April 3, 2024 • 23 mins
Uncover the transformative power of technology in enhancing human connections with serial entrepreneur and visionary, Tom Gay, in our latest podcast episode. As we traverse Tom’s innovative landscape, you’ll be introduced to EngagePro.com and ChatBridgeConnect.com—two groundbreaking platforms poised to revolutionize your professional network. Prepare to bridge the gap between the digital realm and trust-forging relationships, harnessing the strength of referrals and personalization to catapult your business success.
Join us for a compelling journey that celebrates the surge of our Alignable community and unwraps the essence of creating meaningful relationships amidst the digital buzz. From Tom's insightful strategies to my reflections on the delicate dance between high-tech and high-touch interactions, this episode is a trove of wisdom for entrepreneurs looking to thrive from the comfort of their homes. Tune in, and let's chart the course toward independence and prosperity together, with the Home Business Success Show lighting the way.
Website: https://chatbridgeconnect.com
Website: https://engagepro.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/thomasgay
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Hank (00:06):
Welcome to the Home Business Success Show.
Join us as we speak to homebusiness entrepreneurs for tips,
tricks, do's and even don'tsfor running a successful home
business.
Welcome everyone, I'm Hank Eder, also known as Hank the PR Guy,
host of the Home BusinessSuccess Show, and you're
(00:28):
listening to bizradious allentrepreneurs all the time.
We'll meet our guests rightafter my Two Cents Marketing
Minute.
You know solid relationshipsare a cornerstone of successful
business.
Building relationships is anart.
When we learn to give valuefreely to others, we start to
(00:50):
understand how to begin buildingreal relationships and how we
can all dance in a flow ofmutuality with our business
relationships.
Well, that being said, today'sguest has spent a lifetime
building relationships as wellas successful businesses.
Tom Gay is a highly accomplishedserial entrepreneur, making a
(01:13):
career of solving complexbusiness and marketing problems
through innovative web solutions.
He's currently the CEO ofEngageProcom, a referral sales
building platform forprofessionals, and the creator
of ChatBridgeConnectcom.
(01:34):
Previously, he founded Refercom, which served almost 5 million
users.
Throughout his career, tom hasstarted other successful
companies, including NationalDecision Systems, which
pioneered advanced targetmarketing technologies and
earned two coveted INC 500awards, and Vista Info, a NASDAQ
(02:01):
company that providedgeo-targeted property risk info
to banks, insurers, realtors andhomebuyers.
Tom was recognized byIndividual Investor Magazine as
one of the five bestundiscovered small company CEOs
in the USA.
(02:22):
Tom also does a lot of charitywork and in Cape Town, south
Africa, he started Monte CristoMinistries, helping people
caught in institutional poverty,and they implemented feeding
programs reaching up to 7,000children a day.
(02:43):
They built infrastructure tohelp youth and families and they
assisted in supporting childrenand infants with HIV and AIDS.
Tom, welcome to the show andthank you so much for being here
with us.
Tom (02:58):
No, thank you, Hank.
I appreciate the opportunity tobuild a relationship with you
and serve your audiences.
Hank (03:08):
Well, we really appreciate that If you would please tell
us about what you do.
Tom (03:13):
Well, as you know, I'm a serial tech entrepreneur and I
am enjoying buildingEngageProcom.
Engagepro is a tool to help usbring relationships back into
the middle of our business model, the middle of our life.
Over the last 20 years, or moreeven, we've had so much advance
(03:37):
in the way of technology thatserved as much to separate us as
it has to connect us and, asI've recently written, it's time
for a relationship reset, andEngagePro is a tool to help
business people and more build,know, like and trust
relationships in a systematicand repeatable way that always
(03:58):
leads to good outcomes.
Usually for business people,they're looking for more
referrals, more sales, moreopportunities, referral partners
, and EngagePro delivers on thatand as well.
We are focused on bringingthose same tools into the
(04:22):
nonprofit world so that they canraise the support to fulfill
their mission, so that's part ofour goal in this season of my
entrepreneurial journey.
Hank (04:29):
Well, that's very cool.
You know it almost soundscounterintuitive.
You know that technology wouldbring us closer together rather
than separating us like it'sdone in the past.
So I would say kudos to yoursuccess at bridging that gap
between technology andrelationships.
