24/05/2021

The Underground Marketer Podcast

Episode 7 – 15 Simple Tactics to Build Your Network & Influence from Scratch

The Underground Marketer Podcast
The Underground Marketer Podcast
Episode 7 - 15 Simple Tactics to Build Your Network & Influence from Scratch
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Building Relationships: The Art of Impactful Networking 

Business and marketing are all about networking. You can’t make BIG MONEY as an entrepreneur or marketer if you don’t build relationships. 

In today’s episode, I’ll go over the importance of relationships and walk you through the most powerful techniques for becoming a pro at building impactful connections for your business.

3 Big Ideas

1. Relationships can get you much farther than you could ever go alone, as they help you access opportunities and grow. To become your greatest, you must hang around the best.

2. Networking allows you to understand people and their pain points better, as well as how you can provide more value to them. The more knowledge of this kind you gather, the more successful you will become as an entrepreneur. 

3. Your core focus should be on building meaningful connections rather than just making money. People can’t stand being approached with a commission breath.

Show Notes

[00:50] Tudor explains why relationships matter in business & marketing.

  • By building relationships you access growth opportunities that can’t be accessed otherwise. There is only so much that you can do on your own. To grow beyond that, you always need other people.
  • To achieve your greatest potential, you must hang around people from whom you can learn, people who are better than you.
  • Your relationships sculpt your personality: “You’re the average of the five people you hang around most.” 
  • Joint venture relationships are one of the primary sources of high-value traffic in funnel launches.

[04:21] Tudor elaborates on the mindset which is at the foundation of networking for success.

  • Impactful networking starts with mindset.
  • The right mindset means showing empathy, being likable, valuable, and genuinely curious & interested in others. It involves enjoying spending time with others and learning about them.
  • How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a great read to get the right attitude.
  • Understand that other people may already have the knowledge you need to be successful. Just by making friends with them, you can access massive opportunities.

[07:05] How to start building relationships?

  • Start with yourself. Make yourself a pleasant, likable presence. Smile when interacting physically and if you have good jokes – make good use of them.
  • Become an interesting interlocutor with compelling ideas to discuss. Read a lot. Have a lot of cool experiences to share.
  • Some of the most efficient networking techniques to connect with people are listed below.

[09:28] No. 1: Buy people’s products or services. 

  • That’s very appealing to people; it catches their attention, especially if you have a word of feedback to say.
  • By buying their products, you provide them both monetary value and value in terms of gratitude, feedback, and telling others about your experience.
  • By telling people about the benefits their product or service brought to your life, you get them to value more their interaction with you.

[10:39] No. 2: Add value to people’s lives.

  • Offering your support or help of any kind is valuable to people. Reaching out with a solution for a particular need somebody has makes them willing to be around you.
  • Let’s say you saw somebody looking for a great editor. You might be a great editor or you might know somebody who is. As long as you help that person to find what he looks for, your input is valuable and it makes space for further interactions between the two of you.
  • So does complimenting or giving meaningful support in what people are trying to do. Let’s say you came across somebody’s website and you found some weak points in it. Well, go ahead and reach out to that person: “Hey, I’ve noticed your page and I think we could optimize this and that to get you more traffic.” This might be the beginning of a new relationship.

[13:21] No. 3: Ask for people’s advice.

  • Open up, show vulnerability, ask for people’s advice, and appreciate their expertise.
  • Then, implement their advice and reach back to tell them how it went: “Hey, I’ve applied your advice! Here is what helped me, and here is what I’ve struggled with”.

Your constructive feedback can be priceless to them and help them develop an entirely new perspective.

[15:59] No. 4: Reach out to the up-and-comers first.

  • People who are just starting to go big are likely to appreciate what you’re doing much more and have more availability to actually respond back. 
  • It’s a great option to start building your network. Eventually, they can help you reach people who are higher up in terms of their impact.

[16:51] No. 5: Get out there & do what makes you tick.

  • Do fun things that challenge yourself and uncover new, better ways of doing stuff. Start a blog or a podcast and have your own, valuable input.
  • By sharing what you’re good at and experiences you’ve had and learned from, you become valuable to others. 

[18:31] No. 6: Send a gift that they’ll LOVE!

  • Sending people gifts taps into reciprocity along with making them thankful and curious about you. 
  • Don’t choose meaningless or expensive gifts… aim for gifts that show the person that you understand their needs and desires. 

