004: How to Rock A Roofing EXPO!

You're listening to the Roofing Business Partner podcast. This is the show where you'll learn the Minehacks strategies and process we use every day to turn everyday roofing companies into the dominating local authority with our ultimate roofer marketing method. You'll also learn how we use Facebook ads to rapidly and affordably scale up business for roofing companies and generate leads on autopilot, putting you in touch with the right customers who pay the right price at the right time. Here's your host, Adam sand now, so let's get after it.

Hey, guys, welcome to another episode. I'm really excited about this one. I want to teach you guys how to rock the IMG Expo in New Orleans and build your roofing network. The reason I'm so excited about this is because I'm speaking at this event on the 22nd and the 23rd. I'll be teaching the power of the Facebook pixel. And so that is my intention and that's what you need to have. You need to have an intention going into this event. Begin with the end in mind. You want to be thinking, what do I want to accomplish from this event? And I'm pretty sure most of you, you don't want to go there and look like an idiot from getting too wasted at all the events. But this is something that's going to happen there. There's going to be a lot of these drinking evenings. There's going to be sponsored houses. It's going to be a good time. You want to limit the hangovers. You want to mitigate the damage you're going to do to your body. I'm not telling you to stop and don't go drinking. Don't have a good time. But you don't want to be missing sessions and forgetting the ones you do go to. You don't want to do that thing where you get time travel drunk. You go to the club, you have a good time, you're meeting some people, you're getting some contacts, and the next thing you know you're at Denny's eating sausage and eggs with somebody. You don't. This is all related to a lack of vasopressin. It's a hormone related to short term memory. And ethanol inhibits its release. So the whole goal is retain more water. And when you have a lack of vasopressin, that's when you start pissing like a racehorse. The easy way to get around this is avocados. It has more potassium than bananas. One of the most iconic meals in New Orleans is the shrimp remoulade. At the Napoleon House. So go put some salt on it. It's amazing. And you want to have a glass of water for every glass of alcohol that you drink. It's just the way it is. The CrossFit guys have a cool drink. It's called the Wolf Margarita or the norcal Margarita. It was featured on Rob Wolf's Paleo podcast. Go check that out. But you want two shots of high grade tequila. That's going to keep you honest. Club soda keeps it cheap. And you want as much lime as you can stand, which will also inhibit your glycemic response, so that five slices of pizza you eat later aren't going to hurt you so bad. And then before you go out, I got another dirty little trick for you. Burnt toast. Okay, have two slices of burnt toast. It's the activated charcoal in it. Just trust me. Google it if you want, but it works. Okay, at these events, you want to think of the three tenets of successful networking. Don't be a dick, don't dismiss people, and don't rush. Now, when I talk about not dismissing people, there's a really good story that Tim Ferriss tells about a lady named Miriam. Okay? So at a big event that he went to, south by Southwest, there was a lady named Miriam, and she was the one checking people in to one of the sponsored houses. And at all these sponsored house events, there's always some big dog. He's the one that brings all the people right. He's the lead magnet. And everybody who goes there is always hanging off the big dog, rushing him for a moment of his time. Instead, Tim, he spoke a lot to Miriam and turns out after all that she's actually the big dog's wife. He goes and says, hey, you know, this is kind of what I'm doing. I'm trying to just. This is what I'm trying to accomplish at the event. And she says, oh, yeah, you should totally hang out with Robert. He got the phone number, he got a personalized answer from the guy. And this exact situation is a reason that half of you know who Tim Ferriss is. Because right after this introduction, you know, this guy did a short mention of Tim's book, which put him on the top 10 list on Amazon for days, which previously he'd never been able to get there for more than a couple hours and changed his life. So that is definitely the most important one to remember is do not dismiss people. I have a firm belief that everybody going to IMG Expo in New Orleans should be there, treating every single person like they have the potential to unlock the hidden, highly sought after magic secret sauce of your business. Whatever the reason is that you're here, treat everyone like they have the magic ticket to the outcome you're looking for. Because you never know and it's just a good way to behave. It's self explanatory not to be a dick, but sometimes we forget what that really means. A good example that I always go back to is when I was at my very first Facebook event. I was there and it was full of young, hip, kind of techy people. It was held in San Diego and one of the breakout sessions that I was in, I was with a lady who, she was a little older, it wasn't quite the hip look, but she had a national dog toy brand and you know, she was just there to try and learn Facebook ads. She asked a lot of amateur questions. She didn't get a lot of love from the other people that were there. Well, you know, I tried my best to help her. We got talking and I was just really nice to everyone. Well, after the event she asked me if I would run Facebook ads for her and I never thought of it. I was there to learn. Well, she got me off the ground and the money I made off her is what allowed me to build my agency because we started selling her dog toys all across the U.S. that was how I got my start. I never would have even talked to this lady if I was, you know, just worried about myself. There's another really good story where, you know, one of those lead generation websites came up to me and normally I was like, I hate lead generation sites. Go away. I don't want you to be my pimp. That's usually how I feel about it. But we were at a home and