Do you think the idea of networking is intimidating? Do you dread going to networking events or constantly wonder if you are doing it right? If so, then this episode is a must-listen!
Networking is foundational in your career and when it comes to growing a business. It is important to cultivate meaningful connections with the right people. On today’s episode, Porschia will be diving into how to network and what are the top networking questions to ask along with Jeff Bartholomew. Jeff is a Certified Business Coach and is the Founder and Owner of Everest Business Coaching. Tune in until the end to up your game with networking!
Things to take away from this episode:
Networking events etiquette
How to initiate conversations without coming off too strong
Escaping obscurity
How to profitably network
Quotes:
“I started off with the goal of making 3, meaningful connections.” – Porschia Parker-Griffin
“You need to be active in more than one networking group” Jeff Bartholomew
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00]
Porschia: Today we are talking about networking 101, how to effectively network and the top networking questions to ask with Jeff Bartholomew. Jeff Bartholomew is a certified business coach and is the founder and owner of Everest Business Coaching. Jeff has more than 30 years of experience in sales, sales leadership, global sales, coaching, and development.
He worked for a Fortune 500 company, traveled to four continents, and worked in more than 20 countries. Everest Business Coaching partners with business owners to help grow revenues, increase profits, drive key efficiencies, and build strong, accountable teams. They are passionate about helping business owners thrive in an ever changing business climate.
By utilizing 30 years of business leadership, the proven methodologies of Focal Point and Brian Tracy, they help to [00:01:00] create dramatic results for clients. Hi Jeff, how are you today? I’m
Jeff: doing well. Portia. Thank you very much for having me. I’m thrilled to be here.
Porschia: Absolutely. I am excited to have you with us to discuss networking 101, but first we want to know a little bit more about you.
So tell me about seven year old
Jeff: Jeff, seven year old Jeff. That’s a great, uh, question. When I was seven years old, I was living in Cincinnati and I grew up poor in a tiny house. Uh, in Cincinnati. And I was really into baseball my whole life. It seems like at that age was I was either in school or playing baseball.
And my father indulged that path, that passion for me. And I guess the third thing between school, baseball and family, we, we had a, my father came from a family of eight kids. So I had lots of aunts and uncles. And, uh, it seems like every Sunday was a big event for our [00:02:00] family.
Porschia: Yeah. So what did you want to be when you grew up, Jeff?
Jeff: Well, it’s funny you ask that. I watched a TV show back then called the Bob Newhart Show, and Bob Newhart was a psychologist. And I thought, that’s exactly what I want to do. And when I got to college, I took a business tech, but I came to realize that a lot of what I do is psychology. Working with business owners to help them improve and grow their business.
There’s a lot of psychology involved, so in some way, I feel like I fulfilled that seven year old’s dream of becoming a psychologist by becoming a business coach.
Porschia: Yeah, I completely agree with you, Jeff. Um, so I have an undergraduate degree in psychology, and you know that I’m working on a master’s degree, um, in industrial and organizational psychology, and I’ll tell you this, when I got my undergraduate degree, Well, one, everyone said, you can’t do anything with a psychology degree.
You’re not going to make any money unless you go get a [00:03:00] PhD and be a psychologist. And I have learned through undergrad that I didn’t want to be a psychologist or a therapist and kind of live in a lot of the, um, past focused trauma that people have and, and all of that. Uh, so. You know, I went out into the working world and then when I heard about coaching, to your point, I learned more about it.
And then I realized, I said, this is exactly what I’ve always wanted to do, but I never knew existed. Right. 10 years ago, coaching wasn’t, you know, as popular as mainstream as it is today. So when you say that about, you know, the psychology aspects and coaching and in what you do, I completely agree, uh, and identify with all of that.
Very cool. Yeah. So what was your first job, Jeff?
Jeff: Well, it’s hard to define that. I would say my first job was as a caddy. My father was a [00:04:00] caddy and I can remember back then, I can’t even believe that they let me do this. People wouldn’t let their kids do this today, but I would ride my bike on Saturday and Sunday morning, probably five miles, you know, on fairly busy roads to a golf course.
