RPF0671-Ideas_to_Help_You_Build_Social_Capital_and_Political_Influence
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00:00:14.840 | Welcome to Radical Personal Finance, a show dedicated to providing you with
00:00:18.240 | knowledge, skills, insight and encouragement.
00:00:20.680 | You need to live a rich and meaningful life now while building a plan for
00:00:24.640 | financial freedom in 10 years or less.
00:00:26.880 | My name is Joshua.
00:00:27.560 | I am your host.
00:00:28.560 | And today on the show, I want to talk to you about some skills that you can develop
00:00:31.880 | that will help you in life, in business and in your finances, but these skills
00:00:37.160 | are not hard skills, they're not math skills, and we're not going to talk about
00:00:41.280 | a specific financial planning tactic.
00:00:43.560 | Rather, these are soft skills, things that you can use and develop to enhance
00:00:47.800 | your career and enhance in the longterm, the outcome that you gain from your work.
00:00:54.040 | I generally tend to keep Radical Personal Finance free of current events.
00:00:58.600 | Unless they are somehow related to some impending financial news that you need
00:01:03.760 | to know, and of course, from time to time, there's some of that, or unless
00:01:08.640 | there are valuable lessons in it.
00:01:10.440 | And today we're going to talk about networking and developing influence
00:01:14.040 | and how it can help your wealth.
00:01:15.880 | But I was inspired to do this based upon recent news events.
00:01:19.880 | As I record this episode and release it on Monday, September 30, 2019, there
00:01:25.200 | was quite the brouhaha in the United States over the alleged actions of
00:01:30.360 | President Trump, as well as the alleged actions of former President Joe Biden.
00:01:36.680 | The details of that are not material to our conversation, except as it relates
00:01:43.280 | to the income that politicians can gain from their involvement in politics.
00:01:52.840 | My interest is specifically in the story of the son of former
00:01:57.680 | President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden.
00:01:59.920 | And that story is part of the fact pattern over which is being vigorously
00:02:05.480 | debated in the United States over what the son, Hunter Biden, was doing in his work.
00:02:13.000 | Now for context, let me just reference a USA Today newspaper article
00:02:17.600 | from October 17, 2014, headline, "Biden's Son Fails Drug Test."
00:02:23.080 | Is discharged from Navy.
00:02:25.240 | Hunter Biden, the youngest son of Vice President Joe Biden, has been kicked
00:02:28.800 | out of the military after testing positive for cocaine.
00:02:33.080 | Two people familiar with the matter said Thursday.
00:02:35.600 | The younger son of Vice President Joe Biden failed a drug test for cocaine
00:02:39.840 | a month after his commissioning last year into the Navy Reserve and was discharged.
00:02:45.040 | Hunter Biden, an ensign, had been selected for commission as a reserve
00:02:49.840 | officer through the direct commission officer program in 2012, according
00:02:54.520 | to Commander Ryan Perry, a Navy spokesman.
00:02:56.800 | He was commissioned into the Navy Reserve Unit for Navy Public Affairs
00:03:00.320 | Support Element East in Norfolk, Virginia.
00:03:02.720 | Biden, who had no prior military experience, was one of six officers
00:03:07.400 | commissioned nationally into the Navy Reserve Public Affairs Division.
00:03:11.840 | Skipping one paragraph of platitudes, the incident, two paragraphs, Biden,
00:03:17.040 | 44, was discharged from the Navy Reserve in February.
00:03:19.960 | He has worked as a lawyer, lobbyist, and managing partner at the investment
00:03:23.640 | firm Rosemont Seneca Partners in Washington.
00:03:27.080 | He was hired in May to join the board of Burisma Holdings, Ukraine's largest
00:03:32.320 | private oil and gas producer, and be in charge of its legal department.
00:03:37.920 | A spokeswoman for the vice president declined to comment.
00:03:41.240 | That was from 2014.
00:03:43.440 | And the little piece of news that more people today have become aware of,
00:03:46.800 | than they were in 2014, 2015, is that Hunter Biden was allegedly, as far as
00:03:52.200 | I know, this is not a disputed fact.
00:03:53.680 | I guess I should say he was being paid about a salary of $50,000 per month
00:03:58.280 | or $600,000 per year in his work for the Ukrainian oil and gas company.
00:04:04.040 | Now, the facts of this case can be disputed depending on
00:04:10.120 | what perspective you have.
00:04:11.560 | Different people look at it and see different things.
00:04:15.320 | I simply want to point to the bare facts.
00:04:17.560 | The bare facts are that a man was discharged.
00:04:21.200 | It was called an administrative discharge.
00:04:23.680 | Some would allege it's a dishonorable discharge, but the man was discharged
00:04:28.040 | with something other than honorable discharge from the United States Navy
00:04:32.800 | out of a position that he was recently ushered into, which was fairly special.
00:04:37.400 | It wasn't the typical thing you think up with the military, go to
00:04:40.120 | bootcamp and work your way up.
00:04:41.240 | It was just come on in here and work as a lawyer in this spokes department.
00:04:45.200 | A public affairs kind of thing.
00:04:46.640 | Discharged from that for drug use and yet was immediately caught by the
00:04:53.280 | safety net of a $600,000 annual salary.
00:04:56.880 | Now, if you think about that, that's a fairly unusual experience for most people
00:05:05.040 | who go through a similar fact pattern.
00:05:06.880 | I had a good friend of mine, similar in age, served in the Navy.
00:05:11.840 | In his case, it was a more traditional role.
00:05:14.400 | The lower end role was discharged from the Navy for among other things, drug use.
00:05:20.240 | And his life did not go very well after that Navy discharge.
00:05:25.680 | He was not ushered into a $600,000 per year job immediately following a less
00:05:32.320 | than honorable discharge from the US Navy.
00:05:35.200 | There are many people that you know, and that I know whose lives have been
00:05:41.080 | turned up upside down for far less than being caught in the Navy using cocaine.
00:05:49.080 | And many of those people, unfortunately never recover from such a thing
00:05:54.520 | and they never recover financially.
00:05:56.080 | So the question is this, what's the difference between Hunter Biden's
00:06:00.640 | experience and my friend's experience?
00:06:02.560 | The basic facts were similar.
00:06:06.480 | Discharged from the Navy after drug possession and drug use, but the ending
00:06:14.600 | result and the luxury of that result was extremely different.
00:06:18.800 | In the one case, my friend ended up barely getting a job working in the
00:06:24.160 | kitchen of a pizza hut as compared to Hunter Biden, immediately ushering,
00:06:28.760 | being ushered into a job making $600,000 per year.
00:06:31.800 | Well, there are a lot of things we can discuss.
00:06:34.960 | We can discuss the rules that apply to the elites versus the rules that apply
00:06:38.320 | to those who are not part of the elite.
00:06:39.720 | There's some other directions we could go, but I just, we want to
00:06:42.760 | focus on the power of a network and try to talk to you about how you may be
00:06:49.360 | able to build this for yourself while hopefully not being involved
00:06:53.320 | in the seedy side of politics.
00:06:55.920 | We can see from politics that if somebody is able to build a network
00:07:01.920 | and develop influence, they can leverage that influence into financial gain.
00:07:06.760 | It is very hard to find in the United States of America, probably in most
00:07:11.440 | countries, it is very hard to find a politician who achieves prominence
00:07:16.160 | and notoriety, who is not financially set for life through a variety of means.
00:07:23.760 | Now that can be the flat out illegal thing of directly selling influence.
00:07:29.680 | It can be the obvious immoral thing of just simply adjusting things based
00:07:37.040 | upon those who lobby, but not illegal, based upon those who make campaign
00:07:40.640 | contributions to you, et cetera.
00:07:42.200 | Or it can be just softer things.
00:07:44.480 | Have you developed access and influence?
00:07:46.280 | And so you leave office and go and join the board of this company and generate
00:07:50.880 | your salary there through your boardship director and just simply make some
00:07:54.240 | introductions, things like that.
00:07:55.680 | You can talk about insider trading and there are lots of ways that you can
00:07:58.880 | profit off of politics, but it's very hard to find a prominent politician who
00:08:02.760 | does not become very wealthy during and after their time in political service.
00:08:12.120 | Now they do exist.
00:08:13.240 | It's hard to find on a presidential level.
