The Power of your Network In Sales

Keywords:
Networking, business growth, relationship building, sales strategies, transformational leadership, core four, reciprocity, intentional networking, client nurturing, personal branding

Summary:
In this conversation, Janine Garner explores the transformative power of networking for business growth. She emphasises moving away from transactional networking and instead building genuine, meaningful relationships. Janine introduces the concept of the “core four” groups in your network: promoters, pit crew, teachers, and butt kickers.

She shares practical strategies for effective networking, including the TAD process (Thank, Ask, Do) and “light touch” networking to maintain connections without being overwhelming. The discussion also covers how sales is evolving, the importance of being intentional in networking, and the role of reciprocity in creating lasting connections.

Key Takeaways:

• Networking is about building genuine relationships, not just transactions.
• Identify the core four groups in your network: promoters, pit crew, teachers, and butt kickers.
• Intentional networking requires effort, focus, and strategy.
• A “no” is often just a “not now”; adjusting your approach can create opportunities.
• The TAD process (Thank, Ask, Do) can enhance your networking results.
• Light touch networking helps maintain connections without pressure.
• Showing genuine care and curiosity fosters trust and stronger relationships.
• Reciprocity is essential—give without expecting anything in return.
• Understanding your clients’ challenges allows you to offer better solutions.
• Networking is a transfer of humanity, not just information.

Learn more about Nicky at nickymiklos.com

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Contact: 0403 191 404 | hello@nickymiklos.com

Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley

Transcript

Speaker: 0:06

Hello and welcome to another episode of Smart Business Growth Podcast. I'm thrilled that you are joining me this week. And we have a very special guest who is an absolute global powerhouse. Janine Garner and I dive deep into an amazing conversation about really the difference between smart business growth versus transactional sales. Now, Janine is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, educator, and author. She has multiple best-selling books, which we dive into a little bit today as well, particularly around how to leverage our networks to grow our personal brand, but also nurture clients for the long term. Janine works with high-profile global leaders and helps many of Australia's top 50 ASX companies and multinationals. You'll recognise some names in there like Hewlett Packard, Optus, CBA, and so many more. She's absolutely obsessed with unleashing the brilliance in individuals, in teams, and in companies. She has built businesses, sold businesses. She's had an incredibly successful corporate career working on marketing across global brands, and she brings all of this wealth of knowledge into this conversation. So we covered off what really is our number one competitive advantage today in 2026 when it comes to either being a sales lead, a business owner, or even a salesperson. How do we cut through the noise to be compelling enough for our clients and our prospects to say yes? And we also had a conversation around how has the role of sales actually changed? What do we need to consider in 2026 if we're in a sales or business growth role? We dive deep into understanding the four key relationships that are needed to nurture. So again, really moving away from transactional selling, short-term focused sales to more smart business growing growth, having long-term sustainable relationships with existing clients. And some real talk about networking, what it should be, what it shouldn't be in this modern-day age, and what does the future look like. Now, Janine has so many creds behind her, along with her experience. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Aston University UK and was honored, awarded an honorary doctorate of science from the same university in 2016. As well as being a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School in the Art and Practice of Leadership, a partner at Thought Leaders Global, she's also won an International Stevie Award in recognition of her work. So let's get into it. Enjoy, and we'd also love to hear from you. What did you take out of today's episode? What really stood out for you? And we've we've put some challenges throughout the conversation for you as well. Enjoy it, and I look forward to seeing you next week. Janine, it is no secret that I'm a huge fan of yours. Also, you have had a massive impact on my personal growth and my business growth over the last, I think, four years. So thank you so much for joining us today on this episode. I'm really excited about the conversation we are about to have. My absolute pleasure. It's my honor to be here, Nikki, to support you and your clients. Look, I know those of you who've tuned in for this episode, you are in for an absolute treat. And I think this is going to be one that is going to be played on repeat because we've covered off the bio already. But, you know, I want to kind of really touch on this point that you are a sought-after international speaker on leveraging networks for growth. And we talk a lot in this podcast about moving away from transactional sales to how do we embrace smart business growth for long-term success. You know, you have built and sold businesses. You're known as the queen of reinvention. Um, and there's a lot of smart growth that you've you've embraced, but also had to learn. You're also the uh best-selling author of multiple books. So I'm showing for those watching on uh I can't fit them all in the screen, Janine. All those post-it notes. The post-it notes. Now, interesting. We're gonna dive into it's who you know because this for me, well, they're all game changers, but this particularly from the topic of what we're talking about today, leveraging uh contacts and networks, you'll notice there's different types of uh post-it notes because I revisit it. And every time I revisit it, there's a new learn, there's a new insight, something to take away. So it's who you know, my friends, is incredible in terms of building and leveraging a network from an individual point of view. Um, I found this really refreshing because having been come from sales and hardcore sales and the networking and the icky, you know, how many business cards did you get? How many contacts did you get? Um, let's just start with in general, what prompted you to write this book? Because this is still going gangbusters.

