Ep #166: Devin Sizemore: How to Make Meaningful Connections—Even If You Hate Networking!

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Hate networking? You’re not alone! Devin Sizemore reveals how to build authentic connections without feeling awkward or salesy. Learn the biggest mistakes, effortless follow-ups, and how to turn conversations into real opportunities. Listen now! 🎧🔥

Building a strong network does not mean you have to pitch yourself. Instead focus on creating real relationships that lead to meaningful opportunities. But looking at the neck breaking fast-paced world, we often struggle to form connections that actually matter. That’s why I’m excited to welcome Devin Sizemore to the show, an expert in networking and relationship-building who has helped entrepreneurs and business owners refine their approach. In this episode, Devin shares his proven strategies for deepening connections, following up effectively, and positioning yourself as a trusted resource.

One of the biggest mistakes people make in networking is focusing too much on what they want rather than what they can give. Devin explains why an abundance mindset—where you freely share insights and provide value without expecting anything in return—leads to stronger, more authentic relationships. We also discuss why tracking your networking activity is essential, and how measuring the right metrics can help you understand whether your efforts are actually working. If you’ve ever felt frustrated with your networking results, Devin’s advice will help you shift your strategy for better outcomes.

Another key takeaway from our discussion is the importance of authenticity. In an era of polished social media personas and carefully curated branding, people are craving real connections. Devin breaks down how to show up as your true self, whether in face-to-face networking events or on platforms like LinkedIn. He also shares why the best social media content isn’t always the most polished—it’s often the raw, behind-the-scenes moments that resonate most. By applying these principles, you’ll learn how to attract the right people and build a network that supports your business growth.

If you’re serious about transforming your networking strategy, this episode is packed with actionable insights. To dive even deeper, check out Devin’s book Connection Expansion and visit DevinSizemore.com for more resources. And if this episode gave you a fresh perspective, let us know! Leave a review, share your thoughts, or pass this conversation along to someone who needs it.

Resources Mentioned:
Devin Sizemore: Website | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube

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this information packedAI-driven world today, yet when

(00:22):
you figure out how to do itstrategically and focus on
others, it unlocks so much foryou and your business and more
importantly, for your personallife, when and if you need
something from your network, ifyou want to learn the system
strategies and thought processesto build your impactful and
meaningful network. Head overand listen to the episode now,

BEATE CHELETTE (00:45):
and hello, fabulous person! Beate Chelette
here. I am the host of theBusiness Growth Architect Show
and I want to welcome you totoday's episode where we discuss
how to navigate strategy andspirituality to achieve time and
financial freedom. Trulysuccessful people have learned
how to master both a clearintention and a strategy to

(01:05):
execute that in a spiritualpractice that will help them to
stay in alignment and onpurpose. Please enjoy the show
and listen to what our guesttoday has to say about this very
topic. Welcome back. This isBeate Chelette, your host for
the Business Growth ArchitectShow. And today we're talking to
Devin Sizemore and I and Devinis from the million dollar

(01:28):
author. And what I love aboutthis guest today is that he's
going to share with you how tonetwork and build up a network
the right way, and the reasonthis matters so much, and why it
matters to me, is because if Idid not have this network when
my house turned down and mycommunity didn't step in and

(01:50):
literally fed me with a spoonwhen I was unable to eat or have
a place shelter or food, I wouldhave been in deep, deep trouble,
so I must have done somethingconsciously or subconsciously,
but Devin is going to give youthe exact steps today. Devin,
I'm excited to have you on theshow. Welcome.

Devin Sizemore (02:10):
Thank you so much for having me. I've been
looking forward to thisconversation.

BEATE CHELETTE (02:14):
Excellent. So for somebody who does not know
who you are or what you've whatyou do, tell us what you do and
what problem do you solve foryour clients?