00:08:15.600 | I think the last president who didn't abuse their position was probably
00:08:19.680 | Harry Truman, famously avoided the limelight.
00:08:22.920 | But at this point, being a president or former president is pretty much a
00:08:27.280 | ticket to a very high income post-presidency, six-figure speeches and beyond.
00:08:33.120 | President Obama famously got, I think, a $65 million book advance
00:08:38.120 | for his most recent book.
00:08:40.280 | President Bush has been more quiet, but still gives six-figure speeches.
00:08:45.360 | Former President Bill Clinton gave a series of speech, about a dozen or 15
00:08:49.920 | speeches at about $500,000 each.
00:08:52.040 | So the public speaking circuit is very profitable.
00:08:54.440 | The writing circuit is very profitable.
00:08:56.160 | But this also extends to the children of former politicians.
00:09:01.840 | We see the example from Hunter Biden.
00:09:03.880 | You can think back and Chelsea Clinton, for example, a few years ago was announced
00:09:09.360 | as being a board member on Expedia.
00:09:11.320 | Now think about this, think about what you know of Chelsea Clinton and ask
00:09:14.680 | yourself, what does Chelsea Clinton bring to the board of Expedia?
00:09:19.840 | Now, I don't know.
00:09:21.040 | I don't know what she's done.
00:09:22.200 | I don't know what she studied.
00:09:23.040 | Maybe she's become a tremendously competent businesswoman and is really
00:09:27.360 | amazing, but it was reportedly that reported that they're paying her $300,000
00:09:31.680 | a year to sit on the board of Expedia.
00:09:33.680 | That's not an insubstantial salary for someone to earn when that person is at
00:09:39.320 | least not publicly known for being an incredibly bright businesswoman who's
00:09:43.800 | able to turn company profits around.
00:09:45.320 | Going back prior to that Expedia announcement, Chelsea Clinton was brought
00:09:52.320 | on with a job with NBC as a special part-time correspondent and was
00:09:57.240 | reportedly paid $600,000 per year for her work there to produce some
00:10:02.520 | occasional feel good news stories.
00:10:05.240 | Probably a normal compensation was, if you go back to the news stories at that
00:10:09.280 | time, normal compensation, more like a hundred to $200,000.
00:10:11.920 | Well, she was paid $600,000 per year.
00:10:14.400 | Last we pick on the Clintons too much, the Bushes, similar, similar things.
00:10:18.080 | The daughter of former president George W.
00:10:19.880 | Bush, Jenna Bush Hager reportedly paid $4 million for her work in the TV business.
00:10:25.040 | Her sister $4 million per year for her sister, Barbara Pierce Bush, a little
00:10:29.400 | bit more private, less in the public eye, but still extremely effective
00:10:34.360 | and productive currently reportedly.
00:10:36.640 | Of course, you never know how these things are, are because of the public.
00:10:39.760 | There's not reporting requirements, individual private people's net worth,
00:10:42.880 | but reportedly has a net worth of something like $5 million
00:10:45.760 | at this point as a young woman.
00:10:47.960 | So she's been able to profit off of that.
00:10:49.680 | She gives keynote speeches and famously a few years ago, headlined for planned
00:10:54.640 | parenthood at a keynote keynote speech event there.
00:10:58.080 | And so I don't know what she was paid for that.
00:11:00.480 | I don't know if anyone has ever to able to find out those details.
00:11:02.960 | I don't know if she did a pro bono, but it's not unusual for someone in that
00:11:05.720 | position to make several tens of thousands of dollars for such an event.
00:11:09.040 | And, you know, former president Obama's children are still young, but they will,
00:11:14.480 | as they go through their elite college path and whatnot, they will emerge and
00:11:18.720 | they will be well taken care of for their careers.
00:11:22.000 | And of course, president Trump's children, the same thing
00:11:24.840 | will happen in the coming years.
00:11:26.720 | So it's extremely obvious for presidents and it applies to lesser
00:11:30.160 | degrees to other people as well.
00:11:31.800 | So here's let's move past the seedy side.
00:11:34.840 | Cause I have no interest in politics.
00:11:36.040 | I have no interest in getting you to go into politics.
00:11:38.000 | I, it is important for me to cover the show is called radical personal finance.
00:11:41.040 | And yes, you could become a, a multimillionaire and assure the future
00:11:45.320 | of your children by going into politics, but you often will have to sell your soul.
00:11:49.920 | Maybe there's a few people who don't sell their souls, but
00:11:52.720 | you will have to sell your soul.
00:11:54.520 | It's a seedy, disgusting business.
00:11:56.760 | And what does it profit a man if he gained the whole world
00:11:59.200 | and yet forfeit his own soul?
00:12:01.120 | I see nothing.
00:12:01.840 | But are there lessons that you can learn from that and apply to your own life?
00:12:05.800 | And my answer is yes, because at the end of the day, developing social capital
00:12:10.000 | as one of the forms of capital to develop is not in and of itself wrong.
00:12:14.720 | It's not in and of itself immoral.
00:12:16.080 | In fact, it's extremely important.
00:12:17.680 | And essentially what politicians do is simply on a large level, what you and
00:12:25.360 | I should do in our local communities.
00:12:27.960 | The difference is of course, that politicians do it through the levers
00:12:31.760 | of the government, which has a monopoly on force.
00:12:34.040 | You and I have to do it and should choose to do it by being those who are committed
00:12:38.080 | to nonviolence and non-coercion.
00:12:39.880 | You and I do it through persuasion and influence rather than force.
00:12:45.640 | I want to talk to you about how you can develop skills
00:12:48.760 | of networking and influence.
00:12:50.760 | If there are crimes that are developed or that are actually committed, I don't
00:12:56.440 | know if there are or not by politicians.
00:12:58.280 | Usually it's a matter of leveraging influence.
00:13:01.320 | And sometimes that's a direct payment for services.
00:13:04.920 | You made this payment and funneled the money through to me in some
00:13:09.040 | way that passes the smell test.
00:13:10.960 | And then we find over here that this thing happened that treated you well.
00:13:15.200 | And this happens every day.
00:13:16.480 | All big major companies have their lobbyists on Capitol Hill.
00:13:20.240 | They're constantly involved in saying, how can we tilt the laws in our favor?
00:13:23.880 | And wealthy people, et cetera, do exactly the same thing.
00:13:26.440 | But from your and my perspective, the right way to do this is to think
00:13:30.480 | about how can I be of service to the people that I serve?
00:13:34.760 | How can I help them?
00:13:36.200 | And one of the ways that you can help them is by developing influence, by
00:13:41.080 | developing the way to serve people so that it creates loyalty among your
00:13:46.200 | customers and your clients so that in helping them in the long run, you'll
00:13:51.720 | be able to help yourself.
00:13:52.680 | Zig Ziglar's old saw, you can have everything in life that you want.
00:13:56.880 | If you just help enough, other people get what they want.
00:14:00.280 | I myself am trying to get everything I want in my life by helping you
00:14:05.600 | get what you want in your life.
00:14:07.560 | I'm trying to build financial freedom and impact and influence for myself
00:14:14.960 | by helping you to do that for yourself.
00:14:18.320 | So at the end of the day, we're all doing about the same thing.
00:14:21.280 | When most people go into networking, they think of networking in terms of
00:14:25.240 | this kind of glad-handed go into an event, you know, some kind of local
00:14:29.680 | chamber of commerce event, how are you?
00:14:31.080 | Who are you?
00:14:31.600 | Kind of a smarmy thing.
00:14:34.280 | Now, it's not that that stuff isn't helpful.
00:14:36.800 | Of course, smarmy-ness is not.
00:14:38.200 | My experience though has been that people who are really good in that
00:14:40.760 | context aren't actually smarmy.
00:14:42.280 | But rather good networking goes beyond and it goes to the point of service.
00:14:47.880 | How do you serve people?
00:14:49.160 | And so if we take the lesson of saying, if I can develop influence for myself
00:14:55.560 | and for my family, that I can set the safety net under myself and my children
00:15:00.320 | so that if my child gets discharged from the Navy for cocaine possession,
00:15:06.840 | they're quickly ushered into a $600,000 per year job, that's a really useful
00:15:11.920 | thing as a parent to have as a backup plan if you're trying to help your child
00:15:14.680 | versus they're going to go and become a cook in a Pizza Hut kitchen.