Speaker 1: 5:17

Oh, it's insane. It's actually um continuing to sell around the world. It's been translated into about eight different languages. We're talking about a second edition as we speak, and the demand for this post-the-pandemic actually has gone through the roof because I think finally people are understanding the power of relationship, of connection, of humanity in business. Um, and it's interesting that you talk about revisiting it because I actually revisit my own network using that IP every single year. So every single year I sit down and I think about where I'm taking my business, what opportunities I'm seeking, the relationships I've currently got, the clients I've got, and I map my network according to it's who you know every single year. So it's living and breathing IP. Um, in terms of where it came from, a mentor of mine a while ago, um, gosh, probably about 10 years ago, I started working with this particular mentor. And we were looking at the progress of my business, the next piece of IP, et cetera, et cetera. And I was telling him about how my business has grown, um, about how I actually built my career from scratch again, arriving in Australia in the year 2000. So I arrived with zero network, zero job, zero place to live. I had a backpack, a passport, and a boyfriend at the time, and who's now my husband. And um, you know, I built a very successful corporate career, um, doing incredible things, award-winning campaigns, um, getting my, I was group marketing director for Oraton Groups. I was looking after the Ralph Lauren brand and Oraton brand here, and getting initiatives happening here for Ralph Lauren that had never happened before, initiatives that were taken globally, and then building my own businesses, as you touched on. And the mentor said to me, How how do you do it? Like, how how do you bring these ideas to life, Janine? How do you stay connected with people? And I started telling him what I did, and he said, You need to capture that. You, you need to, you need to think and how you do it. What is the system you use? And I went, doesn't everybody work like this? And I went, no, Janine, the way you approach networking and connections is unique. And so that's where it's who, you know, came from of really digging deep and really assessing and analyzing how I work, how I approach connections, how I've built businesses, how I've managed to get promotional initiatives and brands launched around the world in ways that other people haven't done at. And it's always about people.

Speaker: 8:14

It's always about who you know. And just like you said, even more, you know, it's bringing that human element, which we're yearning for so much, possibly even more than ever before, with trust in an all-time low, um, yearning for trust and connection and with AI and spamming and, you know, like we can't even trust audio. Uh, is it the person that we're actually talking to? So it makes sense that, and there's a returning, I think, to that older school way of genuine connection. So what I'm loving in this is not just the relevance and the continued relevance, but also how this is um really impactful, regardless of what role you're in. You mentioned you use this same strategy in corporate, in business. And again, we can use it to build our individual network around us to um, well, build our businesses. But also I'm really curious, please share with us so that everybody knows I'm diving straight into the guts of it. Um, can you talk us through in the book you talk about? There's core for, the core for. Talk us through uh what that looks like, because that to me is the quintessential essence of what we need to be doing to nurture existing and Yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:26

Well, well, fundamentally, just to take one step back, I think we've got networking all wrong. Um, I think we've all been fed an absolute furfy lie um explanation of what networking is. And so many of us are scared of networking because of that teaching and that understanding, which fundamentally is transactional and it's icky. It's it's a numbers game, it's it's you know, surface-level conversation, it's fundamentally about trying to get the sale. So we've got networking all wrong, and the ickiness around networking is the transactional nature of it. Now, the reality is all of us in business were in the business of business, we're in the business of sales, we're in the business of growth, we're in the business of looking for opportunities. But where we've got it all wrong is that transactional nature is impacting how we connect as humans. So it's become what's in it for me. It's become shallow conversations, it's become all about the sale, it's become looking for the win. What I've done is gone, yes, you need an element of that. I'm in business myself. I'm growing my business every single day. Of course, you want sales. But I do it more from this transformational leadership uh networking perspective. So I talk about four groups of people that we individually need to have. So I'll talk first about the individual network. So if you think about yourself, so if you're a business owner, um, if you're a leader in an organization, um, whatever area you're in, by the way, I teach my 22-year-old son this too, and he has got the job of his dreams as a result. I go, what is it that you're trying to achieve over the next six months, 12 months? What are the business goals? What are the uh financial goals? Um, what are you trying to do personally, et cetera, et cetera? And thinking about that, ask yourself who is gonna help me? Who do I know that deep down is going to help me? And this is where most people have not considered the power of a network. And I talk about four groups. I talk about finding people that are going to stretch us further than we can ever go ourselves. People that are gonna keep us well and truly in the present, uh, ensuring that we're making the right decisions at the right times, and surrounding ourselves with people that are gonna push and pull us towards our dreams. And the four groups of people are promoters, these are the people that uh believe in you, that will stretch you, that are like your marketing machine, your walking billboard, they rave about you. They're all about wanting you to become more. There are your pit crew, these are the people that really care about you. And it cannot be husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, cats, and dogs. It's who's professionally has got your back. Who are the people that yes, they're gonna give you the high five. But when times are shit, which in business it's tough, they listen, they understand without judgment, they don't go into drama or gossip. They give you the biggest hug that you need, and then they ensure they get you back on track. And it's very different because there's a lot of drama in the world right now, there's a lot of gossip in the world right now, there's a lot of blame in the world right now, and having those people around you is critical, particularly in business, to help you scale, to help you grow, to help you build what you want. That truthsayer person. And then the third group are the teachers. And these are the ones that want you to know more. These are the ones that are willing to share with you everything they know, all their learnings, all their wins, all their strategies, everything that they are noticing and seeing right now, they're sharing it with you because they want you to know more. And the reality is in this world of tech, which most of it is based on past, the only competitive advantage any of us have had is what we think. What we think, what our perspective is, what our view on the world is. Um, and just on this point, I was talking to the CEO of a major tech company this week, and his conversation with me is Janine, I've got a really high performance, a high-paid sales team. Really high-paid sales team. And yet they're not hitting budgets. My clients have told me that the sales team are order takers, that they're waiting for the order to come through. And what we were talking about was the importance of network. The the salespeople have to become the teachers, they have to become the relationship creators, the strategic partners, the idea generators. That's where the sales opportunity comes from. So, teachers, we need teachers as individuals, and we have to become the teachers if we want to win the game of business. And then the final group, uh the butt kickers. Like it's so easy to follow shiny stuff. It's so easy to get taken out of track. You and I have talked about this multiple multiple times, Nikki. The hardest thing in business right now is staying the course. It's doing the boring work, it's doing the reps, it's staying focused. And we're in a world where we are constantly being bombarded. We try this, do this, try something different. But that ability to stay the course and do what you're saying you're gonna do is really hard. And this is where the butt kickers kick in. And there are too many of us that think we can do it on our own, that surround ourselves with yes people that tell us we're awesome, or that think we're doing everything, but the reality is we go back to the very thing that's an easy way of thinking or an easy way of doing, or we add things to our list so that we can tick it off. We need that person that's gonna push us and say, hang on, you said you were gonna double your revenue this year. What are you doing? Oh, well, Janine, I'm sitting behind my computer writing content and da-da-da-da. I said, Yeah, but how many offers have you made? How many conversations have you had? How how many coffee meetings? How have you tapped into your network? And this is what we need. So we need promoters, we need pit crew, we need teacher as individuals, and we need um the butt kicker. Now, what you're alluding to, which I'm sure you're gonna ask me.

