You know, everybody knows of the sales cycle,
right? From the janitor to the CEO, everybody
has to know the sales cycle. So your employer,
or if you're a solopreneur, just you, you have
to learn your product. You learn your product
so well that you can talk about it at any pace.
But what don't they teach you? They don't teach
you to network. to network properly. Because
you can go to a networking event, or meet with
somebody one on one, and what happens? You have
a great meeting, you have a great contact, but
nothing ever really comes out of it. It's not
because of what you sell, it's the way that you
sell it, and the way that you follow up. And
I feel that the follow up is 100 % more important
than actually meeting the person. So that's what
I'm going to teach you a little bit lateral because
we have people here a little bit louder Okay,
why does everyone network what's the main purpose
Make money right you have you want to sell a
product to what to make money whether your salary
or or commission It doesn't make a difference,
but that is your ultimate Goal and that is to
make money and I am here to tell you that without
networking You won't make it All right. So First
thing is you have to whatever you're you're meeting
up with somebody whether you're meeting with
just a an individual person or a networking event
I'm going to use a networking event Really as
my base because that's where your main will you
mean you go out and you? Network to communicate
your what you're selling and what you're selling
is what who you are so now You you have their
problem right in front of you and your job to
find out what the solution is Is that the end
of it? No, okay. You have a problem. I have your
solution I figured out your solution and okay
wham -bam. Thank you ma 'am. We're done wrong
Here is the solution. Here is where your customer
is going. That's where you want to go. You want
to be able to meet them where they're going because
otherwise, you know, they're done with you. They
don't need you anymore. And that's not true,
right? So I'm going to give you this screen.
Take every opportunity to meet new people. Focus
on how you can help. Go alone. Strictly for extroverts,
I'll get to that in a minute. Don't forget your
business cards and the follow up. This is what
I'm going to teach you today. Right? So these
are the main points. And when I say extrovert
versus introvert, there's not that much of a
difference, believe it or not. There's not that
much of a difference. And I'll go into that.
So I want you to think, think about this line.
people love to buy, but they hate to be sold
to. Right? How many times have you walked into
a car dealership, and the guy said, hey man,
I'm Alex. Oh, this model, this model's great.
It's got this point, this point, this point,
it's got this guy, great line, and tells you
all about it and everything, and you're standing
there going, I just came to look, man, just leave
me alone. Or, walk up to somebody. Or you have
walked up to buy a salesman and say, hey, I'm
Malcolm. If you need me, I'm right over there.
And you look at it at your own pace. And if you
have a question, which 99 % of the time you do,
you're going to ask them. Right? So that's a
different in the sales technique. Now, here.
Smile. OK. Smile. That's the first thing that
everybody looks at. Right? if you're going to
smile, right? Celia, our queen of non -profits,
right? What does she always do when she walks
into her room? Smiles. It's the most important
thing. If you walk in with a frown, nobody's
going to want to talk to you, right? So, you
have to look the person in the eye. Nobody likes
to talk to somebody as they're talking to somebody
and looking like this, right? You don't want
to do that. You also want to make them feel like
they're the most important person in the room.
Now, when you're talking to somebody, you'll
see somebody walking behind them that you really
want to talk to. What do you do? You finish your
conversation with that person. You remain with
eye contact. Now you know, instinctively, where
that other person is walking and who they're
talking to. But you finish your conversation
you have eye contact because that is the most
important thing and they are the most important
person in the room Okay, that's your eye contact
I have a story from New York versus Georgia.
I come from New York. You can't tell my accent
See, I don't think I have an accent. I think
you will There's a distinct difference between
a New York person and a Georgia person And I
don't have time to go into that, so I'm up here.
Be polite. Be polite. You have to treat the janitor
as well as the CEO. I have another story for
that, right? Where I actually walked into a building
and I met the janitor. One story short, I was
sitting down with the CEO of the company and
I said, how you doing? And he said, oh, hey,
Jeff. And I turned around and it was the janitor.
I said, oh. You know him? Because that's my brother
-in -law. So if I didn't, listen, I made nights,
I spoke to him, I said, how are you doing? Can
I help you with anything? Anything like that.
And then I walked up to the CEO's office. If
I didn't do that, what would the CEO would have
thought of me? Right? All right. So, and here
to respect the CEO, like the janitor. Okay, now,
confidence. When you're talking to somebody,
Square your body up with them. Don't say, hey,
I ain't doing it, because what does that mean?
You're looking over here, right? You're looking
over here. You have to speak with the person,
speak with the person directly, shoulders square.
