The Commission Code for Success
Does your gross revenue come from commissions, fees, and other types of 1099 MISC income? If you answered yes, then the Commission Code for Success is a podcast created specifically with you in mind. Each episode is designed to deliver a concept or idea that will help you increase your revenue and have more time to enjoy it.
If you are an employee on 100% commission or an independent contractor you are a business owner when it comes to how you go about doing your daily work. The mindset of a business owner puts you in exactly the right spot to maximize your revenue and maximize the impact you have with your clients and customers.
The Commission Code is the library of knowledge and the set of skills you need to grow your business and reach your desires. Please join us and our guests at The Commission Code Podcast! I look forward to seeing you there, I'm your host, Morris Sims.
The Commission Code for Success
Network Like a Pro: Expanding Your Connections
Forget everything you thought you knew about networking. Devin Sizemore, creator of the Connection Expansion System, reveals why most business owners are wasting precious opportunities by focusing exclusively on finding clients when they should be building strategic relationships.
Have you ever walked into a networking event scanning the room for prospects, only to leave disappointed? You're not alone. The traditional approach to networking yields dismal results, with the industry considering a 5% success rate "good." Devin shatters this paradigm with his revolutionary approach that has helped over 700 people build million-dollar networks.
The magic begins with a simple mindset shift: "There's value in every relationship." Rather than filtering a room of 50 people down to 5-6 potential clients, Devin teaches us to expand our vision and control what we can control – our conversations, our follow-up systems, and the value we provide. When you change your "ask" from seeking clients to seeking strategic partners who have access to your ideal clients, everything transforms.
The results speak for themselves. One client implemented Devin's system and generated $500,000 in just 60 days with zero cold calls or additional marketing. Another client shifted from asking for ideal clients to requesting introductions to mastermind hosts, yielding 17 scheduled presentations in just two months. Devin himself maintains email campaigns with astonishing 87-96% open rates – all because his network is genuinely engaged.
Whether you're an introvert who dreads traditional networking or an extrovert looking to maximize your connections, Devin offers practical advice for building what he calls a "strategic network" – one that responds whenever you need anything, from sales opportunities to strategic partnerships, vendors, speaking engagements, or employees.
Ready to transform your approach to networking? Put your phone down, take out your AirPods, and discover how casual conversations in unexpected places can lead to your most valuable business relationships.
Check out more about your host, Morris Sims
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You can control how you have conversations, how you navigate the networking, getting people's contact info so you can follow up because, surprise, no one's going to follow up with you and so you need to control what you can control and then from there we just optimize everything else. Right, how do you book the meeting, how do you follow up in the meeting, how do you add value, how do you make connections, how do you nurture and all the things in between.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Commission Code Podcast. We're here to help you overcome the challenges that most of us face in our business. From time to time, you know things like feeling like you're on a plateau and you just can't seem to grow your business. Or maybe feeling overwhelmed, just trying to make ends meet and yet it seems like you're always working. Or maybe you've done quite well for a while, but now nothing seems to be working anymore. Well, we want to help you solve those problems and many more. Our objective is to provide you with practical solutions so you can grow your business and have more time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Speaker 2:My name is Morris Sims and I'm going to be your host for this show. I've spent years okay, decades really in the corporate world teaching business owners how to increase their revenue and use professional sales processes and run their business more effectively and efficiently. I started my own consulting and training business about seven years ago, I guess, and I'm helping my clients do just exactly that Get more revenue, increase their revenue and have more time to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But I got to tell you I'm having more fun than ever helping people build successful businesses. So, with all that said, let's get on with today's episode of the Commission Code for your success. Devin Sizemore is our guest today on the Commission Code, and I'm excited to have Devin with us because he's going to talk about something that I don't remember ever having a guest in over 300 episodes, ever having a guest who is a real expert and can talk with us about networking and connecting with people. So, devin, thank you so much for joining us today on the Commission Code.
Speaker 1:Morris, thanks so much for having me, Looking forward to the conversation.
Speaker 2:Well, tell us a little bit about what you do and who you are. You're a top-notch author, You've got a book out there that's doing great and you do some wonderful things. Tell us a little bit about you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. I always start with I'm a serial entrepreneur. I share that because I love business and so you know I've had a marketing agency, a manufacturing company, a coworking space, a cat cafe and, obviously, a consulting company, which we have now, and so I just really enjoy the art of business, scaling companies, optimizing companies. Seven years ago I really refined my focus to be around this world of connections and networking and from that point today, built a system the Connection Expansion System, which is in my book Connection Expansion where we teach people how to build million-dollar networks and get more out of their current networks. And the system has been used by more than 700 people and it always works. So I'm excited to share it with people when I can and help people get more out of the work they're probably already doing or empower them to do a little bit more, maybe in worlds that are uncomfortable like a networking environment.
Speaker 2:And Devin remind me, help me. I'm getting up in there in the years so the memory fails me every now and again. But there was a guy who ran an envelope company, who wrote a book about this, and his whole thing was back when he had a big old, huge Rolodex. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 1:I can remember it. I can't remember the name, but I know exactly what you're referencing.
