Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Business Forward. I'm Joe Reyes and today we're talking about how smart decisions and clear numbers can drive real business growth. You're watching now Media Television.
Hello. Welcome to Business Forward. I'm Joe Reyes and today we're going to be tackling one of the biggest fears and strategic blockers of small business owners that inhibits their growth and has to be overcome.
And that is called the fear of networking. And today we have to help us with that fear. Emily Galindo. Emily is a master marketer and she's also a consultant and she also owns a franchise with Network nia, which is a fast growing network company in the United States today. Emily, good to have you.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: Thank you so much though. I'm excited to be here.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Yeah. So this is a topic that's near and dear to my heart.
I'm a bit on the older side and I will say that many, many years ago, I had major challenges with networking.
Grew up in New York City and I had other businesses before I became a full time CPA firm. And I would go to networking meetings and it was terrifying.
And I tend to be an introvert. I tend to be on the shy side many times.
And to be in a room full of complete strangers is terrifying to many people.
And so one of the first questions out of the gate I have for you is when you started in the networking business and challenges, did you develop some kind of a mindset that it come naturally to you? What did you do to get into it and become so good at it?
[00:01:47] Speaker B: So let's first acknowledge that your feelings are going to be very similar in common across the board. It is not a true natural thing to be able to work a room of strangers and feel confident in that right out. I mean, that's just abnormal behavior.
My first question to you would be, did it work? Did it make you money? Did you generate business for yourself?
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Well, that's a good question. I wasn't very good at it, but I would muster up the courage and I would, I would, you know, I, as a young man, you know, you're always approaching potential mates and the fear, rejection. You learn to take, deal with it because you get rejected a lot until you get married. Right. So I learned how you just have to push through it and then you pick up the emotional pieces later.
But I learned how to do it.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So you learn the hard way.
So for me, it was actually a very natural thing. I, when I transitioned into my professional career, I was in the hospitality industry. Right. I was a bartender and A server. And so talking to strangers and making nice with, you know, been striking up random conversations was already something that I was very used to. And I'm an extrovert. I was raised by a sales guy. He was a recruiter for the Air Force and that's a really hard sale to do. So for me it became, it was very natural when I found networking. It was finally like, oh my gosh, this is my home, this is my, these are my people. Because I was being taught in my, like at the time in my digital marketing sales career when I first found networking, I was doing it by cold call and by pulling on doors and you know, the hard old school sales way. And when I tripped into a networking meeting for the first time, I, I was like, yay, finally people who want to talk to me.
So for me it was a natural fit. But for most people, I would say the majority of the people. So in networking rooms you're going to find a concentration of people like me because we all feel very comfortable there. And for what I'm hoping to accomplish today is helping people like you overcome that so that they can also take advantage of this opportunity. Because networking can be one of the most fruitful and financially rewarding and personally rewarding experiences. But we'll just talk, we can focus on business, but I mean it really is one of the most highest ROIs in all of marketing solutions. So if we can overcome it, it's financially really worth it.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Oh, wow. So one of the highest ROIs. I never, I never would have thunk it. I always thought it was like, you know, calling and, and you know, mailings and all that good stuff and trade shows and whatnot, even though trade shows a little bit like networking, but not
[00:04:25] Speaker B: quite, it can be right. So for me, whose world this is, I think every event is a networking event and an opportunity. But for most people, trade shows is a little bit closer to networking mailers. You're looking at like a 2% open rate. Like it's a lot of wasted dollars. Same thing for print prints, higher than that. But like ultimately in terms of the amount of the fight. The other great thing about this for business, small business owners, that maybe cash flow or budget for marketing is, is smaller, this is going to be a, a financially low investment, but it's a high time investment. So if you don't have any clients and you got a lot of time, but you also don't have a lot of money, this is a really great financial roi.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: Yeah, so, so, so when a person walks into a room Complete stranger.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: And maybe you're walking into a room full of networkers. You know, you're joining a networking group that they, somebody invited you to. I've been there.
So what do you, you know, do you, should one like prepare like an elevator pitch, just have a 32nd thing to do to and then do it in front of the mirror. What do you recommend for somebody, a novice like myself, let's say.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: Sure, sure. So there's like a couple of, I would say the two most common types of networking opportunities you're going to be exposed to or have, you know, for mostly places in the country is going to be either a casual networking event, which is where you walk into the room and there's you know, 50, 60, 20, 100 people and they're all chatting and having a cocktail and you have to kind of work a room and literally just walk up to random strangers.