Okay, friendly facial expression, hands in plain
sight. Listen, if you're talking like this, or
if you talk with your hands in your pocket, you
lost, right? I'm Jewish, I married an Italian
girl, and she talks with her hands. Right? If
you realize that every time you speak with somebody,
your hands are moving. You're trying to accentuate
what you're saying with your hands. Don't stop
that. I don't mean like, hey, crazy Eddie. That
commercial from a long time ago. Okay, so just,
you know, talk with your hands. That's really
easy. Now, this is simple. Middle steeple. I
love saying this. This is a roof max commercial.
And the guys out there are talking like this.
And you should always talk about, use roof max
and everything. This is called a middle steeple.
This is a lower steeple. This is a higher steeple.
This is a middle steeple. First thing you think
about when you do middle steeple. Don't do it.
Don't do it. Keep your hands free. Right? Because
all of this is part of your body language. Your
body language will absolutely help you in your
sales process. Now, enunciate. This is going
to be a little bit of a problem with somebody
from a different country or something else. You
have to learn how to enunciate. If you don't
enunciate, you're lost. Because They'll sit there,
yessing you to death. And what's going to happen?
They're going to walk away and go, I don't know
how they're going to find me. Right? OK. So that's
key. So now, listen and pause. When you're talking
with somebody, speaking with anybody, and you're
listening to them, turn your cell phone off.
Put it away. Somebody walking past, don't bother
with them. Look at them in the eye and listen
to what they say. When they finish, pause. That
pause is probably the most important thing you'll
ever do. Because it will, when you return the
conversation, you're going to repeat something
that he said. Okay? So that, what does that tell
the person? It tells the person, he was listening
to me. Oh my goodness! And you respond in kind.
Right it's a very very important piece all right
What should you do all right? Let's say you're
walking into a networking event. This is for
extroverts not introverts I keep saying that
but To me okay, so when you walk up to a table
there are plenty of things you have to do when
you go to a networking event Right? They usually
have a piece of paper, you pick it up and you
see where the tables are, you see all the networking.
You go out and you find a table that you want
to walk up to. Usually four or five people. You
walk up to them, what do you do? You don't speak
at all. Don't talk. You walk up and you listen.
You listen for the conversation. Is this a conversation
that I want to be a part of? Oh, it's not they're
talking about their mother's baking and I really
I came in the network I don't want to talk about
that. Let me go to different table politely bow
out. You haven't said anything yet. That's fine.
Go to the next table Let's say you walk up to
the table and it is a conversation you want to
be a part of wait for the conversation come around
to you or break and Then you say something with
intelligence Remember, you are the expert of
your field. You are the expert. So what you say
should mean be very important. Okay? But, all
you're trying to do is get the intention of at
least two people. And okay, you got the intention
of the two people. You turned the conversation
over to them. And I use something called FORM,
F -O -R -M, family, occupation, recreation, and
a message. So, after you speak to one person,
have them, that's another family, their mother,
father, sister, brother, son, daughter. I usually
try to get them on a youth sports level. Why?
I was a baseball coach for 16 years. I was an
umpire of... for three years, all right? So I
can talk with anybody about any youth sport,
because I coach football, I coach basketball,
believe it or not, basketball, right? But I got
them to speak. And what do people love to do?
Talk about themselves. They talk about their
family, right? So once you get them to do it,
then all of a sudden you kind of turn the conversation
to what they do. and you talk about it, and say,
you know something? I like you. I like what you
do and how you do it. How can I make you more
successful? How can I be a good referral source
for you? And if I did my job correctly, they'll
turn around and say, Mike, I'm going to tell
you, do yet. And you're trying to make me more
successful? Yes. You're going in with what's
called a servant's heart. You're going in looking
to give not to receive And you get much more
you get much further ahead with something like
this. Okay, that's form But I will go into that
afterwards. Okay family occupation recreation
and message. It's We could spend a whole half
an hour just on that just kind of remember that
and When you're walking up to a table get them
to say it Okay, what do you have in common with
the person? Because you want to talk about something
that you're having in common with them. Is it
your occupation? Do you go skiing? Boating? Do
you do sports? Something, anything. Anything
to get them on the same level as you. The first
thing you do is ask a question. Because when
you're answering a question, listen, every time
you meet somebody or go into a networking event,
there's a wall between you and the person. Know
you, like you, trust you, they'll do business
with you. If they know you, well, everybody will
know you. How about like you? Well, that kind
of lowers the field down a little bit because
everybody's not going to like you. But trust?
Nobody is going to do business with you unless
they trust you. Now, when you're speaking with
somebody, and about their family, about their
recreation, about anything like this, what's
happening? That wall between the two of you is
going down, and that trust level is going up.