garden trade show and I was like, no, don't be a dick. We ended up having a conversation and a lot of great things came from it. In fact, most of my biggest wins in business have come from not being a dick when it was my first initial defense mechanism response. So all we've be mindful of it. Don't be a dick to people, even if it's a defense response, right? And lastly, don't rush, right? Rushing turns otherwise good people into the first two, right into the people who are dismissing people or being dicks to people. Remember to play the long game. Realize that at IMG Expo or any roofing conference, or any conference for any industry for that matter, there's usually going to be hundreds or even thousands of people that could change your life completely. Financially, strategically, reputationally, who knows, maybe even romantically, anything better than Tinder? But your job is to have a deep human connection with a few of the people at this event before you leave. That's it. It makes it a lot more manageable when you're not trying to think, I need to meet everybody in the whole room and you don't want to try and push on people. Another kind of cool Tim Ferriss story. And I know I'm kind of showing my feathers here, but that he has is someone who followed him into a urinal. And I remember the first time I heard that story, I thought, man, that's crazy. But then it happened to me and I'm nothing. I am a nobody. I am a nothing. A 1% winner on, on the socially recognized scale. And yet I've had it happen. I have had a 20 year old guy follow me into a bathroom asking me stuff about sales. And I thought, holy crap, here I am trying to have my moment of Zen standing in front of a urinal, whipping it out and I got some guy asking me questions about sales behind me. It was surreal. And then I remembered, I'll never forget. Don't rush now, because I'm like, I don't want to ever be that guy breathing down another man's neck in a urinal stall. But you want to go to the event with the intention to learn and to grow. And that means going to the sessions, right? Now. What do you do when there's 90 breakout sessions like there is at IMG Expo? How do you pick? I'll tell you my little bit of advice. Read the bios, not the session titles. The session titles won't always give you a good indication of what you're going to take away from the course or even if you're going to be a good fit with the speaker. But if you read the bios, you're going to get to know the people. And you want to try and find cool people, creative people, people who look like they put a lot of effort in and that you might kind of jive with because they're the ones that are going to teach you something, right? And if you learn something and if you're a good student or you're a good part of the audience and you make a good connection with the speaker because you have a natural kind of jive, you're going to get introduced to all the kind of right people, you're going to move your business forward. And that's the whole goal, right, of going to the event is to somehow Improve your business. This year there's also going to be the big panels where they have the big speakers. So we all know that the headline keynote speaker is Gary Vaynerchu. At our event, well, he would most likely be on a panel, and they're going to be asking questions and kind of getting involved. And after the event, everybody's going to rush up. They're going to want to get their book signed and they're going to want to ask their question. They're going to be wanting to pitch them. And the fact is that they're great. But you know who else is great is the moderator. Usually they're amazing in their own right to even be able to ask the questions of the headlines and the keynote speakers, but they're not the ones getting mobbed. So introduce yourself to them. Give them a quick explanation. Let them know that you're a little bit new to the event and that what you're trying to accomplish at the event, and ask who they think might be a good fit for you. And more often than not, they have the power to introduce you to people. And when they do introduce you, you're going to have that edification. You're going to be edified by them as being someone that's worth talking to, which is awesome. Now, sometimes they're not going to introduce you, and they're going to say, oh, that person would be good for you. Now, in those examples, don't walk up and say, hey, so and so said we should meet, because that's not authentic. You're overselling your. The person who sent you said that they might be a good fit for you, not the other way around. So be honest and just say, hey. I went up to the moderator, Lauren, and I said this and she said that, and she pointed me in your direction, and I thought, what the hell, maybe I could grab you a drink and we could talk. You might surprise yourself at who's going to say yes to that. But you don't know unless you try. Right. Again, you never know. Don't be a dick, don't rush, and don't be dismissive. Those moderators are awesome. They're great connectors at these events. Now, I know what you're thinking. What about my first impression? I don't know what to say. Right. You know, first impressions are everything. Well, don't be so concerned about that. In today's digital world, most people suck at human interaction, and we all kind of know it. Your primary job at this event is to not make a bad impression. Okay? So don't worry so much about how to try and make a great impression. Don't leave a bad impression and leave a memento. If you're trying to land a big client introduction or engagement and you're trying to talk to someone who's getting mobbed by everyone coming from all directions, don't try and hit them up with your elevator pitch or your idea or your concept or what you're hoping to get from them or the advice you're looking for. Don't do that. Walk up to them and say, hey, I realize you're super busy, you're under a lot of pressure, but I was thinking about this and I thought maybe that and this might be of interest to you, and I hope the rest of the event is great for you. And then just hand them a folded up piece of paper with your quick little explanation and your phone number. If they don't get back to you right away, they're going to want to see what was on the inside of that paper. They're going to