That is incredibly overwhelming for somebody like yourself. So if you just happen to like Google that and show up and don't know anybody in the room, the best person to ask honestly is the person who's checking you in. There's always a check in table at every event and that person is a volunteer. They believe in that organization.
They are doing that for a reason. And that reason is to post and make people feel comfortable when they're there. So now the question they're going to ask you that you need to be prepared to answer when they do is well, what are you doing here? Like what's the goal for being here? You have to have a goal for being there. So I think that that right there you have to have established before you walk into any kind is that you need to know, well, I would really like to meet a particular person in some industry or I'd really like to meet, I want to set two new appointments with potential prospects. Like the people who are there working the, the table or working the organization, the event are going to know pretty much everybody in the room and it's a really easy way to get that like that service, or they're going to walk you over to the exact person that you need to meet when you're there. Because that's, that's what they want to do. That it excites us to be able to do that in terms of an elevator pitch. So the other type of opportunity that you might go into is a structured networking meeting.
That's you know, there are organizations like, like ours, like Network in Action that you go and there's a structure to the meeting. There's you Know, people are sitting down, you're being led through some sort of agenda. There's a purpose for it, and those opportunities, you are going to have some sort of elevator pitch or stand and speak or something to tell people why you're in the room, who you are, what you do, and why you're. And why you're there. So, you know, my name is Emily Galindo. I'm a digital marketing consultant and we specialize in, you know, web development, lead generation, utilizing the Internet. And I would really love an introduction to a roofing company in the Houston area that wants to be, you know, getting more leads from the Internet. So that's an old school. I don't do any of that anymore. I'm not advertising. But like, that is What a good 30 second. Real quick, who are you, what do you do, and who do you want to meet in the room? Is the three things that you need to practice saying before you get there.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That sounds very, very familiar. I did a bunch of those, you know, and wow, I can't believe I did that. And so, so do you, like, look for when you walk into a room, let's say the person at the table busy, and that you don't get a chance to talk to them, you just walk right in.
Do you look for cues? You know, first of all, do you make yourself like, do you put out the cues like, hey, I'm a good person to talk to, or are you looking for cues on people that, you know, you could read them and say, you know what, that might be a friendly face for me to go over and just say, hey, hi, I'm Joe, and what are you doing here? Something like that, right?
[00:09:12] Speaker B: Sure. So in terms of body language, we coach what's called an Open three. So if you're an experienced networker, most people, when they stand around, they stand in like a closed three, right? All three of us are in a huddle having. Or four of us are having a conversation.
Real true networkers, people who do it well and want to meet other people, will do what's called an Open three or an Open four, where we're all standing around, but we still leave ourselves open so that somebody else can then walk into that space and join the conversation as somebody like yourself, even if you're seeing that, you're probably unlikely to just walk up to people, you guys are better at like the one on one. So find another one like you who's standing in the corner, who's at the table by themselves, who's kind of reading the room and they are also having the same, you know, kind of experience that you are. And you guys can bond over that. Both of this, both. This is unheardful for us. So we can all. So those are more one on one and you end up having better conversations that way. I think for, for introverts that this might be an overwhelming experience.
Another tip, if the person at the table is busy is most organizations that have events like this, the people in charge that are helping facilitate this event have name tags on. So you can always walk up to them and they're super friendly and they can help help you with the room as well.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: That's a good tip. That's very helpful. When you're very nervous and you're gonna. I know you're gonna drop the ball all over the place.
So when I like to listen to people, I don't like to do all the talking. So is, is being a good listener like a good idea in a networking group or you just go in and get them talking, put a quarter in the jukebox and let it sing?
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean the thing that people like to talk about more than anything on the in the world is themselves. Right. It's the thing that we're most comfortable talking about so asking.
But I think that it's more than just in our organization. We try to, to train our members to really dig deep. So I'd like to, it's top of mind for me to give you some more advanced tips. But one of those things being asking good questions. It's not just, hey Joe, what do you do for a living?
We actually train our people to not even like they're on a what do you do? Diet. We're not allowed to ask that question anymore because when you do that in a room like that, it just becomes.
Not just what do you do? But you know, who are you looking to meet? How can I help you? Is there anything that, that that you're working on right now that's, you know, interesting? Any one of those questions is going to get elicit a very thoughtful response. And also as person they're talking to, it makes you more memorable because you're having conversations about things that are more that are deeper than just what do you do for a living? Because typically we think, we think that's a surface level thing and you're only really interested in is there something I can get out of you by having knowing this information?