Once you get the trust level up, then it kinda
opens you up to do business. All right, just
different things. When you walk into an office,
right? You have a one -on -one meeting. Welcome
to an office. Take a very quick, I'll give you
about 30 seconds to figure out what you can talk
about. Does he have a picture of his son, daughter,
grandson, whatever, youth sports, always my go
-to. How about a musical note, a picture of music,
something of art, something on the wall, something
will tell you what this person is all about.
Talk about it. Even if you don't know I know
nothing about music nothing. I'm telling you
I know less than nothing But if I see something
on the wall, I see a musical instrument or a
picture or something else. I'll ask them about
it Because they love to talk about themselves
Anybody else with a cell phone like that, please
stop except time. Okay, so sports music or you
know, it's really everything that you that you
Want to do there is the mantra Always remember
the mantra with network if they know you if they
like you if they trust you They're going to do
business with you And always remember without
the trust you don't have a sale All right, so
now I'm getting to that point extroverts and
introverts when I first said you walked into
a networking event Which if you're an introvert
will scare the hell out of you But if you're
an extrovert you walk into the event and you
look at this massive amount of people and You
immediately start to go to work if you're an
introvert What do you do you go to the wall get
a drink and you become a wallflower? Right Let's
not let that happen So I want you to go with
somebody. I know I said go alone But that's for
an extrovert If you're an introvert, you go with
somebody, somebody that knows you, knows what
you do very well. And as you're walking up to
that table and that conversation comes around,
and it is a conversation that you want to be
a part of, either you kick them or nudge them
or something, and say, oh, you know something?
Michael knows a lot about that subject. Michael,
why don't you tell us a little bit about that?
It's kind of like an introduction. And all of
a sudden, the introvert is less, right? So if
you do that enough times, when I say enough times,
not the first time, because the first time you
go out and network, if you're new to networking
and you go out and you try this, you're gonna
suck. No toys about it, okay? The second time,
you're gonna suck that much less. The third time,
even less. By the fourth time, maybe the fifth
time, if you're an introvert and you have your
wingman, I called a wingman, I was in the Air
Force. So a wingman, then you probably won't
need that wingman much more, right? You're kind
of like flying on your own. And I said I could,
you know, for another 30 minutes. All right,
now the follow -up is what I feel is the most
important. When you follow up, when you get back
to that, your office or your house, Whatever
you follow up that evening with a thank you Say
hey, you know, thank you very much for your time.
I hope you enjoy yourself Hope to visit with
you Michael Right send it off the very next morning
Here's the clincher You see the thank you note
a handwritten thank you note Handwritten in the
age of technology? Oh no! Handwritten thank you
note. This goes so far. You have no idea. I usually
sit with us. I was in the mortgage industry and
I used to go to a networking event. I used to
come home with a shoe box filled with business
cards. Oh my God, look how good I did when I
did horrible. Right? I went to the school of
hard knocks. I did everything wrong. before I
did them correctly. So, you take that thank you
card, you write almost the same thing, right?
Hey, Frida, this is Michael. I met you on such
and such day and at such and such an event. We
spoke about XYZ. I'm hoping to do business with
you soon, Michael. So, I've sent that one email.
I sent the thank you card. I wait three days.
I send an email. hey Frida, this is Michael,
I met you on such and such date, such and event,
we spoke about XYZ. I say that before I do any
time I touch a point of touch for them, that's
what I put in. Why? Because it keeps me top of
mind. And just so you know, on a sale cycle,
it takes 8 to 15 touches, 8 times before they
will respond to you. So you're taking care a
lot of this to begin with. Okay, so connect on
LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, whatever, whatever
platform you use, right? Reach out and connect
with that person. Soft connect. Now, what I do
is I connect with the person, and they're in
a roofing company, actually, and I sent them
an article between metal roofs and asphalt. I
said, look, I came across this article. I thought
you might find it interesting. Keep giving them
that about three or four times. You have to bring
value to the relationship before you can ask
for a cup of coffee. Bring value. Otherwise,
they don't want to know. I have 10 ,000 contacts,
right? So if I just say, OK, great, I want to
meet you. Listen, when I was at a networking
event, I had a guy come walking up to me with
a handful of business cards. He said, Here, here,
here, here, here, my business card. I want to
contact you, everybody. I'll get in touch with
you afterwards, and I'll see you afterwards.
Zip. And all of us were there with a business
card saying, what the hell just happened? Every
one of us threw it away. So if you don't want
to go through the cost of printing or the embarrassment,
don't do that. All right. So now. What are the
steps? Do you have a system and consistency?
