March 9, 2025 • 22 mins
If you’ve ever followed the advice to “just connect with more people” in an attempt to grow your network—only to feel like you’re wasting time sending cold DMs and getting ghosted—you’re not alone.
I recently tested this strategy myself, reaching out to 20 new people per day on LinkedIn, and while I technically grew my email list by 1,000+ contacts, the quality of these connections? Pretty disappointing.
Here’s the hard truth: Most high-level service providers are networking the wrong way.
The real key to building a powerful network isn’t more connections—it’s more clarity and focus.
In this episode, we dive into:
🔥 Why the “more is better” networking approach leads to surface-level relationships
🔥 The missing ingredient that separates experts who build real influence from those who stay stuck chasing leads
🔥 How to shift from transactional outreach to relationship-driven marketing that actually works
If you’re ready to stop wasting time on networking strategies that don’t lead to real opportunities—and start building a high-value network that grows your business effortlessly—hit play now! 🎧
Resources
Want to see how you can spend less time marketing while increasing demand for your expertise? Schedule a Standout Business Assessment call where we'll talk about how you can turn your personal brand into profit.
If you're the best-kept secret in your industry, it's time to change that.
Because when you start showing up with clarity, confidence, and the right content—your ideal clients won't just notice you. They'll choose you.
Don’t miss your chance to get a free video brand assessment to start creating videos that actually work for your business.
Schedule your video brand assessment here >
Thanks for tuning in. If you found this episode helpful, share it with another expert entrepreneur who’s ready to stop blending in.
And I’ll see you next time—on The Standout Business Show.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brad Powell (00:06):
And so when you're inviting someone to interact
with you, give them a reason.
By giving any reason, itdoesn't matter what kind of
reason people are more likely tosay yes to you, and you want to
kind of flatter them and givethem the idea that you really
know something about them.
And give them the idea that youreally know something about
(00:27):
them and they'll be going oh yes.
Now it makes sense to me why Iwould want to do this.
Welcome to the StandoutBusiness Show, where it's all
about making a bigger differenceby doing business differently.
I'm your host, brad Powell, andfor the past 20 years, I've
(00:47):
been helping elite serviceproviders turn their personal
brand into profit through greatvideo storytelling that connects
and converts.
So if you're ready to riseabove the noise, become the face
of your brand and turn yourpersonal brand into profit,
you're in the right place.
And today I want to talk aboutwhy most experts fail at
(01:10):
building the right network.
And this is coming from my ownexperience over the past couple
of months where I've been inthis program, where I was, among
other things, trying to growand build my network, and the
methodology that was espoused inthis program was to reach out
to 20 new people each day, andthe technique was to look for
(01:37):
them on LinkedIn and basicallydo a lot of cold DM messaging.
I can't tell you how well thatwent.
Let's just say that it didn'tgo that well, and I have
increased my email list over thepast month.
In fact, I have about athousand new people on my email
(01:59):
list but the quality of thisinteraction and the depth of
relationship building that camefrom this kind of
experimentation I just don'tthink was worth the time that it
took to get there.
This is what I want to diveinto today.
When it comes to networking,most high-level service
(02:22):
providers are hearing the advicejust connect with more people,
and yet I'd say at least 90% ofthem aren't doing it right.
So before you invest any moretime in trying to network more,
try and remember this thesolution to feeling like you're
getting ghosted all the timewhen you try to do outreach
(02:45):
isn't simply connect with morepeople.
It's really about definingclarity and focus in your
network, and what we're reallytalking about here is
relationship marketing.
If you're a high-end serviceprovider, then your best
marketing time is going to bespent building relationships
(03:08):
with your prospects so thatyou're able to earn enough trust
in you.
So the only way that somebodyis going to come across the
threshold is if they feel likeyou are exactly the right person
(03:30):
for them, and the only way toget to that place is for you to
build a relationship with themover time where you have some
kind of connection with yourprospects connection with your
(03:51):
prospects.