Speaker 2:Oh golly, gee. I can't remember the name of the book or the name of the author, but it was so amazing because his whole thing was whatever you need, I can go to my Rolodex and I can find it. Now, today, you and I don't have a Rolodex, but we probably got more electronic databases than we I do. I have more than I'll ever use. But, devin, tell us a little bit about connecting with people in today's world, because it's it's not a Rolodex anymore. What do you teach folks?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I really want to highlight something you mentioned, which is I want whoever's listening to this to have access to whatever they need whenever they need it. And that's the outcome of having a highly engaged network, not just a metric driven 10,000 contact email list, right, a highly engaged network. And so what I teach people and kind of where the conversation should start is really shifting how we approach networking. Often, if you think about a networking room, whether it's digital or in person, it's the same problem. When I stand in a room or on a stage, I say, hey, morris, who can I connect you with? And you answer your default answer usually is an ideal client profile. Right, this is who I'm targeting. I'd love to meet that person.
Speaker 1:Well, when we go into a networking environment, that's who people tend to target as well, right, is they tend to default to. I'm going to walk in this room of 50 people and I'm going to try to find a perfect prospect, right? So now the room of 50 people just became maybe five to six that have potential, and of those, half might have the right time or budget to fit you. And so you've eliminated so much opportunity because you're assuming who's a right fit, who's not. And so step one is we have to go to one of the core principles we teach, which is there's value in every relationship. And so step one is we have to go to one of the core principles we teach, which is there's value in every relationship. And so stop going into a room and only trying to find prospects.
Speaker 1:Go in the room with a bigger mindset and a bigger view which is why we call it connection expansion, an expanded view and have conversations with everyone. And then get to another core principle control what you can control. And then get to another core principle control what you can control. You can control how you have conversations, how you navigate the networking, getting people's contact info so you can follow up because, surprise, no one's going to follow up with you. And so you need to control what you can control. And then from there, we just optimize everything else. Right, how do you book the meeting? How do you follow up in the meeting? How do you add value? How do you make connections? How do you follow up in the meeting.
Speaker 2:How do you add value, how do you make connections, how do you nurture and all the things in between. Boy, it sounds good, devin. In today's world, do folks do a lot of face-to-face networking anymore? I mean, that was for a while, obviously during COVID. None of us did. But in today's world do you find that there's still those kind of face-to-face opportunities going on, or are there other ways or better ways in today's world?
Speaker 1:to network. Yeah, I think it really depends on your industry. The type of business really dictates the type of networking. Like if you're a home builder or a geographically restricted business real estate, mortgage insurance where you're stuck in a region, city or demographic then yes, maybe it's a lot of chamber events and things like that.
Speaker 1:Even if that's a true statement, I still love virtual meetings because typically what needs to be a 60-minute meeting in person can be a 30-minute or 20-minute meeting online, so I'm able to meet more people in a compressed amount of time and still generate the same results, still build deep and meaningful relationships, still add value, still nurture, still generate revenue. And then you know I do a lot of trade shows and speaking and so that's an in-person experience where you know maybe it's not you're there for directly networking, but you're in a room of, you know, 80, a hundred or, the event I was at last week 700 people. So there's an opportunity to to get good at in-person dialogue and how you start conversations and exit Um, but at the end of the day, getting their contact info starts the process right. There are a lot of best practices for how you get their information, but once you have it, that's where we need to treat it differently than most people probably are.
Speaker 2:Okay, what sort of virtual networking opportunities are there? I'm thinking our audience is business owners and typically it's business owners that have to go out and find people to work with on a regular basis. They're going to be looking for that ideal client who will want to engage them and do business. What sort of networking can I do? Because I don't know why, I assume this, but I assume that most of my audience is probably virtual themselves and out there doing business online in some way, shape, form or fashion. I'm sure I do. My business is consulting and 99%, well 99.9% of my work is virtual with my clients. So how would you recommend somebody in that sort of a position actually get into the world of networking to find more folks that they can build a relationship with?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm going to give you a three-part answer. So part one, yeah, part one. I host a community called ACES Connection Group ConnectionExpansioncom I'll get you there. We host Connection Blitz meetings which are available to everybody. I host about one a week. I think our event tomorrow, as we're reporting this, already has 30 people RSVP. So that's one opportunity that I host where you can come meet amazing people doing amazing things.
Speaker 1:The second thing is we teach the connection expansion exercise, and one bucket of the exercise is who has access to your ideal clients and by who has access to your ideal clients. We then get to the strategic realm of connections. Instead of one-to-one, we're going one-to-many or many-to-many. There's a lot more leverage there. As we go through that exercise, there's a GPT happy to share it. You guys can check that out, but as you go through the exercise, it will start to show you where those people get together and then you can figure out how to network with them right.
Speaker 1:So whether that's industry specific, whether it's educational platforms, whatever that might look like, the thing that I love to do is either podcasts or masterminds.