[19:46] No. 7: Write a physical letter.

  • If you want to network with a particular person who is valuable to you, send a physical letter to their headquarters. You can also include a small gift as previously described.
  • It catches their attention, helps you stand out from the crowd, and is harder to overlook. You can find the company addresses of most business people out there.

[20:43] No. 8: Ask people you know to introduce you to others.

  • To reach out to someone, ask a common friend to do the introductions. 
  • It enables you to start from a position of trust, as you share a common friend.
  • Mutual connection is a top strategy for expanding your online network. If you want to reach out to somebody on Twitter, you could first connect with someone else who interacts with them. Take the time to build a relationship with this intermediary person and provide value to them first. Only then you can ask them to link you up with your target person.

[22:24] No. 9: Join mastermind groups in your area of interest.

  • It’s one of the most powerful ways to expand your network. You can join both online and offline groups.
  • There you can find people with the same interests as you. Once you’re in there, be willing to offer and ask for help.

[23:27] No. 10: Help people promote their cause.

  • You can promote it to your audience or just introduce them to somebody who has the audience they need. 
  • Identify the cause and reach out to them: “Hey, I have the audience for your cause” or “There’s this person, he has the audience you need. Do you want me to introduce you to them?” Either way, it’s appreciated.

[24:43] No. 11: Ask for referrals.

  • After you interact with someone and build a good relationship with them, ask for referrals.
  • Since somebody trusts you, they’ll cheerfully recommend you to their acquaintances.
  • Never underrate the power of a good referral and ask for one anytime you get a chance.

[26:05] No. 12: Organize online events, like webinars.

  • Such events enable you to approach high-profile entrepreneurs and give them the chance to promote themselves by taking part in your event and deliver great value to your audience. 
  • You can take care of the organization of the event, they just have to show up. 

[27:00] No. 13: Join online groups.

  • Online places like Facebook and LinkedIn can help you connect very efficiently with people of your interests.
  • For those looking to connect with other business owners, one of the best places to be is www.thefastlaneforum.com.
  • For those into marketing and looking to keep up with its fast-changing pace, Tudor recommends www.warriorforum.com.
  • Remember to focus on building meaningful connections with people rather than just making money. People can’t stand the feeling of being used.

[29:09] No. 14: Connect on LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn is a great place to connect with people for business reasons. That’s why people join the platform: to connect with others, learn about others and share their vision.
  • Give people a clear reason to connect: appreciate their work, compliment them or give meaningful feedback. 
  • Tell them how their work provided value to your life and eventually, ask for their advice.
  • A good hint is to wait for a trigger event to connect with them, like reading their book and then complimenting them on it, or seeing them post about a problem that you can help them solve. 

[30:36] No. 15: Provide value by taking notes on their content.

  • For instance, you’ve read a great book. Make a video that summarises the book, post it on YouTube, and then contact the author letting them know how meaningful it was for you, and showing them that you’re sharing it with others. By providing value, you tap into people’s desire for reciprocation.

[32:01] Tudor goes back to the foundation of efficient networking.

  • These powerful techniques work if you start by empathizing, listening, being genuinely valuable & likable for people around you.

Recommended Resources

How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Connect with business owners on www.thefastlaneforum.com