So the very first step in allof this is actually thinking
about who it is that you wouldlike to reach.
The term that I'm going tosuggest is thinking about your
ideal connection avatar.
Now, we all know about theideal client avatar and coming
up with a persona of who wouldbe the best fit to actually
become a client for me.
(04:12):
But take this one step sort offurther removed and think about
well, if I'm building a networkof people and I'm making
connection with them, who is itthat I want to connect with the
most?
Who are the people that I wouldlike to work with?
Who are the people that I wouldlike to have in my close circle
of colleagues and friends who,because of that relationship
(04:36):
that we all have, all of ourbusiness together, will grow and
thrive?
A really good place to starthere is to use an example of one
of your current and mostfavorite clients that you are
currently working with right now.
Who are you looking for?
That is very much like somebodywho you work with now that
(04:57):
ideally you could kind of clone.
As I went through this process,I started thinking about one of
my favorite current clients,which happens to be a local
landscape architect companythat's based right here in
Boston, and here's thecharacteristics of this
particular client that I wassaying, yeah, I want people like
(05:20):
them.
So in this case, this client,this company, this business,
they offer a high ticket serviceand their service is highly
visual, because what I helppeople do is I help them tell
the story on video and ifthere's a visual aspect, a
really strong visual aspect oftheir work that works really
(05:41):
well in the kind of work that Ihelp them do.
You know, they build thesebeautiful outdoor spaces and
they have so many things to showthat are highly visual.
And in this case, this companyhas a small expert-driven team
and this is where, like buildingtrust and credibility really
matters for the members of theteam.
(06:03):
Credibility really matters forthe members of the team and this
client already sees the valuein building their personal brand
and growing their authority andtheir thought leadership, and
this is how they came to me.
And, of course, bottom line,they have the budget to invest
in high-end marketing andproduction, which is what I
(06:26):
provide.
So these are the criteria ofthis current client and it makes
great for like, okay, in thefuture I want all of my clients
to have the same set of criteria.
So then the next step is well,who are the logical clients,
types of ideal connectionavatars who would fit this
(06:49):
general criteria?
So here's the list that I cameup with.
In my case, it's luxury homebuilders and architects, and
this, again, is like visualstorytelling, for this kind of
business is absolutely key ofbusiness is absolutely key.
(07:12):
Interior designers same thing.
They need to showcase theirhigh-end visual work that they
produced in people's homes.
A boutique law firm, and thisis where those folks thought
leadership and authoritybuilding is really important for
them.
Authority building is reallyimportant for them.
Another category would behigh-end fitness and wellness
consultants, and what theyreally sell is transformation,
(07:35):
and, of course, they also havesomething to show.
They can show before and after,they can show the different
routines that they present.
They can show all kinds ofnutritional recipe, food stuff.
You know these all make for areally good video.
Another category was businessconsultants and high-end
(07:56):
executive coaches, and then,lastly, premium high-end
financial advisors and wealthmanagers.
So these are all people who inin businesses that fit under my
general categories, but theseare very specific and now I have
a really good list to target ofwho am I looking for, who would
(08:20):
I like to connect with, and soyou can go through the same
process yourself Pick a singleclient that you really like,
come up with the criteria forthem, like, what is it about
this particular client that fitsthe work that I do and then
(08:41):
apply that to other categoriesout there so you can identify
exactly who you would like to bereaching and who would you like
to connect with.
Who you would like to bereaching and who would you like
to connect with Now.
Step two is now coming up withan invitation that is actually
appealing and is not a simplecold outreach of saying, hey,
can we have a coffee chat, orcan I pick your brain about
(09:02):
something, or hey, I saw yourpost about blah, blah, blah.
That's really cool.
You know, I love what you hadto say.
None of that stuff isnecessarily going to get you
very far, so what I do formyself and what I'm going to
suggest that you do, is that youcreate a project of some kind,
(09:23):
and what I mean by that is thatyou are doing something.