And uh, and I was a caddy and I was around older people. And you know, older caddies. I was the youngest person there and then padding for grown men who were gambling and drinking and smoking. It probably wasn’t the best environment. But again, I think I learned a lot about psychology from kind of coaching a golfer through his or her around.
And so I think that that paid off in the long run.
Porschia: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That sounds fun. And I know that you’re into golf and have a, another business that’s golf focused. So that all came back around, Jeff. Absolutely. Absolutely. So tell us about some [00:05:00] highlights or pivotal moments in your career before you started your own business.
Jeff: Okay. Well, I think the first one was when I got out of college, a company offered me an opportunity to move to Los Angeles. So having grown up in Cincinnati, my dream was to live in California. And that company allowed me to fulfill that dream. So that was a massive step to get exposed to an international global center of business in Los Angeles.
And at the time I did a lot of work in San Francisco, which was 30, yeah, 30 years ago, 40 years ago was, but it was going to be like the next New York. It was going to be a massive banking center. It didn’t turn out that way, but, um, I did a lot of business there. I guess the next big thing for me from a career perspective was becoming the director of global sales at Steelcase, which really opened my eyes, as you alluded to in the intro.
I did business on four continents in [00:06:00] over 20 countries. And that opened my eyes to a world of possibilities for me as a person, both personally and professionally. And so, you know, as you mentioned, I have another business, it’s golf related, it’s an international business. And that, that none of that would have been possible without me taking that role.
Porschia: Mm hmm. Yeah. It sounds like that kind of allowed you to get, you know, some perspectives in different ways and, and perhaps interest in other areas to really feel that you could explore those, you know, at some point in the future.
Jeff: Exactly. Exactly. And I, it’s, it’s a beautiful marriage of my passion, which is golf or one of my passions is golf.
And then, you Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Wonderful marriage.
Porschia: Great. Great. So Jeff, I want to know, um, [00:07:00] prior to starting your business, what would you say was your biggest career challenge?
Jeff: Uh, I would say, well, I mean, there were a couple of things that were very seminal events. Um, 9 11. And, uh, I was at our corporate headquarters. We were in a meeting. We stepped out for coffee and in the, uh, in this big area that we had for entertaining clients, giving you coffee, they have these huge TVs and we see the planes crash and, and obviously the meeting was over, but when we got back to Atlanta, the immediate impact on business, I mean, impact.
The impact was tremendous business ground to a halt. And so the biggest challenge I had was that I had a staff of 33 direct reports and over the next 18 months, I had to lay off 14 of them. [00:08:00] And that was a very difficult time for me personally, obviously is a big issue. For them individually, and that was a huge challenge, so that was that would be number one.
Number two was, I think, when I left Steelcase, I went to work as a consultant with William Sonoma, and we launched West Elm Workspace, and that was a challenging time, and I mean that in the most positive way. You’re talking about a complete startup, and there were two of us, a person from William Sonoma and senior executive there, An architect, designer in New York and me and the three of us kind of crafted with other people as well.
But the three of us kind of art were the architects of that, that business. So that was a wonderful challenge. The first one was just a challenge, [00:09:00] um, to survive, so to speak. And the second one was. Challenge from the perspective of growth. Yeah. I grew a lot through that experience.
Porschia: Yeah. And for us recording this, you know, in actuality, nine 11, that, um, anniversary just passed.
So yeah, definitely want to acknowledge, um, you know, that event. Um, and then also really, I think it’s. Important how you talked about that impact on business and what you had to do in terms of laying off those employees and how that whole challenging time, uh, became challenging throughout the workforce in, in different companies.
So, yeah, thank you. Thank you for sharing that with us. And then, yeah, the other. Experience of, you know, that new kind of feeling entrepreneurial or intrapreneur, uh, you know, in terms of starting that, that new division, um, [00:10:00] within Steelcase. So Jeff, how did you get into sales in the first place?
Jeff: Yeah. Another good question.
I think the degrees that I had were marketing. I had a degree in marketing and a degree in finance. And I went to work with Steelcase right out of college. And they had a program called PACE, a professional accelerated career entry program. And what that was, was entry into sales or marketing. And they’d peg me for a sales role.