To me that's incredible.
Tom (04:50):
You use the word bridge, and I want to put some emphasis
on that.
We need a bridge and I call ita trust bridge.
Building the bridge of trustbetween people is what we're
focusing on and, as you've allheard, people do business with
those who they know like andtrust.
That's where our focus has beenwith EngagePro making sure that
(05:14):
that trust bridge is built,because once the bridge is built
, all kinds of traffic can goacross that bridge.
That's beneficial to bothparties on either side of that
bridge.
So it's an interesting metaphorfor how we convey what it is we
do.
Hank (05:30):
Which brings us to the other product that you've got
out there right now ChatBridgeConnect.
I came in when I first heardabout it and I think it was
towards the beginning of yourputting it out there, and I must
say, and to our listeners I'dlike to say that you know a lot
of you as solopreneurs, as homebusiness owners, go to a lot of
(05:51):
Zoom meetings.
You go to a lot of Zoommeetings and you save the chats,
but what do you do with allthat information?
And it's so.
You know, I had an Englishclient who used to say things
were higgledy-piggledy.
And you get that informationand it's all higgledy-piggledy.
And ChatBridge Connect reallyorganizes it by conversation, by
(06:16):
the names, by the people, andit allows you to bring it into
spreadsheets or bring it intoCRMs.
How did you get startedbuilding that?
Tom (06:25):
It's a great question.
All of my companies are startedon the foundation of a problem
what is the problem?
And we had a philosophy thatsaid if a problem is endured or
enjoyed by more than one person,then you need a system to solve
(06:46):
it, and if there's enoughpeople with that problem, that
system turns into a business, anopportunity.
Now, back in January of a yearago, a dear friend of mine from
Atlanta came to me and said Tom,I don't know what to do about
this.
I go to all these Zoomnetworking meetings, I download
the Save Chat as they all adviseand I open to all these Zoom
networking meetings.
I download the saved chat asthey all advise and I open it up
(07:08):
.
And it's unusual, can you fixit Now?
That was like waving a red flagin front of a bull, because I
know the prevalence of Zoomnetworking and the millions of
Zoomers out there.
So, after a little research anda few months of work, we
brought out ChatBridge Connectand now, in a quarter of a
(07:29):
second, after you select thatdownload and save Zoom chat file
, it gets brought intoChatBridge and converts into an
easy to use, simple follow-upsystem so that you can harvest
the potential of what you justspent an hour or whatever amount
of time investing in going tothat networking meeting or that
(07:53):
different group meeting.
It's now proliferated into aglobal solution.
People all over the world useChatBridge Connect and they go
back into their desktops wherethey've saved dozens and dozens
of previous meeting events.
The chats from those have beensitting there for weeks and
months and now they can openthem up and uncover the gold
(08:18):
that's lying there on theirdesktop just waiting.
We have a story of this onewoman from the Washington DC
area In 20 minutes she wrotethis in a post she said in 20
minutes she opened up 20previously saved Zoom chats, put
(08:38):
them all through ChatBridge andcame up with 400 leads that she
had left live fallow.
And so we're really proud ofChatBridge.
And came up with 400 leads thatshe had left live fallow, and
so we're really proud ofChatBridge.
It's been adopted by some majororganizations, as I said,
across the globe and stillgrowing nicely as we enter our
first year, or end our firstyear in just a couple of weeks.
Hank (09:00):
Well, I understand that ChatBridge, Connect and Engage
Pro have been I don't know whatthe expression that I should use
not picked up, but they'reallied now with the platform
called.
Tom (09:13):
Alignable.
Yes, hank, you're right.
What happened is we had atraining session on the use of
these two products back inNovember and it's an open
session, so anyone can come.
Well, in that session, a coupleof top execs from Alignable
came and sat in the Zoom roomand heard me speak of it and
(09:34):
demonstrate it, and a week laterwe had a proposal on our desk
to become what's called anAlignable community partner, to
become what's called analignable community partner.
In late December we released itinside of the alignable
community, and ChatBridge andEngagePro are being offered to
(09:54):
8.5 million alignable membershere in North America and it's
skyrocketed in growth.
Our community group, as it'scalled, which is where people go
to access the training toolsthat we provide, and we do a lot
of workshop training on theprinciples that underlie why
these products exist.