And what I mean by that is thatyou are doing something where
you can invite people toparticipate in your project.
And the project could beanything from a podcast series
that you're doing, a live streamseries that you're doing on,
say, linkedin.
You could create a panel whereyou bring three or four people
(09:47):
together and do a presentationtogether.
You could start a meetup inyour local community and start
running monthly meetups wherepeople gather and then you can
invite your ideal connectionpeople to come and be part of
(10:08):
that meetup and be a speaker orbe on a panel for the meetup.
Or maybe, on a more simplelevel, you could be looking at
writing a white paper or even abook, where you are interviewing
people and getting their inputand having that be included into
the material that you arepreparing in this white paper
and getting them to contributeto all of that.
And in all of these cases, younow have a reason to reach out
(10:32):
to people and say, hey, I seethat you are, in my case, an
amazing, wonderful home builderwho does this amazing, cool
thing, because your homes, youknow, whatever it is, they're
unique in this way and they usesustainable materials, and not
(10:53):
only are you doing high-endstuff, but you have a branch of
your service that is alsocreating affordable home
building, and on and on.
Whatever the criteria is, I'dreally like to have you come on
my podcast or I'd really like tohave you come and join my
meetup and talk about whateverit is that you want them to talk
about.
In my case, how did theydistinguish themselves as a
(11:18):
high-end home builder, a luxuryhome builder, from all of the
other luxury home builders intheir area?
And that's a really good storyfor them to tell, and they're
going to be really happy to tellthat story.
And the key here is that whenyou're making this invitation,
you want to use the word because, so that you say I would love
(11:41):
to have you join me in thisproject because.
And then you tell them why.
And the reason this works isbecause that word because is a
very magical word, and in fact,there was this really
interesting study done bysomebody at Harvard.
I think this was in one of theHarvard libraries, so this was
(12:03):
back in the day when in thelibrary if you wanted to take
reference material out of thelibrary, you actually had to go
and use a copy machine and makecopies.
And so all of the studentswould be in there doing their
studies, doing their homework,doing their research, and then
(12:23):
they would have to make lots ofcopies of whatever it was the
material they were reading sothey could take it home and work
in their dorms and continuetheir work.
And so often there would belike a long line of people
waiting at the copy machine tomake their copies.
And so this researcher saidokay, well, what I want you to
do to students and there werethree different levels of
(12:46):
students doing this the firstone is like I want you to go to
the line of students, say can Icut in line?
I only have two copies to makeand see if anyone would let them
in line.
The second person would go tothe line and say could I get in
the front of the line Because Ineed to make some copies.
(13:07):
And the third student wasdirected to ask to cut in front
of the line and say can I pleasejump to the front and make
copies, because I have a reallytight deadline.
Now, which of these three doyou think had the best response?
And it turns out that the firstkind, the one that said oh, I
(13:33):
just want to cut in front, Ijust need to make some copies.
They did pretty well.
I think it was like 60.
Some percent of people saidsure, go ahead.
But the second one who said canI get in front of the line
because I need to make somecopies?
They use the word because.
(13:54):
Just simply because of that oneword, they got like something
like 87% of the people weresaying yes, go ahead.
And the third category, wherethey're saying can I please jump
to the front of the line, makesome copies because I have a
really tight deadline?
(14:15):
That only changed by 1%.
Like 88% of the people said yesto that person.
So the normal, the story, isthat simply by using the word
because, by giving a reason, bygiving any reason it doesn't
matter what kind of reasonpeople are more likely to say
(14:35):
yes to you.
Give them a reason, say hey,I'd really love to have you join
me in this collaborative effortbecause.
And then tell them why and thatcould be anything from you know
(14:57):
about the work that they do.
You've seen their written workor their videos or whatever it
is that they've been talkingabout.
Or maybe they've written a bookand you want to kind of flatter
them and give them the ideathat you really know something
about them.