Speaker: 16:33

I gotta jump, I gotta jump in before we get to the next, before we get to the next bit, because I just there's there's so much gold already in this, and then we'll, and then we'll flip the perspective. You know, things that are are I'm thinking here, for those of you that are listening and watching, you're a sales leader, you're a business owner, think about what role am I being for my people, you know, like do I need to be a buck kicker? Am I a teacher? And also we should talk about um, you know, how many of these roles, like can a sales leader be all of those roles? I feel like I know the answer, but can the sales leader be all the roles or yep, beautiful?

Speaker 1: 17:06

And yeah, I mean, if you think if you think about yourself, Nikki, for some of your clients, you will be the pit crew. For some of your clients, you'll be the teacher. For some, you'll be the promoter. And this is the thing where this IP, this framework is bigger than the network of you. Because I'll often go into organizations and I'll say to leaders, you need to ask your team, what role do you need me to be for you right now? Love it. Do you need me to be the promoter right now? Do you need me to be a pit crew? Do you need me to be the bark kicker? Do you need me to be the teacher? And it's so important because the scarcest thing we have is time. And as leaders, when we are under pressure to get the results, to grow the business, to essentially focus on the numbers, numbers, numbers. The biggest risk we have is as leaders, we can form and we become the very one single-minded thing that we're used to being to get results. But for some people, they need you to be their promoter. For some people, they want you to help guide them and be the teacher. And a son, they just need you to be on their back helping them. And this role is not constant. It's not that forever and a day you're always going to be that role for that person. It's going to change, like we change. And that's why, as I said right at the beginning, I look at my network, personal network, every single January. And it evolves based on what my goals for the 12 months are. Doesn't mean I sack people and stop being friends with people. But what it means is that I'm very intentional and focused about where I'm going to invest my time and energy and who I'm going to surround myself with that's going to help me get to that next level.

Speaker: 18:57

Beautiful. So already I'm seeing so many layers here around, you know, for those of you that are watching and listening, there's the individual who is in my core four around me. How am I bringing that core for? And I love the efficiency in thinking and asking your team member who do you need me to be? Butt kicker, teacher, promoter, or pit crew? Because I do agree, it's and I see it all the time. It's really easy to fall into the my natural zone is a butt kicker, so I'm constantly butt kicking. But remember, your team members are holistic humans, and we need shades and we need, you know, push and pull to be able to get. The best out of them. I also really, really loved the point that you made around salespeople have to become teachers. So we know that the role as salespeople, whether you're a salesperson, sales leader, business owner, has absolutely changed. It used to be people would come to us for all the information on our product and service, but they know that already. They find that out through Google and AI, and they know sometimes more about your product and service than your sales reps do, or maybe you do in some instances. So really I want to challenge everybody to get curious about actually what role do I and my team have as salespeople? And this is an answer there. Yes, it's a teacher, but it's not necessarily, you know, we talk about features and benefits. In fact, it should be benefits and features, but that's already given. So what are we teaching them? And that that's something I really encourage everyone to get very curious about. And, you know, if you're like me in that old school butt clench, oh, icky numbers, transactional networking, that is the thing that I loved about this in this approach, is it is, as you can hear, it's the total opposite. Okay, so Janine, I think we're ready now. I think we're ready to now shift that perspective, unless there's anything you want to add in terms of that. But let's look at this then. Because the the layers, you know, like we're growing as a human. I'm helping my team grow. Now, how do we strategically use this to nurture our client base? Yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:23