Connect with marketers and entrepreneurs www.warriorforum.com

Full Transcript

Read The Full Transcript

Introduction    00:00:03    Marketing, explosive growth, and revolutionary secrets that can catapult your business to new heights. You’re now listening to the Underground Marketer Podcast with your host, Tudor Dumitrescu. The one podcast devoted to showing new businesses how to market themselves for high growth.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:00:24    Welcome to the Underground Marketer. This is the place where we deliver the real truth about marketing and explore big ideas that can help new businesses thrive and grow into big ones.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:00:35    I’m your host, Tudor, and today we’re going to discuss networking and building relationships and how that can help you as a marketer to make more connections and open yourself to new opportunities. So why does this really matter? Why are connections and networking and building relationships, why are these things important for you as an entrepreneur or as a marketer trying to make it happen? Well, it all goes back to the idea that business is fundamentally about relationships, you know, so money and wealth and production comes from other people who produce stuff and also from trade. So building relationships is really what’s going to open the doors for you to new opportunities that otherwise by yourself, you will never be able to access. There is only so much that you can do on your own. So you always need other people. Other people may already have your audience.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:01:41    For example, if you’re a marketer or if you’re an entrepreneur, other people may already have connections with people that you want to reach out to, and they can help you do that much more easily than you would be able to do it if you had to do it by yourself. So the bottom line here is that you will never make big money as an entrepreneur or a marketer if you don’t build relationships. And not many people know this, but generally, in funnel lunches and similar lunches of other products, one of the most important sources of traffic and of really high-value traffic are JV relationships. So that’s basically joint venture relationships. Those are joint ventures that you do with other people who already have your audience and who are going to send that audience to you. And that’s how a lot of the money’s made.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:02:40    The other thing that’s going to make relationships have a big impact on your career is the way that relationships are going to shape your own personality and character. So probably you’ve already heard the saying that basically goes like, you’re the average of the five people you hang most round with. And that’s true. And unfortunately, you know, people don’t usually hang around those people who are going to make them grow and who are going to make them push their limits and really try to go to that next level. And that’s a big problem. It’s a big problem for many people because basically, they shut themselves off from achieving their true potential and reaching the greatness that they really have inside of themselves. So it’s very important that your network, it’s very important that you build relationships and it’s very important to hang around and to stay with people who are better than you are and who you can learn from, who are interested to hang around with and who is going to pull you in the direction that you want to go in.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:03:51    And that’s really a summary of why marketing has relationships and networking is one of the most important components. It’s really going to open a ton of opportunities for you. All right. So now you may be thinking, well, how do I do it? How do I go about networking? How do I go about meeting these people and actually building the relationships that I want to build? And the answer is that it all starts with your mindset. And there’s actually a very good book that a lot of great people recommend. Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator, it’s one of the top books that he recommends. So on the website where he shares his essays, he recommends this book to literally everybody who wants to get started as an entrepreneur, build a big business. And the book is How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:04:56    And the main idea is that it’s going to teach you the mindset that you need to be into, make friends, you know, with these people and create win-win exchanges with them so that both of you can benefit. And that’s really where networking starts from. That’s what it starts with. So what’s the mindset? I would say the mindset is putting yourself in a framework where you show empathy for others. You’re curious about them, you’re interested in them. You just find it interesting to discover more about them, to understand them better. And I think that it all starts with a genuine curiosity about other people. And the genuine curiosity stands from your desire to grow as a person and to learn from others. You know, if you understand that others have a lot of value to teach you and all the knowledge that you’re searching for and that you need to be successful, it’s already held by other people.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:06:01    Then you realize why other people are supremely interesting to you, or at least should be supremely interesting to you. And it’s because you can learn a lot from them. And, you know, I can’t emphasize this enough that you can even learn from people who many would consider being, for example, lower than you are on the social hierarchy and so on. So if you’re a boss or you’re a CEO, there’s a lot that you can learn from the people who are the front end of your business, who are actually interacting with customers, actually doing the work, and so on. So don’t ignore it. And the same is true as a marketer, you know, you can learn a lot from other people, from your customers, from the sales reps who interact with those customers and literally from everybody in the business. And the more knowledge that you gather, the more effective you’re going to be both as an entrepreneur and as a marketer.