Those are all free in thatgroup, but we've had unusual
(10:18):
success, skyrocketed growth inthat community group, and it's
been a privilege to serve peoplein another way and it's an
honor to be a part of thealignable community.
I highly recommend it to anyonewho listens to this message
today.
Very, very dynamic organization.
Hank (10:38):
Steve Browning.
Yeah, I've started looking atalignable up.
You know, of course, there's somany platforms out there that
I'm now just beginning to takenotice of that one.
But I've started looking atAlignable.
You know, of course, there's somany platforms out there that
I'm now just beginning to takenotice of that one, but I've
heard nothing but good thingsabout it.
Now, tom, you've focused onrelationships as an important
factor in business for quite along time.
How and why did this becomeimportant to you?
Tom (11:01):
Well, it's driven a lot of success for me, truthfully, and
there was a point in time whenthe light bulb came on.
But I reflect back to lookingfor the beginning, and in the
80s I built a very successfulcompany.
Our team built.
I mean, we started it with oneperson in 1979, and we had about
(11:22):
350 people in 1989 when we soldit, but we didn't have any of
the technology that we havetoday.
So one of the things I would doin an attempt to build a
relationship with a prospect isI would collect dozens and
dozens of trade magazines theywere prolific in those days and
(11:46):
I'd find ones that lined up withtarget markets that we were
aiming for, clearly, tear thearticles out that related to my
prospective client's interests,take them over to you'll
remember this the Xerox machine,make copies of them and then
(12:06):
write notes on top of thosearticles and circulate them out
to the people I was trying tobreak through the front door to
have a conversation with.
It's amazing, after two orthree of those articles being
delivered over the course of acouple of months, I had people
open to talk with me, because Iwas both a giver as well as one
(12:28):
who built the image of being anexpert, the two key elements you
have to have in order to buildthat bridge of trust.
One key is the key of characteras a giver.
The other key is the key ofcompetence.
In this case, the backgroundfrom those industry articles
(12:52):
were the source of that key.
But when you put character andcompetence together, now you
become trustable.
Trustworthy.
You could say Well, ourbusiness skyrocketed.
We created and then took over awhole industry.
There wasn't anyone who couldmatch what we did because we
(13:13):
always focused on therelationship first.
Now, about About that time,there was a book written you may
have heard of it calledMegatrends Megatrends by John
Naisbitt, national bestsellerinternational.
In it he was talking about themegatrends that businesses would
have to understand in order tobe successful in the longer term
(13:37):
.
One of them I think it wasnumber two in the book was the
principle of high tech and hightouch.
High tech because high tech wasemerging robustly.
High touch, in his thesis, wasyou've got to build person to
person relationships and notjust surrender everything to
(13:58):
tech, and that's been baked intoeverything that I've done since
then.
I owe a lot to his premise.
Hank (14:05):
So it's a synergy really of the technical and the
familiar to us, which is thereaching out, which is the
giving, which is the sharing,which is the touch.
So it brings those worldstogether.
I think it merges the best ofthose worlds.
Tom (14:25):
I use a term today and you're 100% right, but I use the
term hyper-personalization.
We have hyper-technologyeverywhere PCs, cell phones,
social media.
Now, in order to distinguishyourself in a hyper-technical
world, you need to becomehyper-personal.
(14:47):
For example, I happen to knowwhere you live.
I've known you for a year or soand when we first connected
today, I asked you about thebreaking out of springtime there
in North Carolina and it becamea bridging component of our
reconnecting conversation today.
(15:09):
Now, if I asked you about thein this season of this recording
the March Madness basketballtournament that's about to take
place, and I happen to know thatyou were a I have to be very
careful here, but let's say youwere a North Carolina fan or an
(15:36):
alum and I talked with you aboutthese things.
The bridge of trust is comingbecause I've made the
conversation hyper personal, allabout Hank's interests, and
that's what our Engage Pro toolhas been built to.
Easily provide for people isthe ability to be personal and
in the continuing communicationsmechanism or mode so that that
(15:59):
relationship takes root.
Hank (16:01):
Yeah, those things that bring us together.
You know, when it comes tosports with me, it doesn't
matter what you say because youknow I've never been a big
follower of any of it, but stillcoming up with that, that thing
that did bring us together.