00:15:18.200 | That's going to be the difference based upon how effectively you develop
00:15:22.360 | your networking skills or even for yourself.
00:15:25.160 | How can you set things up so that if you appear on the front page of a
00:15:28.800 | newspaper for some scandalous thing that you've done, and then some months
00:15:32.240 | later, you're trying to put your life back together, you need a job.
00:15:34.600 | Can you pick up the phone and get yourself a job?
00:15:36.880 | Now, to give you some practical advice, I want to read you a few pages from
00:15:40.640 | the introduction of a book that influenced me deeply years ago called
00:15:44.200 | Networking with the Affluent and Their Advisors.
00:15:47.440 | This book was a book written by Thomas Stanley, Dr.
00:15:50.040 | Thomas Stanley, most famously the co-author of The Millionaire Next Door,
00:15:54.320 | and then associated follow on books.
00:15:56.080 | But he wrote a series of books before The Millionaire Next Door
00:15:59.080 | that are very poorly known.
00:16:01.280 | One was called Networking with the Affluent, one was called Selling to
00:16:04.800 | the Affluent, and one was called Marketing to the Affluent.
00:16:07.400 | But when I was a young financial advisor, I was studying this topic because,
00:16:11.880 | of course, if you're a financial advisor, you want to work with the affluent.
00:16:15.000 | And the workbook, and I didn't know, I wasn't a good networker.
00:16:18.600 | I didn't know how to do it.
00:16:20.480 | I never liked the how are you, who are you's at the cocktail parties.
00:16:25.000 | It just wasn't my scene.
00:16:26.240 | And I always thought there's got to be a better way.
00:16:30.360 | And so this book was particularly helpful to me.
00:16:33.280 | And I want to share a few pages from the introduction because it lays out
00:16:36.360 | the basic premise of the book, and there are things that you can add to your
00:16:40.000 | own life to be one who helps and serves the affluent, and there are things
00:16:43.960 | that you can do to help and serve other people that will generate
00:16:47.080 | additional influence for you.
00:16:50.160 | In the book, he spends a lot of time, Stanley spends a lot of time talking
00:16:53.840 | about the things that the affluent value most and how to then engage with those.
00:17:02.160 | But he lays out basically eight different types of networking to do.
00:17:06.560 | And he covers these each in long chapters with long lists of examples, et cetera.
00:17:13.440 | But in the first, in the introduction, he talks about the basic types of
00:17:20.440 | fate or faces he calls them of people who help the affluent and how
00:17:24.760 | that helps their own business.
00:17:26.040 | I'm going to read you these descriptions of the eight faces of those who
00:17:31.080 | effectively network with the affluent.
00:17:33.080 | And as I'm reading them, I want you to think about your life
00:17:35.440 | with those that you serve.
00:17:36.680 | My job is to serve you, but your job is to serve your customers and think about
00:17:43.560 | how you can do these more effectively with your customers, the people that
00:17:48.080 | depend on you so that you could develop political influence in your community
00:17:52.720 | so that you could develop social capital in your community so that you could
00:17:56.360 | develop that social safety net, which will serve you and your children
00:17:59.880 | well in your time of need.
00:18:02.560 | And then at the end, if you find this interesting, I think you should pick
00:18:06.440 | up a copy of Dr.
00:18:07.520 | Stanley's book, in my opinion, is probably his least appreciated book.
00:18:10.920 | Um, but one of the most useful, the eight faces of networking.
00:18:15.720 | Networkers can influence the influential in eight ways.
00:18:19.080 | This book discusses these eight faces or dimensions underlying influence networks.
00:18:24.160 | The following chapters contain case studies of some of
00:18:26.880 | America's top rated networkers.
00:18:28.760 | Most of these networkers employ more than one of the eight dimensions.
00:18:32.600 | However, each is classified according to the major dimension of
00:18:36.080 | influence that he or she utilizes.
00:18:38.080 | The extraordinary networker described in chapter eight actually
00:18:41.440 | employs all eight dimensions.
00:18:43.400 | However, his major dimension of influence is that of someone who
00:18:45.960 | saves considerable money for clients and prospective clients.
00:18:48.840 | He does so by negotiating the purchase of expensive
00:18:51.640 | automobiles and homes for them.
00:18:53.480 | Face one, the talent scout.
00:18:55.720 | Most affluent individuals are either successful self-employed business
00:19:00.640 | owners or self-employed professionals.
00:19:02.880 | They are in constant search of quality suppliers.
00:19:05.960 | Now consider for a moment, the number of quality suppliers that sales and
00:19:10.040 | marketing professionals prospect, productive networkers come into contact
00:19:14.080 | with hundreds, even thousands of suppliers each year, why not act as a
00:19:18.720 | talent scout for clients and prospects?
00:19:21.120 | They will appreciate the efforts of networkers who play this role.
00:19:24.440 | However, truly enlightened networkers focus their energies when playing this role.
00:19:29.760 | They provide talent scout services to people who influence large
00:19:33.600 | numbers of affluent prospects.
00:19:35.280 | By targeting in this way, a young sales professional recently gained the
00:19:39.040 | endorsement of a millionaire who headed an important trade association.
00:19:42.520 | This sales professional, a financial consultant successfully targeted
00:19:46.640 | important opinion leaders who represented the most affluent
00:19:49.440 | industries within his trade area.
00:19:51.280 | How is this accomplished?
00:19:52.640 | He established an industry advisory council that provided top notch speakers
00:19:57.560 | to these affluent affinity groups, free of charge, the council also made
00:20:01.880 | available the names of top ranked suppliers and industry experts to
00:20:05.320 | members of the trade association.
00:20:07.400 | The experts he provided included leaders in such fields as advertising,
00:20:11.320 | estate planning, commercial real estate, marketing, public relations, production
00:20:15.800 | management, and materials procurement.
00:20:18.000 | How was this sales professional rewarded for referring these top
00:20:21.600 | suppliers to industry leaders and other prospects and clients?
00:20:24.200 | His revenue was enhanced.
00:20:25.880 | The main topic of chapter three, the suppliers felt indebted to him
00:20:29.920 | and many of them became his clients.
00:20:31.800 | Within 14 months, he was no longer a six hour per day, cold
00:20:36.280 | calling low level producer.
00:20:37.800 | He is now viewed as a talent scout, an investment expert by members of one of
00:20:42.680 | the most affluent affinity groups in America.
00:20:44.920 | Most recently, he was asked to manage the investments of a trade association that
00:20:49.080 | represents thousands of affluent members.
00:20:51.040 | Chapter two contains several important concepts regarding the way in which a
00:20:54.800 | high grade networker generated significant sales volume via the talent scout strategy.
00:21:00.320 | In addition, a portion of chapter eight details the talent scout activities
00:21:03.840 | of the ace of aces of networking.
00:21:05.680 | His list of talent suppliers has 80 categories.
00:21:09.160 | So phase one is the talent scout.
00:21:11.320 | And I'll interrupt the reading to simply say that if you can be one who helps
00:21:15.520 | other people find the people and resources that they need, you will generate for
00:21:20.480 | yourself political influence and you can do it in a nonviolent, non-coercive way.
00:21:25.200 | Phase two, the revenue enhancer.
00:21:28.120 | What is the most powerful method of influencing those who influence
00:21:32.160 | many other affluent prospects?
00:21:34.360 | As a general rule, it is the discussion of networking called revenue enhancement.
00:21:38.920 | Ask most successful business owners, professionals, and other self-employed
00:21:42.840 | prospects this simple question.
00:21:44.320 | What is your number one need?
00:21:45.960 | Most will answer revenue enhancement.
00:21:48.600 | Given a choice, would these prospects prefer to patronize a supplier who
00:21:52.680 | provides only a core product or service?
00:21:54.720 | That is the basic or conventional offering or one who provides more than the core?
00:22:00.560 | Dull, normal truck dealers offer only trucks.
00:22:03.600 | Unenlightened accountants offer only accounting services.
00:22:07.440 | Run-of-the-mill attorneys offer only legal advice and so on.
00:22:11.160 | Truly gifted suppliers, however, offer more than the core.
00:22:14.840 | For instance, consider the truck dealer who goes out of his way to find
00:22:18.280 | business and customers for his clients.