Right. Or how much money do you like, will you be a potentially good customer? Is what do we believe you're sizing us up for.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: Yeah. And so you go through all that and at the end of the day you've successfully talked to people you know and now and you're walking away with business cards. Now what, what happens after you go home and what's the next step?
[00:12:44] Speaker B: In my world, I recommend that you don't walk out of that room without setting at least one net new appointment for the following week. The cards are great but that does require a follow up system which a lot of people fail at.
And I'll talk a little bit about that. But you, you need to be intentional. Like I said, having that goal when you go there, the goal is to walk out with a meeting with somebody new that you'd never met before. And that meeting is going to be a coffee, a lunch, a one on one. Hey, I found our conversation interesting. I'd like to see you know if there's some synergy here with our businesses. So have that on the calendar that, that, that means you had a successful event and it wasn't a waste of your time.
And you'll also, I typically I've walked out with like my right pocket of cards or people that I want to, I need to follow up with and my left pocket of cards is like don't need, I can put them in my CRM but don't really need to schedule a meeting.
So making sure that you send an email that you contact them within 24 hours after having met them, acknowledging where you met them, something specific about their the conversation that you had and then asking for a meeting to carry on that conversation if that's necessary at that time.
So that needs to be done within 24 hours.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: Wow, that's aggressive. Takes courage and but those are very good tips.
Thank you for all that information that I know I'm going to be putting to use.
So you and I will be talking more in the future for sure.
Because that's a place that I always need help with. After so many years I'm still like what do I do?
[00:14:24] Speaker B: So it, it there's a lot of moving parts and if you, I mean but that's how you stand out and that's why the return on investment because ultimately you do all that front loaded work so that when you've got somebody who's what we call a circle of influence, right, Somebody who's constantly referring you business that closing ratio goes up. As a trusted person like you, you're a cpa. If you refer me to one of your clients, it's highly likely that they will become a client of mine just because you are already a trusted person that they know like and trust. And so when they come to me, they're like, well, Joe said I should talk to you. That ultimately becomes like closed business. And that's a lot easier to get. If they stay a lot longer, they spend more money. I mean, the statistics are there that that type of business just is better over the long term.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Well, thank you, Emily. This is a lot. Thank you very much. It's good talking with you about this great topic.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: You're so welcome. I look forward to talking to speaking with you more about it in the future.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: Absolutely.
We'll be right back with more insights, tools and real talk to help you grow your business.
This is Business Forward on Non Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Joe Reyes and you're watching Business Forward on Non Media Television. Let's get back into it.
Welcome back to Business Forward. I'm still here with Emily Galindo, who is a powerhouse marketer and networker. We just finished talking about the whole world of beginners and newbies going into the networking world and how scary that can be.
And I know I learned a lot from it and I've done networking in the past. So, Emily, glad that we can keep going on this great conversation.
Another issue with networking, which I also experience is picking the right networking group.
What's that about? There's so many different types. You kind of have to know what you're doing or you're just going to spend a lot of time and money trying to figure things out. Any recommendations?
[00:16:42] Speaker B: Absolutely. I mean, yes, you are 100% correct. There are so many options for people definitely recommend. The easiest place to start is honestly just Googling networking events near me if nobody's invited you to one.
And then typically most organizations will allow you to visit their groups a couple of times before you are asked to submit an application.
Other organizations, you don't have to join them. You can just pay as you like for the events that you do want to go to. If the chamber is one of those examples, like you can pay for a membership or, and go to everything and have access to everything, or there are public events that you can pay, you know, typically about 15, $20 to come to the breakfast and.
But there's lots of free networking out there.
What I say about all of the options is you get what you pay for, just like with anything else. So if you are going to a free networking event, it's most likely because everybody else and not that we don't love free. But in terms of like quality, structure, return on investment like that typically directly correlates to the investment level that you're going to make in the organization. So the return is going to be equivalent to that. So know that when you are sussing it out. The other thing is I would highly just. You do need to visit a lot of them and kind of feel how you feel in the room. Every group is very different. There's. Every group is made up of different people and they all have different cultures and they all have different vibes and different industries that are in them that are going to make a difference in your business. So there's a lot of analysis that really needs to go into.
