Mark Taylor- Networking

Imagine what life would be like if you had a group of 30-40 people helping you build your business. All from different professions. Making introductions for you that you'd never be able to arrange on your own. Specific introductions to people that you're trying to connect with. How about a team of business professionals who are intent on giving first, dedicated to the philosophy of "Givers Gain"? How would that compare to the way you currently prospect for business?
That's exactly how it works when you are selected to be on one of our teams. It's friends helping friends. Referrals on purpose. And it's unbeatable.

Successful candidates will have the following qualities:
​*Known for their high integrity and positive attitude
*Motivated to succeed
*Understand and live by the philosophy of gaining by giving first
*Excellent in their chosen field
*Well connected within their community

Connect with Mark for details
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktaylorbni/

Your hosts: Colton Cockerell & Trisha Stetzel
Click for more about your hosts:
Colton Cockerell
Trisha Stetzel

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Transcript

Colton Cockerell: 0:04

Hello and welcome to a another exciting episode of Bridge the Gap where we're balancing life through health, wealth, business and relationships. Alright, hello everyone and welcome to the show. My name is Colton Cockerell. And with me, I have the Miss Trisha Stetzel. Trisha, how you doing?

Trisha Stetzel: 0:24

Colton? I'm great. Hey everybody, Trisha Stetzel Results, Xtreme Business Solutions here. And as you remember, the whole month of April, we'll be talking about business success. And today we're gonna talk about how networking is important to your business success. And who better to talk about networking, and Mr. Mark Taylor BNI Houston East Executive Director, Mark Taylor, welcome to the show.

Mark Taylor: 0:50

Good to be here.

Colton Cockerell: 0:51

Yeah, no, it's It's good seeing ya. And before we jump into questions, because I'm dying to ask you some questions in the hot seat today, I want to go ahead and introduce our sponsor, which is Sharer McKinley Group LLC. So Mr. Taylor, I guess, let's first start the show. I know a lot of people probably know what it is. But for those that maybe don't live in under a rock somewhere, what is networking? Ah,

Mark Taylor: 1:12

you know what? It's a good question. Because I think if you ask five different people, you might get five different answers. I'll give you my my definition of networking. Networking really is simply interacting with other in a business context with other business people. Networking to me, is people to people. And there's ways to do it. But I'm going to just be pretty generic. There's, it's it's getting out and interacting with other people. I say getting out because I guess you can particularly these days, you can network virtually, certainly I do, and many people do. But whether it is virtually or in person, it is meeting other people and hopefully discovering common interests, and maybe common goals and those types of things.

Trisha Stetzel: 1:59

I think I know the answer to this question, but I'm going to ask you anyway, why is networking important to business? If we can explain it to our audience here, it might open some eyes to we've got to do more than just market on Facebook and LinkedIn, etc, etc. Right? We've got to get out, as you said, Mark, and meet people. So why is networking important to the success of your business?

Mark Taylor: 2:23

online networking is important because businesses need business, they need more business. There's always exceptions. When the overriding majority of business, people roll out of bed every day. And one of the things that they are driven by is I need more business. We've had a great quarter this first year so far this year, how are we going to maintain that or improve that the next quarter? We had a challenging year last year, what are we going to do to get more business, whatever it may be that motivates them? I don't care if you're a doctor, you're a plumber, you're your banker, whatever it is your profession. Most businesses large and small, whether they're entrepreneurs or have hundreds, if not 1000s of employees, they need more business. And there's lots of ways to do it. Certainly, but we're talking about networking today. And so in the context, I don't think anybody argues with the fact that the best way to get business is by referred business me introducing you to somebody I know I have a relationship with and who is has an interest in talking to you about your business. That is what we call good old word of mouth advertising. Absolutely Nobody disputes it's the best way to do it. And yet very few companies effectively do that. Or certainly they don't they don't gain a large percentage of their business through networking, ie referrals. There's the challenge.

Colton Cockerell: 3:52

Now you're a big proponent of killing the cold calling. You're just you hate it and you're not a fan at all. So how can you be affected whenever you are going to a networking event or net? Just something where you're connecting with people? Do you have any tips or any ideas for people to consider when they are preparing? And then while they're actually networking?