You know, how is spring in themountains?
I mean, it's a beautiful topicbecause spring in the mountains
(16:22):
is beautiful.
So, yeah, the things that breakthe ice, that make us share a
common bond, I could see thatthat's a good thing to have all
across the board, different waysthat we can just reach out to
somebody, even if we're justmeeting them for the first
moment or so.
There's got to be some commonground family hobbies.
Tom (16:44):
Well, I closed a significant sale when I learned
my prospect, who wasn't very,let's say, active, getting to
the sales completion table.
He was kind of dragging hisfeet when he said, tom, we'll
pick this up when I come backfrom a golf trip.
I'm planning with my wife toHilton Head.
(17:05):
Okay Now, to me that was almostthe kiss of death in any sales
process.
That's the proverbial stall.
However, before the phone hadcooled off on that Friday
evening, I had gone onto the web, into Yelp, found the internet
address for Hudson's SeafoodRestaurant.
(17:28):
You know, as I said to him,just over the bridge, when you
drive onto Hilton Head Island,there's a seafood restaurant on
the left with the best black andred fish in the southeast.
I put that in an email to himthat same night where he gave me
the stall.
He got the link to thatrestaurant before he left for
(17:51):
his drive to North Carolina.
Well, he called me that eveningand said no one's ever done
that for me.
Let's get started.
It's all about putting yourselfin the shoes of the other
person based on their interest,that's hyper-personalization.
Hank (18:10):
Yeah, that's a great example there, Because also,
when they have a good experience, like at that restaurant, for
example, they'll always rememberthat you took the time to do
that.
You know it's amazing how timeis flying by here.
Why are you still doing thesethings basically engaging in
relationships and helping otherswith relationships at this
(18:32):
stage of your life?
Tom (18:35):
Well, I enjoy it.
If I've ever been, then I'm nolonger a good golfer and I don't
know if I can ever claim I was.
Today I'm in my late 70s andactive every single day,
interacting with people allacross the globe.
(18:55):
Today I've been to South Africa, I've been to the UK,
everywhere and I can't everimagine not trying to help
people become better versions ofthemselves as I become a better
version of myself.
So it's a stage of significance.
Kevin Patton, I wrote anarticle about three months ago
(19:18):
called it's Time for the GreatRelationship Reset.
It's time for the pendulum toswing back away from its
impersonal technology side toback where people matter to each
other and they're activelycarrying out those steps to show
they matter and that waspublished in a book now on
(19:41):
Amazon to show they matter andthat was published in a book now
on Amazon.
But it's time that those of uswho know the difference take a
stand and make a difference.
Hank (19:48):
Yeah, I think that takes us back to that ever important
why.
Because when you know your why,everything else comes so much
easier, and your why brings youthat energy and the enthusiasm.
So, tom, it looks like you'vebeen into your why for a very
long time.
Is there anything else you'dlike to bring up that I haven't
(20:09):
asked you?
Tom (20:10):
Wow, man, that's like a real open-ended question.
Basically, I think if peoplewill simply stop and ask the
question, what could I do tohave a positive impact on people
I interact with every day, whatwould I do?
(20:31):
Look at the world.
We're in Continuous conflict,lots of noise, partisanship, all
kinds of things that separateus.
Let's work and focus on thethings that bring us together,
or should bring us together, andmake this world a better place,
and I think that's theopportunity that lies ahead,
(20:52):
especially for those of us whohave seen other versions of how
we live in our decades ofexperience here.
Hank (21:00):
Well, yeah, I think that's something definitely to work
for, to strive for, and I thinkit's a goal that not only is
possible, but is very, veryplausible.
So, thank you, thank you forbeing here with us today, tom.
If you would please tell ouraudiences the best way to
connect with you.
Tom (21:21):
Well, I would love to connect with anyone.
You can find me on alignablecom, number one, as we talked about
earlier.
Number two is I'll share myemail, if that's okay with you
here, and that's tom atengageprocom.
I'm in LinkedIn and I would saylastly, every week I put on two
(21:49):
training workshops that arefree on these principles of how
to go about becoming moresuccessful as you learn about
building relationships and howthat affects your sales and
referrals, and you can findthose workshops publicized in
Alignable.
