The Secrets of Effective Networking w/Matthew Pollard

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Think you're bad at networking because you hate small talk and scripted elevator pitches? Think again.

In this episode, I’m joined by Matthew Pollard - author, speaker, and self-proclaimed Rapid Growth Guy - to discuss how to make networking easier and more effective by leaning into your natural strengths instead of trying to do things like everyone else.   

Matthew breaks down a refreshingly strategic and human-centered approach to networking that’s tailor-made for introverts and extroverts alike.

In this conversation, we cover:

• How to ditch the elevator pitch and use a “unified message” to create curiosity and connection
• How storytelling makes your value crystal clear (without feeling salesy)
• Why trying to appeal to everyone actually waters down your impact
• Why you need both “momentum partners” and “champions” to succeed
• How to uniquely position yourself to build powerful, lasting business relationships

If traditional networking advice has ever made you want to hide in the bathroom - this episode is your permission slip to do things differently.

Links & References:

• Join us at our next PWR Virtual Speed Networking Event!
• For even deeper connections, check out the Powerful Women Rising Community!
• Connect with Matthew Pollard and learn more at https://matthewpollard.com or http://theintrovertsedge.com

Support the show

Connect with Your Host!

Melissa Snow is a Business Relationship Strategist dedicated to empowering women in entrepreneurship. She founded the Powerful Women Rising Community, which provides female business owners with essential support and resources for business growth.

Melissa's other mission is to revolutionize networking, promoting authenticity and genuine connections over sleazy sales tactics. She runs an incredible monthly Virtual Speed Networking Event which you can attend once at no cost using the code FIRSTTIME

She lives in Colorado Springs with two girl dogs, two boy cats and any number of foster kittens. She loves iced coffee, Taylor Swift, and Threads.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, Matthew, and welcome to the Powerful Woman
Rising podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm ecstatic to be here.
Thank you so much for having meon.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Yes, I'm so excited to have you.
It's funny.
I was just looking through.
I just discovered on Instagramthat there's an archive where
you can see all your old stories.
I just discovered this lastnight, after many years on
Instagram, and I was looking atsome of my old stories and I saw
one that I had screenshotted.
That was a DM that I'd sent toyou and a DM that I'd sent to

(00:29):
Joe Polish, and I put somethingon there about, like not me over
here, surprised that neither ofthese icons have responded to
my DM, and I was like, wow, howthings have changed, because you
did respond and you agreed tocome on the podcast and I was so
excited, so thank you for beinghere.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
My absolute pleasure and you know it's interesting.
I used to personally respond toevery message.
I mean, the trouble is, I guessand I feel like I still do my
best to respond to everyone Ican.
But you know, with my bookselling over 100,000 copies, I
get messages from so many places, which is amazing to see.
I mean, I try to never get intothe negative hype or the

(01:05):
positive hype, but the fact isthat there are so many
introverts now that don't seethemselves as second-class
citizens, and I'm on it everyday, especially for a person we
were talking just before thisabout how I never should have
written these books, with myreading speed issues and things
like that, and to see how muchof an impact it's made on
people's lives.
It's just, it's my it's.
I'm just really pleased.

(01:29):
And for those people that readmy book and send me comments, I
do my best to respond to everyone of you, but please know I'm
so grateful to get them everytime that I do get them.
So thank you very much forthose that have already sent
them.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, absolutely so.
For people who are not familiarwith you although if they're
listening to this podcast theyprobably are, because they've
heard me talk about your bookmany times Tell everybody just a
little bit about you and whatyou do.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, absolutely, and I was honored to hear that my
work had had such an impact onyou before the show, so that's
amazing For me.
I spent my life helpingintroverts realize they're not
second class citizens.
Their path to success is justdifferent to that of an
extrovert.
And if they try to become anextrovert, that's actually a
really uncomfortable thing to dobecause you'll feel
transactional, you'll go homeand you'll ruminate if you're

(02:11):
doing things like networking,and for me, what I've found is
that introverts have our ownstrengths.
When we learn to embrace those,we really can have the edge in
sales, in networking, in publicspeaking, in running our own
businesses.
And truthfully, what I find andI love seeing this I love seeing
an entrepreneur, specifically aservice provider, with enough
talent, skill and belief inthemselves to start a business

(02:33):
of their own.
But what I find more often thannot is they get stuck in this
endless hamster wheel ofstruggling to find interest in
people, trying to set themselvesapart, trying to make the sale,
feeling like people only careabout one thing price.
And I think we were talkingabout this as well before we
went on, by the way twointroverts planning and
preparing what they were goingto talk to on a podcast.
What a surprise.
But so many people will thensay, oh, I'm just going to put

(02:53):
on a funnel, I'm just going todo this, and none of these
things work or they get reallyexpensive and it ends up making
people feel like they've got totake a photo of their dog or
their donut just to havesomething to say on Instagram.
And the truth is, I guess that'sright.
If you want to focus on beingthe loudest, I focus on helping
people become the clearest,because my mission is really to
help these people realize theyreally can have a rapid growth

(03:15):
business doing what they love.
Just not by getting better attheir functional skill, because
they're probably amazing at that, and not by focusing on all
these tactics, because if youdon't know how to articulate
what you do when somebody'spolitely listening to you in a
networking room in a way thatsomebody leans forward and goes,
oh my gosh, I need that or tellme more, you've got no business
being online.
And even when you are ready tomove online, well, you just have

(03:38):
to understand that the averageperson, if you can't do it
face-to-face, you're definitelynot going to be able to do it
online.
And that's why you see so manypeople teaching you all these
methods that become full-timejobs.
So I think for my background andI'm sure we'll talk about that
in more detail but I went from areading speed of a sixth grader
not knowing what I wanted to doin my life to being responsible
for five multimillion dollarsuccess stories, and when I

(03:59):
moved to the United States Imade the decision that I wanted
to really dedicate my life tohelping other introverts realize
that they really could.
But they need to focus a littlebit of their time on
authentically articulating whatit is that they do in a way that
is much more systematic andprocess-driven, just like any
other part of their business,which, truthfully, if you're an
extrovert listening I mean ifyou ever want to sell your

(04:21):
business, if you're the primarysalesperson, your business is
not sellable.
So even you should beconsidering creating a system.
But for us introverts, weabsolutely need it, because
without that we're kind ofterrible at those, I'm going to
say, so-called extrovertedarenas, because I believe we
introverts dominate in all ofthem, as long as we stop trying
to copy the extroverts.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yes, absolutely.
I want to go back to somethingthat you said in the beginning
of that answer, which was abouttrying to force yourself to be
an extrovert, and this issomething we were talking about
before we started recording too,and I think one of the reasons
that I resonated so much withyour book and what you do is I
was really at the time that Ifound your book was really in a
space of I'd spent so much timeand money and energy trying to

(05:07):
force myself to do it a certainway.
Right, there's one way to growyour business, according to
Susie, the expert who you paid$10,000 to, so she better be
right, and I'm trying to do itthe way that she says to do it,
and it's not working for me andit's working for all of these
other people.
And so then I'm like well, whatthe heck is wrong with me?