Devin Sizemore (02:23):
Yeah, so I always start with I'm a serial
entrepreneur. I've owned a lotof different companies and
worked with hundreds ofbusinesses, and I share that
just to say, like my passion isbusiness. I love helping people.
I love business, and I love theart of business. In that I wear
two hats. So the first is withmillion dollar author, which is
the brand I'm wearing. We helppeople write, publish and

(02:43):
promote books to create moreauthority and attract more right
fit clients. And then the secondhat I wear is with my book
"Connection Expansion," where Ihelp people build million dollar
networks strategically.
Excellent. So

BEATE CHELETTE (02:55):
let's dive into this idea of network. Your
network is your net worth. Thereare a lot of networking clubs
out there where you meet people.
Is all networking, the same typeof networking

Devin Sizemore (03:17):
I'm tryingto think about,

BEATE CHELETTE (03:19):
you know what? I mean? Is like me going into like
a BNI, right? A a veryspecifically designed networking
program that follows a veryspecific strategy, is that the
same as other networking like,is there a better networking way
than another? Is that bad orgood networking? Yeah,

Devin Sizemore (03:42):
so it's such a fun question because my approach
to networking is exactly thesame, whether it's a coffee
shop, a business event, speakingon a stage or birthday party, I
approach it the exact same.
However, the environments mayforce us into different styles
of networking with differentmetrics and goals, and that may
then force people to get out oftheir plan and try to adapt to

(04:07):
whatever environment they arein, which may not be as
effective as it could be.

BEATE CHELETTE (04:15):
I said in the introduction that if it wasn't
for my network and for mycommunity, I'd be I would have
been in deep trouble when myhouse burned down. I don't think
that I looked at it as havingbuilt myself a network. Is some
is a network that I built? Is itbetter to like be deliberate

(04:38):
about this, or is it an attitudewhen you go in?

Devin Sizemore (04:43):
Yeah, very few people are strategic in how they
build their network. It'ssomething that just happens over
time. It's something that youstumble through, and yet it can
still yield results, right? Soit can be there when you need
it, when you have an ask foryour business, or, in your case,
when you have a personal ask andyou really. They need support in
a moment of either desperationor something's just falling

(05:04):
apart, or like we were talkingabout before we hit record,
right when my dad passed mymom's network surrounded her
right? Was her networkintentional? No. But did it
provide the results she waslooking for in a moment of need?
Yes. And so I think that it'sboth. I think that there is a
way to tactically andstrategically grow it so you can

(05:24):
get more out of it. And thenthere is an innate ability in
most of us to just createcommunity and have some
relationships that can be therewhen you need them.

BEATE CHELETTE (05:35):
How do I do it?
How do I go about it? So let'ssay Devin I'm an introvert, and
the entire point of going outand, you know, just talking to
people randomly scares me. Whatdo I do?

Devin Sizemore (05:50):
Yeah, great question. So I prefer talking to
and working with introverts. Solet's say that first. So if
you're listening to this orwatching this and you're an
introvert, uh, congrats. Hey,

BEATE CHELETTE (06:00):
it's your lucky day.

Devin Sizemore (06:03):
As an extrovert, you tend to talk too much, which
actually is a disservice whennetworking. And so what I
recommend is I ask the same fourquestions when I network, I
teach people to ask the samefour questions, and rarely, if
ever, do I deviate, because itgives me confidence in the
conversation, and it will giveyou confidence in the
conversation as well. So oftenpeople stumble through

(06:25):
networking with this, you know,how's the weather? What do you
do? And then they don't reallyknow where to go from there.
That's kind of like thebeginning and the end of a
conversation. And so I'm goingto give you the four questions
and kind of explain why I askthem, and this will empower any
of you to be a great networker.
And again, you could ask thesequestions at a birthday party, a
coffee shop or businessnetworking event. So I always

(06:48):
start with, what do you do ifyou're if you're trying to do
networking for business, it'skind of nice to know what the
person you're talking to does.
The next thing I ask is, howlong have you been doing that?
That's going to tee up our thirdquestion, but we want to know
like, are they new to whatthey're doing, or is this
something they've done for along period of time? If they've
been doing it for less than ayear, we always ask, Hey, would

(07:10):
you do before? Because we wantto know what their previous
network and authority is. Ifthey doing it more than a year,
we make a statement that says,hey, that's awesome. You must
love what you do. They're thengoing to answer one of two ways.
They're either going to say,Yes, I love what I do and talk
passionately about it, orthey're going to say something
like, You know what, I'm stuck,and then they're going to talk
to you about why they feelstuck, both of which are deep

(07:31):
relationship conversations bythree questions. And the last
question I always ask is, who'sa great connection for you? Or
how can I help you? Because wewant them to understand that
we're others focused, and we'reon a mission to add value to
them, because that's really whatthey care about, and that will
then unlock our ability tofollow up and book a meeting
with them.