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:07:02    The other aspect of mindset is that you have to go out to the goal of just making friends with people and getting a spot at the table, you know, so that’s how you gain access to opportunities. The first thing is just interacting with these people and even being capable of sitting at the same table as they sit at. And that’s really what you should be doing at first. And one thing that’s going to help you with that is basically being likable. That’s number one, I would say, and number two is being of value to others. So if you can be likable to other people and you can provide value to them, then they will want to be around you. You know, they would enjoy spending time with you. They would enjoy interacting with you and they would enjoy doing business and deals with you. So for example, if you’re interacting physically, you can also try to smile, and just be enjoyable to be around, basically be fun, you know, be a good conversationalist, make great conversation, throw some jokes here and there, if you have good jokes.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:08:11    And of course, all of that is going to be greatly helped if you read books if you have interesting things to say, and to discuss. And obviously, if you also do interesting things, that’s even better because you can discuss that. So I would say that having a good general level of culture is very important. You know, it’s going to help you interact with more people and it’s going to help you enjoy your time while you’re interacting with them much better. So that pretty much covers the mindset aspect. And now we can actually get into the technical aspects. So how do you actually do it? You know, what are the strategies? And I’m going to walk you through basically 15 strategies here, different strategies to reach out to people, interact with them, get some conversation going, make friends with them, you know, and really put yourself in that position where they know who you are and you can get to do great business deals with them and whatever else it is that you’re really after, you know. Get to know them better, get to understand their pain points, better, their needs better, and really how you can help them and provide even more value to them.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:09:26    All right. So method number one, I would say, and this is very effective is to literally buy their products or services or even offer to sponsor them if you can afford it. So, even for myself, if you buy my product, for example, if you buy my 5 Steps course that I have out there, I’m going to pay a lot more attention to you. I’m going to already start liking you. I’m going to want to interact more with you. So buying someone’s products and showing that you’re getting a lot of value from them, basically complimenting them in that way. It can be very, very powerful. You know, it catches their attention and everybody loves it when they see that their work is contributing and bringing benefits to somebody else’s life. And if you reach out to them in this frame of mind, then you can basically show how their product or service made a huge difference for you.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:10:24    And you can bet they’ll want to talk with you, and they’ll enjoy their time around you and listening to you and what you have to say, it’s going to be meaningful and it’s going to be valuable to them. The second technique I would say is to add value to them. So here you can have all sorts of ways to provide value. Either you create something that you’ve noticed that they need for them. You know, so for example, you’ve noticed that there’s a particular thing that they need in their business. You know, they’re looking, let’s say to hire an editor and let’s say that you’re an editor yourself. You can reach out to them and introduce yourself. And of course, your chances to actually be contacted back are that much higher. If you actually respond to their posts, the other thing is that you can link them up with an editor.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:11:18    If you happen to know somebody and you can reach out to them and begin the conversation that way like I’ve seen in your posts that you’re looking for an editor, I know somebody that I’ve worked with and they’re very good. They do a very thorough job. You know, they don’t just fix the grammatical stuff in your manuscripts. They also offer you suggestions, how you can make the content better, more understandable, you know, and basically easier to interact with. And if you do that, if you create something that’s valuable like that for them, a meaningful connection, in this case, they will want to be around with you. And it’s a great way to get your foot in the door, as the saying goes. Other ways to add value are by complimenting them. We’ve already talked about complimenting them a little bit and also really offering support with regards to what they’re trying to do.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:12:14    You know, so let’s say that they’re trying to promote a certain product, or they have a certain lunch that they’re participating in, you know, launching a new product. So, if that’s the case, you can help them with that. For example, you can help them if you notice that they’re designed for their landing pages, let’s say subpar. And it doesn’t really represent the brand that they’re trying to create. You can reach out to them and you can say, look, I’ve noticed your page at (wherever you’ve noticed the page). And I think that is with a stronger design, your brand would be much better represented, and you could increase your conversion rates. Would you be interested in something like that? So that’s one way, another way is, for example, to help them generate traffic. So let’s say that you have an audience that you could promote them and the product that they’re launching to, then you can reach out and introduce them basically to that opportunity.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:13:14    So the second method is basically involved in adding value to their life in some way. The third method that I will introduce here is basically going to them and asking for advice and not just asking for advice, you want to ask them for their advice. And then once they give it to you, you want to implement that advice and then let them know how it went. And this latter part is very important, you know? So you don’t just want to ask for their advice, get their advice, you know, and then either do nothing with it or never reach back to them. You can’t build a relationship like that. If you want to build a relationship with that person and you want to also be useful to them, you want to reach back and you want to say that I’ve applied your advice. Here’s what I found very helpful and how it actually helped me.