There were probably seven or eight of us that started that day. Um, and at least one of those people is still with Steelcase and you’re talking 39 years later, right? And, uh, so it was all about sales. So I went into the sales department at Steelcase the entire time that I was there, I was in the sales department, whether I was leading, um, whether I was a salesperson of some sort, or [00:11:00] whether I was the sales leader, team leader, uh, area sales director, um, global account, global accounts, sales.
I mean, it was a, it was just continual sales and I loved every minute of it. Yeah,
Porschia: that’s great. It sounds like that, that PACE program might be what some companies have today. It’s like leadership development programs or programs for high potentials to kind of get them integrated into the organization.
So it’s great that you had that experience early in your career. Um, so you’ve had, you know, this really interesting career, Jeff. What was the defining moment that made you want to start a business? Well,
Jeff: I think what happened was, I mean, I’ve always had this, uh, dream of starting a business. I mean, for a long time.
And I wanted to do that golf business 20 years ago. Um, but I had a really very good job, [00:12:00] right at Steelcase and it’s hard to leave that. And, uh, after leaving Steelcase and I took that consulting job. That was my first, uh, and that’s now nine years ago. That’s dipping your toes into the water, right? I had to set up processes and procedures and get QuickBooks and set up an LLC and get a business license and do all those things that you do when you start a business.
And, and it was just Jeff Bartholomew Inc, right? Or Jeff Bartholomew LLC, whatever it was. And then that assignment lasted 16 months. And when I was done with that, I said, okay, I love doing this. And now I’m going to turn it into a coaching company. And so that’s when I started Everest Business Coaching. So that’s been seven years now.
Wow.
Porschia: Wow. So it sounds like in your job, you actually had that, that run through, and then you did it for yourself and for your own business. [00:13:00]
Jeff: Yeah. Well, I think what’s interesting there, if you think about it from my perspective, I had sales experience. Leadership experience. I had business diagnostic experience because it’s a steel case sold through distributors.
And so when I ran those two areas, I had to be responsible for those distributors, and they would either raise their hands and self identified that they had a problem in operations or finance or whatever. Or I would identify it and then Steelcase, Steelcase had a team of consultants that they would bring in at no charge to solve those problems.
So, and then in addition to that, I help find buyers for distributors. I help, I don’t want to say negotiate, but act as a middleman at the beginning anyway of a buyer and a seller. And so when I was wrapping up the opportunity with William Sonoma, I thought I’m [00:14:00] ideally suited to become a business coach.
I’ve got this whole skill set. I guess I’m like Liam Neeson in Taken. I’ve got a unique set of skills, right? Only I’m not killing people with mine. I’m helping them in three different ways, but conceptually, it’s the same thing. Over a lifetime, you acquire these skills and they don’t allow me or permit me to do everything, but they do provide a great foundation to be a business coach.
Yeah,
Porschia: I agree. I agree. And another skill that you have I want to talk about is networking. Uh, Jeff, you are one of the best networkers I know. Uh, you’ve led many networking groups and you’re an active networker. So I want to know from you, what is your definition of networking?
Jeff: Wow, that’s a good question. I think it all depends on what your objective is.
So let’s think about different times of your career. Or my career, Portia. [00:15:00] There are times where you were looking for a job, right? So you were networking to find a job, or in your case right now, you network with me where you might need advice on something, or you might need to hire someone, um, or you want to give back to the community.
I think more commonly, or most commonly, people think about networking from the perspective of, I need to get clients, right? And in any of those cases, the typical issue that people have individually and as a business is obscurity. They’re obscure. So when you, if you were looking for a job, you wouldn’t be looking for a job if everyone knew who, what you were, knew who you are and what your skills are, right?
Or your business, um, you’d be the biggest coaching company on the planet if everyone knew who you were. And the same is true with me. [00:16:00] And while I don’t, you and I don’t want to be the biggest coaching businesses on the planet, we are relatively obscure. So how do I get out of obscurity, particularly when it comes to the ideal clients that I want to serve?
So for me, networking is about putting myself in front of people who are either my ideal client or can introduce them, introduce me to my ideal client. And I would call those people gate openers. So someone like you could introduce me to multiple clients. My friend, Dale, who works for a nine might be able to introduce me to one person.
So he’s he’s more of a prospect. You’re more of a gate opener. So I want to be while I want to meet both. You need, you need to define who those people are.