BEATE CHELETTE (07:50):
I like this a lot that I've never heard that
part is, wow, if you've beendoing this for five years, you
must be super passionate aboutand really love it. And then
people either gonna light up,you're absolutely correct. Or
they go and they tell you alltheir pain points, which is a
very important information in asales conversation. Can we talk
about Devin now, if I haveidentified a need for myself,

(08:16):
how can I ask? How can I putthis out to my network and ask,
because we are taught not toask. We are taught to not ever
need anybody. We are taught togive but not receive. What do
you what do you tell yourclients or the people you work
with? Yeah,

Devin Sizemore (08:33):
so that is a great approach, and it is great
to want to be a giver, to wantto help others, but there are
moments where you need yournetwork to react, and so First,
give your permission, yourselfpermission to ask, like, like,
there it is okay, as anentrepreneur, as a business
owner, as a human being, to askfor help, support, clarity,

(08:54):
advice, all those things areneeded, and you can't know it
all or do it All, so please justgive yourself grace and
permission. Second, you have tomake sure that you've been
adding value to your network.
And what I mean by that is whenyou're building relationships,
you need to be makingconnections. You need to be
providing resources. You need tobe sending things to provide

(09:15):
clarity or overcome obstacles.
You have to be the one showingyour network. Hey, I'm here for
you, and you have to show thatby example. One of my core
principles is trained by doingright? So we want to train our
network by doing what we wantour network to do. At some point
we're going to want our networkto react to either a business

(09:39):
offer, positioning for ourproduct or service or some other
need we have. If you've donethat, Your network will then
react quickly, because they'reso used to man, you know what
Devin has added a ton of value.
Let me take this call. A primeexample of that we talked about
in the in the pre recording wasI had to deal with the custody
issue. It became an emergency,really quick. Quick, and I had

(09:59):
to find a family law attorneywho would take a consultation
with me the same day, and in thenext 24 to 48 hours, draft an
emergency order and get it tothe court. And anyone who knows
anything about attorneys, that'salmost an impossible ask, right?
Like trying to find an attorneywho will take a meeting with you

(10:22):
and execute on the meeting in 24to 48 hours. Like, it's just
it's not practical on

BEATE CHELETTE (10:28):
on the single most emotional issue a parent
can face 100% Yeah,

Devin Sizemore (10:33):
in a highly emotional time where all logic
is pretty much gone, yeah? Um, Iwas able to reach out to a few
attorneys in my network. Onehappened to be my business
attorney, and just say, like,Hey, this is what I need. It's
an emergency. Who do you have?
They answered my call because Iadd value to them. They then
send me three introductions, adirect text to the direct cell
phone of the other attorneys andsaid, Hey, this is my friend,

(10:57):
Devin. He's an amazing client.
He's in an emergency. I need youto answer. I was able to call. I
spoke to all three the secondperson I talked to was a perfect
fit, and she before I was donetalking to the third person had
already sent me an agreement anda draft of what I needed before
I've even signed the agreementor put a retainer on file. That

(11:18):
all happened because my networkis responsive when I need it.
But that foundational work tomake that happen, right is years
in the making. Devon,

BEATE CHELETTE (11:29):
you said something really powerful. You
said it's taken you years to dothis. Do you have any principles
that you can share aroundbuilding relationships? I will
share one that my dad told me along time ago. He said, Before
you tell somebody to flip off,make sure you never see them,

(11:54):
meet them or need them again.

Devin Sizemore (11:58):
Yes, still true.