00:22:20.240 | Also note the business generated by Father Fred, a construction equipment
00:22:24.400 | dealer who lives by the networkers' creed.
00:22:26.440 | You can't sell construction equipment to contractors who have no contracts.
00:22:31.480 | Father Fred is a master of networking via the revenue enhancement mode.
00:22:35.080 | This strategy accounts for a major portion of his own revenue.
00:22:38.200 | Prospects have sought him out.
00:22:40.200 | Influential clients have gone out of their way to refer business to him.
00:22:43.760 | Why?
00:22:44.680 | Because he enhanced their revenue.
00:22:47.240 | He is in constant contact with major contractors who employ his customers.
00:22:51.240 | Most of Father Fred's customers are subcontractors.
00:22:54.160 | On their behalf, he debriefs contractors about their needs for subcontractors.
00:22:59.200 | Thus, Father Fred creates his own demand.
00:23:01.840 | He enhances the demand for his clients' offerings.
00:23:04.600 | In turn, the enhanced demand for those offerings enhances the demand for
00:23:08.880 | Father Fred's construction equipment.
00:23:10.440 | There are thousands of equipment dealers in America, but there
00:23:14.000 | are only a few Father Freds.
00:23:15.720 | If you needed equipment, what type of dealer would you seek?
00:23:19.320 | Revenue enhancement is not limited to the construction industry.
00:23:22.800 | Look at the case of a truly enlightened auto dealer in Texas.
00:23:26.800 | To target top sales professionals from the investment industry, he
00:23:30.640 | networked with a regional sales manager from a brokerage firm.
00:23:33.720 | The sales manager referred his top producers to the auto dealer.
00:23:37.160 | Why?
00:23:37.960 | Because the auto dealer enhanced the sales manager's revenue.
00:23:41.520 | The auto dealer not only referred his top suppliers to the sales manager,
00:23:45.640 | he also sent the sales manager the names of people who had recently been awarded
00:23:49.760 | major construction contracts in Texas.
00:23:52.160 | Almost all of these winners had bids in the over $1 million category.
00:23:56.680 | How did the auto dealer obtain this information?
00:23:58.720 | He once asked a euphoric customer why the customer had just purchased
00:24:02.960 | a top of the line model.
00:24:04.200 | The answer was quite simple.
00:24:05.760 | I just won a major construction contract.
00:24:08.040 | He then asked the customer another question.
00:24:11.360 | Auto dealer.
00:24:12.720 | Sir, is there any publication that lists all of the people in your business
00:24:17.520 | who won construction contracts?
00:24:19.240 | Customer.
00:24:20.280 | Why, yes.
00:24:21.360 | Read the big one section in the weekly publication called the Texas Contractor.
00:24:26.440 | It lists a dozen or more big winners each week.
00:24:29.120 | Not far from the city where this took place, another revenue enhancing
00:24:33.680 | networker, a young financial consultant, recently landed a $15 million account.
00:24:38.360 | His client was the owner of a successful welding company.
00:24:41.400 | When this financial consultant first visited the owner, what did he say?
00:24:45.040 | Two of my most important clients own hundreds of oil drilling platforms.
00:24:49.280 | They're looking for a welding company to service their platforms.
00:24:52.480 | I would like to put you in touch with them.
00:24:55.440 | Both owners of oil drilling platforms did in fact hire the welding company.
00:25:00.040 | And in turn, via the revenue enhancement strategy, the owner of the welding
00:25:04.600 | company opened a major account with the financial consultant.
00:25:07.320 | In another case of revenue enhancement, a young sales professional enhanced
00:25:10.880 | the business of major suppliers to the food industry.
00:25:13.160 | These suppliers included leading industry experts on such matters as advertising,
00:25:18.280 | public relations, marketing, business valuation, estate planning, production,
00:25:22.200 | planning, and commercial real estate.
00:25:23.960 | How did the sales professional identify these experts?
00:25:26.320 | They all published articles in the top food industry trade journals.
00:25:30.080 | When the sales professional in this case first prospected owners of food
00:25:33.760 | companies, they often said, at the moment, I don't need what you're selling.
00:25:37.240 | His response was quite simple.
00:25:39.120 | What are your most pressing needs?
00:25:40.920 | If the prospect stated that he needed an advertising agent, the sales
00:25:44.880 | professional made a referral to the advertising agent who was
00:25:47.240 | published in the trade journal.
00:25:48.440 | The advertising agent reciprocated by opening an investment account with
00:25:52.000 | the sales professional and by referring his food industry clients
00:25:55.160 | to the sales professional.
00:25:56.240 | The top networker who employs a revenue enhancing strategies once stated,
00:26:00.640 | the most important thing you can do to convert a prospect into a client is to
00:26:04.520 | say, give me a stack of your business cards.
00:26:07.000 | I have many clients who are likely to buy from you.
00:26:09.200 | Revenue enhancing methods are simple, logical, and highly productive.
00:26:13.440 | Why then do sales professionals use them so infrequently?
00:26:16.840 | Because these professionals lack empathy for the real needs of prospects.
00:26:21.640 | Fortunately, that empathy can be acquired.
00:26:23.920 | Revenue enhancement is the central topic of chapter three.
00:26:27.040 | Phase three, the advocate.
00:26:29.320 | The affluent in America typically agree with the following statement.
00:26:33.840 | Although thousands of well-qualified accountants, attorneys, architects,
00:26:37.640 | financial consultants, bankers, and other types of professionals can
00:26:40.160 | provide basic services, few of these professionals have demonstrated any
00:26:44.280 | interest in supporting the causes that are really important to me.
00:26:47.080 | The two service professionals described in this section are skilled in
00:26:50.600 | their respective disciplines, however, their success in generating endorsements
00:26:54.280 | from key patronage opinion leaders is explained not only by their core skills,
00:26:58.560 | but also by their advocacy of the needs and rights of their targeted audiences.
00:27:02.920 | Mr.
00:27:03.880 | Allen is a successful financial consultant.
00:27:06.160 | He helps clients and prospective clients by providing them with quality financial
00:27:10.600 | advice and investment management services, but he also plays the role of advocate.
00:27:15.720 | Take a recent situation as an example.
00:27:19.800 | One of Mr.
00:27:20.400 | Allen's best clients is a timber grower.
00:27:22.640 | This client owns thousands of acres of high grade forest and periodically
00:27:26.560 | harvests timber from various tracts, but the client's livelihood is being threatened.
00:27:31.120 | Mr.
00:27:31.800 | Allen discovered this because he is a strategic reader of the editorial
00:27:35.480 | sections of both local and national newspapers.
00:27:38.080 | Recently, he read a letter to the editor of his metropolitan newspaper that proposed
00:27:42.840 | banning the harvesting of timber in the state.
00:27:44.960 | This completely one-sided letter was written by an advocate of woodpeckers
00:27:49.080 | rights, the letter stated that keeping woodpeckers in the forests was of more
00:27:52.680 | importance than the needs of landowners.
00:27:54.520 | In a letter to the editor of the same newspaper, Mr.
00:27:57.480 | Allen advocated a more balanced approach to the issue.
00:28:00.480 | He pointed out that earning a living was a basic democratic right and that
00:28:04.960 | "not even timber people are exempt from having to feed and clothe their children."
00:28:09.000 | Mr.
00:28:10.520 | Allen mailed copies of his letter to all the timber growers and trade association
00:28:14.280 | officers listed in "Who's Who in Timber" and to selected lawmakers and clients.
00:28:19.200 | He attached this note to each copy that he mailed to members of the timber industry.
00:28:23.160 | "I trust the enclosed letter will help your cause.
00:28:26.080 | If I can be of any further assistance to you and your colleagues, please let me know.
00:28:29.560 | I'm a strong supporter of the rights of business owners.
00:28:32.320 | Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.
00:28:34.520 | Please call or write me."
00:28:36.200 | Several timber growers called Mr.
00:28:38.680 | Allen to thank him for his kind support.
00:28:40.880 | All of the others took his telephone call immediately or returned
00:28:44.240 | the call within a day or two.
00:28:45.440 | Several eventually became his clients.
00:28:47.680 | A steady stream of prospective clients has been referred to him by the timber
00:28:51.680 | growers listed in "Who's Who in Timber."