If you're gonna make a financial investment, a time investment, you have to feel comfortable in the room. You have to somewhat like the people had a good experience and felt welcome and want to, want to spend time or at least be curious about spending more time there, because that's where you have to spend time there in order to get the returns.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: Yeah, well, sometimes, you know, from my experience, I've been to groups where the personalities weren't all that great, you know, and you're just like, okay, this is going to be torture. How fast is this going to be over so I can get out of here? Do I just walk out? Or, you know, maybe that wasn't a good fit. Maybe I just walked in or like a lot of groups, you know, they. Somebody invites you in, right? Like, you know, somebody opens up a group nearby in the particular area and they want one of each type of person in the group. And so you'll get an invitation and that's pretty nice, you know, but this whole thing about, you know, being put on the spot by not bringing tips in every single week, you know, that's pretty rough. And I would say that's probably the lower level networking groups.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: So yeah, like I want to take a minute just to kind of talk about the three different kinds of major organizations, right? So the chamber is the typically like the beginners networking experience that's going to be casual networking. You walk in the room, lots of people, they're passing out cards, shaking hands and kissing babies is what I say.
So that's going to be nominal financial investment.
Not a lot of structure, not a lot of purpose. Like you have to make what you want out of the experience.
Then there's an organization, there's an organization that I think that you're referring to in your experience, which is called dni and they are a Global organization and they are very structured. They meet every single week, same day, same time, same place, one person per industry, the organization. The structure of the meeting is great for there's also, like you said, requirements of how much business you give to the group. Like you are expected to participate in, showing up, in, giving referrals in meeting and having one to ones. There's a minimum level of like a pretty intense level of structure.
Now the beauty of that is what we. What I used to say when I was with the organization is that ties commitment to results, right. And that kind of accountability generates the results. It really does. And so if you are, maybe we all become entrepreneurs because we don't like being told what to do. But we all need to be told what to do sometimes to make sure that we're getting it done. We need a coach, we need somebody like a personal trainer holding us accountable.
So if you are, have not developed that kind of discipline or are new to networking, that kind of structure and organization does help train you to systematize networking. And then there's higher level networking like my organization Next Level nia, which is a franchise of Network in Action, which is designed for higher level professionals who've been in networking before, know how to do it well, know how to have conversations, know how to prioritize their time, things like that, that where people kind of go to graduate, where we're more of like the graduate program of networking.
So it depends on what it is, where you are in your career, what kind of handholding you need, what kind of structure you need to be able to really. And then within each one of those there's different, there's different organizations, different groups, different chapters that you have different cultures and personality fits and things like that that you can find a home area.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: I really want to learn more about this NIA thing. I've never heard of it until recently and I haven't done any formal networking in quite a while.
And I would love to have a much deeper conversation about that. What are you, Is this group all over the country?
[00:22:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Network In Action?
Yeah, absolutely. I don't know if we have one in Pennsylvania, but Network in Action is a global franchise. We were founded here in Houston, Texas about 10 years ago and since then have grown to 32 states, countries and there's groups and franchise owners in all of those areas that are starting these groups that you just kind of described. But again, targeting either people who have left the networking space because we didn't need what the other organizations had to offer or never joined ever because that didn't fit for them. That kind of structure, the kind of time commitment didn't fit for them in the BNI organization.
So we're seeing a lot more professional services, CPAs, lawyers, things like, you know, industries like that that couldn't make that weekly time commitment didn't really find their ideal client in the room because in some of those other, like I said, you get what you pay for. When you got the free networking right, you end up with like a lot of MLMs and vacation planners and massage therapists. And for you to walk into a room like that, you're like, I, what am I going to get out of being here? It doesn't make sense for you as a business owner. So Network in Action is designed for a monthly commit, it's a monthly meeting and it's for the higher level professionals who have a book of business, have experience. And so it's half of that referral based and half mastermind coaching so that we can learn from each other and learn from some experience in the room and, and have some deeper level conversations about business.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: That sounds very attractive to me, I gotta tell you.
[00:24:02] Speaker B: I'm so glad that's why we built it this way.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's very. And you're, you're one of the founders, you're the co founder of nih.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: So Network in Action was founded by a man named Scott Talley. He's here in Houston. My partner Rick Gutierrez and I, we are own, we own one of the franchises called that we've named Next Level NIA.
And so we have, we're on seven groups here in the Houston area.
We'll be building 10 by the end of the year. But yeah, I think so. I served as a higher level leadership team person in the BNI organization for six years. So from that perspective I learned a lot there and then kept having that where else? Like there's got to be more to this. There's got to be more to this. There's, we can do more for biz, for busy professionals, for higher. Like I wanted to see what the next level looked like and so Rick and I are building that experience here.
[00:25:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I've been to some networking groups that are very demanding, you know, you're kind of stunned that they have demands, you know.