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:14:08    And maybe here are some things that I’ve struggled with. If you actually open yourself up and show some vulnerability in front of them, they’ll also be more prepared to open themselves up. And of course, they may actually help you out and you’re providing value to them because that’s valuable feedback, you know, that they can take into consideration when they speak with other people. And also just for themselves, you may actually help them develop an entirely new perspective about what they’re doing and what they’re trying to get. So it can be really, really valuable. And at first, if you’re new at this, you may not understand the extent of this value, but it can be significantly valuable to someone, you know. When I updated the five steps course, one of the students reached out to me about a section that he said should be in the course, but it’s not there.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:15:07    And he wanted to learn more about it. And so guess what I did, you know, in the next version, I really introduced that section. And that was actually the section about mindset. And before he reached out to me, I had not much of an idea that people are actually struggling with the mindset when actually implementing the steps that I gave in the course, because the course prior to that point was very technical. So, it can be really helpful, you know, it can really change the direction of a product and it can make it a lot more successful. It can be very valuable to someone to basically get your feedback. And that’s the point here. So you can ask for advice implemented, let them know about it, and letting them know about it is a form of feedback. And it can be very, very valuable to them.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:15:59    Method number four, basically here, you want to start out by reaching out to those people who are up and comers, you know. So you don’t want to reach people who are already huge. You want to reach out to people who are making a splash, but they’re in the process of becoming huge. You know, they’re not huge yet. And these people, they’re likely to appreciate what you’re doing a lot more because there are fewer people interacting with the work and appreciating their message and what they’re doing. And they’re also likely to respond to you because there are just a lot fewer people that they have to respond to. So you can typically use them to start building a relationship, and they may also be able to help you to reach people who are higher up in terms of the impact that they’re making. So this can be very useful.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:16:51    Number five, I would say that you want to get yourself out there, you know, and start doing fun and interesting things yourself. You know, for example, I started this podcast. I’ve been producing masterclasses for people who are interested in getting started with e-commerce, freelancing. You know, I have my 5 Steps course for people who are interested in building funnels, and this podcast, as I said, it’s all sorts of stuff like that. You know, put yourself out there, share your knowledge. And really it’s about helping others think more deeply for themselves. Do you know? So don’t just regurgitate what you reading elsewhere, you know, have your own input, do fun things, do interesting things, things that are going to challenge you, things that are going to push you, and things that are going to make you think and make you discover new things, you know, pay attention to new distinctions and uncover new ways and better ways of doing stuff.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:17:52    You know, things that are worth sharing basically with others. So if you, if you do this and if you get out there and start doing fun and interesting things yourself, you’ll have more to talk about when you interact with people. And you’ll also get in the process of actually meeting other people and having valuable knowledge to share with them. You know, you’re not just sitting there not knowing what to say. You actually know how to interact with them. You’ll be in a better position to provide value to them and to help them out through your experience. And of course also through what you’ve learned. Method, number six, I would say that this is to send them a gift that you know that they love. You know, maybe you saw for example, on social media that they’re really looking for an autograph for some famous football superstar, for example, for their son who is really into football.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:18:51    And they’re really passionate. And if you can get that autograph for them, you know, it’s going to be pretty big, you know, and you send them that gift and you can write a note with it. You know, a lot of these people, actually you know where their headquarters are, where their businesses are located. You can send them the gift there and address it to them and basically say, for example, here’s a football signed by whoever the superstar is. And I’m just sending this to you because I noticed that your son, really wanted this autograph and he really likes this guy and you’ve been trying to get it for him. And I thought that this would be valuable to you, something like that. So sending them a gift like that, basically taps into reciprocity. They’ll feel thankful to you, they’ll want to know more about you, they’ll want to thank you.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:19:43    They’ll want to interact more with you. Method number seven is to write them a physical letter. And again, many of these people, you can find their companies. You can find the headquarters of their companies. You can send them a letter addressed to their name and they’ll probably get it. And the thing with a physical letter is that you can also include a gift in the letter. So you can use the previous method, number six that we discussed as well here. And when you send them a letter, something that’s physical, it’s a little harder to ignore than emails. You know, because these days everybody gets emails. Everybody’s sending out emails, but not so many people are sending physical letters. So it will certainly catch their attention. It also gives you the opportunity to send them a gift, including in a letter, you know, something to grab their attention, something to make you stand out from the crowd.