Mark Taylor: 4:12

Yeah, absolutely. In fact, we teach a lot of classes on on effective networking skills. One of my favorite one of a crowd favorite is the 10 commandments of a networking mixer. How to turn a networking mixer into the most profitable event of your of your business week. Now that's compelling because many of us have via our experience has been that networking events can be exhausting that can be time consuming and ultimately non productive. We end up spending a lot of time maybe even some money doing that as a passing a lot of business cards make a lot of contacts with little or no results. That's that's a frustration but what I would say is this first decide to do something about it yet Out of your cave, your office, your house, your wherever it is, and decide you are going to solve this problem that you are going to learn how to effectively network, I will just give you a couple of points that I learned early on because I got that friend and a friend of mine and I learned from other business people that we needed to go to networking events we did. And we didn't know what to do. So we just watched others, I think this is a pretty common experience. When you go to networking events you're gonna observe like we did, others have a stack of business cards, a stack of their brochures about their product or service. And it seems to be the unwritten agenda is fan out and try to contact as many people as you can and give them your elevator pitch, which is designed to interest them and your product or service, hopefully schedule an appointment or a lay a meeting later on so that you can sell your product or service to them. And that's largely what goes on at a lot of networking events. And nobody goes to a networking event to buy a home to look for an insurance agent so they can buy a policy. No one goes to a networking event to buy anything. Virtually everybody goes to sell something. So in answer to your question, first thing I'd recommend is leave your stuff in your vehicle, which sounds preposterous. What do you mean? What a waste of time leave my stuff? That's why I'm here. Yeah. Well, that's why it's probably not working for you. Well, if you leave your stuff in your vehicle, maybe accepting your business cards, what am I supposed to do? Relax, go with a group of people, by the way, and I'm not going to give you all the 10 commandments, but one is go, don't ever go alone. Usually, I recommend you go with a group go with a mob, go with half a dozen or more people that you know, so that you're not don't fall victim to what most of us fear and that is walking into a roomful of strangers and not knowing what to do, where to go, where to say what to say. But the in general, I would say go to a networking group with others in mind, which is completely at odds with what the business world would tell you to do. Sales Managers will not tell you to do that. They'll say, Mark, if you're going to go to a networking event, you need to come back with 1520 30 business cards so you can get on the phone and pound the phone the rest of the day, and see if you can't get business appointments with them, ie cold calling.

Colton Cockerell: 7:17

But yeah, and that's the that's your philosophy of net hunting versus net farming.

Mark Taylor: 7:22

Yeah, and it's actually not even mine, it's it. But it's a simple, it's a fundamental difference mindset of how you approach networking events. There's not a moral issue between hunters and farmers in this context, but they are different in nature, a hunter is, the idea is it's in the field this morning, it's in the oven tonight, it's transactional, it's literally shoot to kill hook and eat. Alright, well, in contrast, a farmer course is all about planning and planting and cultivating and working toward a harvest in the future, which is something we do not want to hear these days. We live in a world of instant everything. And we actually would like it faster than that if at all possible. So it it's a different mindset. If anyone can actually ever grasp that and determine or decide to adopt that philosophy, then and only then will they begin to see what a farmer sees in time, not a great deal of time. But in time, your relationships begin to blossom, they begin to bloom and bear fruit. And any farmer will outstrip any hunter when it comes to producing stuff for the table, I guess you could say.

Trisha Stetzel: 8:34

And Colton, I are both in businesses or industries, if you will, where we're building relationships. And I think that's important. And I think in any business, it really is about building relationships, the customer, the client, the prospect wants to buy a relationship with you, they don't necessarily want to buy your service without you. Right. That's why we're out there building relationships with people. And I think the whole idea of building those relationships so that people can be on the lookout to help you market your business. Gosh, who wouldn't want to do that? So Mark, can you talk about the idea of building relationships with people so that they can actually help market you not necessarily sell anything for you but be thinking about you while they're out? Networking is a

Mark Taylor: 9:17

powerful, powerful concept. Again, it's so doggone obvious most people overlook it. And it's we're really talking about this Tricia, friends like to refer friends, you don't have to compel them to do it. You don't have to tell them to do it. They just do it because friends help friends out. So yes, while I'm meeting you in a maybe a networking environment. I want to know don't have like this gal. If she fun. She could do we click? I mean, or is she is she got me pinned against the wall with their presentation. We're already down to handling the third objection. I mean, you know what I'm talking we've already already all run into those kind of people. You You know who you like and who you kind of hit it off with. And as you develop that relationship, here's how you have someone help you. It's called helping them first look, Trisha, if I learn about your business, and I'm curious about Well, I wonder, you know, what is the client for you? Can you describe that for me, because I work becoming friends here, I'm willing to help you, it is very difficult for you to not want to help me back when I am tucking dollars into your purse, when I am actually opening doors that you would never, and I mean, ever open on your own. Oh, you might, if you want to get in the line, that extend from the guy's desk all the way through his office and out the door and around the block. If you want to get in that line of people who just want 15 minutes to talk to him. Good luck. But if you'd like to meet him, he's a friend of mine. He's my brother in law, we play golf ball, or whatever our kid is, you know, we're in sports together, get that going and say goodbye to cold calls.