(22:09):
They're very popular, usuallyhave 100 or more people
registered for them, and wouldalways welcome meeting any one
of you that hear this who have adesire to know more, who with
one of those means.
Hank (22:24):
Well, thanks so much, tom, and for our audience, thanks
for being here with us today.
Tune in every Wednesday for theHome Business Success Show here
on bizradious.
Remember you can achievesuccess, freedom and
independence in your own homebusiness.
Success, freedom andindependence in your own home
(22:45):
business.
We'll see you again nextWednesday.
This is Hank Eder, wishing allof you a fabulous day of home
business success.
Welcome to the Home Business Success Show.
Join us as we speak to homebusiness entrepreneurs for tips,
tricks, do's and even don'tsfor running a successful home
business.
Welcome everyone, I'm Hank Eder, also known as Hank the PR Guy,
host of the Home BusinessSuccess Show, and you're
(00:28):
listening to bizradious allentrepreneurs all the time.
We'll meet our guests rightafter my Two Cents Marketing
Minute.
You know solid relationshipsare a cornerstone of successful
business.
Building relationships is anart.
When we learn to give valuefreely to others, we start to
(00:50):
understand how to begin buildingreal relationships and how we
can all dance in a flow ofmutuality with our business
relationships.
Well, that being said, today'sguest has spent a lifetime
building relationships as wellas successful businesses.
Tom Gay is a highly accomplishedserial entrepreneur, making a
(01:13):
career of solving complexbusiness and marketing problems
through innovative web solutions.
He's currently the CEO ofEngageProcom, a referral sales
building platform forprofessionals, and the creator
of ChatBridgeConnectcom.
(01:34):
Previously, he founded Refercom, which served almost 5 million
users.
Throughout his career, tom hasstarted other successful
companies, including NationalDecision Systems, which
pioneered advanced targetmarketing technologies and
earned two coveted INC 500awards, and Vista Info, a NASDAQ
(02:01):
company that providedgeo-targeted property risk info
to banks, insurers, realtors andhomebuyers.
Tom was recognized byIndividual Investor Magazine as
one of the five bestundiscovered small company CEOs
in the USA.
(02:22):
Tom also does a lot of charitywork and in Cape Town, south
Africa, he started Monte CristoMinistries, helping people
caught in institutional poverty,and they implemented feeding
programs reaching up to 7,000children a day.
(02:43):
They built infrastructure tohelp youth and families and they
assisted in supporting childrenand infants with HIV and AIDS.
Tom, welcome to the show andthank you so much for being here
with us.
Tom (02:58):
No, thank you, Hank.
I appreciate the opportunity tobuild a relationship with you
and serve your audiences.
Hank (03:08):
Well, we really appreciate that If you would please tell
us about what you do.
Tom (03:13):
Well, as you know, I'm a serial tech entrepreneur and I
am enjoying buildingEngageProcom.
Engagepro is a tool to help usbring relationships back into
the middle of our business model, the middle of our life.
Over the last 20 years, or moreeven, we've had so much advance
(03:37):
in the way of technology thatserved as much to separate us as
it has to connect us and, asI've recently written, it's time
for a relationship reset, andEngagePro is a tool to help
business people and more build,know, like and trust
relationships in a systematicand repeatable way that always
(03:58):
leads to good outcomes.
Usually for business people,they're looking for more
referrals, more sales, moreopportunities, referral partners
, and EngagePro delivers on thatand as well.
We are focused on bringingthose same tools into the
(04:22):
nonprofit world so that they canraise the support to fulfill
their mission, so that's part ofour goal in this season of my
entrepreneurial journey.
Hank (04:29):
Well, that's very cool.
You know it almost soundscounterintuitive.
You know that technology wouldbring us closer together rather
than separating us like it'sdone in the past.
So I would say kudos to yoursuccess at bridging that gap
between technology andrelationships.
To me that's incredible.
Tom (04:50):
You use the word bridge, and I want to put some emphasis
on that.
We need a bridge and I call ita trust bridge.
Building the bridge of trustbetween people is what we're
focusing on and, as you've allheard, people do business with
those who they know like andtrust.
That's where our focus has beenwith EngagePro making sure that
(05:14):
that trust bridge is built,because once the bridge is built
, all kinds of traffic can goacross that bridge.
That's beneficial to bothparties on either side of that
bridge.