And they'll be going oh yes,now it makes sense to me why I
(15:18):
would want to do this and you'llget a much better response.
And now they'll come and joinyou and you'll be able to
actually build that relationship.
And now they'll come and joinyou and you'll be able to
actually build that relationshipno-transcript when they
actually start collaboratingwith you on your project.
Now what I do?
Because I have a weekly podcast.
(15:41):
I do a number of things.
So, for instance, first of all,I reach out and I invite them
to be a guest on my show and Isay, hey, I'd love to have you
be a guest on my show becauseI've seen your work about this
particular thing.
This, I think, would be reallygood for my audience, and here's
(16:03):
why I think so.
I think you'd be a really goodperson to talk about this
particular topic and tell yourstory about this particular
thing.
And it's very clear why I wantthem to come and join me on this
show and they can see thatclearly and they usually almost
always will answer positively.
(16:24):
But then the first thing thatwe do is I actually have a
pre-show interview, where wemeet without recording and I'm
just wanting to talk to themabout what we're going to talk
about, and the real purpose ofthis meeting is to break the ice
a little bit and for us to getto know one another before we do
(16:47):
a recording together, and thatalways makes for a much, much
better interview, but it alsoprimes the relationship building
that I'm wanting to accomplishwith this particular person.
The second step is that when Irecord my podcast, I actually do
it as a live stream.
This makes for more of acollaborative environment in the
(17:10):
sense that we are bothperforming in the moment to a
live audience and because whenyou go live with someone, you
can schedule the live streamingin advance.
That pre-advanced scheduling Ican share with my guest and they
can share that with all oftheir network before we go live,
(17:30):
and so this is giving them achance to shine their light on
what we're doing together and itputs them in a position of oh,
this is good, because now I'mjoining this event and I'm
inviting my people to join mewhile I join this event and then
(17:51):
, after we go live together, Ipublish the recording as a
podcast, as an audio recording,and I also will publish a clip
just a short video clip from theepisode which is showcasing
them, and then I follow up bythanking them and I send them
assets like here's that videoclip that I made of you and then
(18:14):
I invite them to have afollow-up conversation around
other collaborative things thatwe might do together, and I find
that this form of networking isrelationship marketing at its
best.
As a result of my doing thisnow for almost four years, I
have been able to meet a coupleof hundred people, because I've
(18:36):
done a couple of hundredinterviews over this period of
time and my network has grownand deepened with some of the
most interesting people that Ican think of, and it's a
continuing ongoing thing, andthis is something that I've
helped clients do.
One of my clients is aconsultant for nonprofits and
(18:57):
she started a weekly live streamshow on LinkedIn where she was
inviting the CEOs of othernonprofits that she wanted to
work with in the future, andwhat happened was that she
reached out to several CEOs toinvite them on her show and they
(19:18):
would come on and they wouldhave this interview and their
talk about.
The main topic was how dononprofits face the various
challenges that a nonprofitorganization is facing?
This show actually startedduring the time of the pandemic,
when a lot of nonprofits werehaving a lot of issues and, of
course, the nonprofit world isfraught with challenges.
(19:39):
So this was a really good kindof conversation to have and, as
a result, she's now become,first of all, known by most of
the most prominent nonprofitleaders in North America North
(20:04):
America and, secondly, she's nowknown as an authority on how a
nonprofit organization can dealwith and actually thrive during
times of challenge and crisis.
And this has worked out reallywell for her and her consultant
practice has grown over thistime because of her increasing
her network this way.
(20:24):
So let's do a quick review forhow you can be increasing your
network without getting ghosted,without doing a lot of random
outreach.
Step number one get really clearon who your ideal connection
avatar is and focus specificallyon that, based on whoever your
(20:47):
favorite current client is, andgo deep rather than go wide.