Um, I just want to frame up why we've got to approach it a little bit differently, if that's okay. Um, and you've touched on this a bit, Nikki. The the landscape has changed. Um, it's changed economically, it's changed competitively, um, it's changed in terms of where we access information. Like you said, most people are searching for stuff online, asking Chat GPT, doing all their research before they even talk to a human. So what we're seeing across every industry, across the planet, is it's really, really noisy. There's lots of noise going on. And alongside that, again, I've heard you mention this word, we're searching for truth. So we've got a lot of noise, a lot of competition. We're competing. You know, it used to be easy. You were competing with the business next door, and you might do a draw drop, and you meet someone in the pub, and you have a chat, and that would become business. Like it was much more human. But now there's so much business being done before a human's even getting involved. Think about how many sales you are people are doing sitting at home online while they're watching TV without even speaking to a sales assistant. And so the reality is the market has changed. And in this market of noise and trust, we as individuals have to find ways to cut through. We've got to cut through the noise. How are we gonna get noticed? And in response to this search for truth, we've got to have conviction in what we know, which isn't the features of a product. We've got to have conviction. It's that piece that I talked about earlier that our competitive advantage is what we think, what we are perspective, what we're noticing. Like this is the beautiful opportunity. I'm so excited about the future because I think those people that think that are connecting dots differently, that are seeing opportunities, that are going, you know what? I've heard this, I've noticed this, I've known you doing this. This is what I'm noticing over here. And I reckon we should try and do this. By the way, before I jumped on this podcast, I've done exactly this. I had a um meeting with one of my network last night. I was listening to her business challenge, and this is a woman, a woman that works in a massive global tech company. And I'm listening to her challenge, and I'm listening to her challenge which actually is to do with sales teams. This morning I'm going, oh, that's really interesting. I reckon she should think about X and Y. And so before I jumped on, I went, hey, I've been thinking about what we talked about last night. And I reckon one solution to your problem could be you could consider. Have a think about it if you want to try. Let's do it. So my point here is you've got to find ways to cut through, and you've got to have conviction in your work. Now, what that means, if we don't do those two things, we're essentially become order takers. Which is what you're alluding to, Nikki. We become reactive, waiting for orders to come in. We become reactive to what our clients ask for and we deliver, we respond to that. We keep our ideas to ourselves. We become what I call thought hoarders. We're like, oh, you know, maybe the client should do, but I'm not going to tell them until they commit to that bit, or till they sign off, until they ask me for a proposal. We keep our ideas and our thinking to ourselves. And fundamentally, what that's turning out like is as sales teams, as business owners, we're detracting revenue. We're pushing revenue away. What we need to be is these relationship creators. And relationship creators fundamentally are thought leaders. They're leaders of thought. You're either a thought leader or a leader of thought, i.e., you're working in partnership, you're noticing what's going on, you're coming up with ideas, you're experimenting. We are proactive partners. Like, it's not about what's in it for me. It's not in it about the immediate sale. It's actually comes from a perspective of, hey, Nikki, I really want you to succeed. How can I help? Here's something I think you should do. That's not about pay me for that information. It's like I care about your business. Let's grow it and let me help you. And I know that's one of the things this lady did last night was like, you give so much. I go, yes, I do, because I want you to succeed. And it's through this approach of networking that we become revenue creators. Post-COVID, my business has grown year on year on year on year. And it's purely through the connections. Now, from whatever size of business, the key thing is to shift this mindset from um take, sale, the win, uh, oh my gosh, I've had two hours with them. Whereas it's like this hard push, push, push, push, push, this force, this hustle, this everything's about the dollar. Because we're not stupid. We can see it. We've got this BS factor, and in this world of noise and searching trust, power and push and hustling hard does not work. So actually, I think what we've got to do is move into this pace of personal power, of conviction, of I am a safe pair of hands. I care about you, I'm interested, I've noticed, have you tried? So it does take a bit more effort. It's about being intentional, not passive, about engaging and not being silent and giving and not taking, and ultimately playing the long game. So, any of your clock people listening here that have businesses, the first thing I'd say is: do you know who your best clients are? Who are your top 20%? Every business I've worked in, Nikki, from when I started my career at the age of 21 to now 54 years old, I know my top 20% of clients. And they always, always generate 80% of the revenue. Always. I can remember Mrs. Fattorini. She works, she was a client in a company I worked at Jaeger. I had a database of 250,000 people. She was my number one client, Mrs. Fattorini. She spent 70,000 pounds every six months. I was like, how the hell? She was buying two of everything because she was putting some stuff in her house in Jersey and stuff in her house in London. If we lost her, that's a massive hit to the revenue. And so, way back, I was like 22 at this stage. Even back then, I was like, we've got to look after her, we've got to nurture her. And I remember having a conversation with the creative director at the time, and I said, you need to take her out for lunch. This creative director said, No, I'm not going to do that. So you need to. You need to nurture the relationship. And this is what we've got to do. We've got to know who are your best clients. What are you doing to be this relationship creator, to be this proactive partner, to