A Superior Networking Strategy, Roland In The Hot Seat (Part 3).

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You're listening to Business Lunch with Roland Fraser. This is your seat at the table. Welcome to the show. This is the producer, Darren Clark, and we have Roland in the hot seat again today. But before we get to that, we're doing a thing. We're running a contest. So we're picking the winner next week. And it's very simple. If you sign up for our email newsletter, we're going to send you superb episode updates and all the news on what Roland is up to. And you'll be entered to win a pair of Apple AirPods. And who doesn't love those things? So head to our website, businesslunchpodcast.com contest to enter. That's businesslunchpodcast.com contest. All right, so today, and I love this episode, by the way, we're talking networking. So we all know networking looks a little different in times of COVID but if you're a listener of the show, you'll know that Roland is very well connected and that's not by accident. So let's hear how he does it. So, Roland, you know, I know that building your network is one of the things that you're most passionate about, but a lot of us will sign up for events or conferences or join a mastermind, you know, but how do you make the most of that? And how do you, how do you stand out and actually make connections with people that are going to help grow your business?

So one is, is to think about the, the time horizon that you're going to with somebody. Because if you are trying to connect with a speaker who's just spoken about something that you're super interested in and you love what he or she has to say and you want to connect with them, if you run up to them with the 30 or 40 other people that come up after and you say, I want to pick your brain, number one, you're coming from a taking thing. Number two, it sounds gross, it's probably illegal. And you are competing with all these other people who are competing with them after they've just given, you know, to the audience. And many speakers, that takes a lot out of. They get, you know, they lose energy as a result of that. For me, it's energizing. So I actually like talking to people. But for most people I know, they, they just don't like it. So that's a bad choice of an opportunity to go get to know somebody, to stand out. You're not going to stand out, except you're going to be somebody that's in a lot of Speakers minds, you're going to be one of the 17 obstacles that they need to get through to get out to get air. Right. So don't be that person. You can come up and say, that was amazing. Changed my life. Love it. I'm going to try to find you later. Cool, right? That should be generally okay for pretty much any speaker. So picking your opportunity. So then, now let's use the example that you said of the Mastermind. So now I'm in a mastermind, and I want to get to know the people who are putting this thing on. And I should also be aware that there's probably other people in the room I want to get to know also, even though I don't know that yet. So I'll give you the example. For me, 10 years or 11 years ago, when I went into the war room, Mastermind. So I went to an event called Traffic and Conversion Summit and was blown away by the quality of the people. And it was Brian Dice and Perry Belcher primarily, that were on the stage for like 12 hours a day for three days. And it was just like, amazing. I was like, these marketing guys are super, super sharp. I want to get to know. Well, they offered the paid channel for access, which I chose not to do because my schedule was too busy, and then beat myself up for not joining for the next year. Went the next year and joined. And then I was like, okay, I need to stand out to connect with these people, so how can I do that? So I said, well, one of the ways is they have this thing in this mastermind. So what's the format of the group? Right, and how do I. How am I likely to stand out? It's definitely not going, you know, hey, please pay attention to me. It's give value. So one of the ways that people gave value in that group and still do to this day was through a thing called Wicked Smart. And Wicked Smart is where you share something that you have done that has achieved a result that is proven. And the group votes on which one was best. And whoever gets the most votes wins. Wicked Smart. So I was like, I got to win that. And I was like, how am I going to win that? I don't really know anything. That, to me, is Wicked Smart in the marketing world. Cause I'm a business guy. So I was like, well, I gotta figure it out. So I started asking people, I said, what's the biggest thing that you want to accomplish? And at the time, one of the things was, how do I get the email addresses of my Facebook audience and I was like, okay, sounds interesting. So I went through everything I could think of to try to figure that out. And I found out, well, you can import your list into Yahoo and you can get up to 200 people, but that's not good enough. And then as I was playing with different things that were integrations with Facebook, I noticed that on Skype, for a minute, just a brief minute, when you did a connect, you saw all the connections. I was like, so if I can get into that, I can get them all. And then I just talked to some programmer friends and went at it, and went at it, and I finally figured out how to do it. And so I was like, that's a good thing. And then there were two other things that people had said. So I went also, I'm like, increase your odds. So, number one, I want to stand out. Number two, how do I increase my odds of standing out? Come up with more than one thing. So when it came around to my turn to do Wicked Smart, I had three very, very good things that I knew people wanted because I had asked people, and I really made it my focus. My focus was to stand out. I wasn't going to accidentally stumble into standing out. I was going to be very intentional about it and make it happen. And I won. And so immediately, Ryan and Perry, who I did not know at the time, said, Perry came over and said, hey, man, we're have dinner tonight. I want you to sit next to me. I want to get to know you. And I was like, sweet, right? So he sought me out because I added value to the group. And the group then said, that's a guy who we want to get to know. But then beyond that, I said, I'm really good at taking notes, right? I'm a very methodical