I want to ask a rhetorical question. How many
have you gone to a meeting, gone to a networking
event, have a one -to -one meeting, and said,
oh my God, this was great. I made so many contacts.
And then afterwards you realize you haven't gotten
any business out of it. Right? It happens to
everybody. It happens to everybody. And I'm here
to tell you it's not what you have to sell, services,
product, anything else, but it's the way that
you're doing it. And that's what's holding you
back. Right? So the first thing is that you are
a problem solver. You have to find out what their
problem is because you have to have an answer.
Is that the end of it? No. That's not the end
of it. Because you have to figure out. Where
they're going to next, that's when you're going
to beat out all the competition. It's incredible.
But you're saying, why does everybody network?
Network, I believe, is the lifeblood of all business.
Without networking, you're not going to get anywhere.
Right? So that's your ultimate goal. Now, look
on the screens. Because these are the points
that I want to drive home for you today. Now,
first of all, take every opportunity to meet
new people. And you have to focus on the areas
that you can help. You have to go alone to networking
events. That's for extroverts. If you're introverts,
there's a slight twist to it, but I'll go into
that afterwards. And, of course, don't forget
business cards. I can't tell you how many times
I've gone to a networking event and they say,
I'm sorry, I don't have my business cards. Can
I write your number down or something? You did,
but you're going to lose them without a doubt.
Now here's the most important thing about networking.
The most important. If you remember anything,
remember this. It's the follow -up. Not only
follow -up, but follow -up correctly. Right?
Because there is a way. After a networking event,
I've done this many times. I've gone to somebody
else. Once you walk around, say, oh, tell me
about what you do. Oh, that's great. How do you
follow up with them? Oh, I'm going to send them
an email tomorrow or the next day. I'm going
to follow up next week just to make sure I have
them. I said, okay. And in my brain, I'm going,
you lost. Because I'll get to them before you.
There is a way to follow up. And that. is the
most important thing that you can do. Now, here's
the funny line. People hate to be sold to. They
hate to be sold to, but they love to buy. What
does that tell you as an individual? That means,
okay, so you want what I have to sell. I service
my product, whatever, okay? You don't want to
hear from me that I'm going to sell to you. Because
that's a problem. Right? So that's a big problem.
Here. Confidence. Confidence is so... How many
times have you walked up to somebody and they're
looking all over? They're not looking at you
in the eyes. Right? They're like standing halfway
and not squared up to you. You don't even want
to see them. You don't want to speak to them.
You want to move on to the next person. Square
your body. A friendly facial expression. Now,
for some of you, that may be difficult. But,
a friendly facial expression. Hands in plain
sight. So, I love this. The Roof Max commercials.
Right? Have you ever seen Roof Max commercials?
Watch them. I watch them. I watch the person
who's talking. He takes his hands and puts them
down here and goes, as he's talking, because
he's not doing his hands. Right? It's called
the middle steeple. everybody see that don't
do it don't do it it's the worst thing listen
i come from a jewish background my wife's italian
and the hands are always going we talk with our
hands don't stop don't when you walk up to somebody
you want and you meet somebody you play hi how
are you no be yourself and most importantly i
have a few clients that have a dialect you have
to enunciate. Because if they can't understand
what you're saying, then you're lost right out
of the game. So, what do you do when you walk
up to somebody and you want to meet them, whatever?
First things first, you're going to listen. You're
going to listen to them. This doesn't mean that
you're going to look at them, somebody just walked
by that you really want to talk to, and your
eyes aren't following them. Eye contact. Right?
So you're going to listen to them. And after
they finish, this is the most important part
about listening. Pause. You're going to pause,
and then you're going to say something back to
what they said. Because what does that tell them?
It tells them that you were listening to them.
And that is the most important thing. You want
to make sure that you were listening to them.
All right. So now what do you do? When you are
in a networking event, you walk in. Now, first
of all, when you're at a networking event, they
always have pieces of paper about booths and
things like that. Always have a little bit of
a plan where you want to go. But before that,
you always have a mass of people. You're like,
okay, what do I do? You pick a table. You walk
up to the table. Don't talk. Don't say anything.
Listen. Listen for the conversation to come around
to you. Is this a conversation that I want to
be a part of? It's not. I haven't said it yet.
I pull out the bow. I go to the next table. I
go up and I listen. Okay, this conversation is
something that I want to respond with. When a
conversation comes around to me, I say something
intelligent. Right? Because I'm supposed to be
the expert in my field. So whatever I say, better
be in touch. You're waiting to see who responds.
Right? Okay. Five people at the table. Two people
responded. Okay. Those people asked me a question.