Secondly, come up with a projectof some kind that you are the
producer of and use that as theattracting piece that you can
invite people to participate in,and make sure that when you're
(21:07):
inviting them, always tell themwhy Use the word because I'm
inviting you here because ofthis cool thing that you do.
That would be really great aspart of this project that I'm
now working on, and if you makesure that the experience that
they're having when they work onthis project with you is a
(21:29):
really good one, this is how youwin the game and this is how
you'll be creating deeper andmore meaningful connections with
the people who you are mostlikely to want to serve.
That's what I have for youtoday.
Thanks so much for listening,and I want to remind you that if
(21:52):
you'd like to go and get theentire archive of the Standout
Business Show, just go tostandoutbusinessshow.
You can find all the audio, allthe video and all the extra
stuff that I put in there justfor listeners like you.
This show goes live everyTuesday at 11 am Eastern Time,
(22:12):
and until the next time, so long.
And so when you're inviting someone to interact
with you, give them a reason.
By giving any reason, itdoesn't matter what kind of
reason people are more likely tosay yes to you, and you want to
kind of flatter them and givethem the idea that you really
know something about them.
And give them the idea that youreally know something about
(00:27):
them and they'll be going oh yes.
Now it makes sense to me why Iwould want to do this.
Welcome to the StandoutBusiness Show, where it's all
about making a bigger differenceby doing business differently.
I'm your host, brad Powell, andfor the past 20 years, I've
(00:47):
been helping elite serviceproviders turn their personal
brand into profit through greatvideo storytelling that connects
and converts.
So if you're ready to riseabove the noise, become the face
of your brand and turn yourpersonal brand into profit,
you're in the right place.
And today I want to talk aboutwhy most experts fail at
(01:10):
building the right network.
And this is coming from my ownexperience over the past couple
of months where I've been inthis program, where I was, among
other things, trying to growand build my network, and the
methodology that was espoused inthis program was to reach out
to 20 new people each day, andthe technique was to look for
(01:37):
them on LinkedIn and basicallydo a lot of cold DM messaging.
I can't tell you how well thatwent.
Let's just say that it didn'tgo that well, and I have
increased my email list over thepast month.
In fact, I have about athousand new people on my email
(01:59):
list but the quality of thisinteraction and the depth of
relationship building that camefrom this kind of
experimentation I just don'tthink was worth the time that it
took to get there.
This is what I want to diveinto today.
When it comes to networking,most high-level service
(02:22):
providers are hearing the advicejust connect with more people,
and yet I'd say at least 90% ofthem aren't doing it right.
So before you invest any moretime in trying to network more,
try and remember this thesolution to feeling like you're
getting ghosted all the timewhen you try to do outreach
(02:45):
isn't simply connect with morepeople.
It's really about definingclarity and focus in your
network, and what we're reallytalking about here is
relationship marketing.
If you're a high-end serviceprovider, then your best
marketing time is going to bespent building relationships
(03:08):
with your prospects so thatyou're able to earn enough trust
in you.
So the only way that somebodyis going to come across the
threshold is if they feel likeyou are exactly the right person
(03:30):
for them, and the only way toget to that place is for you to
build a relationship with themover time where you have some
kind of connection with yourprospects connection with your
(03:51):
prospects.
So the very first step in allof this is actually thinking
about who it is that you wouldlike to reach.
The term that I'm going tosuggest is thinking about your
ideal connection avatar.
Now, we all know about theideal client avatar and coming
up with a persona of who wouldbe the best fit to actually
become a client for me.
(04:12):
But take this one step sort offurther removed and think about
well, if I'm building a networkof people and I'm making
connection with them, who is itthat I want to connect with the
most?
Who are the people that I wouldlike to work with?
Who are the people that I wouldlike to have in my close circle
of colleagues and friends who,because of that relationship
(04:36):
that we all have, all of ourbusiness together, will grow and
thrive?
A really good place to starthere is to use an example of one
of your current and mostfavorite clients that you are
currently working with right now.
Who are you looking for?