(05:27):
Well, nothing's wrong with me,necessarily, but I am an
introvert, I do have ADHD, I amnot a morning person.
Like there's all of these thingsthat we think or at least I
thought in the beginning waslike mandatory qualities of a
successful entrepreneur.
Right, you have to be A, b, cand D, and I wasn't any of those
things and I was trying so hardto force myself to be those

(05:50):
things, and what really made ahuge difference in my success
and your book was a part of thiswas realizing there are
actually a lot of ways to do it,and one way is not necessarily
better than the other, but thereis a way that is better for me
to do it.
And one way is not necessarilybetter than the other, but there
is a way that is better for meto do it.
And so can you talk a littlebit about?

(06:10):
When it comes to networking,specifically for business owners
, how do we find the way that isbest for us?

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think for most introvertsthey.
And let's talk about what thecommon ideology is, because it's
terrible.
I actually have a presentationcalled the Death of the Elevator
Pitch, because I find that thewhole concept like, if I believe
and I learned a lot of, I mean,after 93 doors of rejection,
finding YouTube videos thatshowed me that sales was a

(06:48):
system, and then going to worklearning that system when I
moved to the United States, Ireally had to start again.
I mean, I spent a lifetimeawkwardly fostering a network in
Australia, but when I came here, I wanted to do something
different and also I didn't knowa soul, and what I found is
that the best education that Icould find on networking was to
do an elevator pitch.
Now, for those people that don'tknow what I'm talking about by

(07:09):
that, it's I do this for thisgroup of people, even if it's
the most transactional, icky,contrived thing you could
possibly ever say, which is whyno introvert ever does that.
So now, don't get me wrong Alot of extroverts and the
occasional introvert will do it,and it's like them walking
around going do you want to buyfrom me?
No, what about you?
What about you?
It feels uncomfortable, whichis why most people do what I
call aimless networking, whichis where they walk around and

(07:32):
having these really shallowconversations especially we
introverts, because we feeluncomfortable with small talk.
But then when somebody asks uswhat we do, because it feels so
transactional, again we kind ofsay, well, my day job is this,
and who wants to buy off someone?
That kind of structures theirdialogue like this.
So there are two things that Irecommend that people need.

(07:52):
Well, I recommend we first needto recognize that, while a
prospect being in that room ishelpful because, especially if
we're trying to keep the lightsonto our business, that's
absolutely vital but the truthis the key out of the hamster
wheel, and my whole framing is Iwant to show people how to
master the networking room sothey never have to go back to
one.
And I know, melissa we weretalking about this offline that
people think you and I are goingto networking events all the

(08:14):
time and we're not.
The fact is we've built ournetwork to a point where
networks chase us, and how thathappened is in the process of
networking.
We discovered what I callmomentum partners and champions.
Momentum partners are thepeople that believe and are
inspired by your work and, bythe way, that's not going to
happen if you're using anelevator pitch and believe in

(08:34):
your work enough that they'regoing to introduce you to people
, open doors for you, whetherit's a podcast interview, an
introduction to an association,something that's meaningful to
you.
Now the thing I will say is agood momentum partnership isn't
transactional.
It's not like a balance sheetwhere I say, melissa, I gave you
those three introductions, soI'm expecting three more by the

(08:54):
end of close of business today.
How stressful that must be.
It's a balanced belief in eachother.
So I would do that for you, youwould do that for me.
And then you've got the groupof champions, and champions are
the people.
They're the reason why you getto get paid well for what you do
.
For instance, ivan Meisen, thefounder of BNI, the world's
largest networking group in theworld, has endorsed my work.

(09:14):
There are so many other amazingpeople that have endorsed my
work and because of that, mywork has a lot more credibility
and therefore I'm able to chargemore.
Now.
Ivan's also had me on hispodcast.
I've spoke at the NationalConvention for BNI and all of
these other events, thanks to alot of champions and momentum
partners that have given my workcredibility and opened doors
for me.
So, really, when I go networking, a relief for an introvert is

(09:36):
learning.
They don't actually need to goin, even looking for clients,
which removes the transactionalnature altogether.
The next thing is, though, thatI find that a lot of introverts
they feel like their job whichfeels terrible is to explain
what they do.
How does that not soundtransactional?
And the elevator pitch, ifyou're going to explain what you
do, is about the best you get.
For me, I believe that peopledon't care what you do until

(09:59):
they see that you care.
So I look at expressingnetworking from a place of
genuine care for a difference Iwant to make in the world.
So if I followed a generalelevator pitch, it would be
something.
Like you know, I helpintroverted service providers
obtain more closed business,even if they think they're
terrible at sales somethinghorrible like that.
But for me, when I'm asked whatI do in a networking room, well

(10:25):
, firstly, I lead with what Icall a unified message, and the
reason I do this is because if Isay I'm a sales trainer,
everybody looks at me like I'mone step above a scam artist.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
So that is not a great direction.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
But if I say I'm in marketing, somebody says, oh,
that's great, I need marketing,how much do you cost?
Now, I'm talking about price, Ijust met them.
Or they say, oh, I've alreadygot help in marketing.
And now I'm like, oh, I'mdifferent, I've got magic ruby
slippers.
None of that works.
So what I do is I use what'scalled a unified message, which
is a one, two or three-wordstatement that doesn't fit
anyone else but me and fits mevery authentically.

(10:58):
For instance, I call myself therapid growth guy.
That breaks somebody's brain,usually because I am being
interested before I try to beinteresting.
And then people need to solvepuzzles, to work out what it is
first, before they include it orexclude it from what they
actually want or need.
And our brain must solve thepuzzles.
So because of that, they saywhat exactly is that?

(11:20):
And I can then respond withthanks for asking.
One of the things I love to seemore than anything in the world
is amazing, introverted serviceprovider with enough talent,
skill and belief in themselvesto start a business that won't.
You heard me say it the momentI got on this podcast, but what
I find is and I just hate seeingit and then I explain the other
piece, and that's why I'm on amission too, of course.

(11:42):
I say in between that dialogueis.
The difference is I didn't eventell you what I do.
I didn't mention sales training.
I didn't mention marketingcoaching, nothing at all.
All I did was express my genuinecare and interest in serving
the world in a certain way, andwhen they highlight, they are
like that, and then I articulatemy mission.
I can then move into a story ofsomeone just like them that
wanted what they wanted and howI got them to an amazing result.