Okay. That means hook. I got them. Don't say
nothing worse. But, okay. So you got them. So
now, okay, you're having them talk. And you have
them talk, you're talking to them, but they're
asking them questions. And I use something called
form. I'll go into that later on. Family, occupation,
recreation, and a message. And I'll go into that
a little bit further. But you're going to talk
with them. You're going to have them talk about
themselves, ask about the family, about the mother,
father, sister, brother, son, daughter. Okay,
youth sports, I was a baseball coach for 16 years.
I'll talk about anybody with youth sports, right?
I get to them on that level, and all of a sudden,
know you, like you, trust you, they'll do business
with you. If they know you, well, I now know
all of you, that's great. They like you, I'm
sure that everybody in this room isn't going
to like me. But that's what I'll have to live
with that. know you, like you. But here's the
big fact. Trust. Nobody will do business with
you unless they trust you. And that trust, I
could do a whole hour just on trust. The trust
factor is so important that because what you're
doing is there's a wall between you and the person
and you're trying to tear down that wall but
trying to build up that trust factor. Right?
Yes. Sorry, I thought you were going to go to
the next slide. I had a question on this. Can
I ask a question? So when you said walk up to
the tables, quietly observe, right? If you walked
away, is that a connection with that conversation
that you said? You're first finding out whether
or not the conversation is for you. If it's for
you, then you have that connection. If it's not,
then you walk away. So the question is, when
you walk away, are you giving the impression
of disrespect? No, I'm not telling anything.
You always find that common ground, right? That's
what you're looking for. You're looking for a
common ground. And if you find it, that's wonderful.
If not, then again, you move on. But it's really
a pretty simple process. Okay, form. Family,
occupation, recreation, and a message. Like I
said, a good wife, sister, brother, son, daughter,
whatever. Get them on that whatever. You can
just find out about their occupation. Oh, they're
a doctor? What kind of doctor? Okay, are they
other in sports? Oh, okay, they're a musician?
Whatever. You talk to them on that level, and
you'll see they will stay there and talk about
it. Why? Why? Because people love to talk about
themselves. They will talk to you for an hour
as long as you are seen interested. So you're
going to keep that talking. And they're going
to talk and talk and finally it's going to come
around to what they do for a living. And they're
going to tell you. And they're going to tell
you again. And you're going to sit there and
you're going to listen. You're going to repeat
back and you're going to pause. And then you
come out with a line and you say, you know what?
I like you. I like the way you do business and
how you're doing it. How can I make you more
successful? How can I make you, how can I be
a good referral source for you? This is what's
called having a servant's heart. When you walk
into a networking event, you look to give, not
to receive. And as long as you look to give,
that takes all the pressure off your shoulders.
All of a sudden, you're not nervous anymore.
All of a sudden, you're looking to help somebody.
So it goes a long way. Okay. You have to build
a rapport with the person. Right? Build rapport.
What do you have in common? You have to ask questions.
Questions are a great way of trying to build
rapport. Because you're asking questions about
them. When you walk into an office, if you have
a one -to -one meeting, right, you have anywhere
between five seconds and almost a minute to look
on the walls, look on the desk, right? Is there
music on the walls? Is there art? Is there some
sort of sports paraphernalia? I want you to look
at the pictures that he has on the desk. Are
the pictures on the rear desk facing out? Or
are they on his desk facing in? And you say,
what's the difference? Big difference. The ones
on the rear, in the rear, facing out, they almost
want you to ask about them. Ask about those pictures.
And if the pictures are on the front desk, towards
him or her, off limits. They don't want to talk
about it. So those little nuances, little things
that you can do, that you can pick up on, that
can go a long way. Here's the mantra. Know you,
like you, trust you. They want to do business
with you. You're not going to get to that last
part unless you have the first three. Because
if the person doesn't know you, they're not going
to do business with you. I'm talking about somebody
that's not online. Oh, sorry to interject. but
i think this relates even to zoom calls absolutely
because we often have the virtual backgrounds
yes and i regularly use that and i've noticed
that if i don't start the conversation about
that it can be awkward on the call you have to
remember with the zoom call a perfect question
zoom call there's a person on the other side
of that camera everybody thinks it's zoomed knows
about the person who's half -dressed and in her
underwear, okay? Barring that, you can just get
to know the person behind the camera. And that
means, like I said, I do a lot of podcasting.
And I always try to get to know the person before
the podcast because that will give me other questions.
Now... introvert versus extrovert. I've told
you so far, you walk up to the table, you wait
for the conversation, you listen for it, and
hopefully when the conversation comes around
to you, you're going to say something intelligent.
Okay, that's great. All for extroverts. What
about introvert? Because an introvert, when you
walk into that networking event, it's like hitting
a wall. Oh my God, there's so many people here.