So it's an interesting metaphorfor how we convey what it is we
do.
Hank (05:30):
Which brings us to the other product that you've got
out there right now ChatBridgeConnect.
I came in when I first heardabout it and I think it was
towards the beginning of yourputting it out there, and I must
say, and to our listeners I'dlike to say that you know a lot
of you as solopreneurs, as homebusiness owners, go to a lot of
(05:51):
Zoom meetings.
You go to a lot of Zoommeetings and you save the chats,
but what do you do with allthat information?
And it's so.
You know, I had an Englishclient who used to say things
were higgledy-piggledy.
And you get that informationand it's all higgledy-piggledy.
And ChatBridge Connect reallyorganizes it by conversation, by
(06:16):
the names, by the people, andit allows you to bring it into
spreadsheets or bring it intoCRMs.
How did you get startedbuilding that?
Tom (06:25):
It's a great question.
All of my companies are startedon the foundation of a problem
what is the problem?
And we had a philosophy thatsaid if a problem is endured or
enjoyed by more than one person,then you need a system to solve
(06:46):
it, and if there's enoughpeople with that problem, that
system turns into a business, anopportunity.
Now, back in January of a yearago, a dear friend of mine from
Atlanta came to me and said Tom,I don't know what to do about
this.
I go to all these Zoomnetworking meetings, I download
the Save Chat as they all adviseand I open to all these Zoom
networking meetings.
I download the saved chat asthey all advise and I open it up
(07:08):
.
And it's unusual, can you fixit Now?
That was like waving a red flagin front of a bull, because I
know the prevalence of Zoomnetworking and the millions of
Zoomers out there.
So, after a little research anda few months of work, we
brought out ChatBridge Connectand now, in a quarter of a
(07:29):
second, after you select thatdownload and save Zoom chat file
, it gets brought intoChatBridge and converts into an
easy to use, simple follow-upsystem so that you can harvest
the potential of what you justspent an hour or whatever amount
of time investing in going tothat networking meeting or that
(07:53):
different group meeting.
It's now proliferated into aglobal solution.
People all over the world useChatBridge Connect and they go
back into their desktops wherethey've saved dozens and dozens
of previous meeting events.
The chats from those have beensitting there for weeks and
months and now they can openthem up and uncover the gold
(08:18):
that's lying there on theirdesktop just waiting.
We have a story of this onewoman from the Washington DC
area In 20 minutes she wrotethis in a post she said in 20
minutes she opened up 20previously saved Zoom chats, put
(08:38):
them all through ChatBridge andcame up with 400 leads that she
had left live fallow.
And so we're really proud ofChatBridge.
And came up with 400 leads thatshe had left live fallow, and
so we're really proud ofChatBridge.
It's been adopted by some majororganizations, as I said,
across the globe and stillgrowing nicely as we enter our
first year, or end our firstyear in just a couple of weeks.
Hank (09:00):
Well, I understand that ChatBridge, Connect and Engage
Pro have been I don't know whatthe expression that I should use
not picked up, but they'reallied now with the platform
called.
Tom (09:13):
Alignable.
Yes, hank, you're right.
What happened is we had atraining session on the use of
these two products back inNovember and it's an open
session, so anyone can come.
Well, in that session, a coupleof top execs from Alignable
came and sat in the Zoom roomand heard me speak of it and
(09:34):
demonstrate it, and a week laterwe had a proposal on our desk
to become what's called anAlignable community partner, to
become what's called analignable community partner.
In late December we released itinside of the alignable
community, and ChatBridge andEngagePro are being offered to
(09:54):
8.5 million alignable membershere in North America and it's
skyrocketed in growth.
Our community group, as it'scalled, which is where people go
to access the training toolsthat we provide, and we do a lot
of workshop training on theprinciples that underlie why
these products exist.
Those are all free in thatgroup, but we've had unusual
(10:18):
success, skyrocketed growth inthat community group, and it's
been a privilege to serve peoplein another way and it's an
honor to be a part of thealignable community.
I highly recommend it to anyonewho listens to this message
today.
Very, very dynamic organization.
Hank (10:38):
Steve Browning.
Yeah, I've started looking atalignable up.
You know, of course, there's somany platforms out there that
I'm now just beginning to takenotice of that one.
But I've started looking atAlignable.