keep in touch, or are you only talking to them when you need to renew the contract? When you're trying to get a deal signed off. Because if that is what you're doing, you're being an order taker. So that 20%, first thing you gotta do is go, how am I intentionally connecting with them through the year? How am I keeping in touch with them? And then where this framework overlays this, I go in that top 20%. So let's say it's organization A. Most of us only think about the person that signs the contract. I go, who is my promoter in organization A? Who is the person that is raving about me in that organization? And what am I doing to nurture the relationship with that person? Giving them what they need so they can continue to be my promoter in that organization. So they're talking about me when I'm not even in there. Who, then if you think and follow the core four, who in that organization is my pit crew? Who in there's got my back? Who in there is looking out for me? Who in there is ensuring that um I'm being well represented? It's different to the promoter. The pit crew, often for me in organizations, are the people that have participated in my product, in my work. And I keep in touch with them. Um the same person last night. 10 years ago, I ran a massive program in their organization. Ten years on, I still know people that were on that program that are now in different organizations. The third lot teachers. Who are in that? Top 20%, that organization A is the teacher. Who is the person in the organization that um is giving you insight into what their challenges are right now? Often it's very different from the promoter. In my world, it's the CEO. Or it's the person that is even higher up on a global stage. Who are they? Are you listening to them? Are you nurturing them? Now, some of your listeners might go, yeah, but I I don't know who they are. I know who they are, but uh they don't know me. That's not their problem, that's your problem. Connect with them on LinkedIn, follow their work, read what they're doing. If they're not posting on LinkedIn, watch the industry. By the way, if you're in the top 20%, you should really know who they are. So, as an example, I um, as you touched on earlier, I tend to retain many of my corporate clients for 10 years, many of my private clients are still 10 years. And for two years, I nurtured the tit the teacher in this one particular organization, followed their post on LinkedIn. This was a CEO, global CEO. Um, commented on their posts, sent them random LinkedIn messages, sent them articles I found, or Harvard Business Review copies and post-it noted and put it through snail mail, sent my books, had no expectation of them to respond at all. And this is the difference. You have to have zero expectation. But what happened two years later? I was in the building and the CEO walked in and he said, Thank you for sending me copies of your book. I'm really sorry I never responded, but I reappreciated every single moment you connected. That is the power of networking this way. So you've got to find your promoter in that top organization, your pick crew in that organization, um, or with that client, the teacher and the butt kicker. And depending on what size of organization you work with, for for many of my top clients, that butt kicker is the is the EA. Yep. Right? And so for me, I know their birthdays. I send thank yous after I've been in. I take a coffee when I go in. Um, and it's this this thinking, and this is where my mentor way back went, God, nobody does that stuff, Janine. I said, really? And this is what I'm teaching, and it takes effort, it takes an genuine desire to connect. And it's just what I do. And while my team or what I teach in organizations now, I go, okay, if that's your top 10% of clients, 20% of clients, who in this organization is going to look after the promoter in that client? Who's gonna look after the pit crew? And you can delegate this out such that within your organization as a business that's going for smart growth, you are intentionally nurturing and managing that relationship across your organization within that organization. Now, there's also smarts here, right? Because the majority of times where we lose sales is often because someone leaves that business and suddenly you're like, oh my god, I've got to start all over again. But when you network in this way, you don't. This is why I retain clients, because irrespective of CEO change, of organizational buyer or acquisition, I'm the constant. And this is what we we've got to do. And the challenge in this busy, busy, busy, busy world is to do this. But you've actually got to slow down and think about it and be intentional. And all I know, Nikki, is that my business has grown from strength to strength because I am so focused on looking after the people that are already in my world. And through that, the referrals come, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Um and so that's that's it's as as simple as that of going, okay, so if we're thinking about our existing business, who are your top 20%? Whether it's two clients, 10 clients, 20 clients, 200 clients, what are you doing to nurture those relationships over 12 months? And do you know in those 20% the promoter, the pit crew, the teacher, and the butt kicker? Because your business will always grow quicker from that 20%. And if we go back to what I was talking about right like five minutes ago, in a world that's noisy, in a world that doesn't trust, you are navigating, cutting through this noise by showing that you care, that you are interested, that you are curious about that business, that you are committed to them. And from the trust piece, we talked about this when we were away earlier this year together on a business retreat. This need to be a safe pair of hands that someone can trust. And I see too many businesses still, even in my own world, it's become so transactional that the sales aren't coming through. Um, you know, I had a class, another very minor example. Someone said to me the other day, oh Janine, I'm doing all the things on LinkedIn, I'm I'm reaching out and I'm connecting. But they're not, they're not responding to my request to jump on a phone or catch up for coffee. And I went, hang on. So you're sending a connection? Oh yeah. And then you're asking them for coffee. Yeah. I said, of course they're not. I don't know you're from Adam. I it's it's why would someone meet you for coffee? Because they're gonna go, you're gonna try and sell to me. And you are, aren't you? Yes. So so that's why it's not working.