00:28:54.040 | How many other professionals who service the members of "Who's Who in Timber"
00:28:58.360 | played the role of advocate?
00:28:59.640 | According to Mr.
00:29:00.840 | Allen, the answer is zero.
00:29:03.000 | And only Mr.
00:29:04.000 | Allen reaped the benefits that advocates receive.
00:29:06.600 | He has been endorsed as an outstanding financial advisor and asset manager
00:29:10.640 | by an increasing number of industry opinion leaders.
00:29:13.360 | Mr.
00:29:14.360 | John is a landscaper whose case history is similar to Mr.
00:29:16.880 | Allen's.
00:29:17.360 | Although only in his mid twenties, Mr.
00:29:19.480 | John is already an accomplished networker and marketer of his services.
00:29:23.160 | As an example of his high level of networking, consider his recent role
00:29:27.160 | as an advocate of the rights and freedoms of senior citizens.
00:29:30.200 | During a recent visit to his grandfather, Mr.
00:29:32.880 | John learned that his grandfather was quite upset by an article that
00:29:35.720 | had appeared in the local newspaper.
00:29:37.800 | The article argued that seniors were unable to operate motor vehicles
00:29:41.160 | safely and suggested that they be required to take a driver's test every year.
00:29:45.200 | Yet the author of the article provided no hard statistical evidence
00:29:48.760 | to support his contentions.
00:29:50.120 | On behalf of his grandfather and all the other seniors who operated
00:29:53.680 | motor vehicles in the community, Mr.
00:29:55.600 | John wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper.
00:29:57.680 | The letter advocated the right of seniors to retain their driving
00:30:00.760 | privileges and provided statistical evidence documenting the ability of
00:30:04.200 | seniors to drive in a safe and prudent manner.
00:30:07.040 | That evidence was gathered and disseminated to seniors by the
00:30:09.920 | state's mature citizens association.
00:30:11.960 | Mr.
00:30:12.880 | John sent copies of his letter to all of the senior citizens among his
00:30:15.680 | clients and closed with the letter was this note, most of my clients are seniors.
00:30:20.360 | I really appreciate your business and hope that the enclosed
00:30:22.880 | letter will help your cause.
00:30:24.200 | A copy of Mr.
00:30:26.200 | John's letter was placed in his firm's new business development dossier,
00:30:29.880 | also known as a promotional packet.
00:30:32.440 | The letter was also published in three area based newsletters to
00:30:35.960 | which seniors subscribed Mr.
00:30:37.880 | John's trade areas in the center of affluent retirement communities.
00:30:40.800 | And when Mr.
00:30:41.760 | John's firm submits a written proposal to the managers of these communities,
00:30:45.520 | it encloses something that none of his competitors can match.
00:30:48.800 | Mr.
00:30:49.480 | John's letter to the editor, which documents his role as an advocate
00:30:53.080 | of the causes of senior citizens.
00:30:54.840 | Mr.
00:30:55.760 | John also provides free landscaping services to two rest homes
00:30:59.160 | for underprivileged senior citizens.
00:31:01.040 | This contribution is noted in his dossier.
00:31:03.920 | Mr.
00:31:04.200 | John is quite frank about his view of landscapers.
00:31:06.480 | He will tell you that scores of qualified landscapers within his trade
00:31:10.160 | area are skilled in the development and decorative planting of gardens and grounds.
00:31:15.160 | Beyond this core service, however, only Mr.
00:31:17.880 | John distinguishes himself as an advocate of his target market.
00:31:21.240 | Chapter four details several examples of the advocacy role
00:31:24.400 | played by innovative networkers.
00:31:26.240 | Phase four, the mentor.
00:31:29.520 | Many top grade networkers play the role of mentor for clients.
00:31:34.040 | But only a much smaller number have been clever enough to play that
00:31:36.680 | role for the entire membership of an affluent affinity group.
00:31:39.880 | Bart Carr is one of them.
00:31:41.840 | He is the mentor to the members of several dental societies.
00:31:45.280 | Mr.
00:31:45.960 | Carr is not just a financial planner.
00:31:47.520 | He is also a skilled business consultant.
00:31:49.960 | His consulting specialty is enhancing the productivity of professional practices.
00:31:55.840 | How did Bart establish himself as a mentor to dentists?
00:32:00.360 | He asked the various officers of the endodontist society and other key
00:32:04.480 | informants, this all important question.
00:32:06.760 | What do endodontists really need?
00:32:10.600 | Interestingly, Mr.
00:32:12.400 | Carr's survey of key members proved that financial planning and insurance
00:32:16.400 | services were not at the top of his target audience's list of needs.
00:32:20.080 | What issues were at the top of the list?
00:32:22.200 | Two of the most important were one, how to make the
00:32:25.760 | dental practice more productive.
00:32:28.480 | Two, how to value or sell the dental practice.
00:32:31.800 | Mr.
00:32:33.000 | Carr proposed to the leaders of the endodontist profession that he and another
00:32:36.920 | expert conduct seminars on these issues.
00:32:39.200 | He persuaded the nation's leading expert on valuing and selling dental practices
00:32:43.680 | to conduct seminars with him, not by offering to sell him life or disability
00:32:47.560 | insurance, but by offering exactly what the expert needed, an opportunity to
00:32:51.560 | address thousands of prospective clients.
00:32:54.160 | To date, thousands of endodontists have heard their message, a message from mentors.
00:32:59.400 | This is why so many endodontists have sought Mr.
00:33:02.680 | Carr's advice concerning financial and insurance matters.
00:33:05.680 | Would this have happened if he did not first position himself as a mentor to the
00:33:09.520 | leaders, the society, and the rank and file of the endodontist profession?
00:33:13.680 | No, is the answer he gave to this question.
00:33:16.240 | But Mr.
00:33:17.320 | Carr is not the only networker who has served as a mentor before receiving
00:33:20.640 | the benefits gained by mentors.
00:33:22.880 | A young top producing financial consultant recently asked me to send an autographed
00:33:26.520 | copy of my book to the owner manager of a luxury automobile dealership.
00:33:30.040 | I asked him why he was being so kind.
00:33:32.480 | He told me that he had developed an interesting method of generating new business.
00:33:36.080 | He conducts selling to the affluent seminars for selected automobile
00:33:40.320 | dealers and their sales professionals.
00:33:42.160 | In essence, his task as a mentor is to teach clients and prospects how to fish.
00:33:47.360 | At the end of each of these seminars, this financial consultant has given time to
00:33:51.560 | lecture on investment related topics.
00:33:53.800 | Each time he converts a dealership owner into a client, he asks, "Do you know any
00:33:58.360 | other dealers who might benefit from my services?"
00:34:00.640 | A financial planner is even more resourceful.
00:34:03.440 | He had the courage, intellect, and audacity to network with the regional sales manager
00:34:07.840 | for a manufacturer of luxury automobiles.
00:34:10.480 | What was the theme of his letter?
00:34:12.160 | "According to a recent newspaper report, the public views most automobile
00:34:16.800 | salesmen as being unprofessional."
00:34:18.560 | Copy of trade article enclosed.
00:34:21.080 | People in my industry have long faced the same problem.
00:34:23.480 | Along these lines, I conduct seminars on how to put
00:34:26.880 | professionalism back into selling.
00:34:28.520 | I'm sure your dealers could benefit from my message.
00:34:31.120 | I have been a mentor to many people who today are truly sales professionals.
00:34:35.000 | Hopefully we will be able to discuss these and related issues in person.
00:34:38.640 | I will call your office next week."
00:34:40.280 | The regional sales manager did not wait until next week.
00:34:44.640 | He took the initiative of contacting the mentor in this case.
00:34:47.800 | Why?
00:34:49.080 | Because the mentor offered to help solve a major problem
00:34:51.680 | facing him and his industry.
00:34:53.800 | Yes, it is often productive for sales and marketing professionals to
00:34:57.880 | become mentors to influential people.
00:34:59.920 | Most networkers are by definition influential.
00:35:03.440 | So consider the value of becoming a mentor to networkers.
00:35:07.320 | This is truly a worthwhile vocation.
00:35:09.440 | The Dean of Networking, the Networker of Networkers, is
00:35:13.480 | Ms. Jeannie Johnson of Dallas, Texas.
00:35:16.160 | A recent news release featured her contribution to this growing field.