And then all of a sudden, what do they do? They
grab a train. Okay, so with an introvert, you
still go to this networking event. By the way,
I say go to a networking event at least once
per week. Okay, so you're going to walk in with
somebody that you know. Not necessarily somebody
you work with, but somebody that you know, knows
you, knows all about you and what you do. Because
when you walk up to that table and you finally
say, okay, you know something? That conversation
is something that I want to be a part of. That
person says, oh, you know something? Michael
knows all about that. Michael, why don't you
share that with us? So that's a little introduction.
So now all of a sudden, you're not feeling so
away. Now, I'm not saying that if you're introverted,
you're going to do this the first networking
event. And all of a sudden, it's going to work.
And you're never going to, you're an extrovert.
No. The first time you go to a networking meeting,
by the way, you're going to suck. It's horrible.
Right? But you learn from it. Go to the second
meeting. You're going to suck. But you're going
to suck less. Go to the third meeting. You're
going to still suck, but still keep it less.
Okay. But by the fifth time, the sixth time,
you go to a networking meeting, all of a sudden
you realize. You're going to enjoy it. Wow, I'm
meeting all these people. I'm learning about
all these businesses. This is great. So that's
the main difference. So now, what do you do?
Follow up, follow up, follow up. Okay. Follow
up immediately. I have a secret sauce when it
comes to follow up. And by the way, it's 98 %
it works. Now, I'll go into that labor law. You
take notes on the back of a business card. Those
business cards aren't there just for you to hand
out. When you, after you say that to the person,
I want to make you more successful, then yada,
yada, yada. You turn that business card over.
You write down the date, the name of the function,
and something you spoke about. Because that will
come in handy when you follow up and you put
it into your CRM and so forth. I want you to
connect with them. on linkedin facebook instagram
and twitter when i say connect just look them
up reach out and connect now it doesn't mean
that you're going to connect with them and turn
around and try to sell them you have to create
value that value is so important and here we
come to it the thank you card the hand written
thank you card that's right It's a handwritten
thank you card. And I'll go over one more to
write that. But that is so important. Can you
imagine being the person that receives a thank
you card? All of a sudden, it's not an invoice.
It's not some hokey ad. It's not anything. But
it's somebody reaching out to you and saying,
thank you for your time. It goes such a long
way. And you stay top of mind. So now. Can I
say something about the business cards real quick?
Sure. So there are a lot of people that emanate
the business cards. When you try to write on
them, it's almost impossible. Yep, that's why
you have a phone. Yeah, okay. I always lose it.
You won't. If you have to, just take notes in
the phone. Right after the conversation, you
go to your note taking and you just write notes
in it. Very important. Okay, so now what's the
secret sauce? What's the follow -up system that
I follow? After the networking event. You're
going to go home or back to the office, whatever
the case may be, and you're going to immediately
send a thank you email. Thank you for your time.
Don, it was great meeting with you. Thank you
for your time. I hope to do this with you soon.
Bye. That's it. Easy peasy. The next morning,
the very next morning, you write that handwritten
thank you. You write almost the same thing. Hey,
Don, this is Michael. I met you on such and such
date at an event. We spoke about X, Y, Z. Remember
me? I want to thank you for your time. Have a
great time. Have a great day. Bye. You're going
to wait about three or four days because the
mail is from snail mail, right? You're going
to wait. Now, if they haven't sent you an email
back yet, which is 50 -50, you're going to send
them an email. Hey, Don. This is Mike. I met
you on such and such an event. We spoke about
XYZ. Notice I say that in the beginning of every
correspondence. I'm going to do that in every
correspondence until he answers me. Hey, I was
just looking at my calendar. I see Tuesday and
Wednesday of next week are pretty well open.
Would one of those days work best for you? Okay.
I'll wait another three days. Three days. This
is a magic number, by the way. Three days. Still
haven't returned that email yet. Hey Don, this
is Michael. I met you on such and such date,
such and such event. We spoke about exploits.
Listen, I said Tuesday and Wednesday of next
week were open. Tuesday's kind of full. How's
Wednesday? Wait another three days? Because he's
a horrible person. Okay? So, last time. Hey Don,
this is Mike. I met you on such and such day,
such and such an event. We spoke about X, Y,
Z. I said Tuesday and Wednesday were kind of
full. They seem to be filling up rather quickly.
How's the following week? Or what is good for
you? And just leave it there. So if he hasn't
answered me by this time, he probably isn't.
Okay? If I did something somewhere or just he
doesn't want to talk to me. Okay. Do I take all
that stuff and throw it away? No. I have a CRM.