Speaker: 37:46

So, yeah. Well, I I mean, there again, there's so much that's really insightful around this. And I and I and I also look at it and go, the lead times are longer anyway. So you talked at the beginning of introducing this model around hustling harder, always pushing, and then towards the end of going through the framework, it's slowing down and being intentional. And what I would say, one of the things that you and I bonded over super quickly and still do is the fact that we're both very results-driven and results-oriented, and we equally are about the connection and the human piece, you know, within it. So the irony in this is that if you actually do just pause, think strategically and intentionally, uh, then you're not really pushing out time frames and conversion rates because the buying cycle is longer anyway. In fact, this could be a way to create urgency without focusing on urgency. So I just want to really point that out to those people that are in that hustle hard, only about the numbers. We yeah, we've got, we're here. We're here to get business results, as Janine said. And get clear on the number, put it to the side because this is the how, this is what will get you there. I love when you said, Yeah.

Speaker 1: 38:57

Can I just jump on on that? Yeah. Because you're absolutely right to pull out the commercials. The distinction here is that it's not about the conversation in around um, have you seen my proposal? Are we signing it off? Where is it at? Uh, how much longer? Uh, hey, uh that discount only lasts for 30 days. Um, like that's what I mean by hustle. The distinction that I'm talking about is knowing and being respectful of the fact that the decision making is taking longer. It's nothing to do with you, it's to state with the world, right? The way I think about this from this transformational network is instead of going, how do I get that sale happening? I go, I wonder what's going on for them right now. I know I've given them a proposal. What else? What can I help them with whilst they're processing and making that decision? How do I become that trusted partner? So things like in my world, I call them the Pills. It's like, okay, what is the stuff I can give them now that's going to help them see the results of what they could get if we did more work? What is the information I could give them that helps support my approach? What could I give them without them even asking for it? Because I've seen that's a problem that they're having internally. That piece around networking from the space of the point of view of giving to support to help speeds up the sales process. Whereas most people don't do that. They just go proposals gone. Oh my God, no one's converting. No one's converting. We hear it, Nikki. No one's converting. Oh my God, what do I do? How do I get them over the line?

Speaker: 40:40

Have you thought about how you could help them in the meantime? Yeah. And this links back to cutting through the noise because nobody else is doing this. And so how do this helps make it easier for people to make a decision to say yes? And also we talk a lot about it's a not now. So a no is not necessarily a no. And I don't mean that in the sleazy, old school icky sales way. But reality is it's a not now. And so creating that relationship, cutting through the noise, the standout, you know, our competitive advantage advantage is the way that we think absolutely. And it's the way that we make people feel through observing and getting curious and asking those questions that you talked about. Because people remember that so much more than, you know, all the other stuff. And I love the, you know, we I talk about lumpy mail for prospecting and creative touch points. And essentially what we're talking about here and what you're saying is do that for existing nurture clients. You know, the Harvard Business Review with post-it notes and posting, like again, it's the old school is making more of uh getting more attention. Tactically, looking at this framework a little bit, I've got a couple of notes here as we're talking through promoter, pick crew, butt kicker, teacher from that client nurture point of view. What I'm hearing in that is the promoter is often potentially the decision maker. So your core contact who is then also promoting the business. The the butt kicker, absolutely, the EA or that person that helps move into gear. And again, those of you that are joining us in this conversation, challenge your thinking around who this is for you. The teacher is often, am I right in saying, potentially the person above the decision maker. So you again are expanding. Think about it. Um I've got a vision of a um a spider web, a lovely spider web, of course. Um, wow, it's got glitter, it's happy, it's lovely. Um, but we're we're extending it up, we're extending it across, we're extending it down, we're extending it all around us because absolutely any of those people can move to another organization, you go with them. Also, you know what? Let's just help make their day a little bit brighter and nicer. That's the other bonus of all of this. And by default, so is that right in thinking, you know, the EA, the pit crew, usually the people that you're working with that it's having the product and service. DM, your decision maker is the promoter, typically, and then maybe the teacher is above the decision maker. So you're extending reach.

Speaker 1: 43:06

Absolutely. So your promoter, you want to put yourself in those shoes. They have to uh get sign-off. They love you already, uh, but more often than not, they are representing you in that organization to get sign off. So you've got to think about how do how do I help them be my promoter? What information do they need from me? What more do I give them? The other thing that often helps here, particularly if for those listening here that work with any organization actually versus individuals, um, as a rule of thumb, I go, so if I take a big organization, I need to be connected to 50 people in that organization. If you've got an organization of 15, connect to all of them. Now, the reason for that is because so I often, LinkedIn is one of my primary tools. So let's say I've got organization Zed, and I've been speaking to one person in organization Zed. If I then strategically, are you picking up, listeners, that networking isn't just business cards. It's actually strategic. It's actually about, to me, it is the game changer of business growth and smart growth. It is the very thing that has grown my business. I grew my business without going to networking events.

Speaker: 44:35

And yet you're the networking queen, which is what I love about this. You know, you it's challenging the status quo around what actually does networking and network look like. I I had a goal of not having a business, I haven't had a business card for about 10 years, just to purely see. It's almost like an experiment.

unknown: 44:51

Yeah.

Speaker: 44:51

Appreciate some people might still want to use that, but yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:54

I had just a slight deviation. I had someone come to my room and I remember her saying she justified coming to this training program I was running. And the boss had said to her, you must come back with 10 contacts. I said, That's easy. You see that that jar over there that's got everyone's business cards in, just go and grab them. And but that's how we're trying to build businesses, right? These deep relationships last over time. These are things where people come back and you're building the relationship. So yeah, going back to the organization, if you only are connected to one person in organization Z, that person is a loan representative of you in that organization. If, however, you put in the time to find other people in that organization at whatever level and connect with them on LinkedIn, what happens is their virtual eyeballs are seeing your stuff. So then what happens is when your name comes up in the organization or when your proposal goes across the board table or the senior leadership meeting, the likelihood is that other people already know you before you've met them. This is this is, and I I know this works because the amount of times I've walked into places and someone will come up to me and go, Oh my god, Janine, I loved what you wrote about. And I'm like, Oh, I don't even know who you are. So it works. So that helps the promoter. That helps the promoter in the organization because they're not the only person. You're absolutely spot on. The teacher is often above. And what you're trying to do there is you have to understand what the bigger challenge is in the organization. Because the challenge often isn't that program or that product or whatever it is that you're selling in terms of how you're seeing it. But if you can put into the context of the business challenge, how you can help, you become more likely to win that piece of business. And so we have to do that work. We have to go, what is going on? What is the real challenge here? And often, to your point, a no is not a no until it's no. Sometimes the no has nothing to do with the program or nothing to do with the product or nothing to do with the thing. It's because someone way up here's got different priorities. So you've got to understand, you've got to do the work, you've got to do the effort. And we will often go to the person that we're getting the brief of, you know, what's the biggest challenge right now? What does success look like? What would you like this solution to do? Da-da-da-da-da-da. They again are coming at it from their perspective. You've got to do the work to go high and to look and to get noticed. And it's it's the game changer. It's way easier to grow your business from your existing client base. It's way easier to get more business to either upsell or to retain. Whereas what I witness, and it breaks me, I'm a marketeer by trade, a retailer by trade, so I'm very commercial. Is we spend so long looking outside that we forget about the very people that are paying the bills and the payroll roll. Those other people then come.