So I guess the only thing you can do is really before you settle on one is just do trial visits and just check around and ask around, I guess.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Absolutely. One of the things that I would highly encourage all of all anybody going to anything is asking that Question, like what are the expectations of my membership here? Like is it just I pay for the membership and I get to do what I want? What are the requirements and expectations for me to really get the benefit out of this opportunity as well as, you know, to stay in it? Because in some of these other organizations if you don't participate, you actually get kicked out of the group and lose your, your investment. And so you want to make sure that you know what, what those minimum
[00:25:52] Speaker A: expectations are and you pay for that privilege.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: You, you pay, you paid to have that experience. Yeah.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: So, so this is mostly what you do is networking.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: That this is primarily, this is my full time career. So I, I, I build the groups with my partner Rick. We present and host the meetings once a month. And then I spend time meeting with my members and consulting with them about their businesses and their marketing strategies and having conversations just like this and how to capitalize on their, on the networking on the network that we have built there for them or going out to other networking events and recruiting potential prospects to come join our organization.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Well, how do we get you to come to the Philadelphia region?
[00:26:38] Speaker B: We, you and I will schedule a one to one after this and we will talk about that. I'd be happy to come to have that conversation for sure.
[00:26:45] Speaker A: That would be fantastic. Anything else you want to tell us about networking? These closing sessions, seconds?
[00:26:52] Speaker B: There's just so much to talk about. Well, let me think on that. I do. The one thing I always want to tell people is that while it is scary, it can be really life changing for your business and for yourself. I mean the amount of support the community, if you really take it on and like try and champion it, it really can be changing. So don't be too scared.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Well, thank you everybody. It was a pleasure. This is great information. It's feeding my soul for sure. So we will thank you.
We'll be right back with more insights, tools and real talk to help you grow your business.
This is Business Forward on non Media Television Television.
And we're back. I'm Joe Reyes and you're watching Business Forward on NOW Media Television. Let's get back into it.
I'm glad you're with us. We're here talking with Emily Galindo who is a master networker consultant and she has the personality, you can just tell by talking to her for a few minutes and listening to her that she's got that personality that will guide you into a networking world that will make your business profitable and expansive.
And we just want to continue on with this conversation. That we've been having. And this time around, my next question for you, Emily, is roi. I mean some of these networking groups, in my experience, some are inexpensive, some are killers on the expensive side. Right. So what are your recommendations for whether or not deciding whether or not a particular group is a good fit for you and is it working for you? What's the roi? Things of that nature. Just have at it, of course.
[00:28:42] Speaker B: So I mean, at its core, networking is a marketing solution, right. So, and it needs to be looked at as such. It has lots of other amazing, you know, amazing takeaways other than just money. But ultimately that's why we all walk into the room. We walk into the room to grow our business and earn more, generate more revenue.
So when looking at any marketing solution, you have to one, give it time. So that's going to be at least 90 days for anything that you do. Mailers, print, billboards, anything.
I would say actually six months personally to see if something is really going well.
Then you also need to look at what is your average revenue per unit. Right. So this is what does the typical customer spend with you? And for you as a cpa, that's going to be lifetime value. How long do they stay, how often do they pay? Like what's a contract? All of that, like what is. If I brought you one client, what's that mean to your business? So that's what we call your average revenue per unit.
If you are a candle maker and you sell candles for twenty dollars each, a two thousand dollar a year investment, that's going to require you to sell a lot of candles to make that back, right, 100 candles to be able to do that. It's possible. But is that the best use of that investment? Probably not. If your average revenue per unit, if you are a roofer, you're looking at a brand new roof replacement anywhere between 10 and $20,000.
So one, one new customer will pay for a $2,000 a year membership in, in one time. Right. So that makes sense for, for them and memberships in any, in all these different organizations kind of spans between free.
The next step is going to be about three to $500 for a chamber all the way up to.
There are organizations that are $20,000 a year.
Now what you get with that is mostly access. Who do you want to know in the room and if you want access to them, this is what you're going to pay.
So that is part of the factor. So when you're looking at a group, you need to look at who's in the room and how are they going to be able to be in a position to support my business? And I don't mean be a customer. So for you as a cpa, Joe, every person in the room is a potential customer. But then once you sell to everybody in the room, what's the point of not being in the room anymore? Right. They're all your customers now. So who else is in the room that is talking to decision makers who are talking to other business owners? They are complementary to your business, but they aren't competing for that business. So when you need, when you want to make an investment, you really want to look at who's in the room that's going to be in a position to talk to you, to other customers that you want to talk to.