read it on the plane and they're going to understand that you know the game, which is giving you way more respect than the people who run up and belch out some brain fart that they think is pure gold in the middle of a chaotic environment. They won't even remember that person. So the other thing is, stay stupid. Okay, guys, this advice is for us. Ego is the enemy. If you haven't read that book, you should definitely read that book. Ego is the enemy. Ladies, you've been smart enough for the most part to have evolved past this point. But as men, we always want to try and impress people. Someone says something and we immediately jump in. Good point. Here's an even better point. Or someone says, oh, this, that and the other thing, and you go, yeah, yeah, yeah, and blah, blah, blah. And you know, we one up their thing, right? Oh, I remember this time. That, right? This is like, don't do that. Cut that crap out. Like, do the opposite. Be conscious of your environment. Stay stupid. Always be trying to learn. So if you have these people, and I know what you're thinking, like you need some way to break into the conversation. And usually there's some kind of building common ground, building rapport. That's where that's coming from. And that's fair. But you're trying to break into someone else's conversation and there's a checker's way of doing it and then there's a chess way of doing it. So first of all, if two people are in a deep Conversation, don't interrupt, right? It's a lot different when there's three or four people. People, right? When there's three, four, five more people, it's okay to saunter up and join that kind of conversation. But when it's two people, don't rush. Remember, play the long game. Now, when it's that group, walk up and just say, hey guys, do you mind if I eavesdrop? It's my first time at the ING Expo. I don't know anybody here. I'll buy you guys a ground of drinks. They're always going to say yes. It might be kind of weird and awkward for the first five seconds, but the fact that you made it a question, not a statement. Like you didn't walk up and say, hey guys, I'm just going to eavesdrop if it's okay with you. No, you didn't say it. You don't say it that way. Ask them for permission. Permission based is always way better. And after the first 30 seconds it's going to be fine. But you want to try and get yourself into conversations that are out of your league. Stretch yourself. Remember, stay stupid, Stay a student. Always push yourself to grow and learn. Because ignorance is bliss. It's the best place to be. And once people know that you've played stupid, they're not going to get into a, you know, you're not going to get into that kind of one up game with them. And then you just listen and eventually that group is going to start to get expert y, right? And they start talking about some little trick in the insurance world. Overturn a denial or some estimating software they're using to maximize profit, right? When that kind of thing happens, be a student. Just say, hey, sorry to interrupt. I'm like really the ignorant one here, but I just want to apologize and ask why was that the obvious choice or why would you always go that way? And that's usually going to stir up the conversation into a debate and they're going to kind of get a feel that you know what you're doing. They're saying, who the heck are you Again, right? And that's when you give them their short answer. Don't launch into some big spiel. Just drop a small hint of who you are and what your big goal is for the conference and let the conversation continue. Near the end of the conversation at that point is when you go for the momento focus on delivering some kind of value based on what they've been saying. Try and find a way to give them some value that's related to the context of the speech you are privy to. For example, if you're a roofer looking to get the advice of a marketer about your business, offer some tips on what you think roofers are looking for and maybe a story about how you were burned once. Give them something that's going to help them with their business. Likewise, if you're a marketer trying to land a big client, offer to email them a free analysis of their site or write a blog post for them, or design a quick ad thumbnail or tab some pages on a PDF or white paper that you've made to save them time and finding the information that would be good for them. But always try and focus how you can be of value to them for free up front. And I mean focus on trying to find the new up and comers. Don't necessarily always go trying to hunt the whales. If you're trying to hit up Gary Vaynerchuk right after a speech, you are one of 2,000 people trying to get in front of his million fans or you're trying to get him to answer a question like 30 seconds of his time is going to solve all your problems. If you focus on the up and comers, this is where you're going to really start to make things happen in your business. And this advice is mostly for people trying to find someone to sell their stuff to at img. But I mean, you can apply it to anything in any industry for that matter. But you'd much rather have a big shout out or a better engagement or a deeper conversation from a smaller person with a well cared for audience, like a good core of people following them, than a brief 140 character tweet from some big whale whose audience will most likely not even see it because it's just going to get lost in some algorithm on a social media platform. In these conversations when you know you're not just walking up to some big person and going, what do you think I should do about this? You're going to have to have real conversations with people and everybody does the same thing first all the time. What do you do? Right, don't ask this question. It's the worst question in the history of networking. Everybody asks it within the first 10 minutes of every conference. Everybody's sick of answering it. And remember, you want a deeper human connection. People are just going to get dismissive if that's your first question. You got to kind of change the track a little bit, get them off their game. So. And you don't have to get like real freaky with it. You don't have to say, hey, you know, if you could put a sign anywhere in the world, what would it say and where would it be? Right? You