00:35:19.400 | "Jeannie Johnson may not have invented networking, but she perfected it.
00:35:24.040 | In February of 1988, Jeannie left her own investment advisory firm and
00:35:28.480 | concentrated on networking full-time.
00:35:30.320 | She started a company called CEO Network.
00:35:32.840 | CEO Network's mission was to enhance the professionalism of networking as a
00:35:37.040 | potentially unlimited means of generating business.
00:35:39.600 | With the capitalization provided by member dues, many new and exciting
00:35:43.480 | networking concepts were initiated.
00:35:45.680 | In just three years, over $24 million in new sales were generated among
00:35:49.720 | the members of CEO Network.
00:35:52.360 | Networking works.
00:35:53.720 | A network group is a marvelous asset for each member.
00:35:56.760 | The group commits to helping members generate clients.
00:35:59.320 | Members actually become a prospecting force for each other."
00:36:02.240 | Why does the Johnson system of networking produce good results for its members?
00:36:07.120 | Because Ms.
00:36:08.160 | Johnson actually custom designs each networking group.
00:36:11.160 | For instance, take a moment to place yourself inside the shoes of a CPA who
00:36:15.240 | wishes to target surgeons.
00:36:16.800 | Ms.
00:36:17.480 | Johnson will recruit members who can help in this regard.
00:36:19.960 | She will find non-competing professionals and other types of
00:36:22.920 | suppliers for a network group.
00:36:24.840 | But not just any non-competing professionals and suppliers.
00:36:27.680 | The members she recruits will already have many clients and
00:36:30.840 | customers who are surgeons.
00:36:32.240 | And ideally the CPA will already have a client or contact base that he will
00:36:37.040 | share with the other members of his network.
00:36:38.800 | It is Ms.
00:36:40.080 | Johnson's hands-on approach that makes her networking system so productive.
00:36:44.440 | Her proactive role as a mentor to affluent networkers also bears
00:36:48.720 | fruit for the Johnson system.
00:36:50.280 | As a direct result of her personal efforts, many influential people go out
00:36:54.200 | of their way to refer business to her.
00:36:56.120 | As an example of high caliber mentoring, consider the following case study
00:37:00.080 | of how a Johnson network operates.
00:37:02.000 | The plastic surgeon in the network gave a lead regarding a vineyard owner to
00:37:06.840 | the network's commercial real estate agent.
00:37:08.520 | The real estate agent helped the vineyard owner select a site for a wine shop
00:37:12.480 | with a tasting room in Dallas.
00:37:14.560 | After choosing the wine shop location, the real estate agent passed the lead
00:37:17.960 | to the network's advertising agent, who in turn recommended its printer and its
00:37:22.120 | property and casualty insurance agent.
00:37:23.960 | Each network member landed the vineyard owner's business.
00:37:27.120 | The vineyard owner was happy dealing with vendors who knew one another
00:37:30.280 | and cared about his success.
00:37:31.960 | The members of the network felt that it had put forth a collective effort
00:37:35.600 | from which all of them benefited.
00:37:37.000 | All the members of this network are taught by their mentor to give first
00:37:41.080 | rather than to receive first.
00:37:43.280 | Most people fail in their attempts to network because they violate this procedure.
00:37:47.280 | Chapter five details the strategies of several mentors.
00:37:50.920 | Phase five, the publicist.
00:37:53.800 | Generating publicity and related endorsements for others is often more
00:37:58.640 | important than promoting oneself.
00:38:00.400 | This view is part of John Gorslein's philosophy of doing business.
00:38:04.360 | It is one of the major reasons that Mr.
00:38:06.520 | Gorslein is regarded by many as the premier supplier of life and disability
00:38:10.280 | insurance to world-class race car drivers.
00:38:13.240 | The concept of insuring high-risk athletes is a very interesting one.
00:38:16.760 | It is especially interesting to the reporters who cover auto racing.
00:38:20.360 | Many of them have written feature articles about Mr.
00:38:23.200 | Gorslein's commitment to insuring race car drivers.
00:38:25.720 | Such articles have appeared in Auto Week, On Track, USA Today, The Detroit
00:38:31.240 | News, The Montreal Gazette, and The New York Times.
00:38:34.280 | In the 17 paragraphs of The New York Times devoted to telling the Gorslein's
00:38:38.160 | story, the reporter posed an interesting question.
00:38:41.320 | Quote, "Who in his right mind would sell a policy to someone who makes his living
00:38:45.360 | weaving through traffic at speeds that often exceed 200 miles per hour?"
00:38:49.040 | John Gorslein is one who does.
00:38:51.280 | In fact, the Rochester-based insurance broker specializes in life and
00:38:55.080 | disability coverage for racing drivers.
00:38:57.000 | The key to Gorslein's success is the individual approach
00:39:00.360 | he takes to assessing risk.
00:39:01.760 | Insurance companies customarily evaluate and rate the riskiness
00:39:06.400 | of whole categories of people.
00:39:08.160 | But Gorslein has persuaded several underwriters to insure his clients
00:39:11.800 | on a person-by-person basis.
00:39:13.800 | Close quote.
00:39:14.880 | But person-by-person evaluation is not the only reason for Mr.
00:39:18.280 | Gorslein's success.
00:39:19.400 | Many world-class race car drivers refer their peers, other colleagues, and
00:39:24.920 | up-and-coming drivers to Mr.
00:39:26.360 | Gorslein.
00:39:26.960 | Why?
00:39:27.920 | When these world-class drivers were novices, he helped them with
00:39:31.400 | more than their insurance needs.
00:39:32.960 | He went out of his way to endorse them.
00:39:36.160 | He made important referrals on their behalf to writers, reporters, sponsors,
00:39:40.360 | team owners, and race car owners.
00:39:42.360 | In fact, several of the top race car drivers in this country will tell you
00:39:46.040 | that Mr.
00:39:46.520 | Gorslein helped them obtain their so-called "rookie test."
00:39:49.440 | Passing this test is required to obtain a race car driver's license.
00:39:54.160 | Mr.
00:39:55.040 | Gorslein has very close ties within the car racing community.
00:39:57.760 | He serves on several important boards that represent the car racing industry.
00:40:01.520 | But perhaps most important in terms of networking, he is a key source for
00:40:05.960 | the car racing media.
00:40:07.120 | He goes out of his way to supply ideas, wisdom, and case
00:40:11.040 | studies to various reporters.
00:40:12.640 | In essence, many members of the press rely on him for provocative case
00:40:17.000 | studies and new ideas for their articles.
00:40:18.960 | Many members of the car racing media are in Mr.
00:40:21.760 | Gorslein's debt.
00:40:22.640 | He always makes himself available to the press for
00:40:25.000 | interviews and debriefing sessions.
00:40:26.880 | In regard to the car racing circuit, he is a cosmopolitan man.
00:40:30.560 | Last year, he logged over 300,000 miles flying to car races all over the world.
00:40:36.000 | He also spends considerable time debriefing other key informants
00:40:39.000 | about current events in car racing.
00:40:41.080 | Mr.
00:40:41.960 | Gorslein is an information and influence conduit within the car racing industry.
00:40:46.640 | So when he endorses a novice driver to the car racing press, sponsors, and
00:40:51.000 | other important players in the industry, that driver is likely to be
00:40:54.360 | recognized as a future superstar.
00:40:56.440 | Interestingly, Mr.
00:40:58.160 | Gorslein does not limit his endorsements to his clients.
00:41:00.640 | In fact, he endorses any driver who he feels has exceptional talent.
00:41:05.280 | His integrity in this regard is one of the most important reasons
00:41:08.400 | for his success in networking.
00:41:10.240 | It took Mr.
00:41:11.480 | Gorslein many years of hard work and dedication to become a distinguished
00:41:14.800 | member of the car racing community.
00:41:16.680 | Do all sales and marketing professionals have to wait for years before they can
00:41:21.120 | benefit from networking via the publicist role?
00:41:23.360 | No.
00:41:24.160 | Several of the successful publicists mentioned in chapter six are
00:41:27.960 | relative newcomers to networking.
00:41:30.040 | Phase six, the family advisor.
00:41:34.880 | Most accountants, bank credit officers, financial planners, financial
00:41:38.000 | consultants, and life insurance agents can estimate the costs that clients
00:41:41.400 | are likely to incur in providing their children with a college education.