That is very much like somebodywho you work with now that
(04:57):
ideally you could kind of clone.
As I went through this process,I started thinking about one of
my favorite current clients,which happens to be a local
landscape architect companythat's based right here in
Boston, and here's thecharacteristics of this
particular client that I wassaying, yeah, I want people like
(05:20):
them.
So in this case, this client,this company, this business,
they offer a high ticket serviceand their service is highly
visual, because what I helppeople do is I help them tell
the story on video and ifthere's a visual aspect, a
really strong visual aspect oftheir work that works really
(05:41):
well in the kind of work that Ihelp them do.
You know, they build thesebeautiful outdoor spaces and
they have so many things to showthat are highly visual.
And in this case, this companyhas a small expert-driven team
and this is where, like buildingtrust and credibility really
matters for the members of theteam.
(06:03):
Credibility really matters forthe members of the team and this
client already sees the valuein building their personal brand
and growing their authority andtheir thought leadership, and
this is how they came to me.
And, of course, bottom line,they have the budget to invest
in high-end marketing andproduction, which is what I
(06:26):
provide.
So these are the criteria ofthis current client and it makes
great for like, okay, in thefuture I want all of my clients
to have the same set of criteria.
So then the next step is well,who are the logical clients,
types of ideal connectionavatars who would fit this
(06:49):
general criteria?
So here's the list that I cameup with.
In my case, it's luxury homebuilders and architects, and
this, again, is like visualstorytelling, for this kind of
business is absolutely key ofbusiness is absolutely key.
(07:12):
Interior designers same thing.
They need to showcase theirhigh-end visual work that they
produced in people's homes.
A boutique law firm, and thisis where those folks thought
leadership and authoritybuilding is really important for
them.
Authority building is reallyimportant for them.
Another category would behigh-end fitness and wellness
consultants, and what theyreally sell is transformation,
(07:35):
and, of course, they also havesomething to show.
They can show before and after,they can show the different
routines that they present.
They can show all kinds ofnutritional recipe, food stuff.
You know these all make for areally good video.
Another category was businessconsultants and high-end
(07:56):
executive coaches, and then,lastly, premium high-end
financial advisors and wealthmanagers.
So these are all people who inin businesses that fit under my
general categories, but theseare very specific and now I have
a really good list to target ofwho am I looking for, who would
(08:20):
I like to connect with, and soyou can go through the same
process yourself Pick a singleclient that you really like,
come up with the criteria forthem, like, what is it about
this particular client that fitsthe work that I do and then
(08:41):
apply that to other categoriesout there so you can identify
exactly who you would like to bereaching and who would you like
to connect with.
Who you would like to bereaching and who would you like
to connect with Now.
Step two is now coming up withan invitation that is actually
appealing and is not a simplecold outreach of saying, hey,
can we have a coffee chat, orcan I pick your brain about
(09:02):
something, or hey, I saw yourpost about blah, blah, blah.
That's really cool.
You know, I love what you hadto say.
None of that stuff isnecessarily going to get you
very far, so what I do formyself and what I'm going to
suggest that you do, is that youcreate a project of some kind,
(09:23):
and what I mean by that is thatyou are doing something.
And what I mean by that is thatyou are doing something where
you can invite people toparticipate in your project.
And the project could beanything from a podcast series
that you're doing, a live streamseries that you're doing on,
say, linkedin.
You could create a panel whereyou bring three or four people
(09:47):
together and do a presentationtogether.
You could start a meetup inyour local community and start
running monthly meetups wherepeople gather and then you can
invite your ideal connectionpeople to come and be part of
(10:08):
that meetup and be a speaker orbe on a panel for the meetup.
Or maybe, on a more simplelevel, you could be looking at
writing a white paper or even abook, where you are interviewing
people and getting their inputand having that be included into
the material that you arepreparing in this white paper
and getting them to contributeto all of that.