You know, of course, there's somany platforms out there that
I'm now just beginning to takenotice of that one, but I've
heard nothing but good thingsabout it.
Now, tom, you've focused onrelationships as an important
factor in business for quite along time.
How and why did this becomeimportant to you?
Tom (11:01):
Well, it's driven a lot of success for me, truthfully, and
there was a point in time whenthe light bulb came on.
But I reflect back to lookingfor the beginning, and in the
80s I built a very successfulcompany.
Our team built.
I mean, we started it with oneperson in 1979, and we had about
(11:22):
350 people in 1989 when we soldit, but we didn't have any of
the technology that we havetoday.
So one of the things I would doin an attempt to build a
relationship with a prospect isI would collect dozens and
dozens of trade magazines theywere prolific in those days and
(11:46):
I'd find ones that lined up withtarget markets that we were
aiming for, clearly, tear thearticles out that related to my
prospective client's interests,take them over to you'll
remember this the Xerox machine,make copies of them and then
(12:06):
write notes on top of thosearticles and circulate them out
to the people I was trying tobreak through the front door to
have a conversation with.
It's amazing, after two orthree of those articles being
delivered over the course of acouple of months, I had people
open to talk with me, because Iwas both a giver as well as one
(12:28):
who built the image of being anexpert, the two key elements you
have to have in order to buildthat bridge of trust.
One key is the key of characteras a giver.
The other key is the key ofcompetence.
In this case, the backgroundfrom those industry articles
(12:52):
were the source of that key.
But when you put character andcompetence together, now you
become trustable.
Trustworthy.
You could say Well, ourbusiness skyrocketed.
We created and then took over awhole industry.
There wasn't anyone who couldmatch what we did because we
(13:13):
always focused on therelationship first.
Now, about About that time,there was a book written you may
have heard of it calledMegatrends Megatrends by John
Naisbitt, national bestsellerinternational.
In it he was talking about themegatrends that businesses would
have to understand in order tobe successful in the longer term
(13:37):
.
One of them I think it wasnumber two in the book was the
principle of high tech and hightouch.
High tech because high tech wasemerging robustly.
High touch, in his thesis, wasyou've got to build person to
person relationships and notjust surrender everything to
(13:58):
tech, and that's been baked intoeverything that I've done since
then.
I owe a lot to his premise.
Hank (14:05):
So it's a synergy really of the technical and the
familiar to us, which is thereaching out, which is the
giving, which is the sharing,which is the touch.
So it brings those worldstogether.
I think it merges the best ofthose worlds.
Tom (14:25):
I use a term today and you're 100% right, but I use the
term hyper-personalization.
We have hyper-technologyeverywhere PCs, cell phones,
social media.
Now, in order to distinguishyourself in a hyper-technical
world, you need to becomehyper-personal.
(14:47):
For example, I happen to knowwhere you live.
I've known you for a year or soand when we first connected
today, I asked you about thebreaking out of springtime there
in North Carolina and it becamea bridging component of our
reconnecting conversation today.
(15:09):
Now, if I asked you about thein this season of this recording
the March Madness basketballtournament that's about to take
place, and I happen to know thatyou were a I have to be very
careful here, but let's say youwere a North Carolina fan or an
(15:36):
alum and I talked with you aboutthese things.
The bridge of trust is comingbecause I've made the
conversation hyper personal, allabout Hank's interests, and
that's what our Engage Pro toolhas been built to.
Easily provide for people isthe ability to be personal and
in the continuing communicationsmechanism or mode so that that
(15:59):
relationship takes root.
Hank (16:01):
Yeah, those things that bring us together.
You know, when it comes tosports with me, it doesn't
matter what you say because youknow I've never been a big
follower of any of it, but stillcoming up with that, that thing
that did bring us together.
You know, how is spring in themountains?
I mean, it's a beautiful topicbecause spring in the mountains
(16:22):
is beautiful.
So, yeah, the things that breakthe ice, that make us share a
common bond, I could see thatthat's a good thing to have all
across the board, different waysthat we can just reach out to
somebody, even if we're justmeeting them for the first
moment or so.
There's got to be some commonground family hobbies.
Tom (16:44):
Well, I closed a significant sale when I learned
my prospect, who wasn't very,let's say, active, getting to
the sales completion table.