BEATE CHELETTE (12:02):
I love that simple, simple enough. With

Devin Sizemore (12:07):
my book, Connection Expansion, there are
five principles I talk about. Solet's talk about the five,
because we've mentioned oneright, which is trained by
doing. And so if you want yournetwork to do something which,
in the My book's case, is togenerate connections or
referrals for us, you need tothen make connections and give
referrals. But anything you wantfrom your network, you need to
show, by example, the other fourprinciples are, first, always

(12:31):
add value. So you need to alwaysbe the one adding value. We've
kind of hit that a little bit aswell, but that's connections,
resources, solving problems,connecting people, anything and
everything you can do that's notyour product or service to add
value. Service to add value toothers. The next is never make
assumptions about a connection.
So when you get introduced tosomeone, never ever make an
assumption about them. You don'tknow them. You don't know who

(12:52):
they know, and you can't putthem in a profile bucket
instantly. You have to becurious, and you have to have
the conversation. The next is totake a meeting with everybody,
which really goes with that.
It's kind of that don't judge abook by its cover philosophy,
because, again, you don't know.
And then the last is controlwhat you can control. So often
in networking, businessdevelopment, sales and

(13:14):
marketing, we benchmark oursuccess on things we actually
can't control, which is not evergoing to work because you can't
control half the things youthink you're trying to set
yourself up for. So you need tocontrol the parts of the process
you can control. And if you goabout building your network
value, focused, not judginganyone, and controlling what you

(13:35):
can control, you will start tosee you're receiving more
connections, you're meeting moreamazing people, and your network
is way more responsive when youask it to do something than it
probably is now, as I

BEATE CHELETTE (13:49):
have been now, the recipient of this avalanche
of support that I didn't reallyknow I had, and I didn't really
know I had built it, but I hadfollowed the giving or
contributing and not being sostuck up about the results.

(14:11):
Right? Oftentimes, when I speakto someone, my super skill of
seeing what makes them unique ordifferent, which is why I'm a
podcast host is comes through,and then I'll just blurt it out
and tell them, No, that's stuffthat I probably could charge for
so and then I sometimes I feelafterward going, should I have

(14:33):
said that? So do you think thatwe need to worry about that? Is
it measured giving, or should wejust be reckless and free and
give as much as we can. How doyou handle that? Yeah,

Devin Sizemore (14:45):
so let me. Let me make one comment on something
you shared there that I think isbrilliant as well. The measuring
is something we never do now. Ihave statistics for everything.
Oh, go

BEATE CHELETTE (14:57):
ahead. I want to hear all of that. Do. And so

Devin Sizemore (15:02):
I say, don't measure it, but then I do track
it all. And so what I mean bythat is, so often we're tracking
what you are receiving, right,and what you're getting back.
But again, you can't controlthat, because I can't dictate
other people's behaviors. Sowhen I look at the control what
you can control aspect, it's howmany events did I get to? Did I

(15:23):
actually get out of the car andgo to the event? How many new
contacts did I make at theevent? Of those contacts, how
many did I follow up with, ofthe ones I followed up with, how
many did I book meetings with,of the ones I booked meetings
with? How many did I follow upwith? How many did I make
connections with? How many did Iadd value to? How many that I
then nurture long term? All ofthose things I can track, and I
can benchmark my successagainst. And so those are the

(15:46):
metrics we're tracking. And Iknow that if I make 100
connections, I'm going toreceive about 30% back. So if I
make 100 I would expect I'llreceive 30 connections back.
It's very, very stableprediction. Now, the more mature
your network gets, the betterthose results will be when
you're first starting. And mightbe a 10 to one ratio, might be

(16:08):
10% of your network, which isstill great. But again, don't
worry about what comes back.
Track your activity and makesure you're doing enough to
actually justify receiving theother thing that you said and I
want to hit on is, don't gatekeep anything so often people
are so worried about oversharing and getting away the
keys. Now in my book, connectionexpansion is the one on the top

(16:31):
here behind me. I giveeverything, every script I use,
the follow up sequence, thetiming, the voicemail message,
it is all in the book. There aretwo videos online that go in
detail about the whole process.
Why do I share it all? Because Iwant you to have and if you're a
DIY er, or you're tied on money,and that's all you can afford,
to capture the knowledge, toimplement, I don't want to stop

(16:53):
you. I want to empower you to goon that journey. Now, my best
clients are not di wires.
They're going to read it and go,Hey, Devin, I believe in your
philosophy. Thank you forproviding the value and the
information. Now, how do we worktogether? And that's great. So
share everything give with anabundance mindset and track the
metrics you can control.