(12:04):
Now, when I say a story, I donot mean a testimonial or a case
study.
Those are humble brags andyou're going to feel terrible
saying those.
I mean stories that actuallymotivate and inspire people to
take action.
That's in their best interest,whether they use you or not.
Hopefully they believe they cando it themselves, but maybe
they want to use you anywaybecause you inspire them to do

(12:24):
so.
So everything that I seenetworking, as is this
non-transactional, non-one-sidedsales pitch.
It's a genuine connection whereI get to share what I care
about and what I care about isserving them.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
I love all of that.
I feel like that was like 10different podcast episodes that
we could do.
I don't even know where to gowith this.
So I wanna ask you a question,because I actually just posted
something about this onInstagram last night.
When you talk about this one,two or three word phrase that
you use, how do you?
One of the things that I say alot when it comes to introducing

(13:00):
yourself at networking eventsis that being clear is better
than being clever, because Ialways see people get up and
they think that they're beingvery like, mysterious and
intriguing and look at me, I'mdifferent than all the other
people who sell skincare,because I said that I help
people age backwards, right, orsomething like that.

(13:20):
And I'm like now everyone'svery confused.
They don't know what you do,like do you sell hormone
replacement therapy?
Do you do Botox?
Like how are you helping me agebackwards?
So how do you make sure thatthat phrase that you're using is
still attention getting andconveys what you want it to, but
isn't so like vague and broadand confusing that people are

(13:43):
like that guy's weird, I don'teven want to talk to him.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
I think one of the biggest mistakes that people
make is they hear unifiedmessage and they think slogan,
and a slogan is not what I'mtalking about.
So if you had never heard of abusiness coach before, the first
time you heard somebody say I'ma business coach, you would say
what exactly is that?
What I'm highlighting is youneed to create a version of I'm

(14:08):
a business coach for you.
Like I say I'm the rapid growthguy Not a slogan, but something
that leads people to say whatexactly is that?
And the reason being is I'm nottrying to be vague to get
people to lean in and say whatis that, so I can then talk to
them about the functional ofwhat I do.
Get people to lean in and saywhat is that, so I can then talk
to them about the functional ofwhat I do.
What I'm trying to do ishighlight that I'm different to
everybody else and I wanteverybody to really internalize

(14:31):
that you are different.
Now it's funny the number ofpeople that come up to me after
one of my presentations fromstage and say but Matt, I'm not
different.
I'm exactly like everyone else.
I do the same services.
I'm like you've got unique pastexperiences, unique past
customers unique upbringing.
You've read different books,you failed different tests that
caused you to do differentthings.
That is just not true and, bythe way, anybody questioning
this?
Here's what I want you to thinkabout for a second.

(14:52):
Imagine if I said oh guys, Ireally want to introduce you to
Melissa.
She does everything exactlylike everyone else.
Think about how many people Iwould get referred or even be
open to those introductions.
So how many people I would getreferred or even be open to
those introductions.
So if you've ever got areferral, if you've ever got
repeat business, then you needto know there is something
different.
If you don't know what that is,then you need to call your

(15:13):
customers.
By the way, your customers knowthat they're paying you a
premium.
They could get it cheaper.
So don't be afraid to say and,by the way, don't be afraid to
blame me and say I'm workingwith a coach and they told me
that there's something uniqueand different about what I do.
And they told me to think aboutmy best customers and, by the
way, that's you.
So, firstly, thank you for that, appreciate them and then say

(15:33):
but what I need to understand is, what is it about what I do
that you provide that?
I provide that, you see, youknow, as a great service.
You know, why is it that youwrite me such great testimonials
?
Or why is it you refer me topeople and I promise you that
people will say you provideamazing customer service and
you're really knowledgeable?
By the way, those two answersare not useful, and the reason

(15:54):
why they're not useful isnobody's going to say oh, you
should hire me, melissa, I amthe world's worst at customer
service and I really don't knowmuch, so because of that, we
can't use them.
So what you need to do isappreciate them for saying that
and saying thank you so much forsharing that.
What, specifically about myknowledgeability have you found
most useful?
And then, all of a sudden,you'll get a treasure trove of

(16:15):
information.
It's actually funny.
I worked with a language coachout of California and she taught
kids and adults Mandarin, andfor the longest time she charged
$50 to $80 an hour for privateconsultation, and she was very
successful for quite a whileabout a decade and then, all of
a sudden, she started to haveother people moving into
California willing to charge $30to $40 an hour.
On top of that, she had peopleout of China offering to do it

(16:38):
for $12 an hour on Craigslist,thanks to this global economy we
now live in.
And, worse than that, sheactually had people that well,
there was technology made inSilicon Valley that basically
I'll teach you Ben or you teachme English.
We just won't charge anyoneanything.
So she's competing against free.
So she comes to me and she'slike give me some sales

(16:58):
techniques, some networkingtechniques to help me close more
clients and keep the currentclients.
And I said, look, let's justavoid the battle altogether.
We need to look at what makesyou different.
And again, nothing's differentabout me.
So we had to go and then assessthe clients.
What we discovered was therewere two clients out of a
hundred she'd worked with thatwere executives being relocated
to China.
And what we found is she did somuch more for these people than
just language tuition.
She helped them understand thedifference between e-commerce in

(17:20):
China and the Western world,the importance of respect, why
you have to learn the language.
You can't just sorry, you haveto learn the accent, you can't
just you learn the language.
How to handle a business cardwhile it matters, so why it
matters so much and, what wasmost important, she helped them
understand the differencebetween a sale in the Western
world where, at the end of 45minutes, if we're bad at sales,
we'll say something horriblelike do you want to move forward

(17:40):
?
And of course, yes, no, oreveryone's favorite, let me
think about it right.
Well, in China they're going towant to see you five or six
times before they discussbusiness.
They're probably going to wantto see you drunk over karaoke
once or twice.
For the average Westerner,that's confusing, until you
realize that they're doing 25 to50-year deals, not
transactional contracts like wedo in the West.
So she helped them understandthis and I said Wendy, you're
doing so much more for thesepeople than just language

(18:02):
tuition.
What are you doing?
And she's like well, there's afew things I'm just trying to
help.
And I said look, you're stuckin your functional skill.
Is it fair to assume, as aresult of the assistance you're
giving these people, they'regoing to be more successful in
China?
And she's like I mean, yeah, Imean, that's the point right.
So I said well, about Mandarineducation for a second, let's
create what we ended up callingthe China Success Intensive,

(18:25):
which ended up being a five-weekprogram that worked, with the
executive, the spouse and anychildren being relocated across
to China.
Now, what she loved about thiswas it was a totally different
proposition.
It was based on what was moreauthentic to her.
Anyway, and think about it,instead of going networking.
Well, she actually asked me shegoes, who do I sell it to?
And I said, who do you think?
And she obviously went for thefirst and easy answer the

(18:47):
executives.
And I said, well, I mean, Imoved from Australia to the
United States.
They speak the same languagehere.
I'd still be terrified.
I was still terrified coming,imagine going, to China.
I just don't think it's yourideal client and she's
frustrated with me now.
She's like well, who, then?

