout
and just say, hey, I'm trying to do this. How
can I do it? So I want to thank you for coming
on the podcast and we'll talk soon. Thank you
for having me, Michael. Well, hold on, folks.
Don't go anywhere. Let's hear from our sponsors.
David Neal, co -founder Revved Up Kids. Revved
Up Kids is on a mission to protect children and
teens from sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking.
They provide prevention training programs for
children, teens, and adults. To learn more, go
to revvedupkids .org. Henry Kaplan, Century 21.
When it comes to making the biggest financial
decision of your life, leave it in the hands
of a proven professional, Henry Kaplan. Henry
is a global real estate agent with Century 21,
celebrating his 41st year in business. No matter
where you're moving, Henry has the right connections
for you. You can contact Henry at 561 -427 -4888.
We're out, folks. A huge thank you to our guests
for sharing such incredible insights today. And
of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing
listeners, for tuning in and spending your time
with us. If you're interested in my digital courses,
being coached, or having me come and talk to
your company, just go to Michael and fill out
the request form. Remember, networking isn't
about being perfect. It's about being present.
So take what you've learned today. get out there,
and make some meaningful connections. If you've
enjoyed this episode, please don't forget to
subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with
someone who could use a little networking inspiration.
Let's keep the conversation going. You can find
me on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, or my
website, foreman .com slash podcasts.