And in all of these cases, younow have a reason to reach out
(10:32):
to people and say, hey, I seethat you are, in my case, an
amazing, wonderful home builderwho does this amazing, cool
thing, because your homes, youknow, whatever it is, they're
unique in this way and they usesustainable materials, and not
(10:53):
only are you doing high-endstuff, but you have a branch of
your service that is alsocreating affordable home
building, and on and on.
Whatever the criteria is, I'dreally like to have you come on
my podcast or I'd really like tohave you come and join my
meetup and talk about whateverit is that you want them to talk
about.
In my case, how did theydistinguish themselves as a
(11:18):
high-end home builder, a luxuryhome builder, from all of the
other luxury home builders intheir area?
And that's a really good storyfor them to tell, and they're
going to be really happy to tellthat story.
And the key here is that whenyou're making this invitation,
you want to use the word because, so that you say I would love
(11:41):
to have you join me in thisproject because.
And then you tell them why.
And the reason this works isbecause that word because is a
very magical word, and in fact,there was this really
interesting study done bysomebody at Harvard.
I think this was in one of theHarvard libraries, so this was
(12:03):
back in the day when in thelibrary if you wanted to take
reference material out of thelibrary, you actually had to go
and use a copy machine and makecopies.
And so all of the studentswould be in there doing their
studies, doing their homework,doing their research, and then
(12:23):
they would have to make lots ofcopies of whatever it was the
material they were reading sothey could take it home and work
in their dorms and continuetheir work.
And so often there would belike a long line of people
waiting at the copy machine tomake their copies.
And so this researcher saidokay, well, what I want you to
do to students and there werethree different levels of
(12:46):
students doing this the firstone is like I want you to go to
the line of students, say can Icut in line?
I only have two copies to makeand see if anyone would let them
in line.
The second person would go tothe line and say could I get in
the front of the line Because Ineed to make some copies.
(13:07):
And the third student wasdirected to ask to cut in front
of the line and say can I pleasejump to the front and make
copies, because I have a reallytight deadline.
Now, which of these three doyou think had the best response?
And it turns out that the firstkind, the one that said oh, I
(13:33):
just want to cut in front, Ijust need to make some copies.
They did pretty well.
I think it was like 60.
Some percent of people saidsure, go ahead.
But the second one who said canI get in front of the line
because I need to make somecopies?
They use the word because.
(13:54):
Just simply because of that oneword, they got like something
like 87% of the people weresaying yes, go ahead.
And the third category, wherethey're saying can I please jump
to the front of the line, makesome copies because I have a
really tight deadline?
(14:15):
That only changed by 1%.
Like 88% of the people said yesto that person.
So the normal, the story, isthat simply by using the word
because, by giving a reason, bygiving any reason it doesn't
matter what kind of reasonpeople are more likely to say
(14:35):
yes to you.
Give them a reason, say hey,I'd really love to have you join
me in this collaborative effortbecause.
And then tell them why and thatcould be anything from you know
(14:57):
about the work that they do.
You've seen their written workor their videos or whatever it
is that they've been talkingabout.
Or maybe they've written a bookand you want to kind of flatter
them and give them the ideathat you really know something
about them.
And they'll be going oh yes,now it makes sense to me why I
(15:18):
would want to do this and you'llget a much better response.
And now they'll come and joinyou and you'll be able to
actually build that relationship.
And now they'll come and joinyou and you'll be able to
actually build that relationshipno-transcript when they
actually start collaboratingwith you on your project.
Now what I do?
Because I have a weekly podcast.
(15:41):
I do a number of things.
So, for instance, first of all,I reach out and I invite them
to be a guest on my show and Isay, hey, I'd love to have you
be a guest on my show becauseI've seen your work about this
particular thing.
This, I think, would be reallygood for my audience, and here's
(16:03):
why I think so.
I think you'd be a really goodperson to talk about this
particular topic and tell yourstory about this particular
thing.