(19:07):
And I said I think it's theimmigration attorney.
Now she looks at me like I'mspeaking a foreign language and
I said think about it.
These people make $5,000 to$7,000 for doing all the
bureaucracy and the paperworkthat comes with a visa.
They got staff to pay for, theygot rent to pay for, they got
paid to get the client.
A lot of the times They'd belucky to make $3,000 for a
successful visa.
I said why not offer them $3,000for a successful introduction?

(19:28):
So, instead of networking likecrazy, trying to sell something
transactional that everyone elsewas doing, she was going to
networking events to meetimmigration attorneys.
It's a totally differentmarketplace and this is what I
find.
People try to bend themselvesto all their customers as
opposed to saying what's moreinnate about me, and how can I
articulate that?
Well, and so she started goingin introducing herself as the

(19:48):
China Success Coach, talkingabout her passion and mission,
and then offering them $3,000for a simple introduction.
They're like double my profitfor a simple introduction.
Sure, what have I got to say?
She said all you got to do issay congratulations, you've now
got your visa.
I just want to double check.
You're as ready as possible togo, and they would always
respond with.
You know, a bit of bravado.
I think we're fine.
We've got a place sorted now.
We're learning the language.

(20:09):
Kids are getting pretty good atit too.
You know, we've got our visanow.
Thank you, I think we're set,and she would just have them
respond with.
There's a lot more to it thanthat.
I organization was motivated topay.
Recommended by their attorney,she charged $30,000 for doing
this.
So after the $3,000 commissioncheck, she made $27,000 for the

(20:33):
easiest sale in the world,instead of hustling every day to
make $50 to $80 an hour in ahighly contested market.
What I find is well, I get todo the exact same thing, right
by calling myself the rapidgrowth guy.
People don't put me in a salesbox where they think I'm scammy.
They don't put me in amarketing box where they think I
do Facebook ads, which I don't.
And people put me in this boxof what's the rapid growth guy?

(20:56):
And, for the first time,instead of shoving something
down someone's throat theydidn't ask for, they genuinely
ask.
And as soon as I learn toarticulate that successfully, I
can then do that online, not bytaking photos of my dog or donut
for something to say.
But because my message is soconcise, it breaks through the
noise, which means I don't haveto work very hard to get people
to chase me.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah, so essentially what you're saying, I love what
you said about how that phraseis different than a motto or a
slogan.
Right, that's a big difference.
And then also having thatclarity on what your unique
passion is, what your uniquemission is.
One of the things that I hearyou say a lot is, you know,

(21:36):
focusing on what is your valueand, when you introduce yourself
, not necessarily telling peoplelike, hi, I'm mad, this is what
I do, but this is the value ofwhat I do, which I think is a
big distinction too yeah, Ithink that the thing that I say
I firstly, I never want to tellpeople what I do because,

(21:56):
firstly, people don't care.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
The second thing is, if I say here's why you should
value what I do, people have toagree or disagree with that, and
that's a logical mind processand that's a problem.
Also, people want to know thatI care about them.
That's it.
So if you think about Wendy,she wants to convey her passion
and mission to help people goingto China.
For me, I want to convey mymission and passion for helping

(22:20):
introverts.
So what I look at is I use aunified message I'm the rapid
growth guy to trigger someone tosay what exactly is that?
And, by the way, the rapidgrowth guy is inherently me,
more than sales trainer ormarketing coach could ever be.
I mean, I'm a business coach,I'm a branding expert, social
media strategist, a master inneurolinguistic programming.
I'm a business so many things.
Truthfully, the only thing Iknow is that people don't care

(22:41):
about any of that.
They don't care how hard it wasfor me to learn those things or
how long it took me to learnthem, but when I say the rapid
growth guy, it gets me heard inthe crowded marketplace.
It gets people to say whatexactly is that?
Because they're genuinelyinterested and I feel genuine
saying it, because itarticulates who I am better than
I ever could in any other wayby using a functional jargon
word that they know because theyanchor to it, and they're like

(23:03):
oh, that's all you are.
That's like reading theintrovert's edge and saying I'm
the introvert's edge person.
That's ridiculous.
So once I've said that, thenthey ask me what exactly that is
, and I will then respond withmy passion and mission to help
them.
I'm not telling them what I door even the results I get.
I'm just telling them that Iwant them to know that I care
and I understand where they'restruggling.

(23:25):
I want to show them that I knowthem well.
That's why I'm on their side.
And then, once I say, well, I'mon a mission to help people
like you, realize you really canobtain rapid growth doing what
you love, just not by gettingbetter at your functional skill.
Instead, three things outsidethe scope of that that really
allow you to obtain rapid growthin a business that revolves
around you, your family and yourlife, not the other way around.

(23:46):
I will then segue into a story,the exact story I use in a
shorter version, is the Wendystory, but notice the difference
.
That's not a testimonial.
I'm actually telling you astory to share with you the
power of what I call a unifiedmessage.
Now, of course, the undertoneof it is a testimonial, but
people don't see it Like I couldhave said so.

(24:06):
Wendy came to me and she didn'thave any clients and I helped
her create a whole new productand we went from struggling to
make $50 to $80 an hour toselling a $30,000 product and
that's why you need to hire me.
How horrible.
Instead, I said look, what Ithink you need is a unified
message.
Let me explain what that is.
And then I explain it and atthe end I say so.

(24:26):
What I really think you need tothink about is what are the
unique benefits that you provideoutside the scope of your
functional skill?
And then ask yourself what thehigh-level benefit of that is.
For Wendy it was rapport,respect and e-commerce.
The high-level benefit isChina's success.
For me, I'm X, y and Z.
Nobody cares.
That's why I call myself therapid growth guy.
Does that make sense?
And I nod my head as I say itand they're like oh yeah, thank

(24:46):
you so much for sharing thatvalue with me.
Of course, they also heard atestimonial.
Now here's the reason why Itell a story.
Now, testimonials don't do this.
Case studies don't do this.
Throw those out.
You shouldn't be using themwith customers and I know that's
going to be against everythingyou've ever heard before but
especially an introvert, we arenot going to want to say those
things.
Here's the thing aboutstorytelling.
When you tell a story, firstthing is it activates the