Porschia: Yeah, I love [00:17:00] what you said there about networking in terms of getting out of obscurity, really important, and putting yourself in front of the right people.
And I think you made another great point, Jeff, is that, you know, the purpose of networking is going to depend upon what your goal is, right? Are you looking for a job? Are you looking for clients for a business? Are you, do you have another kind of goal? out there. So all of that definitely comes into play with networking.
Um, what do you think are some benefits to effective networking?
Jeff: It’s, I think, um, there, there are many benefits. One, I think the ability to talk about yourself and your business. Is really important. It can build yourself confidence as you’re either looking for a job or starting a business or growing a business.
And I think that’s just a big deal to me, improving, improving one’s confidence. And I think, you know, some other things that come to [00:18:00] mind are giving back to the community. I’d love to be able to go but give back to the community. So in a small way, I think I am by making connections, you know, it’s interesting.
Portia, seven years ago, when I started my business, started Everest business coaching, I didn’t know anyone in the local business community. I’d been doing business globally for a long time. And so the only people I knew were the parents on my children’s soccer team, right? I didn’t, I literally didn’t know anyone else in the community.
And I joined the chamber of commerce. I met a guy named Jason Bass. We just moved here from New Jersey. This is October of 2017 or 2015, seven years ago. And we became friends. We knew no one today. People would say some people, not everyone would say that he and I are the best connected people. In our business community, [00:19:00] and he and I work extremely hard at connecting people, right?
Me connecting you to Jason, um, me connecting you to Christian Sellier. Connecting people, um, I think is powerful, and as a business coach, it’s one of the values that we can bring, or additional value that we can bring, and that is, if I can connect you with great people, that makes me more valuable to you as a client.
Porschia: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I know Jason as well and agree with you. He’s a great networker and there are so many benefits to networking. Uh, what are some networking tips, Jeff, that you would give to others?
Jeff: Okay. Yeah. One of the things is when I go to a networking event, um, I treat it like work. So I don’t eat or drink there.
You know, they’ll have cocktails and. You [00:20:00] know, hors d’oeuvres, typically at a networking event, particularly an evening one, but even sometimes at a lunch event, I’m there, if I’m there to network, I’m working. I am not there to eat and drink, and I don’t like mixing drinking with business. I don’t think it’s, for me personally, I don’t think it’s appropriate.
Now, if I went to a, a gala for a client and, and I’ve done that and I’m not there to network specifically, then I’ll enjoy myself. But, um, the one I, I don’t drink and I don’t eat at those events typically. Uh, second thing, it’s work. So treat it like that. Second thing I would do is have a plan. What’s your intent for being there?
How many people do you wanna meet? Who’s your ideal client? You know, those are people that you want to meet. Are you trying to meet gate openers? The other thing I think is, you need to [00:21:00] be active in more than one networking group. And I know you and I are. And… You know, I’ve heard it recommended that we’re in three to five networking groups.
So what I like to talk about is I like being involved in my local chamber because I can get back to the community. I feel very connected to that community. I’m involved in a closed networking group of local business owners. I’m in another one that’s bigger and more national in scope. So those are three that I’m involved in.
And then you referenced others that I’ve led like The South Atlanta Business Association. Um, so I try the ones that I am involved in, I’m active in. That’s another thing. Don’t just, you can’t just show up once and then say, well, I didn’t get anything out of it. It takes time to build relationships, um, and so on.
Another thing, I mean, I’ve got a handful of these, you know, dress professionally. Keep [00:22:00] going. Dress the way that you want to be seen. You don’t, you don’t dress under the audience. Um, turn your phone off. Don’t take phone calls while you’re in the middle of networking. Another thing is you want to seek common interests, right?
So I want to make sure that when I’m asking questions that I’m trying to find things that we have in common. Thank you. Oh, we both lived in Atlanta. Portia, how interesting. What part of town did you live in? Or hey, we went to the same university or we follow the same soccer team or we both lived in Los Angeles or whatever.
And then the other thing is I want to treat when I’m networking, I want to treat almost like it’s an interview, right? These people at some level are interviewing me and judging whether I’m an appropriate person to either do business with. To be friends with, or if they’re going to refer me, um, you know, I think people need to understand [00:23:00] that their job is to make a very positive, memorable impact on the people that they meet.