And it's very clear why I wantthem to come and join me on this
show and they can see thatclearly and they usually almost
always will answer positively.
(16:24):
But then the first thing thatwe do is I actually have a
pre-show interview, where wemeet without recording and I'm
just wanting to talk to themabout what we're going to talk
about, and the real purpose ofthis meeting is to break the ice
a little bit and for us to getto know one another before we do
(16:47):
a recording together, and thatalways makes for a much, much
better interview, but it alsoprimes the relationship building
that I'm wanting to accomplishwith this particular person.
The second step is that when Irecord my podcast, I actually do
it as a live stream.
This makes for more of acollaborative environment in the
(17:10):
sense that we are bothperforming in the moment to a
live audience and because whenyou go live with someone, you
can schedule the live streamingin advance.
That pre-advanced scheduling Ican share with my guest and they
can share that with all oftheir network before we go live,
(17:30):
and so this is giving them achance to shine their light on
what we're doing together and itputs them in a position of oh,
this is good, because now I'mjoining this event and I'm
inviting my people to join mewhile I join this event and then
(17:51):
, after we go live together, Ipublish the recording as a
podcast, as an audio recording,and I also will publish a clip
just a short video clip from theepisode which is showcasing
them, and then I follow up bythanking them and I send them
assets like here's that videoclip that I made of you and then
(18:14):
I invite them to have afollow-up conversation around
other collaborative things thatwe might do together, and I find
that this form of networking isrelationship marketing at its
best.
As a result of my doing thisnow for almost four years, I
have been able to meet a coupleof hundred people, because I've
(18:36):
done a couple of hundredinterviews over this period of
time and my network has grownand deepened with some of the
most interesting people that Ican think of, and it's a
continuing ongoing thing, andthis is something that I've
helped clients do.
One of my clients is aconsultant for nonprofits and
(18:57):
she started a weekly live streamshow on LinkedIn where she was
inviting the CEOs of othernonprofits that she wanted to
work with in the future, andwhat happened was that she
reached out to several CEOs toinvite them on her show and they
(19:18):
would come on and they wouldhave this interview and their
talk about.
The main topic was how dononprofits face the various
challenges that a nonprofitorganization is facing?
This show actually startedduring the time of the pandemic,
when a lot of nonprofits werehaving a lot of issues and, of
course, the nonprofit world isfraught with challenges.
(19:39):
So this was a really good kindof conversation to have and, as
a result, she's now become,first of all, known by most of
the most prominent nonprofitleaders in North America North
(20:04):
America and, secondly, she's nowknown as an authority on how a
nonprofit organization can dealwith and actually thrive during
times of challenge and crisis.
And this has worked out reallywell for her and her consultant
practice has grown over thistime because of her increasing
her network this way.
(20:24):
So let's do a quick review forhow you can be increasing your
network without getting ghosted,without doing a lot of random
outreach.
Step number one get really clearon who your ideal connection
avatar is and focus specificallyon that, based on whoever your
(20:47):
favorite current client is, andgo deep rather than go wide.
Secondly, come up with a projectof some kind that you are the
producer of and use that as theattracting piece that you can
invite people to participate in,and make sure that when you're
(21:07):
inviting them, always tell themwhy Use the word because I'm
inviting you here because ofthis cool thing that you do.
That would be really great aspart of this project that I'm
now working on, and if you makesure that the experience that
they're having when they work onthis project with you is a
(21:29):
really good one, this is how youwin the game and this is how
you'll be creating deeper andmore meaningful connections with
the people who you are mostlikely to want to serve.
That's what I have for youtoday.
Thanks so much for listening,and I want to remind you that if
(21:52):
you'd like to go and get theentire archive of the Standout
Business Show, just go tostandoutbusinessshow.
You can find all the audio, allthe video and all the extra
stuff that I put in there justfor listeners like you.
This show goes live everyTuesday at 11 am Eastern Time,
(22:12):
and until the next time, so long.
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