And if there's enough in there, you can kind of quantify. If each one of them were to give me one new customer over the course of this year, what does that look like it would turn into in terms of an roi?
So there's a couple of things there that you need to look at. But I, in my experience or what I would recommend is that you, the expectation is about a 10 to 1 investment is what you should be, is what your target should be.
[00:31:56] Speaker A: And what do you do when let's say nothing much is happening, right?
And you're not getting referrals and leads and things of that nature.
Should one and somebody you know plop down $10,000 or $20,000, what happens in a case like that? What should a person do?
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Well, a couple of things. One, well, I'll just do a shameless plug I believe. Network in action. Our organization is the only networking group in the country that provides an ROI guarantee. So we actually guarantee our members that they will get that 10 to 1 return on investment based off of our efforts and our coaching and our, in the network that we provide. So if an organization offers an ROI guarantee, I would recommend that you take them up on that and that would be a good place to start.
But if you don't get it, I always, I'm a very self reflective. We, we are very strong about personal development and who are you being and what's. What are you contributing? How are. So I would first look at what kind of activity are you doing. Are you showing up to all of the meetings? Are you scheduling one on one coffees with other members of the network? Are you asking good questions when you have that opportunity? Are you, you know, are you helping them achieve their goal? So when I sit down with you for an actual one to one meeting. What can I do for you? How can I help? What are you looking for? And then I have an action item at the end of that meeting.
I do all of that because I want to help you. Because ultimately if I do that, I'm hopeful that you will then go, Emily, how can I help you? What can I do for you before the end of this meeting? Right, to help. So like it's self serving but we all get what we want at the end of the day so it's okay. But ultimately like you have to look at, are you doing some of the activity that it's going to take to be able to get an roi? If you are, then you need to go to the organization and express that and get some coaching on.
A lot of people are very uncomfortable with going to people in the group and saying what can I do to earn your business? What can I do to earn your referrals? What have I done? And be open to their feedback. You have to be able to be able to say that to get that feedback so that you can change it and then analyze.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: I'm sorry, do you provide that kind of coaching and teaching somebody how you can't become an introvert, cannot become an extrovert, but an introvert can learn extroverted skills. Right. Do you like help people how to work the room, so to speak?
[00:34:28] Speaker B: Absolutely. In our organization we absolutely teach you how to do that because that's the only way to get the results for the members, right? Like that's our number because of our ROI guarantee. I've got to help them get to place of comfortability. And when we, and when we do our mastermind coaching in our meetings, right, we stay from the front of the room. This is a vulnerable space. We need to like because we are working with high level professionals that have been vetted that know that they want personal development. So I have a joke that I say if you are walking around with spinach in your teeth, you want somebody to stop and tell you, right? So if you're doing something or if you are being ineffective and getting business, I welcome you to tell me what is going on and what do I need to do.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: That is so cool.
I needed you years and years ago.
I've always wondered about, you know, how can one improve oneself if they can't get feedback?
Even if it's anonymous feedback about, hey, this is how you come off. You think you're the friendliest person in the world. You may be coming off as arrogant, you know, so you need people to tell you. And I heard, I don't know if this is true, but I think in the military they do stuff like that. Right. And to have a group of peers that you don't have to worry about being offended and telling you you might want to work on this a little bit, you know, that's huge.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: Absolutely. I had that experience as a young professional where I was in a B and I chapter and I was selling digital marketing, website design.
I always talked in my, in my 60 second pitch, I always talked about lead generation. You want more leads, if you want more phone calls. They didn't need to know how I got them, they just needed to know.
But I worked for a company called Web.com. i had a, I had a member come to me, a real estate agent come to me and she's like, I'm so sorry Emily. I'm like, what, what happened? She's like, I went and I got a new website from somebody else. I did not know that you do websites.
And I was just like, I work for a company called Web.com but I took a minute to like reflect on what am I saying and how am I talking and all of the things and going, oh yeah, I get that because I never talk about like designing websites as a service offering that I do. So when you get that kind of feedback, it allows you to adjust to make sure that you're capitalizing on more business opportunities.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: Yeah, that's kind of crazy. You know, being in a group where it's almost obvious and nobody really picks up on it. So, so do, do you maintain spreadsheets or are there CRMs, are there tracks, doc softwares that you recommend that somebody can track.
This is my group. This is how many times I've been to the group. This is what I paid for it, this, that metric. Any recommendations there? I'm an accounting, so I have to ask that question.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: You gotta have a spreadsheet. Yeah. So if you're paying, if you are investing in what I consider a quality networking opportunity, they should have a platform like that.