(25:09):
reticular activating system of aperson's brain.
What that means is it actuallycreates artificial rapport.
And now we introverts areterrible at creating initial
rapport, but we're great atfostering deep rapport.
So I use storytelling as a wayof generating that initial
rapport, because I hate smalltalk.
Now, the great thing about thisis extroverts are great at

(25:29):
doing that initial rapport.
They're terrible at deeprapport, and storytelling
actually fosters deeper rapportthan even that superficial small
talk does.
The second thing aboutstorytelling which is great is
people remember up to 22 timesmore information when embedded
into a story.
So when I'm trying to share thestory of Wendy, I know they're
actually going to remember it,as opposed to saying, oh, you
need a unified message, and hereare all the logical reasons for

(25:50):
why and we introverts loveeducating customers and when we
tell a story we're trying to bemindful of someone's time, so we
glide through it, but then weare happy to hit them with
jargon for the next 20 minutes.
It's insane.
So what we need to do isrealize people love stories,
they remember stories.
And, by the way, for thosepeople that don't believe me,
think about three inanimateobjects.
I don't believe me.
Think about three inanimateobjects, I don't know.
Let's go with.
Everybody's probably sittingdown in a chair right now, so

(26:13):
let's go with chairs.
Probably people think I have anEnglish accent, so I'm actually
from Australia.
But if let's go with a goodEnglish breakfast, like porridge
, and then let's pick a thirdthing, well, maybe after hearing
me speak as an introvert,you're probably going to be
maxed out.
We might want to go and restfor a little bit in bed, so
let's go with beds.
If I said, remember those threeitems.
A year from now I'm going toreach back out to you and ask
you what those items are and theorder I told you them in.

(26:36):
Probably when you're in themiddle of something, when I do
this from stage, everyone's likeI'm not going to have a chance
remembering it and I'm like Itell you what I'll help Think
about the story of Goldilocksand the three bears.
Everybody has instant recall soso people remember more when
embedded into a story.
But the most important thing is, when you tell a story it short
circuits the logical brain andyou speak directly the emotional
brain, so the logical brainassumes all the detail is fact.

(26:58):
So sorry, the logical brain isthe part of the brain that's
saying that'll work for me.
That won't work for me.
My situation is different.
Hang up the phone or let meinterrupt.
When you start telling a story,the emotional brain literally
short circuits the logical brainand it goes story time and it
just listens to every part ofthe story, assuming that it's
factual duty of care here, onlyreal stories, please.

(27:21):
And then, when you get to theend of the story, if the moral
of the story is so, as you cansee, this person had that same
problem you did.
And this epiphany, this thingthat they they were to discover
and I always like to say theydiscovered it People are going
to assume you helped them, do it, allowed them to get to this
result, so that's why theyshould do that thing.
People are like, oh my gosh, Iwant that.

(27:41):
And because you've told it inthe story, it's been tangible.
It's like they tried it on.
Now they don't want to give itback and that's why they lean
forward and they're like well,what does working with you look
like Again?
Only if it's a prospect, right.
What we're really hoping for isa momentum partner and a
champion.
But let me be clear when theysay that if you answer that
question in that networking room, you've just done the worst

(28:01):
thing possible because A they'regoing to resent you answering
it.
You will get interrupted andyou are going to feel terrible
about pitching somebody in themiddle of a networking room.
So don't do it.
We all have phones in ourpockets these days and tell them
now's not really a great timeto do that.
Pull out your phone andschedule a time to do a Zoom
session or catch up for a coffee.
But if you think aboutnetworking as that way, the only

(28:24):
time you tell people what youdo is in the story, and the
story gets them to try it on,not get educated, which is why
they'll engage with it.
More importantly, they'llunderstand the impressive value
of what you provide.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
And again, you all provide unique, impressive value
.
Yeah, and what you're talkingabout, too, is a lot of the
balance between being authenticwhile you're networking, but
also being intentional about it,and that's something I talk
about a lot, because I thinkpeople get really good at the
authenticity which they take adslike I'll just show up and be

(28:56):
me, like I don't have a plan,I'll just talk and do what I
want and be me.
And then intentionality wethink that's when we get into
the what I call the salesyweirdos, right Like that,
because we're there with anagenda and we're there with a
plan and we're our goal is toget 10 business cards tonight,
or our goal is to set up twocoffee chats after this and

(29:17):
there's a balance between beingauthentic, being real, being
yourself and also having someintention behind what you're
doing in networking too, and Ithink that's exactly what you're
talking about when it comes tohow you're talking to people,
about what you do and how youhelp people is finding that
balance between the two.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
I think one of the things and I want to go back to
that intentionality because Ithink that's a really important
comment.
So, firstly, a lot of peoplewill say, well, but I don't know
who I'm talking to and becauseof that I can't say like, for
instance, if I walked up tosomebody and they said I'm
passionate about helping anintroverted service provider,
and they're like, oh, I work fora global hardware company.
Well, what am I going to dowith you now?

(29:57):
Right, so now I've got aproblem?
Well, actually I don't, Becausemy bet is, if I share my
passion and mission forservicing introverted service
providers, they have a friend ora family member that is an
introverted service provider.
The second thing is that I can'tarticulate my passion and
mission for servicing everyonein general because it's too
general a statement.

(30:17):
So the problem is that by goingbroad, I'm speaking to nobody.
So what I do is I talk about mypassion for helping introverted
service providers and thenumber of times somebody says I
actually work for X, y and Zbillion-dollar cloud company.
We're not service providers,but I love your passion and I'd

(30:37):
love to introduce you toso-and-so, because nobody's
passionate in networking rooms.
They're all so vanilla.
So the moment they experiencepassion, they're like oh my gosh
, I want to steal this formyself.
Now let's talk aboutpreparation, because for me, I
always plan what I'm going tosay and I say the same thing
every time, but to the personthat I'm talking to, it sounds
like an authentic and organicconversation, mainly because and
, by the way, I get that mostpeople have had phone calls from

(30:57):
telemarketers that sound scriptand they don't want to sound
that way.
But think about your favoritemovie.
Think about the character inthat movie, your favorite
character.
Realize they're also reading ascript.
The difference between thosetwo people is just practice.
However, there's one thing youcan do differently, and that is,
I never go to a networking roomin a way that feels anything

(31:18):
else but a bunch of presetmeetings.
What do I mean by that?
Well, the truth is, if youdon't do this, you might end up
walking up to someone that'sgoing to try and sell you
insurance.
Now, that would be a good thingfor me, because I work with a
whole bunch of people ininsurance, because the last
thing they want to do is saythey sell insurance, because
people look at them even worsethan a salesperson.
How do I get away from thisperson?
Their eyes explode.
So they definitely need unifiedmessages and to speak from

(31:40):
passion and mission, but thebest way to plan is to actually
plan who you're going to speakto, and in today's digitally
connected world, any event, likea conference, usually has a
conference app where all thepeople in attendance are going
to be on it.
If you're talking about ameetup group, well, usually
people connect with theirFacebook or their LinkedIn and
because of that, you can findout who's going in advance.