BEATE CHELETTE (17:14):
Does this follow the principle of releasing the
best song of the new albumfirst? Because if the first song
of the album is so good, you golike, Oh my god, I wonder what
else is on it.

Devin Sizemore (17:27):
Yeah, it's a great analogy. So yes, I want to
give you so much value, soquick, that you can't help but
lean in and go, Man, if this ishow he follows up, if this is
how he makes connections andadds value, and I'm not even
paying him, imagine what hisservice offering looks like.

(17:51):
Imagine how good the product is.
And no matter who you are, andI've worked with realtors,
financial advisors andbillionaires, it's the same
equation, because if theyperceive you as highly valuable
and you deepen your relationshipquickly, it makes them innately
curious about what else you haveto offer. And most of the time

(18:12):
they'll ask you,

BEATE CHELETTE (18:17):
how do you deepen the relationship quickly?

Devin Sizemore (18:21):
Yeah, so it all starts with the networking,
which we've talked about, right?
So all the questions I asked areabout the other person. It's
nothing about your elevatorpitch. We didn't go there. It's
nothing about how to talk aboutbenefits versus features around
your product or service. Ididn't mention any of that
because I want you to ask fourquestions. I want you to get
their business card, and I wantyou to capture their contact
info. You can control all ofthat. How you follow up is

(18:44):
critical. Your follow up emailshould sound something like
this, Hey, it was great meetingyou at the event. I enjoyed
briefly learning about you andyour business. I'd love to
schedule a time to learn moreabout you and your business so
that I can make some strategicconnections for you. Here's a
link to my calendar. I lookforward to talking to you
everything about that email one,where we met, why we met, why I
want to meet you, and it's allabout the other person. It's not

(19:06):
hey, it was great meeting you.
You expressed briefly thisrandom thing, and I want to sell
you a house. Look what?

BEATE CHELETTE (19:13):
Oh, here's my here's my favorite one. Here's
my favorite your profile isinteresting. You sound like an
interesting person. Let's putour heads together and see where
our synergies are,

Devin Sizemore (19:24):
yeah, and, and then the next thing that happens
is they sell you something like,if you wait long enough, the
next message is, hey, by theway, I see you want this or need
that.

BEATE CHELETTE (19:33):
Yes, yes. I mean, I think the in person
networking, I love, I love theidea of less is more, is what
I'm hearing so

Devin Sizemore (19:44):
and even for LinkedIn, if you're going to
send a message, send the one yousent. But don't send anything
else. People can't helpthemselves like they want. So
bad to start selling andpositioning and doing all these
things, and you don't need to doany of that. I use

BEATE CHELETTE (19:59):
this. Can you how do you take them through the
LinkedIn? Then are you takingthem to a personal conversation
before you do anything else?
Yeah,

Devin Sizemore (20:06):
unless they raise their hand for me to sell
to them, I'm always just doingconnecting. And so this goes to
the first meeting, my firstmeeting. I call it a connection
meeting, on purpose. It is justa GET TO KNOW YOU meeting, and I
want 80% of the time for theother person to talk, 25 20% of
the time for me to talk, becauseI want to learn about them so

(20:28):
that I can start to understandhow to help them and how to add
value. Because that goes back tohow do we strengthen and deepen
relationships? Well, I have toget to know the other person.
They have to perceive me as alistener, and then I have to be
able to add value to them. Andwhen I add value by making
connections, I do a couple otherstrategic things. I'm going to
edify them in an introduction sothat validates I listened. And

(20:50):
then I'm talking highly aboutthem, and then I'm going to
endorse them to the person I'mconnecting them with. So not
only saying, hey, they're greatat this, and this is what they
do, I'm then endorsing them,both parties to each other,
saying, here's why you need tomeet your rock star. You're a
rock star. You're targetingwomen. You're targeting women.
You're going after theseprofiles. You should have a
strategic conversation all ofthese little things, when we're

(21:12):
others focused, when we'readding value and we're
structuring the conversationcorrectly and we're not selling
and defaulting to that mode deepin the relationship quicker,
because their guard never goesup. Whereas as soon as you start
using sales language, especiallyon LinkedIn, and you go past the
simple message to all of theselittle sales pitches, or, Hey, I
reviewed your stuff, and this iswhat I see, which is unsolicited

(21:35):
advice, please don't do that andthen you're trying to nurture
relationship, their guard isalready up, like there's so many
barriers between you and a deepconnection, whereas, if we just
have simple conversations and weadd value, there's no barriers.