The two major ones do they have, you know, you check in for your meeting, then you can, you can pass referrals through the system so it calculates how many you're sending. It also keeps track.
So there is a built in tracking system within, you know, both major organization, most major organizations to be able to know what your ROI is by the end of the year. I also highly recommend because it can get messy down the road like that your staff, you're trained, you know that you have A CRM.
I. Any CRM is good. Go high level, Zoho. There's lots out there that most people already have implemented in their business.
Most people don't use those functionalities that help them track this. So if you are a hive, if you don't have the system yet and you're a young business, please implement it now.
If you are established, if you. That's one of those things that you can fine tune in your business because if you don't know your numbers, you don't know where to invest, the money, the time, the, the energy, but definitely keeping track of where business comes from. So training your staff to say, how did you hear about us? You know, oh, I got a referral from or I was introduced to you by. And keeping kind of. Yeah. A spreadsheet of where all of that business comes from so that you can make a proper analysis of if it's working or not.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: Yeah. All stuff I never did when I was in network and networking groups and I just quit in frustration. And so this is fantastic information.
I can tell the audience that based on personal experience and I'm 67 years old. I've been in business for many, many years. This information is golden. You know, you're going to join a group where there are people looking to do business with you, and that's a whole lot better than going to a party and striking up a conversation that may or may not wind up in a business relationship. So thank you, Emily. This is.
This is fantastic. I so look forward to talking more with you. This is. This got me a little bit excited, I gotta say.
[00:39:33] Speaker B: I see that. I'm so glad I'm turning you into an extrovert right here. I look forward to talking more.
[00:39:40] Speaker A: Yep. Thank you.
We'll be right back with more insights, tools and real talk to help you grow your business.
This is Business Forward on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Joe Reyes and you're watching Business Forward on NOW Media Television. Let's get back into it.
Welcome back. I'm Joe Reyes, Business Forward with Emily Galindo, a massive networker, and she is bringing so much value to us today.
It's like blowing my mind, to be honest with you. So we've covered different things, like the fear of networking, whether or not it's a good fit or whether it's worth doing it financially.
So the last thing I want to ask you, Emily, is as a business owner, I've had my own CPA firm for 15 years and I've had other businesses and the one thing I know is it can be pretty lonely being a business owner.
You know, even if you're married or if you have a good friend or whatever, it's pretty lonely because nobody's in your head and you're the one who wakes up at 2 o' clock in the morning with fear and excitement at the same time. You know, and I've talked to many clients about that and most entrepreneurs I know is like, it's terrifying to be a business owner. So being lonely is, is a big deal. So can networking be combined and partnered with community opportunities or anything of that nature in your mind?
[00:41:16] Speaker B: For me, this is one of the things that is the most untalked about things that networking can provide. So I, I go on a soapbox sometimes where I say that this can be a life changing opportunity and I genuinely mean that it was for me. I did not know that this was going to become my career or anything like that. But I've met so many great friends. I, you know, I've, my life has just ultimately changed and it's surrounded by amazing people who care about my business, who care about wanting to support me.
There's been so many times that I've been able to look at my group and say, hey, I'm really struggling with this right now and I need some support. And everybody stops and kind of drops what they're doing and it's like, how can we support you? What can we do? Like let me do some extra effort to really help support you. I mean, if you cultivate of the relationships like that, that's what it's supposed to be. And even like that's, I mean, so that can be like on the dramatic side, on the business community side. Like you just said, it's incredibly lonely and there's. You're not.
They don't teach business in CPA school, they don't teach business in law school, they don't teach business in plumbing school.
They teach you how to do your thing, which is why you're great at what you do. And there's lots of other things that are involved in business that you are not great at. Like some people probably not great at marketing and don't know anything about digital marketing or SEO and you don't know anything about banking and rates and you don't know anything about. Like there's so many other elements to business and if you were in a room with another expert, they will gladly give you that advice for free. They will gladly help you understand that so that you can be a Better business owner and have less stress and me more supported ultimately by having that community.
[00:43:02] Speaker A: Well that sounds like fun because you don't know what you don't know. And if you're not having anybody talking to you about stuff and somebody who's actually listening, which we talked about earlier, you know, being a good listener pays dividends. And so if you're talking to somebody who's really good at listening, they can pick up. And I've had friends like that, you know, and, and it's always enjoyable being with them and you know, it's vice versa. We listen to each other and so in your groups and networking groups, the good ones like yours, next level Nia, do you like get people together or do they. The folks get together on their own and maybe co sponsor or do a webinar. Co webinar, I guess if that's a term.