He was kind of dragging hisfeet when he said, tom, we'll
pick this up when I come backfrom a golf trip.
I'm planning with my wife toHilton Head.
(17:05):
Okay Now, to me that was almostthe kiss of death in any sales
process.
That's the proverbial stall.
However, before the phone hadcooled off on that Friday
evening, I had gone onto the web, into Yelp, found the internet
address for Hudson's SeafoodRestaurant.
(17:28):
You know, as I said to him,just over the bridge, when you
drive onto Hilton Head Island,there's a seafood restaurant on
the left with the best black andred fish in the southeast.
I put that in an email to himthat same night where he gave me
the stall.
He got the link to thatrestaurant before he left for
(17:51):
his drive to North Carolina.
Well, he called me that eveningand said no one's ever done
that for me.
Let's get started.
It's all about putting yourselfin the shoes of the other
person based on their interest,that's hyper-personalization.
Hank (18:10):
Yeah, that's a great example there, Because also,
when they have a good experience, like at that restaurant, for
example, they'll always rememberthat you took the time to do
that.
You know it's amazing how timeis flying by here.
Why are you still doing thesethings basically engaging in
relationships and helping otherswith relationships at this
(18:32):
stage of your life?
Tom (18:35):
Well, I enjoy it.
If I've ever been, then I'm nolonger a good golfer and I don't
know if I can ever claim I was.
Today I'm in my late 70s andactive every single day,
interacting with people allacross the globe.
(18:55):
Today I've been to South Africa, I've been to the UK,
everywhere and I can't everimagine not trying to help
people become better versions ofthemselves as I become a better
version of myself.
So it's a stage of significance.
Kevin Patton, I wrote anarticle about three months ago
(19:18):
called it's Time for the GreatRelationship Reset.
It's time for the pendulum toswing back away from its
impersonal technology side toback where people matter to each
other and they're activelycarrying out those steps to show
they matter and that waspublished in a book now on
(19:41):
Amazon to show they matter andthat was published in a book now
on Amazon.
But it's time that those of uswho know the difference take a
stand and make a difference.
Hank (19:48):
Yeah, I think that takes us back to that ever important
why.
Because when you know your why,everything else comes so much
easier, and your why brings youthat energy and the enthusiasm.
So, tom, it looks like you'vebeen into your why for a very
long time.
Is there anything else you'dlike to bring up that I haven't
(20:09):
asked you?
Tom (20:10):
Wow, man, that's like a real open-ended question.
Basically, I think if peoplewill simply stop and ask the
question, what could I do tohave a positive impact on people
I interact with every day, whatwould I do?
(20:31):
Look at the world.
We're in Continuous conflict,lots of noise, partisanship, all
kinds of things that separateus.
Let's work and focus on thethings that bring us together,
or should bring us together, andmake this world a better place,
and I think that's theopportunity that lies ahead,
(20:52):
especially for those of us whohave seen other versions of how
we live in our decades ofexperience here.
Hank (21:00):
Well, yeah, I think that's something definitely to work
for, to strive for, and I thinkit's a goal that not only is
possible, but is very, veryplausible.
So, thank you, thank you forbeing here with us today, tom.
If you would please tell ouraudiences the best way to
connect with you.
Tom (21:21):
Well, I would love to connect with anyone.
You can find me on alignablecom, number one, as we talked about
earlier.
Number two is I'll share myemail, if that's okay with you
here, and that's tom atengageprocom.
I'm in LinkedIn and I would saylastly, every week I put on two
(21:49):
training workshops that arefree on these principles of how
to go about becoming moresuccessful as you learn about
building relationships and howthat affects your sales and
referrals, and you can findthose workshops publicized in
Alignable.
(22:09):
They're very popular, usuallyhave 100 or more people
registered for them, and wouldalways welcome meeting any one
of you that hear this who have adesire to know more, who with
one of those means.
Hank (22:24):
Well, thanks so much, tom, and for our audience, thanks
for being here with us today.
Tune in every Wednesday for theHome Business Success Show here
on bizradious.
Remember you can achievesuccess, freedom and
independence in your own homebusiness.
Success, freedom andindependence in your own home
(22:45):
business.
We'll see you again nextWednesday.
This is Hank Eder, wishing allof you a fabulous day of home
business success.
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