Colton Cockerell: 11:03

Yeah. And I think a lot of people in their minds like, market so much work, I got a bit of extra time. So can you tell? How do you crush all that? How do people get out of the mindset of the hunting mentality and actually moving over into the farming mentality?

Mark Taylor: 11:18

You know, let's say a farmer goes, Man, I love the idea of a bountiful harvest. But it's just too much work. I'm like, well, give up your hoe and your tractor and go get a gun, you ain't changing the nature of farming. You're asking for me for a pill that will help you lose 50 pounds by this time next week. There's not one, now there's somebody out there, that'll sell you one. But there's not one. So when someone asked for that, heck, I want that. I've just said I want instant everything. If I can have that, it just doesn't work. So just accept that as one of the realities of life that you accept every day anyway. And if you just decide not to accept that, then go be a hunter go cold call, go knock doors, it works. It's horrifically non productive. I mean, anyone who knows cold calls knows that it's the lowest rung on the prospecting ladder. But it is a rung on the ladder and it does work. And if you don't want to wait for the harvest, go knock 50 doors tomorrow, go pick up the 1000 pound phone and make 50 phone calls and do it again the next day, and the next day and the next day, and then come back and talk to me about wanting to be in that farmer.

Colton Cockerell: 12:33

People just don't they don't want to wait once they start in their first few referrals mean this works and they get fired up. But until that they just have to waste the time. Yeah, I'm with you. Just again, instant instantaneous gratification. It's just not,

Mark Taylor: 12:45

don't have that for you. It's like when you go people go to their doctor, and they they want to hear what they want to hear when the doctor says something that amounts to a lifestyle change. They're like, yeah, I need a new doctor need a second, I need a 14th opinion, the previous 13 Doctors said the same thing. And I don't like to hear that, well, I don't have an antidote for that I can actually help you. If you'd prefer to have instant business, then my recommendation is go cold call and do a ton of it forever,

Trisha Stetzel: 13:16

forever. Well, and that relationship building is so important. I tell people all the time, you know, the success of your business is dependent on that relationship building. Because if you're just cold calling, then you're not really building credibility with people, right, you still have to do that at some point before they're going to buy from you. And that credibility can come through that referral marketing. So real quick, Mark, I you know, in the realm of referral marketing, there's this whole idea of being visible credible, before you can actually start making that money. What does that look like? Well, we kind of

Mark Taylor: 13:49

touched on it a little while ago, you actually have to, again, you it's a mindset, you have to decide as a business person, how are you going to get more business? And if you choose to do as we're talking about to say, Okay, I'm going to give this networking a fair shot. Well, then, don't be that first semester freshman who goes to college and comes back after three grueling months and says, This is tough. I don't know if I've got it in me. Just decide that it's going to take a look, it took a while for you to learn your own profession, right? It took a while and you you know, but you stuck with it. And you've now mastered it to the point where you can call it a profession. This is where it's really going to require the same mindset. So and then apply yourself to learning how to do it. And once you get your going, though, then it sustains itself as but you have to you have to be you know, it's kind of like a team sport. If I want to be on the team. I can't just show up on Friday nights or Saturday afternoons, whatever the game is. There's Most of the work goes on that the public doesn't see. And it's that commitment to the team in this case. And so if you're going to commit to change in how you get business and you want referred business, then you're going to have to do what referral athletes do. And they they do the things that it takes to make that to cause that to happen.

Trisha Stetzel: 15:25

And then we got you so yeah,

Colton Cockerell: 15:30

I'm here real quick. Is there any big networking events that you would recommend to people that are looking for those networking opportunities? Yeah,

Mark Taylor: 15:39

I was a frustrated networker years ago and I learned of an organization called BNI. Business Network International, became a member I've that's where I actually learned how to do this. Many others 1000s of have done learned the same as I have for those for whom this model fits. It's a great way to develop the skill sets we're talking about. I escaped the cold calling world and it is my passion to help as many others do that as I possibly can.

Colton Cockerell: 16:05

Mark, thanks for being on the show touching and take us out.

Trisha Stetzel: 16:08

Absolutely. Mark Taylor, thank you so much for being on the show with us today. We appreciate all of the knowledge that you bring around networking and success in business. guys tune in next week for another exciting episode of Bridge the Gap will be focused again on business success, finishing out in the month of April. And next week's guest is a surprise guest but you're gonna learn even more about business success.

Colton Cockerell: 16:33

Thanks again for tuning into this week's podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and share this podcast with the most important people in your life. Colton Cockerell with Sharer McKinley Group, LLC is located at 820 South Friendswood Drive Suite 207 Friendswood, Texas 77546 phone number to 281-992-5698. Securities and investment advisory services offered through NEXT Financial Group, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC Sharer McKinley Group is not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group, Inc.