So what I like to do is I like to target three or five people to have conversations with either specifically like, Hey, I’m going to go to this networking event. I want to meet Portia or I want to meet, I’m not going to, I don’t want to spend the entire night talking to one person. And I want to. Get to three or five and you know, some areas that I, that I, some things that I would say don’t do, don’t collect business cards.
I think that we want to it’s not that’s not that’s not the point, right? I want to I’m there to make a positive impression. Collecting business cards is not networking. I want to give more than I get right. So if I meet you at a networking event, my immediate thought is, can you help any of my clients? [00:24:00] And can I connect you?
And then if that’s true, then I want to make that connection as soon as possible. You know, I typically like to arrive early at those events, stay late. I’m talking about working it like a network, you know, networking, right? Not showing up for the cocktails, show up 15 minutes late, leave 15 minutes early.
You’ve heard people say, Hey, I made an appearance. I showed my face. I don’t want to do
Porschia: that. Well, that is, those are a lot of great tips, Jeff. I was, I was writing a lot of those down. Um, I really liked your point about treating it like work. Right. And so you’re diligent. You’re not there, you know, for the dinner or the hors d’oeuvres.
Or the drinks, the cocktails, right? You’re there with your plan. Um, and then you have an idea of how many people you want to meet. And I’ll tell you this, Jeff, I’m an introvert. And so, [00:25:00] um, for me, studying networking and networking is something that I. have to be very intentional about because it’s not my natural tendency.
And to your point, I did just that. I had a plan. And so when I started networking, uh, when I got into sales, you know, before I even started this business and I would go to events, I said, okay, I started off with three people. I’m going to make three meaningful connections was the way I thought about it.
Right. So to your point, not just collecting business cards, but three meaningful connections of people. To where if I were to see that person again or, um, you know, proactively meet up with them again, there’s something that I know about them where we can connect. And so I started off with three and then, uh, you know, now if I were to go to a large networking event, I don’t do too many of those anymore, but I got up to 10.
Right. 10 meaningful connections. So I worked my way up to it. I’m not, you know, just, it’s not my natural default, but you can do it even if you [00:26:00] don’t see yourself as a quote unquote networker. You know,
Jeff: I’m glad you brought up the point about introvert. I saw a report yesterday and it’s based on this, right.
And what they found was that it’s, it’s basically evenly split. The United States, it’s 50 50 extroverts and introverts, right? Technically, it’s 49% introverts, 51% extroverts, but call it 50 50, right? So, you know, when you walk into that room, right, half of the people are like you, they’re introverts. So they would appreciate someone coming up to them and talking to them.
Um, you know, and so I think the skill needs to be. is to not identify either as an extrovert or a, an introvert, but more as an ambivert, someone who can go back and forth. So if I’m [00:27:00] talking to you and you’re an introvert, what I’m going to do is I’m going to talk more slowly and more softly like this. And if it’s an extrovert, I’m going to be more animated.
I’ll talk more loudly. I’ll use more gesture, right? So I’m trying to relate to whoever I’m talking to. So if, if you’re talking to another, if you’re an introvert talking to another introvert, you don’t have to be an extrovert, right? They, you, they don’t want you to be an extrovert. They want you to be an introvert.
So. The skill really is going from, from introvert to extrovert or vice versa. I saw an interesting, uh, t shirt yesterday and it was actually on, it was a photo that was taken on Instagram and the woman or the person that posted it said, this is a cause I can get behind. And the T shirt said, criminalize smallpox.
Porschia: Yeah, an introvert probably made [00:28:00] that, probably made that T shirt up.
Jeff: Yeah. Exactly. So I took a screenshot of it because I want to put it in my next networking conversation about, about being an extrovert or an introvert. Half the world is an introvert. And you know, for those of us that are extroverts, when we meet someone that’s an introvert, we need to know that’s how they feel.
Right? Like they don’t want to tell you all about their personal lives or what they did on the weekend or what they had for dinner last night. Anyway, I found that fun. Yeah.
Porschia: Yeah. I, I agree. I’m familiar with DISC. I’m certified in, um, I’m a master practitioner of the MBTI, Myers Briggs type indicator, and they look at the dichotomy.