Things of that nature so that you can complement each other. Does that?
[00:43:48] Speaker B: Absolutely, yes, absolutely. So an example of that would be like the estate planning attorney and the financial advisor and the CPA all do a presentation and they promote that together. I'm sure you've seen that before. Oh have you done.
They do a presentation and they all co sponsor it. So one, you're sharing in the cost and then two, you have two other people's networks and their client list to be able to send that invitation out to, to put on a nice educational seminar for them.
And that's a great way to introduce your clients to some of your referral partners and your trusted advisors.
There's all kinds of things like that that you can do to showcase. For another example would be when I was in my digital marketing career I would put other like the cpa, the bookkeeper, you know, print marketing, those types of things. In my closing packet it would be like a. Here are some other trusted businesses that I work with. If you need any of these services in your business, here's some recommendations. So there's lots of opportunities to po.
Brand and co. Co present to other people and that's how you can get involved in getting in front of their customer base as well.
[00:44:59] Speaker A: Yeah, so what, what about community like just you know, not networking from the business perspective. What about you know, groups getting together, say hey we're going to do a community service, clean up a local park, you know, stuff like that. Have you been involved in groups like that at all?
[00:45:17] Speaker B: So there's actually there is, there is another networking type that is, it's more philanthropic based. Right. So. Or civil civic service. So the Rotary Club, the Lions Club, those kinds of. Or the Junior League. Those are all examples that we come together. And again, in my world, every network, every event is a networking event, but that's not the purpose of it. But you meet really great people who value the same thing as you. And that's a great jumping off point to eventually get to. What do you do for a living? For us in our organization, we do, we do philanthropic events.
I know that you know, there's others that do fundraising for nonprofits. We have nonprofits in our, in our groups. And so we try to support them and raise money, bring speakers, charge tickets, things like that, to help support them financially.
But yes, abs, and then outside of even that, we have a lot of fun together. A piece of this is as an adult and a business owner and being lonely. We don't really have a lot of friends, typically because we're working so much.
So this is a really great place to actually find some opportunities to just have a drink with somebody or go to dinner or I even have like cold plunge parties at my house for members and whoever wants to come can come over and hang out and have brunch. And so yes, you absolutely get a social, personal fulfillment from this as well, if you want, if you are open to it.
[00:46:43] Speaker A: And I would imagine that somebody coming in from the outside is going to pick up on the warmth of the relationships because that's going to create good, deep relationships. And that goes a long ways for. So people pick up on that very quickly. It's like, is this a friendly group or is it not a friendly group? And if people are chatting and laughing and having a good time together, the camaraderie is evident and I would see how that works out. So, Emily, this is all great stuff. We can go on forever and we're going to. We could have some conversations, you and I.
But how can folks reach out to you and tell us about your business, your contact information, anything that you want to bring to the table so that hopefully our listeners will pull the trigger and reach out and talk to you about networking.
[00:47:29] Speaker B: Absolutely. So the best way to reach us personally in the Houston market is NIA Houston.com it has a list of all of the groups that we do and. And you can book a calendar a one on one with me via Zoom on that website as well.
You can also check out our podcast, our members, we have them in the podcast which is Watch Me with Emily Galindo. And LinkedIn is also a great place. I'm very available. I also host the biz talk show here on NOW Media.
And you can always see me with our members being interviewed on that show as well.
[00:48:05] Speaker A: Oh, thank you. Yeah, I hope our audience will take you up on that. And so, Emily, thank you for transforming the way we think, especially me, about networking.
From nerve wracking mixers to strategic ecosystems that fuel growth and impact in genuine community to our viewers. Remember, success doesn't happen in a vacuum.
You have to, you have to get the courage to get into that room, shake hands, talk to people and trust me, you get over the rejection. If you feel rejected, right, you're going to go to sleep at night, it's going to be over in no time. But you get into the right tribe, develop the discipline of tracking your data, meeting the people, build generosity and build alliances to lift everyone up. It's not just about us, it's about the people we're dealing with.
But choose one action today. Do something to start the networking process and then follow up on that. So just contacting a group, contacting Emily about what you should do next and get that process going, you won't regret it. I know eventually I became friendlier with people and I became more of a networker. But it was on the phone. Right, but not as good as what Emily's going to teach me.
But it is worth it because at the end of the day, you're in business and in your business, you want to move forward. It's business forward. And so invest your time in yourself and other people. Thank you for being with us. And until next episode, keep moving forward and we, hopefully we'll all do it together.