(32:01):
If you can't find it throughthat, look at the last month's
event, look at the photo of thepeople that were in the event
when they did a couple of photosand look for who was tagged in
the photos and then connect withthose.
I don't go to a networking eventunless my team do what I call
profile shopping.
So whenever I go to anetworking event, they'll figure
out what event I'm going to goto.
They'll then figure out who'sgoing to be there.

(32:23):
They'll then put them in themomentum partner, the champion
or the prospect box.
They will then connect withthem in advance and say
something like oh, I'm thinkingabout going to this networking
event and I'm really passionateabout X, is this a good place to
come to?
And as a byproduct of that,they're like yeah, oh,
absolutely, you should totallycome Now.
If they're extroverted, they'relike well, you know what, I'll

(32:43):
introduce you to a whole bunchof people.
If they're an introvert,they're like oh, thank goodness,
I'm going to be.
It's a familiar face the momentI walk into that room.
Often I don't have time to meetanybody outside the square
because I've already got peoplethat are expecting to talk to me
and, as a by-product, they'renot only expecting to talk to me
.
They've probably already seen awhole bunch of my stuff and, as
a by-product, I don't even haveto work very hard.

(33:05):
So being contrived about who tospeak to means that you can
make sure you're always havingthe right conversations with the
right people.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Yeah, yeah, having the right conversations with the
right people.
That doesn't mean theconversation is inauthentic.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Absolutely.
As a matter of fact, it's evenmore authentic.
I'll give you an example.
I did some work with Intel andthis guy came up to me
afterwards and he said well, webasically spoke for like 20
minutes and this was back at thehotel.
This introvert just realizedthat aloft doesn't have room
service.
And the introvert likes to hideaway after his sessions because
if, especially if, I'm speakingat the event at the conference

(33:43):
hotel, I'm like there's nowhereto go.
And this was before uber eatsat the time and I was like you
know what?
There's nowhere for me to gohere.
I'm gonna going to have to godownstairs.
Well, of course, I got talkingto somebody and for 20 minutes
we chatted and conversed and hesaid look, matt, it's easy for
me to speak to you because I sawyou speak, so I've got so much
context to talk to you about.
And I was like I'm confused andfrom what I know about Intel,

(34:06):
you're considered a newbie ifyou've been there for less than
20 years.
Now I'm speaking at the globalleadership event.
I would assume that most of thepeople there were there last
year.
I would also assume thatinternally you could get the
attendance list and they're likewell, I mean, yeah, I could
have, but what would I do withthat?
And I'm like I would look upeverybody on LinkedIn, figure

(34:27):
out what their job titles are,which ones of those I mean you
probably have the job titles onthe sheet I would figure out
what they're into.
I would think about what valueI could add each person.
Maybe there's an introductionto an association, maybe they
should be on a podcast becausethey also have a personal brand
on something.
I would be looking at whatbooks they read and maybe I've
read some of those books and Icould then you know when I'm

(34:47):
trying to help them.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
I was like oh, I noticed that you read X book.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Have you read this book as well, because I feel
like they dovetail really well,or oh, when I connected with you
on LinkedIn, I was thinkingabout this person.
That I felt like would be areally good introduction for you
.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
Now they're like oh, my gosh.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
I don't even know who you are, but I'm so glad we
connected in advance and thankyou for offering what is it you
do?
The answer is they're going towant to help you in every way,
shape or form.
So the thing that I find iswhat often leads to inauthentic
marketing or inauthenticnetworking because it's
basically the same thing is thatpeople don't think about how to

(35:24):
best show up, because for me, Idon't want to wing things every
time, I don't want to bendmyself to someone else's needs
and wants, because that'sinauthentic.
I want to genuinely say here isthe people I show up for every
day.
I want to genuinely tell astory that is actually helpful
to them.
And before I get to any of that, I want to genuinely offer

(35:44):
introductions and suggestionsand value to that other person.
And for those people that arelike well, I'm not like you.
I don't have millions of peoplein my network and all these
high-level people to introduceto, I bet if everybody went and
connected with everybody theyknew on LinkedIn or went and
surveyed the people that theyknew on LinkedIn, you'd quickly
realize you've got a whole bunchof friends with podcasts and
everybody wants a great guest ontheir podcast that isn't going

(36:07):
to sell the audience butactually deliver something of
value.
Everybody's looking for theright type of guests, not the
hundred spam messages that weget all the time.
Usually, you know people thatare on association boards.
What usually happens is peoplehaven't mapped their network, so
they have nothing of value tooffer the person they're
speaking to.
That's just laziness.
So what you need to do is youneed to map your network.
You need to think about thepeople that you can offer

(36:38):
introductions to that are alsohelpful to them, right, and then
you can go and have thesefruitful conversations where you
genuinely are not saying acontrived script, but presenting
the best version of yourself, aplanned and prepared one, sure,
but you're customizing it totheir unique situation only
slightly, because you don't wantto change who you are for
anyone, because that isinauthentic and just so
everyone's aware.
If this sounds like a lot ofwork, it's a lot more work to go
to a whole bunch of networkingevents where nobody I mean sure,

(36:58):
you walk out with 10 cards, butwe all know what we do with
those 10 cards.
We stack them on the desk nextto the last 10 cards that didn't
call or we had no contact with.
It's a lot more work to go outand do proposals for people that
don't buy.
And if you're talking aboutmental anxiety, stress, it's a
lot more work to go to anetworking room and not know
who's going to be in there, andthe emotional recovery of that
is a lot more effort than whatgoing to a meetup page and

(37:21):
seeing who's going in advanceand go that person, that person
and that person it's going tofit the networking events to run
into them by chance, if you'relucky, as opposed to going wow,
these three people's profileslook interesting.
I'll connect with them inadvance.
And oh, by the way, don't beafraid to say that you're
introverted when you're inconversation, when you're
talking to them, because if theysay, yes, me too, you just got

(37:41):
a buddy for life.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Yeah, yeah, and I think a perk of doing that
preparation too is and this issomething I hear a lot from the
introverts that I work with is,too is and this is something I
hear a lot from the introvertsthat I work with is how do I
skip the small talk?
How do I not have to have smalltalk with people when I'm
networking, but not jumpstraight to the life?
So tell me about, like, thebiggest trauma of your life,
right, like we need to feel likewe can be somewhere in between,

(38:06):
and when you have done thatpreparation, work and you know
that stuff, I think it makes iteasier to skip a lot of that
small talk, because I don't needto ask you like, oh, are you
married?
Do you have kids?
Where are you from Colorado?
Like, clearly you're not fromColorado, but are you from
Colorado?
What do you do?
You know?
How long have you been inbusiness?
I already know all those things.