Everybody have a CRM or know what it is? Customer
Relationship Management Tool? Okay. Take all
of it, put it in there, every touch point that
you have. By the way, it takes between 8 and
15 touch points before somebody would buy from
you. So you have to reach out to them at least
8 times before they even think about talking
to you. Okay. So, now, let's expand the business
a little bit. LinkedIn, I always put for business,
I have X amount of thousands of contacts. Business
is business. That's where I do all my advertising
and everything else. The Instagram is more for
reels, more for those short, quick, little advertisement
reels. 15 seconds. 15, 20 seconds. I use a certain
program for my podcast, I split it into pieces,
and I post it on Instagram just so they can see
it. And of course, I do a full video on YouTube.
Now, I did a little investigative work. Where
is the best place where your advertising dollar
really works? What is most commonly used? What
is the most, the biggest platform that you can
think of? That somebody would see it with yourself.
It wasn't what I was thinking of. I had to change
my whole philosophy, by the way. No, it doesn't.
No, it doesn't. YouTube. YouTube is number one.
It's number one. And Instagram is like halfway
down. But Instagram, it wasn't the second one.
Facebook. I always said that Facebook was for
family. It was to reach out and touch somebody.
No advertising. So YouTube, Facebook, Instagram
is the third one down, and then all the TikTok
and everything else is down there below. Now,
TikTok might be on the rise, but it's not there
yet. So regardless of what people are saying
to you, I'm telling you, YouTube, Facebook, and
Instagram. Now, if you want to network, go to
meetupgatherings .meetup .com, right? You can
find different little things. Just go out there
and network. You want to get your look, what
you're wearing. You want to get your face out
there. You want people to say, when you walk
into a room, I know that person. I don't know
what they do, but I know that person. Not bad.
Okay. So, Networking is a skill and a talent.
A skill and talent. So what does that mean? Practice,
practice. You're going to suck the first time,
the second time, the third time. But you're practicing.
That's what goes on. Now you're focusing on relationships.
I used the pandemic as a line in the sand. Pre
-pandemic, it was basically transactional. Your
networking was transactional. Post -pandemic,
it's relational. I used to be in a mortgage company.
I'd go to a networking event. I'd come home with
a shoebox filled with business cards. Look how
good I did. No, I did horrible. Why? Because
I couldn't remember anybody. Now, when I go to
a three or four hour event, I come back with
about 15 business cards. Because all of that,
I'll be able to... Follow it properly. And that
is so important. So keep in touch with them.
Remember to write, guess what? The handwritten
thank you notes. All of my students that I coach,
I have them write a handwritten thank you note
and send it to me. In my briefcase, I have thank
you notes. I have 50 thank you notes. You can
have the old ones that are just, you can just
buy them. But I have mine printed. My logo, they're
nice and everything else. One step above. You
don't have to do that. But that's what you do.
Now, I'm going to tell you a few things. You
want to get your brand out there. You want to
get your name out there. AI is a buzzword. Everybody's
using AI. It's all my God's who replace all these
jobs and everything else. Well, AI will not replace
certain jobs. But if you use AI as a tool, that
will take you boundless places. Now, how else
can you network out there? You write articles.
I write articles twice a week for a magazine.
All about networking and things like that. Podcasting.
It's a great way to get your word out there.
But what are you doing? You're getting other
people to come on. Talk about them and you interact
and interject what you want to say about networking.
And digital courses, I have to be good enough.
On my website, you can see I have about eight
digital courses. It took me a long time to do.
But it has everything from sales to networking
and so on and so forth. You can do that. If you
have a website, there's another website you do
to create the courses. And then what you do is
you sell them on your site or other places. If
you want to get the word out, create a digital
course. I don't care if it's a local course.
You sell it for $7, sell it for $5. It doesn't
make a difference. But you're doing it and you're
getting your name out there. Okay, so we'll circle
back to the beginning. Take every opportunity
to meet new people. Where do you meet new people?
Kohl's. The supermarket? Are you networking?
Yeah, you are. How many times have you been in
line and you've heard the conversation behind
you? And you're like, I really know about that.
I really want to turn around. Say it. Say it
to your second and turn around. Okay? If they
are interested, they'll say, what do you mean
by that? Okay. How about if you focus on how
you can help somebody? servant's heart. Having
a servant's heart. How can you help? You're going
alone except for an introvert. Don't forget your
business cards and you have to follow up properly.
Let me tell you now, if you don't follow up properly,
your mind will not even have gone to the event
in the first place. When do I follow up? Well,
following up is one thing. Following up correctly
is different. And remember, people hate to be
sold to you, but they love to buy. So no matter
what you're selling, no matter what service you
have, they want to buy from you. But if you go
in there to try to sell them, you lost. 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
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website, foreman .com slash podcasts.