BEATE CHELETTE (21:51):
How honest Are you in these conversations? And
again, this is a self servingand probably leading question
here, but I have really foundthat specifically since I've
been through this apocalypse,that the honesty of not knowing

(22:11):
all the answers actually seemsto really resonate, that this
polish showing up doesn't do asmuch as I thought. How do we
actually need to show up?
Because we want to show up asstrong as a potential business
partner, but you are saying, ifyou are an expert, or you're
positioning yourself as anexpert, you already are. So I

(22:33):
feel like I need more answersfrom your line of explaining.
You know what I mean? EverywhereI'm getting to Yeah,

Devin Sizemore (22:41):
for sure. So I think the first part of that is,
if you're not comfortable inwhat you're wearing and what
you're talking about and howyou're positioning and your
answers, there's probably adisconnect, right? So you're
probably trying to forceyourself into an appearance or

(23:01):
an answer or a profile type thatdoesn't actually resonate with
who you are, and thatdisconnect. People will notice.
They're going to notice you'reuncomfortable. They're going to
notice everything soundsscripted and that you're not
having genuine conversations.
And so the best thing you can dois be open and honest. I do a
lot of consulting with young,and young either means age or
young in your profession, andthe first thing I tell them is

(23:23):
just be honest. If someone asksyou a hard question, the best
answers go, You know what?
That's an amazing question. Ihaven't had to field that yet.
Hey, can I take that note downand follow up with you? Would
that be okay? That sounds somuch more professional than
trying to BS your way throughsome random answer, right? It's
the same in the finance world.
We do a lot of work there, andeveryone shows up in their suits

(23:45):
and wears their Rolexes andtries to position their wealth,
which is interesting, because ifyou're managing my money, I
don't want you to show me thatit looks like you're making a
bunch, right? Like, I want

BEATE CHELETTE (23:57):
to show I'm paying you so much. You can, you
can, you can drive a Bentley,really? Yeah,

Devin Sizemore (24:01):
like, but for some reason, there's industries
where that's become the norm. Iwould much rather that my
realtor shows up or my financialshows up, professional, right?
Like a polo and some slacks ornice jeans and a nice shirt and
is put together. And we'refocused on the knowledge. We're
focused on the value they drive.
I want to see how they askquestions. I want to see how

(24:22):
they investigate and how theydiscover what I need, not just
sell me something. And so to goback to your kind of core
question, you have to beauthentic, like you. You I
can't. None of this works ifyou're putting on a facade,
right? So you've got to getaligned with your values, right?
You've got to understand yourNorth Star, and then all of that
should be fueling your why andwhy you're even going through

(24:46):
this process. And if you don'tunderstand that narrative about
yourself, you got to figure thatout. Because when you're meeting
people and they ask like, Well,that's an interesting industry,
why are you in it? Your answerneeds to be something that's
real. People, because that'swhat people want. It's the same
for social media. The bestsocial posts are usually the
ones that aren't polished.
They're usually the ones thatyou hit record in the car or hit

(25:09):
record behind the scenes,because people want to see and
experience real when we had ourcat cafe, the best social posts
were the behind the scenes.
Here's what's going on, here's asetting up, here's the reality
of the situation, right? That'swhat people want. And so if you
can bring that into yournetworking conversations or your
connection meetings, and be thatreal and authentic there, it's

(25:29):
only going to amplify it.