(38:28):
So we can skip that and get tolike why are you passionate
about what you do, what you know?
What do you value most?
What's your mission with yourbusiness?
And things like that that allowus to get to know each other on
a different level.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Absolutely.
I mean, everybody wants to talkabout themselves in a
non-superficial way andeverybody hates the superficial
stuff and they appreciate yousharing in a different way and
having different conversationswith them.
I mean, there's no one that'sgoing to say they don't want to
do that.
And I know we need to save timefor talking about what
introversion is, because that'simportant.
But one thing I do want tohighlight is when you control a

(39:02):
networking dialogue, because alot of people say, oh, I don't
actually tell people what I do.
Like when they ask me what I do, I start asking them questions.
Oh, that's great, everybodywants an interrogation when they
first meet you.
You've got to realize that youhave to open the door to these
more important dialogues.
And what's really interestingis what I find is the moment you
use a unit, give value, giveintroductions, even just

(39:22):
listening and being excited forthem and providing them
suggestions that may not evenland for them.
They will go, wow, this isdifferent.
And then when they ask you whatyou do, when they feel your
passion and mission not yourfeature and function or sales
pitch and then they hear throughthe story something that
actually applies to them,they'll tell you anything you
want to know.
The thing that you need torealize, though, is you don't

(39:45):
need to know any of that.
If you know your niche andthey've responded, you should
know all the answers already,because, I mean, I know my niche
better than they knowthemselves, which means that if
I say now, I appreciate you wantto talk further about what I do
.
We're all at networking eventright now.
I feel like we're all trying tomeet new people, and also, I
really want to understand alittle bit more about what you
do before I suggest that I mayor may not be able to help you.

(40:07):
So why don't we set you know,we've all got our phones with us
why don't we set a calendarinvitation?
I'll organize a Zoom call withyou and I set it right there,
and then, because I want to askthose deep and penetrating
questions, but I want to do itwhen I'm sitting with them
one-on-one, where they feel alittle bit more comfortable they
have decided that they like me,so I can ask those questions,

(40:28):
or I can just leave it at that.
Now, one of the things that Iwill say is, once I've booked
that calendar invitation is, Iwill often say to them look,
melissa, I have to admit I'mloving this conversation and, as
an introvert myself, it's fareasier for me to continue
talking to you than talking toeveryone going to talk to
someone else.
But I have to admit I knowyou're probably at a networking
event to meet people the same asI am, so don't feel obligated

(40:50):
to hang with me, and we've got awonderful conversation coming
up, so feel free.
If there's other people youwant to meet, you're welcome to
do so.
One of two things will happenThey'll go.
No, matthew, I'm actually reallyenjoying this conversation, and
that happens all the time.
By the way, I'm an introverttoo, so this feels great.
And then later I'll make a jokeabout how we have to both push
ourselves to go and talk to newpeople.

(41:10):
And now I'm doing them a favorand me a favor, or they'll say
you know what?
That's actually great, becausethey don't want a sales pitch
right now, but they did ask forone later.
That's amazing.
So move on.

Speaker 1 (41:21):
Oh, that's so good.
That's really really good.
So you reminded me a question Iprobably should have asked you
at the beginning of this podcast, but we'll ask it at the end
when we're talking aboutintroverts and I think it's okay
that we're talking about thisat the end because really
everything that we've talkedabout is applicable to
introverts and extroverts it'sreally just relationship

(41:42):
building and meeting people andcommunicating in a way that
feels good to them and to you.
But just for clarification'ssake, when we're talking about
someone being an introvert, Ithink a lot of times people
think you know we were talkingbefore we started recording that
people are always like no,you're not an introvert.
Well, I'm not shy, but thosearen't the same things.
So tell us, when you're talkingabout introverts, what you're

(42:05):
really talking about.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
Yeah, absolutely, and it's interesting because a lot
of extroverts that are sellingthemselves for the first time
feel uncomfortable the same wayas a lot of introverts do when
they're talking to people.
So there is a lot of crossoverand it's easy to get confused.
I think it's even easier to getconfused because I feel a lot of
the studies and the researchhas tried to make it more
confusing, maybe so they getmore grants, who knows.
But the thing that I would sayis most people I mean, it's so

(42:31):
weird some of the behaviorspeople have.
They're like oh, I'm notintroverted and they frame it in
a way that, like we introvertsjust sit under a bridge hiding,
hoping not to tell anybody.
And I actually did an event atAISP Leadership Summit.
This is the best in thebusiness, in the world of sales.
You're talking.
Every senior leader in techfinance the works.
And before I spoke there, Ithought it'd be fun just to send

(42:51):
out a survey and all I did wasask are you introverted or
extroverted?
Simple question.
And I left the field blankinstead of giving it as a tick
box.
And I was surprised at how manypeople said something akin to
oh, I was introverted, but don'tworry, I'm not anymore.
Like they were recovered from adisease Ridiculous.
So let me be clear about whatintroversion is.

(43:12):
It's just where you draw yourenergy.
That is it, for instance,melissa and I.
Well, I can only speak formyself.
I'm enjoying this dialogueDoesn't mean I'm not going to be
tired afterwards.
When I go networking, I enjoyit now Doesn't mean I'm not
going to be tired.
Try getting me off a stage.
I love helping people on stage.
I'm exhausted afterwards.
Now here's the interestingthing.

(43:32):
It used to take me over a dayto recover from speaking from
stage.
Now it takes me about 45minutes.
I used to be able to speak foran hour before I was tired.
Now I can do about just overhalf a day.
Now the reason I'm highlightingthese things is a lot of people
say, oh, that must mean you'reno longer introverted.
No, you can't change who youare.
And no, I haven't becomeambiverted.

(43:54):
Right, people are what they areand there are the occasional
people that are ambiverted.
Most people have learned skillsets to overcome certain
barriers that they had.
And I see introversion orextroversion because, let's be
honest, extroverts are oftenaren't the best listeners, the
most empathetic people, butthey're willing to go and learn
those skills because they knowthat they can.
Introverts believe they can'tdo these so-called gift of gab

(44:15):
activities because they believethat they can't succeed.
They can't learn the skillsbecause they don't have the
competency.
So what I suggest to people isif you leave a networking room
and you're tired afterwards, ifyou and you might get confused,
oh, but when I hang out with oneor two family or friends, I
don't get tired.
That's not what I said.
When you go to a networkingevent, if you're tired
afterwards, if you go to a partyand you're tired afterwards if

(44:39):
you do one of these so-calledextroverted arenas and you're
tired afterwards.
Even if you're less tired thanyou used to be, that just means
you learned a system and process.
You're absolutely an introvert.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
Yeah, that's really good, and I think, too, what
you're talking about is just, Imean, really applies to any, any
difference that you have inyour brain, right, like we were
talking earlier about havingADHD or, you know, being on the
autism spectrum or somethinglike that.
That's like you don't you.
You always have that in yourbrain.
You always are an introvert,but you find ways to compensate

(45:16):
for it.
You find ways to manage yourenergy a little bit better.
Maybe you don't go in like at a10 out of 10, maybe you go in
at a five out of 10.
, so you can save some of it.
You just find different ways towork with yourself rather than
against yourself, and I thinkthat kind of we're coming full
circle to the beginning of wherethis interview started, in
terms of not trying to forceyourself to be a different way,

(45:38):
but rather accepting.
This is the way that I am, thisis where I get my energy, this
is what drains my energy, andhow can I figure out how to
structure this so that I canstill do it in a way that feels
good to me and not draining?