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:20:38    And that’s what you want to do here. So that’s method number seven. Now methods number eight. This is really a roundabout way of reaching out to someone. And it basically involves reaching out to someone who knows the first and basically asking that person to introduce you to them. And when you go to somebody with someone else’s introduction, preferably obviously somebody that they know well and trust, then you already start from a position where they trust you more. They want to interact with you because they know that you share a common friend and they’re just going to be a lot more open to it. So you can even do this thing online. You know, so let’s say that you’re following somebody on Twitter that you want to reach out to, and you notice that they frequently interact with somebody else on Twitter and that somebody else is easier for whatever reason to reach out to.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:21:36    And so you can reach out to that person first and then build a relationship with them, deliver value to them, and then ask if they can help link you up with this other person, you know, and it’s basically a great, great way to explain and your network. And it’s very, very valuable. I will also say that if you do this, it’s important that you actually spend the time with this intermediary person if you don’t already know them, to build a relationship before you straight up ask them and you provide value to them, you make sure that they’re getting what they’re looking for out of the exchange that they’re enjoying the time that they’re spending with you and so on. That’s very valuable and it’s really going to help build your network in the long run method. Number nine I would say is that you want to join mastermind groups in your area of interest.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:22:31    You know, so these can be both online. You know, there are some great mastermind groups out there, for example, for freelancers, or they can also be stuff that’s offline. You know, like a rotary club, you can join a Rotary club, meet other people who are interested in business or interested in social activities or really whatever you’re after. Even if you’re, let’s say a gamer, you can join a group of other gamers, you know, and if that’s who you want to network with and build relationships with, then you can go there and join that group. And it can be very, very effective. These mastermind groups, where people are already in the group basically to help each other, you know, they can be very valuable because people want to meet others there who are doing the things that are of interest to them. And they’re looking for help.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:23:19    You know, that’s why they are in mastermind groups in the first place. So that’s why these groups can be a really powerful method. Number 10, I would say that here, you basically want to look to help them to promote their cause. So either to your own audience or maybe even by connecting them with someone else who can help them. So you identify whatever their cause is, whether they’re trying to sell a product, maybe they’re trying to promote a nonprofit organization. They’re trying to donate to a nonprofit organization or raise money or whatever it is, you know? You see that they’re going for a specific cause. And let’s say that you don’t even have your audience yourself, but you know, somebody else who can help them. You can reach out to them and you can basically say, look, I see that donating money to this cause is really important.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:24:15    And that you’re looking for more people to help you donate more money to the cause I can’t help you myself. However, I know somebody who would be interested in this, would you be interested for me to introduce you to them and basically for you to have a discussion with them and see if this is of further interest and they are most likely to say yes, and you know, and that’s basically the start of your relationship. So that’s method number 10. Now for method number 11, that’s basically asking for referrals and the way you want to do this is whenever you meet someone and this can be very, very powerful, you know? So, even, for example, let’s say that you’re running a blog and on your blog, you’re interviewing people from time to time. You can, whenever you interview someone, you can say after the interview is over, basically, you can say, look, do you know anyone  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:25:14    That would be good for me to meet that’s basically good for what I’m doing here or something like that nature. And if you ask for referrals, anyone that you meet, and anyone that you interact with, especially people that you’ve interacted with for a longer period of time, they’re going to be open to doing that because they already know and trust you. And they like you. And they’re going to want more people to know about you as well. You know, when they mention your name to a friend or to an acquaintance that really needs you and or would want to interact with you, they’re also bringing value to that person, not just to you. So it’s, it’s, win-win on all three sides, really. So asking for referrals is a must and you should do this anyway. Whenever you’re interacting with people, it can be very, very useful.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:26:05     Method number 12, you basically want to organize online events, you know, so you can have events that run the entire day, or you can have a webinar that you’re running for a few hours, whatever it is, you can network with people who would be good for the audience that you’re trying to reach, you know, and you can reach out to them and you can and ask them if they want to participate. That’s basically publicity for them. So start the relationship like that. This is basically another method that’s about providing value to them in a way of helping them actually organize events. So you’re doing all the organization and the only thing they have to do is actually show up and also by helping them with publicity and with being heard and listened to by more and more people. So that’s method number 12. Now for method 13, which’s basically joining online groups and forums.