BEATE CHELETTE (25:34):
Yeah, I like this a lot, because I do feel
that we are also in a time wherethe external messaging is so
insane that people are activelysearching for messages that
sound real, because people havegotten very smart, especially
with all the internet marketinglanguage. They know what's BS

(25:55):
and what's not. They alreadyknow, like I already can tell by
the way, the opening line inLinkedIn is what the next
message is, if there's even asecond message, because most of
them now selling in theintroduction, right? I'm The
Growth Architect. Is amazing tome. How many people say, Well,
we help architects and interiordesigners, and I'm like, your

(26:18):
outreach sucks. So true. Do youthink that in reference to
internet marketing and outreach,do you think that there's a
shift in general in the way weneed to connect with each other,
or is it business as usual andthe stacks of cash, airplanes,

(26:41):
all of that still works, butthen this now is started as a
counter movement. What'shappening overall? Is there a
trend that we can predict orsee? Yeah,

Devin Sizemore (26:53):
so I think that, and I had an agency for many
years, and so I love that space.
And what worked then, that wasgood still works now, but what I
say what was good, right? Sogood quality content still
works, right? Authentic brandingand imaging still works.
Authentic messaging, real casestudies, real testimonials, real

(27:16):
people still works, showcasingyour team and talking about them
and edifying them still works.
Now the show boating stuff, yes,it still works in certain
industries, but it works intransactional industries where
there's no lifetime value of acustomer, right? You're
expecting them to buy somethingquickly, possibly not leave you

(27:37):
reviews and probably doesn'twant to engage with you. But I
play mainly in the B to B world,where I may have a client who's
been with me for eight years. SoI'm looking to nurture forever.
I do a presentation at thecouple colleges near me every
semester, and it's all aboutmarketing. And in there I go
through the connection strategy,right? So this is how we build

(27:57):
relationships. Here's how weshift our ask. Here's how we
position ourselves in the fiveprinciples. And then I
challenged them to look at howthey could change that and pull
it back into their marketing.
How do we become more authentic?
How do we lean towards usergenerated content? How do we
engage in a very real way? Andif you can solve these things
and align your strategies withit, you will plant the seed for

(28:20):
a longer customer life cycle anda longer customer relationship.
In the world of AI andinformation overload, there is
this craving right now forcommunity and real connections
and real people. I don't thinkthere's ever been a better time
in society to be the person thatraises your hand and says, Hey,
that's me, and I care about you.
You should be on the forefrontof that. If you're not, you're

(28:42):
going to get left behindsometime soon. Oh, yeah,

BEATE CHELETTE (28:47):
powerful, really powerful for somebody Devin now
who has listened to the show andeither wants to find out how
working with you and doing thebook can help them or learn all
your secrets. Where do we sendthem? Devin,

Devin Sizemore (29:03):
yeah, so first you can grab a copy of my book,
"Connection Expansion." It's onAmazon, ebook, paperback,
hardcover, or an audiobook. Ifyou want to listen to me talk
for an hour and 54 minutes, Iwill walk you through the exact
system and process. You canalways find me on my website,
devinsizemore.com. V, I, N,size, then more.com. All of my

(29:24):
links, trainings, videos andanything and everything you can
want are on there. And then inthe book world, it's
milliondollarauthor.io, and yes,we didn't talk too much about
books, but a book is a greattool to help you create your
authority, tell your story andattract more clients. Love to
see if it's a fit for you

BEATE CHELETTE (29:42):
excellent. And if we are, you are networking,
and you happen to have a bookthat is a great tool to deepen
the connection even faster andfurther quicker by handing out
your books to or sending them asa follow up. I used to do that
all the time. And that createsreciprocity. Devin it's been a

(30:03):
pleasure to have you on theshow. Thank you so much for
sharing so openly and holdingnothing back on the on the
secrets that you shared, you'reso

Devin Sizemore (30:11):
welcome. Thank you for having me and anything
you need your network, mynetwork, are all available, and
I think it's such a timely andimportant topic, so don't be
scared to ask, and we're allhere to help.

BEATE CHELETTE (30:25):
Yes, I like this a lot, and I will say, on a very
personal note, as we wrap upthis episode, that the greatest
learning, as I've said a numberof times now, really, is when
you have a challenge like theone that I'm experiencing, is
you must have people you canlean on, and you must be able to

(30:47):
be comfortable and have beenhonest enough for others to
recognize who you really are,because that is what creates
that deep desire, and with that,we say goodbye for Today until
next time. So appreciate youbeing here. Thank you so much
for listening to the entireepisode. Please subscribe to the
podcast, give us a five star,review, a comment and share this

(31:10):
episode with one more person sothat you can help us help more
people. Thank you again, untilnext time. Goodbye.