That is the most important part. Everybody here
have a CRM, I hope, because every time that you
meet somebody, you want to take all of their
contact information, put it to your CRM, and
thus begins your time in connecting with them.
Consistency, that doesn't mean email them, wait
a week, email them, wait another week. Email
wait two weeks email. That's it. That's not being
consistent By being consistent you're emailing
them two or three days later you email again
all you're doing is waiting for a response Positive
or negative doesn't matter That thank -you card
and the way that I the whole my whole secret
sauce I call it of following up increases the
percentage rate of return of two percent that's
right two percent of a corporate email gets answered
by my system by the thank you card and everything
else it raises it up 75 percent 75 percent of
you getting a response look the response the
response might be look stop emailing me i don't
want your services that's fine because you got
a response. Alright, so, now, okay, here, expand
your network, alright, expand your network, go
onto LinkedIn, and if you want to go after commercial
realtors, or roofers, or somebody else like that,
you're gonna find them on LinkedIn, and just
connect with them. It's really not that difficult.
Instagram, listen, all of you have a cell phone.
Every one of you. Do a 30 second 45 second real
Hey, how you doing? This is Mike. I'm the networking
king Whatever right surreal, but it's getting
your name and your face out there You too. There's
a survey done Where is your advertising dollars
going? What do you think what do you think was
the number one place? where you should advertise
on Facebook between YouTube, Instagram, Facebook,
X, all of those, TikTok, everywhere, right? YouTube
came out as number one. YouTube was the number
one place. So if you don't have a YouTube channel,
create one. It takes about 30 seconds, right?
What do you think the second one down was? Pretty
far, too. But the second one down, Facebook.
I never put much behind Facebook because I always
thought it was for friends, for family, for things
like that. No, if you're going to advertise or
sell something, Facebook is the place to go.
Then afterwards, if you want a network like this,
go to meetup .com or some of these other sites.
Look for a networking meeting because listen,
this is the only way you're going to get business
by networking. by networking properly. You have
to really think about it. Networking used to
be pre -pandemic. Networking was very transactional.
Hey, I have one widget. You have three dollars.
Let me have it. Bye. Post -pandemic. It's not.
It's relational. That box of 200 cards that I
used to carry around. No. Whenever I go to a
networking event, I come back with 15 cards,
maybe 20. Because I won't be able to follow up
properly if I bring back more than that Okay,
so Yeah Practice practice practice the three
most important words in network You're not going
to get any better unless you practice now when
you have your 30 second elevator speech, which
I Absolutely don't agree Right? Whenever I coach
anybody, I say, okay, let's work on your 30 second
open speech. Great, we got it. All right, now
let's break it down to 10 seconds. What? You're
crazy. 10 seconds? Yeah. Okay, we got it down
to 10 seconds. Okay, good. Now throw the whole
thing out. Because all I did was get you to focus
on what you have to say or say. Now obviously
keep in touch and that's through Facebook LinkedIn
wherever you platform you want to and if you
remember anything Please remember the handwritten
notes. I in my briefcase I have 50 thank -you
notes just for such an occasion and I got to
be I got to such a point where I Had a printed
simple little thank -you card. It's it's not
even a fold over it's just a quick thank you
right right on the back right i do it with such
a point that i i make sure i do it all right
so ai is a buzzword use ai as a tool don't have
it replace what you have to say you write articles
i am an author i wrote two books one on networking
one on podcasting i have a podcast that goes
I have over $125. I have digital courses. These
are all ways that you can get in front of your
client. Create, use your mind, create, whether
it's AI, whether it's articles, a podcast, whether
it's digital courses, whatever. Okay, so now
these are the things I told you to worry about,
to think about, right? But finally, oop. If the
conversation you're having isn't producing results,
it's not bad luck. It's a communication problem.
It's not what you sell. It's how you're selling
it and how you're presenting yourself. Okay,
patterns can change. Okay, this QR code tells
me how I did it, right? So if you want, you can...
I rushed through this because I usually have
45 minutes to an hour. Within time, I wanted
to make sure I got everything in. Any questions?
I have one. What about those that come to networking
events like this? They get all the business cards
or all the names and email addresses of everybody
that attends, and then they send out a massive
email. Hey, good to have seen you if I didn't
meet you. But they spam everybody. Great question.
First of all, all of your emails should be personalized.
They should go on individual. Then you have to
follow along with your follow -up. If your follow
-up was your initial email, the next morning,
what do you do? Coffee. Coffee, no. Thank you
card. Me coffee. Your thank you card. Okay, you
have to send a thank you card, and you begin
that follow -up process. As long as it's somebody
that you truly want to connect with.