And what you said is right. Technically everyone is an ambivert, right? Everyone’s on a continuum, right? So it’s really kind of, which way do you lean a little bit more towards? And, um, one thing I told myself in those networking events was I said, [00:29:00] Hey, This is a networking event. If they’re here, they’re here to meet people, right?
So that’s kind of how I, I, uh, talked myself into, yeah, I, I’ll go up and say hi to Jeff because he’s at this networking event. That means he wants to meet people. It’s not like you’re randomly at the grocery store or the gas station. Someone doesn’t want to be bothered. In my mind, I said, if he’s here, He wants, he wants to talk and let me add him to my list of the three or 10 people so I can go right.
So, um, love that. Love
Jeff: that. I’ve got a success story. I can tell you about from networking. Go for it. Excuse me. Let me tell you about this. I went to a chamber event and they had four former small business owners of the year award winners, right? And then they had a woman from Lakeland State University as the moderator.
I’m sitting in the front row and this happened to be a lunch meeting. So I did eat. And I did drink some water at the end. I got up and I introduced myself to all four of the speakers. And [00:30:00] I said, I’d love to spend more time with you. Can I buy you coffee or meet you in your office? Three of the four said, no.
One guy said, yes. Okay. So I go to meet him and I remember him telling me, Jeff, I’ve already got a business coach and I’m like Crestfall. I’m like, I was hoping to get a, and he said, but I’ve got a friend who. has a company and he needs help with sales. And I think you’re the guy to help him. So he introduces me to that guy.
I go to meet with that guy and he runs a group for Christian business owners. And there are five of them. And he said, I’m buying what you’re doing, but I think everyone in my group, which was called all in, could use your help. So I show up at that meeting. Um, the three of those four people at the event were there.[00:31:00]
We’re part of this all in group. So three of the four people that said no to me are now in this group. I end up doing business with all five of them, including the three people that said, no, I don’t want to meet with you. Right. And the guy that I got introduced to that ran the all in group has been my biggest champion.
So by me having the guts, very early on in my networking career, to go up and say to all three of them, or all four of them rather, I’d like to meet with you, and not being angry that three of the four said no. So then I’m telling this story to someone else. And they made the comment, boy, did you get lucky?
And I said, really? Lucky. I’m the only one in the room who went up to him, right? And asked him to meet. I don’t know if that’s hard work. I’m sure there’s a little bit of luck in, but if I hadn’t taken the shot, [00:32:00] I wouldn’t have hit the home run.
Porschia: Yeah, yeah, you were proactive. You were proactive and putting yourself out there.
Jeff: And I think that when you have a success like that, you know, it reminds you, I need to do this all the time. If I’m at a speaking event, and they’ve got a panel of speakers, I want to go out and meet them. There could be a connection there, just like there was with, with this particular person.
Porschia: Right, right.
And, um, that’s a great story, Jeff. And that makes me think of a sales and marketing, uh, thing and kind of technique is it’s about touch points too. So the very first time. And those of you who are in sales and marketing, you probably know this, that it takes multiple times of people meeting you, um, to know, like, and trust you, um, to get some familiarity and feel comfortable with you before a lot of times they’re interested in opening up or doing business with you.[00:33:00]
So maybe those people might have been closed and it sounds like they were because they said no the first time, but by the time you came back around, they saw that you had networked with other people, they kind of warmed up to it. So, um, great networking story, Jeff. A lot of people I find and clients that we have, they get burned out on networking because they aren’t seeing the results that they want.
Uh, what can professionals and executives do to make sure, uh, the networking they’re doing is effective? Thank you, Jeff.
Jeff: That’s a, that’s a wonderful question, Portia. You know, it reminds me of, when I drive into Atlanta from where I live, I see a Chick fil A billboard. You know, the typical eat more chicken or whatever it says, you know, any given month.
And if you went to the president of Chick fil A and said, how many chicken sandwiches did you sell as a result of that billboard? They would say, I have no [00:34:00] idea. And you’re so you would say, so you’re saying that billboard doesn’t work because you can’t measure it. Well, no, it’s working. And what he would what they would say is this.