Speaker: 48:20

Absolutely. This is this is that grow, maintain, acquire bucket. Look at what you can grow existing, look at what you can maintain existing, because sometimes that's a win in itself. And then you also know what you need to acquire. And, you know, actually, what I'm hearing in this as well is um Robert Cialdini's law of reciprocity and law of familiarity, you know, so even some of the um behavioral, human behavioral aspect behind it. Uh, and we can, oh my gosh, Janine, we're gonna have to wrap this up, but I don't want to because this could be a three-hour podcast. Um, but also what I'm hearing in this is that like that 50, I love that you've given us a number. 50 people connected to and I think a lot of people listening, LinkedIn would be a big um source of uh connection as well for their clients. So there's a number to shoot for there around the 50. And bring this into your prospecting as well. So if you're targeting a new business, do the same kind of thing. You know, essentially creative touch points, look outside of one person. How are you showing up? How are you getting curious and thinking differently? You are your unique selling point. And for those of you on the video, I'm really making some hardcore eye contact here. You are your unique selling point for your business, for your product and service. It is you that they're buying. You know, you're the gatekeeper for what you can actually provide for them. So think about how you can adapt this to um new business as well. And I wanted to pull out what you said before around it, might not be the one person that is all of those nurturing the butt kicker, the CEO, you know, the all the different roles. You could split it. So it might be as a sales leader, you're nurturing one, and your salesperson in your team is nurturing another. What I'd say to that is make sure there's a structure. You know, I've got an Excel spreadsheet. I don't know if there's any tips on this to wrap out.

Speaker 1: 50:07

Yeah. I'd love to. There's a couple of things I'd love to share with your audience. Um, first, on that structure piece. Um Nick is dying in the background. Um, as evidence here, because uh some people might go, yeah, really, but how am I a big company? I had a sales team of a major um homewares company uh learn this stuff. They went back to their business. And how they flipped sales strategy meetings is on a Monday, they individually, the sales team, individuals had to say who they were going to nurture that week. So the flip from how many sales, how many offers, where are we at, to who are we actually nurturing, what relationships shifted the business model. And the the strategy I teach around this is what I, and you know this one, network 10. I call it network 10. And it's really simple. It is essentially 10 minutes every single day. But think about in those 10 minutes the two people that you're going to connect with. So over a week that would be 10 people. So two pe 10 minutes a day, two people a day. The two people should start with your top 20%. Yes. Yeah. Not like who am I gonna talk to? Start with your top 10 bit 10 per 20%. What this particular client then did is they pulled out their LinkedIn connections and they started working through that week by week. Now, what you do in those 10 minutes to those two people is what I call light touch networking. You're not getting on a phone and having a conversation, you're not having a coffee catch up, you're not suddenly turning this 10 minutes into three hours. But in that 10 minutes to each of those individuals, two people only, you are light touch networking. You could be sending something that you've read that weekend, you could be sending them a case study from the business, you could be connecting them into someone that you think they should know. You could be saying thank you for the meeting the previous week. You could be checking in on how they've got on with X. And I'll often do voice messages on this or a text. The phone becomes my friend. You can do this while you're waiting for your coffee, but it's a game changer. Two people each day, that's 10 a week, that's 40 over the course of the month. Now traditional transactional networkers go, yeah, yeah, but what uh what happens? How do I track it? Okay, you don't. You don't you give, you're giving? What happens come back into your uh art of recipe law of reciprocity? What naturally happens is out of that 40 people a month, a large majority of them are gonna say thank you. Awesome. Hey, really appreciate that. What does that do? What does that create an opportunity for?

Speaker: 53:42

Oh, it's massive. I'm asking. Totally. It's it's everything that we have talked about because it is giving without the expectation, and I think that's the key. Yeah, it's no expectation. And no expectation. So there's almost a relief and um they feel um seen and heard and valued. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 54:01

And what happen what always happens, I've been thinking about contacting you. Hey, I've got this problem with. But you're opening up because connection fundamentally is conversation. That's all it is. We think networking is conversation, but it's not. It's one-way conversation with the ultimate end of what's in it for me, traditional networking. This is about, I see you, I'm interested in you, I care about you. Here's something for you. I'm sprinkling some of Janine's magic. And then what always happens, people go, thank you for seeing me. You can then just start the conversation. Hey, how are you? Hey, I'm really good, actually. How are you getting on with so-and-so? Oh, not too good. What's the biggest challenge right now? What are you struggling with? Oh, why don't we catch up for a coffee? I've got some ideas there.