00:41:44.640 | But funding may not be the major issue in this matter.
00:41:47.680 | Some children of the affluent do not generate good high school grades.
00:41:51.160 | Thus they may be unable to gain admittance to the college of their choice.
00:41:55.040 | Developing an investment plan for funding Johnny's college education
00:41:58.640 | makes little sense if Johnny cannot get into college.
00:42:01.400 | Several innovative networkers therefore play the role of family advisor to affluent
00:42:05.880 | families by helping them get into college.
00:42:07.920 | Chapter seven addresses this and other problems that the affluent family may face.
00:42:12.000 | The problems include the wish of children to move back home after completing their
00:42:15.960 | undergraduate or graduate programs, the drug or alcohol dependency of
00:42:19.840 | children or other family members.
00:42:21.440 | The wish of grandparents to move into the home of a son or daughter, the
00:42:26.000 | inability of adult children to provide for the education of their offspring.
00:42:29.760 | The conflict of children or grandchildren over the allocation of the proceeds from
00:42:33.320 | the liquidation of the family business.
00:42:34.920 | At the very least, networkers can help families solve these problems by
00:42:38.920 | referring them to skilled specialists, thus playing a role akin to that of the talent scout.
00:42:43.480 | Influential clients will go out of their way to endorse the networkers
00:42:46.840 | who helped Johnny to get into college.
00:42:48.560 | The role of family advisor is also discussed in a section of chapter eight.
00:42:52.400 | Phase seven, the purchasing agent.
00:42:55.480 | Even extraordinary sales, marketing, and new business development
00:42:58.600 | professionals never fully utilize their skills and inherent talent.
00:43:02.000 | This statement holds especially true for the dimension of networking that relates
00:43:05.520 | to acting as a purchasing agent for clients.
00:43:08.240 | Do you want to attract and retain an increasing number of important clients?
00:43:13.160 | Do you want to influence opinion leaders of the affluent?
00:43:16.000 | Do you want these opinion leaders to go out of their way to refer
00:43:18.960 | affluent prospective clients to you?
00:43:20.920 | If your answer to all of these questions is yes, then consider
00:43:24.480 | playing the role of purchasing agent.
00:43:26.920 | If you're even moderately successful in selling, you are by
00:43:29.800 | definition an accomplished negotiator.
00:43:32.120 | Selling is in essence, negotiating.
00:43:34.840 | Each year you negotiate the sale of your offering with hundreds,
00:43:38.080 | perhaps thousands of clients.
00:43:39.480 | Are you tired of always playing the role of seller?
00:43:42.280 | Why not reverse that role from time to time?
00:43:44.960 | Act as a buyer, working on behalf of clients, prospective clients,
00:43:48.480 | and other influential people.
00:43:49.880 | What is the most distinctive role played by marketing professional, whom I
00:43:53.840 | designated as the ace of aces of networking?
00:43:56.800 | He often acts as an informal purchasing agent for clients.
00:43:59.960 | See chapter eight.
00:44:01.040 | Follow his lead.
00:44:02.200 | How can you acquire the knowledge you need to become an astute buyer?
00:44:05.360 | You already have it.
00:44:06.960 | List the tactics that your toughest clients and prospective clients
00:44:10.840 | employed when you negotiated with them as a seller.
00:44:13.480 | Use these tactics when you make purchases for clients who are not skilled buyers.
00:44:18.640 | Compare your skills and experiences with those of your clients.
00:44:22.280 | Most of them lack your skills in relating to people.
00:44:25.960 | And many of them don't have the time, interest, or courage needed to ask
00:44:29.520 | sellers for a so-called better deal.
00:44:31.880 | Most of your clients are not seasoned buying professionals.
00:44:35.480 | Yet these clients often make both personal and business purchases.
00:44:39.240 | Many of them lose thousands of dollars each year by cutting bad deals.
00:44:43.480 | Describing his own experiences with such clients, the ace of aces of
00:44:47.480 | networking notes that many of my clients find it demeaning to
00:44:50.880 | ask the seller for a discount.
00:44:52.240 | This applies to the purchases of everything from expensive homes,
00:44:55.680 | luxury automobiles, commercial real estate, even businesses.
00:44:58.680 | That's where I come in.
00:44:59.720 | I offer my skills free of charge as an informal purchasing agent.
00:45:03.360 | It's a lot easier to negotiate on behalf of a client than
00:45:06.680 | to negotiate even for yourself.
00:45:08.240 | I have saved my clients thousands and thousands of dollars.
00:45:11.320 | It is just part of my commitment to clients.
00:45:13.520 | There is another benefit of being a purchasing agent for clients.
00:45:16.840 | How difficult is it for a client to ask you to reduce your fees?
00:45:20.920 | It may be very difficult if you recently saved the, that client's
00:45:25.120 | $70,000 by negotiating the purchase price of a home offered at $1.1 million.
00:45:30.280 | Not long ago, the ace of aces of networking cut this deal
00:45:33.640 | for an influential client.
00:45:34.800 | No, the client never asked him for a discount on his fee, but he did
00:45:39.000 | refer several important prospects to him.
00:45:40.840 | Whom would you like to represent you?
00:45:43.160 | A professional who provides only the very basic service or one who will
00:45:47.760 | negotiate aggressively and wisely on your behalf.
00:45:50.320 | Chapter eight provides a profile of the best networker in the context
00:45:54.000 | of a summary of the eight faces of networking.
00:45:56.440 | While this networker often acts as a purchasing agent for clients,
00:45:59.400 | he also plays the seven other roles.
00:46:01.600 | Face eight, the loan broker.
00:46:04.440 | Mr.
00:46:05.480 | W.
00:46:05.760 | Robert Williams is no ordinary attorney.
00:46:07.720 | He is a senior partner of a highly successful law firm.
00:46:10.880 | Mr.
00:46:11.760 | Williams will tell you that he owes his success to providing clients
00:46:14.480 | with more than mere legal advice.
00:46:16.480 | Take for example, some of his recent exploits in the role of loan broker.
00:46:21.440 | Keep in mind that credit is one of the most important needs of affluent
00:46:24.600 | business owners and professionals.
00:46:26.040 | Recently, Mr.
00:46:27.320 | Williams contacted the publisher editor owner of a fledgling trade journal
00:46:31.120 | directed to owners of family businesses to propose that the journal publish
00:46:34.600 | his article on estate planning.
00:46:35.840 | However, before discussing his own objective, he debriefed the publisher
00:46:39.760 | and discovered that the trade journal was suffering from growing pains.
00:46:42.800 | Although the journal clearly had significant potential for
00:46:45.920 | making considerable profits, it was in dire need of a short-term credit infusion.
00:46:50.520 | Two local banks had turned down the publisher's loan applications.
00:46:53.520 | Another financial institution had agreed to lend him money, but he felt that the
00:46:57.240 | loan rate and the origination fees were far too high, Mr.
00:47:00.760 | Williams is highly skilled negotiator and networker offered the publisher his
00:47:04.360 | assistance in obtaining a loan at a competitive rate, he said.
00:47:07.800 | I often help my clients obtain competitively priced loans.
00:47:10.960 | I do it all the time.
00:47:11.800 | I work with over a dozen enlightened bank officers.
00:47:14.200 | I send them a lot of business.
00:47:15.760 | They owe me a lot of favors.
00:47:17.480 | So they rarely turned down an application that has my endorsement.
00:47:20.280 | If they turned down someone I recommend, I never send them any more business.
00:47:24.080 | And they know I'm a man of my word.
00:47:26.040 | As a result of Mr.
00:47:27.960 | Williams' loan brokering activities, the publisher obtained a short-term
00:47:31.560 | loan four days after applying for it.
00:47:33.640 | In fact, several financial institutions competed against one another in attempting
00:47:37.800 | to obtain the publisher as a client.
00:47:39.680 | Mr.
00:47:40.480 | Williams also benefited from this arrangement.
00:47:42.320 | The publisher had Mr.
00:47:43.600 | Williams' firm develop an estate plan for him.
00:47:46.200 | Eventually the publisher also endorsed Mr.
00:47:48.360 | Williams and the firm to all of his major suppliers, printers, office
00:47:52.000 | equipment dealers, media sales representatives, graphic designers, and so on.