person. And I like, I'll go above and beyond and I'll go find the links that go with that thing, then some other stuff and put that in. So my notes are like, very extensive. So at the end of the meeting, the first meeting we had, I said, hey, I take really good notes. If anybody wants them, let me know and I'll send them to you. And almost everybody did. So I emailed my notes to everybody. And then for the next few meetings, people were like, I need to get your notes, right? So I had. I was giving that value, and there's a lot of great stuff in there because everybody was sharing their best ideas. So now I've stood out. I've been invited to the, the quote unquote, cool kids group to have drinks and dinner. And now I'm interacting with those people directly. And I don't say, man, I got these 17 things that I'm trying to do. Can you tell me how to do this? I gotta get all, everything I can out of you right now. Cause I don't know if I'm gonna be able to talk to you again. So tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me. I said, what do you guys need? What can I do for you? Right? And I was like, well, we're trying to do this and this and this. And I was like, awesome, I can help with that, right? And I did. And so the very first night we had that dinner and I got to have that direct connection. And then the second night, a group of, I think it was six of us went out and those six people, we were just sitting there talking and one of the ladies said, you know, was just like, what are you doing? She's like, oh gosh, I'm so stressed out. Her dad owns an insurance company with like 78,000 agents. Giant Insurance company. And she said, you know, and the best of his best. I did this thing with a guy where we're going to do SEO for him and my dad gave me his best people and several of them signed up. And now this guy is saying that he wants more money and he's not going to do it and I'm going to look like crap in front of my dad and I don't want to know. And I happen to be good at SEO. And I said, well, how many people are you talking that you really need to do this for? And she's like, I don't know, like 11 or 12. And I said, well, give me their names and give me the keywords and I'll do it for you. And she said, oh, I just don't have a lot of money to pay. I said, I'm just going to do it for you. She said, really? Yeah, I'll do it tonight. So I did it that night and they were ranked the next day. And she's like, holy crap, this is just solves all my problems, blah, blah, blah. And then that story spread and she ended up being a friend and she ended up founding company called Trudog her name is Lori Taylor, which she ended up, I think, either taking public or selling to a public company and being just so like. But give, give, give. And one last story on that and then I'll shut up because this is, to me, it's all about the give and how it comes back, right? So three years Later, Ryan and Perry have an opportunity with a CEO that had an option to acquire some equity in the company. It didn't work out, and that person went on to do other things. And they came to me and said, man, you've really been helpful to us. You've just given, given, given, and never asked for anything. Not that it's wrong to ask. I just didn't have anything to ask for. And we've got this equity that's available right now. Would you like to come into the company? And I said, yeah. So my opportunity then became to be an owner in the company because of the value that I had given throughout the time. I had this relationship with this person who she turned out to be one of Forbes under 40 influencers and all these other things that was like, oh, that's kind of cool. And then another guy who was in this group asked me. He said, man, you do this business stuff kind of differently. Would you be willing to be interviewed on my. At the time, it was a telephone call that he did with. He had, like, thousands and thousands of dentists that he did these deals with. His name is Ed o', Keefe, who's still a friend. And he said, would you be willing to be interviewed for my show? And I said, sure. So he interviews me, we do the interview, and at the end he calls me back and says, hey, man, listen, I'd like to get a few of these guys in a room with you for two days and then just split the profits with you, share your stuff with them. Would you be willing to do that? And I said, yeah. And he said, okay. So he calls me and I think, girl, I'll never hear from him again. He calls me like, two, three weeks later and says, okay, I got 12 guys that paid 25 grand to come and sit in the room for a couple days. When do you want to do it? And I was like, okay, great. So that was fun. And then we do the thing, and I'm sitting out on the deck with him, and he's like, man, if we don't offer them some way to get more of what you've been telling them, we're crazy. And I said, well, it's got to be more than what we charge for this. And you charge them 25 grand, so let's do 75k. And five of them bought the 75k thing. And so it was. And we just split it 50, 50. I had to do literally nothing except talk for two days about stuff that I am already doing that I love. And that was Kind of my entree into this whole crazy world of what people, you know, will pay to learn good stuff. And that all came out of giving. So if I'd have gone instead with not what can I do for this group? How do I stand out? Who do I want to get in touch with and how can I give those people value? And I had instead gone, man, I paid 25 grand for this. It better fricking be good. I better get my money's worth out. That's a lot of people go in with that attitude and that's such a huge mistake. You got to go in with the give. Even if you gave to get in to be able to give, right? That's how to me you get a big network. That's how you get access and can really have the opportunity to do a lot of different things. You have to give with no expectation of anything in return. If you expect something, if you're Buddhist, they say that's the problem of all suffering in the world comes from that expectation that's unmet. Just don't have it and then you won't have a problem. But it does come back.

You've been listening to Business Lunch Roland Frasier. If you're enjoying the show, let us know by subscribing and leaving a review. And for more information go to businesslunchpodcast.com thank you for listening.

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