Speaker: 54:51

Suddenly it turns into business. So love that you're not asking for the coffee up front. Because again, that's something else that I see a lot, and you mentioned it before. Like, why why would I say yes? It's that so what factor? But you're nurturing, it's a little mini nurture to get the coffee and then it's valuable for them. Janine, we can I put one final bit on this recipe.

Speaker 1: 55:11

Please, please, because I know every single one of your listeners can do this from day one. So you've got network 10, 10 minutes a day, whether as an individual business owner, as a leader, if you've got a sales team, start getting the sales team to tell you who are the two people a day over the course of the week and track it. Just track it and see what happens. The second one that you can do from the moment you stop listening to this podcast, and it's it's not rocket science, it's simple, but it's a game changer. And to me, it's a reflection of what we've lost when it comes to humanity. It's my uh T A D process. Thank you for the majority of people go thanks. Hey, thanks, thanks, thanks. Thanks has become transactional. It doesn't mean anything. All right, we just say thanks. What I teach so many people right now is to get conscious of adding for after the thank you. That's the first thing you gotta do. So every single Friday, I have a hour that I call random acts of kindness in my calendar. And I think about all the people I've met. I think about the connections I've had, I think about the promises I've made, and I do this. And it starts with thank you for. You can do it after every meeting. You don't have to do it an hour a week. You do it after every meeting. It's consciously going, thank you for. And you've got to add something in. That immediately gets you present to that moment. It immediately gives that reciprocity because as human beings, we very rarely get thanked for the impact that that moment in time has had on someone else. So when you receive it, incredible stuff happens. So you go after every sales meeting, I do it, every Uber driver, everywhere. First thing I go is thank you for. For what? It forces you to think about that moment and to give that gift back to that person for their time. So many people say to me, I've got nothing to give, I've got nothing to give, and I can't. Yes, you do. You have the power of thank you for, because we've forgotten it. So thank you for, step number one. Add in A. So thank you for is T. A. Ask, is there anything else I can do for you? Is there anything I can help you with? Is there anything else you need from me? Is there anything I haven't answered? Ask the question. Most people hate that bit, which is a selfish thing. It's we we're actually so wrapped up in our own heads and worried about ourselves that we're not networking. Thank you for is the gift. Ask is the gift. Then you finish up with D, which is do something. This is where you take responsibility of sharing what the next steps are going to be. So thank you for insert, make it relevant. Thank you for thank you for meeting me for coffee. I really appreciated you giving me uh so much insight into what the company's currently struggling with and what success looks like for you. Is there anything more that you need from me right now? Is there anything more I can do for you? Most people go, oh gosh, no, I haven't really thought about that. Then go, leave this with me. I'm going to come back to you with, and I'll contact you in a week's time. Or um I'm going to put that into play right now and I'll give you an update in two days. Like, do I let's schedule a meeting in the next two weeks. Most people don't do that. So if you can do, and as I said, everyone from today and anyone listening, please, please, please teach your children this if you have children. Teach your nieces, your nephews. It is a game changer to help them get the jobs of their dreams. And I'm my son is evidence of this because people aren't doing it, because we are lost in the tech, the quick fix, the automated messages, the moving very quickly onto the next thing. As you're hopefully picking up from me, networking is about a transfer of humanity, not a transfer of information. And this, thank you for is there anything more I can do for you? This is what I'm gonna do. With this incredible gift of time that you've given me is a transfer of humanity. And in this world where there is so much noise, where there is so much fear, where there is so much lack of trust, where we don't know whether we're speaking, as you said, to robots or a chat GPT, the only thing we have is what we think in our humanity. And I know, because I've seen it proved again and again and again and again, when we build businesses from a place of relationship creation, from a place of thought leadership, of proactive partnership, of I care about your success. When we transfer humanity in that way, success happens. And we give that create that ripple effect through the business and through everyone. And that's why I do the work I do.

Speaker: 1:01:04

Ooh, I love it. I love it so much. Janine, thank you again for giving us your precious time today and sharing all these valuable, invaluable insights. There is so much for us to take away from even connecting with our purpose and you know what the work that we're doing and the impact that we can make on individuals, on organizations whilst building our businesses and of course hitting targets and getting results. But, you know, this is doing it in a way that is so much more. So there's really practical insights. There's lots of challenging for us all to take away from. I love that you're always playing at those two levels. Um, and you've really brought that today. So thank you so much once again for joining us today. Uh, I'm gonna put some links where people can follow you, friendly stalk you, as I like to say. Is there anywhere that you want to point people if they want to go and friendly stalk you immediately right now? Where should they find you? Follow me on LinkedIn.

Speaker 1: 1:02:00

Uh, I'm there on LinkedIn, Janine Garner, or you can find my website, Janine Gana.com.au. And any questions I say to everyone, send me a thank you for in the LinkedIn. And I remember the people that connect in.

Speaker: 1:02:14

It's how I work. You do. And also you have an amazing uh podcast yourself called Unleashing Brilliance. And I'm pretty sure you did an episode where you talk about share the story about your son. So if that piqued some curiosity, definitely go ahead and listen to that. We might even put that in the show notes as well. Yeah, that's thank you so much, Janine, for joining us. Thank you, everybody else. Uh, thank you for joining us as well. And I can't wait to be back with you again next week. See you later. Bye. Thank you, Nikki.