00:47:56.200 | And perhaps most important, the publisher proposed that Mr.
00:47:59.200 | Williams write a series of short articles about the estate planning
00:48:03.000 | needs of owners of family businesses.
00:48:05.000 | And a column responding to readers' questions about such topics as minimizing
00:48:08.840 | estate tax, transferring the family business to the next generation, and
00:48:12.800 | dealing with insurance and estate tax liabilities.
00:48:15.720 | The publisher also invited Mr.
00:48:17.240 | Williams to share his booth at his industry's National Trade Association meeting.
00:48:21.880 | At that meeting, Mr.
00:48:23.160 | Williams' theme once again was, "Ask the expert about your estate planning needs."
00:48:26.840 | How should Mr.
00:48:27.960 | Williams have responded to the publisher's proposals?
00:48:30.480 | How would you have responded if you had been in his position?
00:48:33.400 | Today, more than 10,000 owners of family businesses subscribed to
00:48:37.600 | the once struggling trade journal.
00:48:39.080 | Several thousand people attend the industry's National Trade Association
00:48:42.720 | meeting as a regular contributor to both the journal and the trade association
00:48:46.840 | meeting, Mr.
00:48:47.800 | Williams can invite other non-competing networking professionals to get access
00:48:51.880 | members of his targeted affinity group.
00:48:53.480 | In this way, he can give visibility to top-notch accountants, public relations
00:48:57.520 | experts, marketing consultants, and so on.
00:48:59.600 | Mr.
00:49:00.640 | Williams' networking efforts are not limited to for-profit organizations.
00:49:04.520 | When he moved into a new home several years ago, Mr.
00:49:07.400 | Williams also changed churches.
00:49:08.840 | He contributed his talent and skills to his new church.
00:49:11.880 | The minister asked him to serve on its executive committee.
00:49:14.480 | The executive committee consists of more than 150 church members, most of whom are
00:49:19.480 | successful self-employed business owners and professionals.
00:49:22.200 | The church's credit problems were discussed during the first executive
00:49:25.720 | committee meeting that Mr.
00:49:26.800 | Williams attended.
00:49:27.680 | The church had an outstanding million dollar note.
00:49:30.800 | This loan was used to complete the church's youth center.
00:49:34.040 | The interest rate on the note was well above the current norm.
00:49:36.880 | However, the minister informed the executive committee that the lending
00:49:40.480 | institution holding the note absolutely refused to lower the interest rate.
00:49:44.120 | After the executive meeting, Mr.
00:49:46.720 | Williams obtained the minister's agreement to arrange another meeting with
00:49:49.120 | the officers of the lending institution.
00:49:50.880 | He accompanied the minister to this meeting.
00:49:53.320 | Within 10 minutes, the church was no longer burdened with an unconscionable
00:49:57.320 | interest rate on the note.
00:49:59.600 | Why did the lending institution lower its interest rate?
00:50:02.840 | Mr.
00:50:03.560 | Williams explained to its officers that he had contacted several other lenders
00:50:07.440 | and that two of them were already committed to lending the church
00:50:10.040 | money at one over prime.
00:50:11.800 | One of these lenders happened to be the major competitor of the lending
00:50:14.840 | institution.
00:50:15.520 | Thus, Mr.
00:50:16.720 | Williams' network of sensitive lenders contributed to a higher cause.
00:50:20.640 | Mr.
00:50:21.880 | Williams was ultimately rewarded for his efforts.
00:50:24.320 | To date, more than two dozen members of his church have become clients of his
00:50:27.600 | firm.
00:50:28.000 | Positive word of mouth endorsements spread very rapidly through tightly knit
00:50:31.720 | affluent affinity groups.
00:50:35.120 | But what was the cornerstone of the rapid diffusion of positive
00:50:38.080 | information about Mr.
00:50:39.000 | Williams?
00:50:39.920 | Remember that people will go out of their way to endorse you if you do
00:50:43.200 | things that go beyond the core offering.
00:50:45.160 | During a recent executive committee meeting, the minister told the members,
00:50:49.160 | "I have some important news.
00:50:51.040 | We have recently been informed that the interest rate on our note has been
00:50:54.200 | substantially lowered."
00:50:55.280 | He then went on to acknowledge Mr.
00:50:57.280 | Williams' efforts.
00:50:58.040 | He introduced Mr.
00:50:59.040 | Williams as "an estate attorney who obtains credit for noble causes and even
00:51:03.000 | clients.
00:51:03.520 | It's all part of his service commitment to our church and community."
00:51:07.560 | Mr.
00:51:07.920 | Williams' estate planning business is a very successful one, but his estate
00:51:11.360 | planning skills do not fully explain his success.
00:51:14.000 | Much of his business is generated by his efforts to cultivate strong
00:51:17.400 | relationships with what he calls "enlightened credit sources."
00:51:21.720 | Chapter nine details the loan broker concept.
00:51:25.440 | End of the introduction.
00:51:28.840 | I hope that I have piqued your interest in Stanley's book.
00:51:31.960 | It is quite excellent.
00:51:34.160 | And I hope that I have piqued your interest in thinking about how you can
00:51:37.880 | more effectively serve others.
00:51:40.240 | When you look through the headlines, you and I have no way of knowing and
00:51:44.720 | probably will never know whether somebody has a certain connection or a
00:51:50.600 | certain bit of influence and whether that is just the normal functioning of
00:51:54.160 | human life or whether there's some kind of special backroom deal.
00:51:57.840 | Right?
00:51:58.440 | How would we ever know?
00:51:59.880 | So all we can do is presume innocence until proven guilty and try to believe
00:52:06.520 | the best about other people.
00:52:07.960 | But what I've just read to you doesn't involve government politics.
00:52:12.240 | It involves individuals, individuals helping and serving other people.
00:52:16.640 | If you study politicians, what you'll usually find is that politicians prior,
00:52:21.400 | at some point prior to their move into politics, have learned and perfected or
00:52:26.960 | are in the process of perfecting these basic skills.
00:52:30.640 | And what they do is they go from dealing with one affinity group that may be
00:52:34.160 | around an industry or a certain cause to going to an affinity group that usually
00:52:38.600 | involves a geographic area.
00:52:40.160 | And they simply apply those same skills.
00:52:42.840 | So whether that's the mayor of your town lobbying for your town to be successful
00:52:49.000 | as compared to other towns, whether it's a local representative of some kind or a
00:52:53.680 | local governor of some kind, they just simply take one affinity group.
00:52:58.320 | Previously, they worked with car dealers and they just simply adjust
00:53:01.600 | that into a different direction.
00:53:03.360 | But the basic principle for you and me to always remember is the principle of service.
00:53:09.840 | I always go back to that most important statement by Jesus.
00:53:13.200 | "He who would be the greatest among you must be the servant of all."
00:53:18.600 | If you think about that, that sets out the basic paradigm of success in this world.
00:53:24.240 | If you want to be effective, if you want to be great, you must serve effectively.
00:53:29.680 | So if you want your clients to respect you, you need to serve them effectively.
00:53:34.760 | If you want your customers to appreciate you and to promote you, you must serve
00:53:39.400 | them effectively.
00:53:40.400 | And if you want your constituents to vote for you and to move you forward, you have
00:53:44.000 | to serve them effectively.
00:53:45.920 | You cannot forget who it is that you actually serve.
00:53:49.440 | If you've never discussed the topic of networking, you've never studied it, just
00:53:53.680 | consider this.
00:53:54.560 | If you're looking for a safety net to put underneath your family, your social safety
00:54:00.040 | net that you develop is a powerful tool in your arsenal.
00:54:04.440 | If you can pick up the phone and get yourself, get your son a job making $600,000
00:54:11.840 | per year, you now have a powerful tool that you can use for the success and
00:54:19.080 | well-being of your family.
00:54:20.160 | When you can do that, it really doesn't matter how much money is in your kid's
00:54:26.240 | 529 account.
00:54:27.360 | Really doesn't matter how much money you have.
00:54:30.160 | So while you're developing your financial capital, develop your social capital.
00:54:37.160 | And if you've never studied the topic of networking, I encourage you pick up a copy
00:54:40.840 | of Stanley's book, Networking with the Affluent.
00:54:43.400 | Read it, consider the examples and see how you can apply them to your own life.
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