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:27:06    And here you want to look for online groups, such as on Facebook or maybe on LinkedIn and also forums of people who are doing things that you’re interested in and people that you want to basically network with. So for example, if you are basically looking to network with other business owners or entrepreneurs, a great place to be is thefastlaneforum.com. So that’s actually where a lot of great entrepreneurs hang around. It’s one of the best business forums that I’ve discovered out there. And it’s really the work of MJ DeMarco who wrote The Millionaire Fastlane. It’s a great book for anybody who wants to be an entrepreneur. So that’s a great place to be in terms of business. For marketing, a great place to be is warriorforum.com. There’s a lot of people who are into marketing there who are sharing strategies and you know how marketing is, things change all the time.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:28:06    So really learning what works at a given moment is very, very important because what used to work one year ago may no longer work today. So that’s another value that you get by networking and being in these places. So if you join forums and online groups, you want to become a valued member of the community. You want to fit in. You want to provide value. You want to help people. You want to show people that you are there to actually build your network and provide value. You know, you’re not there to take everything from them and to try to make as much money as possible, as quickly as you can and stuff like that. You know, don’t be like that because people are not going to like that. Especially online, people don’t like people who are out there just to make a buck. You know, they don’t like people who, when they interact with you, you can already smell their commission breath.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:28:59    You know, you can already smell that they’re out to make money and they don’t really care about you. They’re basically being disingenuous. Do you know? So don’t be like that. Method number 14 is to basically connect with them on LinkedIn and basically give them a reason why you’re connecting. You know, like I really liked the work that you’re doing with whatever, or I saw the project that you just got involved in. And I think that that’s really cool. I really appreciate your work there. Or I read your book. I think your book is very valuable. I think that you know, it provided a lot of value to my life, here is how it helps me. You can even use this to actually begin asking them a question, ask them for advice, use the other method as well that we discussed. So you can pretty much mix it and match these methods and go for whatever is actually helpful for you. And LinkedIn  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:29:51    It’s a great, great place to connect with people and to network with people for business reasons. And I mean, that’s why people actually are on LinkedIn. You know, nobody joins LinkedIn just for the sake of it. They join LinkedIn because they want to connect with others. They want to network with others. They want to introduce themselves to new people, share what they’re doing with others, share their mission, and also learn about other people. And that’s why you should be there. That’s why you should be connecting with them. A good trick or strategy here is to wait for a trigger event. You know, so you notice that they’re launching something, you read their book. An event that basically gives you a reason to connect and to reach out to them. Method number 15, here you basically want to help them buy and to provide value to them by taking notes on content that they release and summarizing it.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:30:48    And you can also share it with them. So let’s say that they published a book, you know, and the book, for example, is just starting to explode. And you’re one of the first people to publish a review on YouTube about the book, you can just write to them. You can say, I’ve seen your book on Amazon. And I purchased it. I read it. And it was really transformational for me for this reason and that reason. And because of that, I decided to make a video summarizing the contents of the book and how it helped me. Here’s the link to my video. You know, I hope that you, I hope that this is useful for you. And if I can help you get more attention to your book, that would be great. You know, I would love to help you out. And I would love to help you to reach more people and basically make your vision happen.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:31:41    And yeah, if you write such an email to them, they’re very, very likely to respond because you’re being likable. And you’re also tapping into their desire for reciprocation, by providing value to them, you know, helping them get more publicity, helping share their story and their knowledge. And so those are really the 15 methods and all of them are useful. As I said, feel free to mix and match them. The techniques are powerful, but remember that it all comes back to the foundations, which you have to get right before you actually can be efficient at using the techniques. So it’s not enough to do. I just know those techniques and be like, oh yeah, I can just go out there now and just apply them and make it happen. It doesn’t really work like that. So you actually need to have the foundation in place.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:32:35    And the foundation is really the mindset stuff that we discussed. So empathy, you know, listening, being a value to them being likable, all that sort of stuff, that’s going to be really impactful, you know, and it’s going to basically 10 X, the power of the 15 methods that we discussed. So that’s about it for today’s episode. What I’ll say here is that I reiterate at the very end that basically networking and building relationships are essential in both marketing and business. And you always want to focus on doing this if you’re a marketer or a business owner. And so that’s really going to be the core focus that one of your core focuses, at least in building your business or really doing marketing for whatever it is that you’re trying to sell. If you do this right, you know, you can actually get a lot farther and a lot quicker than you would otherwise, you know, networking and building relationships allow you to tap into a lot more opportunities than you could access just by yourself, as I said before.  

 

Tudor Dumitrescu:    00:33:48    So stay tuned for the next episode. And until next time, keep growing your business and providing massive value to the world. Remember, you are the reason why we’re all growing richer, our freedoms are expanding and we’re all living in greater prosperity. That’s what entrepreneurs like you give to the entire world. So thank you very much for your whole work. And until next time.

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