don't have to do that. You can just go up and say, hey, so where are you from? They're say, oh, I'm from Cincinnati. Just say, hey. Have you, you know, have you always lived in Cincinnati? Because quite often people have made a move in their life and then that story is going to give you all you need to start building a conversation around who they are, what they're doing, why they're at the conference, and if they haven't made a move, not all is lost. Because usually when you ask someone, oh, have you always been from Cincinnati? When they say yes, they almost feel like it's a bad thing. And then they're going to give you their story as to why. And again, you can build off of that. It's all you're ever going to need to build a real conversation. And after a while, invariably that trick is going to get old. You're going to feel like you're walking up to everybody. Where are you from? Where you from? Where are you from? Where are you from? Have you always been from there? Have you always been from there? You're going to get sick of it too. It's going to be on autopilot, so ask about the sessions. You're always going to be more likely to get somebody excited when they're going to tell you about their experiences and they're going to feel less vulnerable than explaining who they are, what they do, how big or small they are, what they're looking for, what they suck at. The sessions is something that shows what they're excited about. And if you're on the first day, ask them what they're most excited to see. You never know, you might solve the question of which session to go to because they might be able to really sell you on what they think is important. Lastly, follow up. Okay, Follow up is the secret weapon of networking. Good. Follow up is the key to amplifying your message and your presence in their world. I have meant to do this at events and then not done it and always regret it. And then I've meant to do it and done it and always thank myself. It's irrefutable evidence. So give it some time, wait a week and then hit them up on a weekend evening and just make it casual and have a purpose to to it. But when in doubt, remember two ears, one mouth. When the silence is killing you. Ask a question. People love to talk about themselves. People don't love to listen to other people talk. Right? People like to tell people about who they are and what they're about. They want to be understood. Harvard researchers did 110 studies of over 300 online and in person conversations. And the evidence is there, it's done, there's no arguing it. But like, my favorite one is actually where the, this professor took his students on planes and they would do a thing where they'd all strike up conversations with the people around them and the professor would just ask questions, ask questions and always kind of ask a question and then relate the answer back into another question. And they'd get off the plane and everybody would start interviewing the other people and saying, hey, how did you like the passenger sitting next to you? And the professor would always have, oh, he was so nice and such a nice guy. Really good character, you know, honest. And all this kind of like, we'll just speak about the guy. Like they're his best friend and they think he's an awesome guy. Like, oh, so what was his name? And they wouldn't even know his name. He would try as hard as possible to tell them as little he could about himself and just focus on them. And every single time they think he's an amazing guy. So get good at asking good questions, okay? And if you don't have a question to ask, make sure you have some go to's so that you always have the way to fill in that white space and people will appreciate you for that because they like a person who takes control of a conversation when it starts to get awkward because someone's got to do it, it might as well be you. Now going back to that social. You want to also be using social media to leverage your opportunities at the event. So if you make a good connection with someone, find a reason to get linked up on social media. You want to be getting lots of little touches in throughout the event. You don't want to get into long messenger conversations and direct messages on Instagram, but you want to get the little touches, you know, the likes, the comments, the shares. The gold standard is if you can connect two people at an event and get them into a referral situation. If you can get, you know, Bob to buy from Mary, well, now Bob and Mary both look at you like you're the, like you're the bomb. You have, like that's the gold standard of a networking win is when you find someone else a referral. My favorite way is It's a simple selfie where you say, hey, I want to, I want to share bit little A. You are really awesome. I want to share like kind of show people who I met at the event. I actually made a roofing business partner Snapchat geofilter that everybody will be able to use at the event. I put it up so that now anybody who's in the conference center, the Ernest M. Memorial or Ernest M. Whatever it is that event building, when you're in there, if you're using Snapchat, you're going to see my filter pop up and you can take pictures and it's got my logo on it. I did this for the purpose that I want to increase my squad on social media. So keep an eye out for the filter. But I mean, it's a great way to meet people and enhance your message. So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm really excited to meet you all at the event. Please do come up and introduce yourself. I'll be again teaching classes the 22nd at 5pm and the 23rd at 2pm if you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them. I want to deliver as much value as possible. Kind of. Just to recap on this, if you really want to win an IMG expo, you know, don't miss the learning for the partying. Begin with the end in mind. Have an intent for the show. Don't be a dick, don't dismiss people and don't rush. Ask questions, make sure they're good questions. Find the up and comers. Don't worry about the whales, right? Follow up, follow up, follow up and then link up on social media and try and help them first. That's, that's the thing. There's no magic to it. Thanks for listening. We'll see you again next week.

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