If I took down all the billboards, I know my business would dry up or would decline. Right? And I know that I can’t attribute it to just one billboard or one networking event. I need to go to multiple events. I need to get out of obscurity. Right. So the more people that I’m in front of, you know, it’s kind of like, uh, Gary player, the golfer said the harder I work, the luckier I get, right.
The more like, it’s like that story with those four people, three of them said, no one said, yes, I ended up doing business with all of them. And so I think that You’ve got to go multiple times. You can’t you can’t say, Hey, I went once and it didn’t work. And yeah, I just think that that’s I think that [00:35:00] that’s really important.
I know this. I did the math portion on speaking engagements. Okay. And what my math turned out to be that was for every 100 people I spoke in front of I got one time. So throughout the course of the year, my objective was to speak in front of 1200 people. I wanted to get one new client a month. You and I are small businesses.
I can’t. My business couldn’t. I couldn’t handle five new clients a month. Not for very long, right? I certainly couldn’t do it for a year, but one a month. So my objective was to get in front of A hundred people a month through speaking engaged. I would guess there’s a similar math for getting in front of networking, only I’m sure the close rate is higher, right?
Because it’s one on one. When I’m speaking in front of a hundred people, I’m not connecting [00:36:00] with everybody. I might resonate with a couple, but if I’m talking to you one on one, I can judge. Whether we’ve got a strong enough connection in order to do business or maybe not do business, but to continue the relationship, continue the conversation.
When you’re in front of a hundred people all at once, you have no idea unless they come up to you afterwards. Like I did to those four guys, those four people, I should say. And so it’s, it’s a numbers game. Got to get in front of as many people as you can.
Porschia: Yeah, I agree. And I think. Kind of to what you’re saying.
Also, it’s the long game, not the short game, right? So it’s not about showing up once, like you said, it’s about showing up multiple times and really playing the long game. Um, Jeff, networking can seem intimidating to many people. Uh, what are some networking questions that people can ask others, you know, when they’re at an event or perhaps in a one to one conversation?
Yeah. [00:37:00]
Jeff: I think, well, I didn’t say this earlier, but two things you don’t want to talk about are politics and religion, right? So just never, ever bring that up, even if you find someone that’s of your same persuasion regarding to those two topics. You know, you just never know. You just never know. So I think a, um, a good opening question is where are you from?
Or are you from around here? Right? And that opens the door to well, where are you from? And it’s a very natural conversation. So it’s uncomfortable for me when someone comes up and says, Who are you with? Or what do you do for a living? Or whatever, right? I want to start more informally with, Um, you know, either where are you from or tell me about yourself, things like that.
Once we get through the, because I do want to get to some business [00:38:00] questions just to understand how I can help them, right? Because I want to give more than I get, as I said. Um, I want to talk about who is your ideal client and how can I help you, right? So if they happen to be there for trying to grow or launch a business, they’re looking for clients.
If they’re looking for a job, you know, I’m going to ask them. What type of job are you looking for? What are your qualifications and what makes you different from everybody else who’s looking for a similar job? And if they’re looking, if it’s, if they’re trying to find new clients, again, who’s your ideal client and what makes you different from other people who do what you do?
And if you can say like, you know, for you and I, the death of, of, of, of a networking event is to say I’m a business coach. Right. You and I, even though [00:39:00] technically that’s our classification, so to speak. What you do is completely different from me. What we do is very complementary. And there’s a train going by.
Porschia: Well, I can’t hear it, so no worries.
Jeff: Okay. So, um…
Porschia: Now I can hear it, but that’s alright.
Jeff: Yeah. Let’s give it a second, because it’s, it’s… Sometimes it goes on for two or three minutes and your editor will edit this out, right? Right
and ask the question again if you would
Okay, it’s gone
Porschia: All right. So Jeff, you had some great questions there that [00:40:00] people can ask when they’re networking at an event or one to one. You mentioned, where are you from? Tell me about yourself. Who’s your ideal client? How can I help you? What makes you different than, you know, other people who do what you do?
Are there any other networking questions that you think are important for people? Yeah,
Jeff: you raise a good point. And I think it goes to the introduction, right? So if someone says to you, what do you do? The worst thing you can say is I’m a business coach or I’m a CPA or what have you. So one of the things I work with my clients on is teaching them how to separate themselves by talking about their why, their how, and their what.