Speaker 2 (45:52):
I mean you're 100% right and I think that what most
people, most introverts, get intheir way with is they say I
see other people succeeding andnetworking and they're doing
this, so I'll copy that Firstly,I promise you it's not working

(46:12):
for them as much as you think itis.
And then, secondly, it's goingto drain your life, and I do
know I'm honored to be on thetop 30 list of global sales
gurus and I have to admit thereare some other introverts out
there on that list as well and Ithink that really shows that
introverts can become the bestin the business, because I truly
believe that, as an introvert,we tend to hold onto a system
for dear life and any systemwill outperform a winged
presentation every day of theweek eventually, and it won't

(46:35):
even take that long.
But the problem is that we don'tknow, we don't believe that
there is a system out there thatcan change the way we do things
, and that's what we really needto embrace.
It's not seeing introversion asa disadvantage, because the
fact of the matter is, if youlearn a system and a process,
it's a huge advantage.
I mean, you have the ability toactively listen and empathize

(46:56):
more than any extrovert.
Why would you not want toleverage those skills?
And, by the way, if you want tolook at a statistic around what
competencies people love versuswhat they hate in networking,
go and listen to.
Ivan Meisner came on myIntroverts Edge podcast and he
brought out all the qualitiespeople like and they all love

(47:17):
introverted, specificcharacteristics.
The problem is we don't knowwhat to say at the beginning.
So fix that.
Use the information I just gaveyou.
Fix that problem and thenyou'll find that you'll serve so
many more people, but don'tserve everybody Because,
truthfully, you're never goingto be as good at serving
everyone as specific peopleanyway and most people say, well
, I can't.
Any customer is a good customerright now and that is true.

(47:37):
But you'll actually get morecustomers saying I work
specifically with this group ofpeople.
By the way, I didn't sayexclusively.
I would always say I specializewith.
Specialty is a wonderful word.
It's like asking a doctorversus a specialist for help.
We always expect to pay aspecialist more, but on top of
that we also generally expectthat they've done better in the

(47:58):
general practice, which is whythey were invited into a
specialty.
So when I'm asked what I do andI say specialize with
introverted service providersextroverts even go well, I don't
have that problem.
But you're probably amazing atsales systems, probably the best
in the world.
If you're helping introverts,there's no downside.
And, by the way, for thoseaverage people that, like you
know, I'm an accountant and I'mnow going to come up with a
unified message and I'm going tochange all of this, I'll lose

(48:19):
all.
Customers aren't checking yourwebsite and, truthfully, you
could put I'm now a dentist onyour website.
Your customers won't care.
Even the referrals won't care.
They're like Melissa said youwere amazing accountants.
Can you still help me with myaccounting work?
Stop worrying about this is allabout new market acquisition
and showing up authentically toattract clients not just clients

(48:39):
, but clients that will pay youfor what you're worth.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
Yeah, this is such good information and I love that
you are not only teaching usthings, but also giving us some
actionable advice that we canput into practice right now.
That's going to make us so muchbetter at talking about what we
do and connecting with peopleand not wasting so much time
when we're networking.
So I do want to wrap it up,even though I feel like we could
keep going for another threehours.
If people want to know moreabout you, if they want to learn

(49:08):
more about what you do,obviously they can check out
your book, which is amazing.
I tell them that all the time,but how else can they connect
with you?

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Absolutely so.
One of the things I alwayssuggest is first thing, help
yourself.
So I would suggest the best wayto take action on this is to
get somebody else you know thatdoesn't have your same
functional skill to listen tothis podcast and then go to
MatthewPollardcom forward slashgrowth and there you'll get a
five-step template that willhelp you create your version of
the China Success Coach, theRapid Growth Guide, your unified

(49:38):
message, and really find yourniche of willing and wanting to
buy clients.
You know it's funny I did thisat the National Freelance
Conference a couple of years agoand at the end I said look, put
your hand up.
If you now believe you've got aunified message that will
excite and inspire and you'veidentified a niche of people

(50:00):
that will pay you what you'reworth, 97% of the room put their
hands up.
The.
The template atmatthewpollardcom forward slash
growth will actually give youthe framework to get to the
outcome and it works if youspend the time doing it.
You've totally plugged myIntroverts Edge networking book
a bunch, which I appreciate.
I think for the other peoplethat struggle with sales, no,

(50:21):
you can also go to theintrovertsedgecom to get my book
on sales.
Now my publisher is going tohate me when I say this, but you
do not need to buy my book.
What I would suggest is if yougo to the introvertsedgecom and
download the first chapter,that'll give you overwhelming
evidence you can succeed insales as an introvert, and it
will map the full seven-stepprocess.
If you do nothing more thangrab those step headlines and

(50:42):
put what you currently say intoit, you'll quickly realize that
some things don't fit.
Throw that out.
You shouldn't be saying it tocustomers.
Then you'll realize there'ssome things out of order.
Fix that and then fill thegaping holes.
If you do nothing more thanthat, you'll double your sales
in the next 60 days and, as Isaid, you can get that at
theintrovertsedgecom.
If you get stuck on anything,connect with me on LinkedIn,
send me an audio message and forthose people that don't know

(51:04):
that you can send audio messages, you can do it on your iPhone
or your Android phone.
Can't do it on a PC.
It's the most wonderful salestool to re-engage people these
days.
Send me an audio message.
If you can't figure it out,send me an actual message and I
would be delighted to answeryour questions, because the last
thing I want somebody to do ishear this podcast interview and
go.
That's great.
I'm now inspired as anintrovert Cause.

(51:25):
If you don't put the tactics towork, then I haven't helped you
.
All I've done is inspired youto feel like you can, but still
not do it, and that's that's notthe path that I want to go.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
Yes, fabulous, I will .
Those are great resources.
I will link all of those in theshow notes so everybody can go
grab those and thank you againfor coming on.