Based on Simon Sinek’s book, Start With Why, it’s got a wonderful TED talk on YouTube. as well. So here’s what I taught a realtor. So let’s say that Beth walked in right now. She walks in behind me and I say, [00:41:00] Beth, meet Portia. And Portia, you say, Beth, what do you do? What she would say is, I’m a realtor.
But listen to this. What if she said, he walks in and you say, Beth, what are you doing? She says, Port. I help young people achieve the American dream. And you’re, you get that look on your face. Well, how do you do that? And she says, I help young married couples find ’em, buy their first home. That’s what separates her from everybody else.
And then the what of that is, and I’ve got an inventory of 10 homes priced between two 50 and three 50, which is a sweet spot for the first time home buyers. At which point I say, my daughter just got married. I need to introduce you to her. But when you say, I’m a business coach, Right. It’s or I’m a realtor.
That’s not a great opening line. So, you know, you’re trying to get people to understand what it is that you do. And if I say I’m a realtor, or [00:42:00] I’m a CPA, well, really, are you a CPA? Or do you, is your specialization helping people deal with tax issues with the IRS? Or are you a realtor who helps young married couples find and buy their first home?
Are you a business coach who helps organizations develop, identify, develop and retain their talent, right? That’s completely different from just being, saying I’m a business coach. So I think that’s an important start.
Porschia: I agree. The introduction is so important and you’ve already started, uh, telling us a little bit about how you help your clients, but I want you to tell us more about your business, Everest Business Coaching.
Jeff: Okay, there are two things that I typically do. One is coaching, and it starts with a fundamental belief that every business and every organization can become stronger. And the way that I go about coaching is to creatively and systematically inspire [00:43:00] dramatic improvements. in performance. And I underscore dramatic because I don’t want to work with people who want incremental improvement.
And the way that I do that is through one on one and group coaching. So I’ve got two handfuls of clients that are one on one coaching clients. I meet with them twice a month and they tend to stay for a long time. I’ve got a group coaching practice with, I run two groups. With about six people in each group.
I say six, six are kind of registered members. Five roughly show up every time, not all six. And that those meet either once a month or twice a month, depending on which of the two groups it is. And then the final piece is I do training. And primarily I do that around communication, training, sales training, and personal effectiveness or time management training.
[00:44:00] And, uh, my ideal client for coaching are small business owners and my ideal client on the training piece are typically larger companies. Great.
Porschia: Great. Well, we’ll be providing a link to your website and then your other social media channels and our show notes so that people can find you online. But what is the best way for someone to get in touch with you, Jeff?
Jeff: Well, the best way to reach me is to call me. It’s 770 331 1525. Um, you can call me, text me, or you can email me at jbartholomew at focalpointcoaching. com. I’ll be happy to help. Any of your, any of your friends or clients or anyone listening to this broadcast.
Porschia: Great. Great. I love it. So Jeff, in closing, how do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge in their [00:45:00] career?
Jeff: Well, I’ll tell you what, keeping with the theme of networking, I think that everyone needs to do it. Um, and, and I say that, Portia, for multiple reasons. There’s going to be a time where someone is looking for a job. They’re going to need a network. There may be a time where they’re called on to help grow their company’s business.
They’re going to need a network. There’s going to be a time where they might need advice. They’re going to need a network. And the time to build a network isn’t when you need it. But in advance of that, right? It’s like building the art. You don’t build it once the rain started. You want, you want to build before the flood arise.
So my advice would be to to build a strong network. And I think the other thing, the other part that I didn’t mention there that I mentioned earlier, though, is it’s a great way to give back. Right. So I can through networking, I [00:46:00] can network or excuse me, mentor younger people. Right. That can be part of a networking program.
So giving, giving back is really important. So you want to build that network before you need it.
Porschia: Yeah. I completely agree. Building a strong network is so important regardless of, you know, if you are an employee or an entrepreneur, uh, Jeff, you have shared a lot of tips and strategies around networking today.
I’m sure that our listeners can use it to be more confident, uh, when they are out networking. Uh, we appreciate you being with us.
Jeff: Portia, thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it. Wonderful questions, and I hope that your audience gets a lot out of the conversation that we had today.
Porschia: Me too.
Thanks, Jeff.