Speaker 1:So section three is or you know of this answer is I do a ton of mastermind workshops and presentations where I partner with mastermind hosts. I come in and I drive value through teaching what we do and then that gives me real intimate exposure to the 12, 15, 50 people that are in their mastermind world. I'm already positioned as the thought leader and expert. I can provide real deep value and then I can move people into a free offer, which for me is my community, or a low ticket offer, which is my book. And so I think if you're thinking of networking one, come hang out with us, happy to plug you guys in and open doors. Two, really understand where your clients gather or where your referral partners gather and then figure out where those things are associations. And then three, masterminds are a great cheat code to come in and add a ton of value for the mastermind host and then be able to pull out the right people that are right fit for whatever you offer.
Speaker 2:Masterminds are so much fun. I've been in a couple and I've loved being a part of them. But how would I go about finding masterminds that might want to have me come in and be a guest, or any of our folks come in and be a guest?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So this gets to the changing your ask. And this is a huge, huge part of where I said people mess up. The process is again. If I go back and I said, morris, who can I connect you with? And we're having a first meeting, your default answer is always ideal clients. Right, here's who I'm targeting. That's great database. Narrow it down to this small select group of people that might be an ideal client. Then you want me to position them to you so you can sell to them. There's so much friction in everything. I just said oh, yeah, and that, yeah, that's what's taught. That is how we are taught to generate referrals and do this thing, which is why a 5% success rate is the industry standard of good. That's horrific. So what I teach is we shift our ask.
Speaker 1:So if you listen to this and you go, you know what? I would love to speak to more masterminds. That seems like a mutually beneficial strategic opportunity. Well then, as you're doing connection meetings and you're filling your calendar and meeting people, when they say, hey, morris, who can I connect you with? You answer with that I would love to meet mastermind hosts, because mastermind hosts allow me to bring value to their members and potentially find some ideal clients for myself. As long as you start shifting that ask to that strategic ask, what will happen in a six to eight week runway is you'll start producing that. So I shifted to asking for mastermind hosts about eight, nine weeks ago. Since shifting that, with all the connection meetings I'm doing, it's yielded 17 scheduled presentations to masterminds. I just came back from DC where I presented one in person. Most of them are virtual, but in person makes sense sometimes and you just got to shift your ask and so just ask for it and because it's a strategic ask with no friction, you'd be amazed how many people will open doors for you.
Speaker 2:That is so very, very true, and it's so true in the world of sales and has been for decades Just ask, just ask people for what you want. Let's not play games, let's not do any. Let's just ask them for what you need to know. What do you need to find out? And in the sales world you've got a couple of options here. Which one do you think is best for you and your family, devin, and that's it. That's all it takes. You just got to ask 100%.
Speaker 1:Most people have the wrong ask, though right. And that's where, like, I just came off a strategy session with a client, super savvy. They're top, top tier salespeople, top tier affiliates. They have multiple seven figure businesses. They're absolutely crushing it. And when we went through the ask part, it like fundamentally broke their mind because they were like oh, I've been wasting so much opportunity in all these meetings because I've been chasing the sale instead of chasing the opportunity. And what's happened to another client? I debriefed this week 14 connections to them. So they've had 14 connection meetings. They also implemented our system inside of their whole company. In the last 60 days it's yielded $500,000 in revenue with no cold calls, no additional marketing, no outreach, just changing their language. Wow.
Speaker 2:That's amazing, but it makes perfect sense really, when you sit down and think about it and begin to dissect it, Devin, because it is that communication that is going to generate the relationship, isn't it?
Speaker 1:100%. Yep, everything I teach is stupid, simple and it works as you scale it, and you don't need to overthink it, because, at the end of the day, I like to say I'm a lazy entrepreneur? Right, I'm not. I like to work hard, but I want to build systems that are implementable, duplicatable and I can optimize, because that's how you become a smart business owner, and so that's all I want to teach. I don't want to teach you a system that is so overly complex you can't use it Like. I want you to lean in, grab a nugget and then let's get some wins.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And that's what keeps them coming back to you and would keep coming back to all of our folks when they do just exactly that, when they create something that is easy. And I think that's the other key word in today's world is folks aren't going to go out of their way to do things. Let's make it easy for them to say yes. Let's make it easy for them to buy, to give us referrals, to give us people we can meet. Make it easy, would you agree?
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. I think so often and this goes back to the control, what you can control part right, people are chasing. I think this is a blessing and a curse. I think, with AI and all these things that are happening, people are jumping on these things that have the perception of generating more results with less time, if they don't fully understand what they're implementing. And all of those strategies are focused on acquiring more clients, not building a strategic network.
Speaker 1:And so what we teach and I've taken the bet I've never lost is if you implement my system or I implement it against you, I will win. I promise, and it's yet to be proven otherwise. And so if you lean in and you're like, look, I want more sales, look, there are amazing sales coaches who will help you when you get into the art of selling, great. What I'm going to help you do is get into strategic conversations, where you're in a room where they can refer you to a bunch of people, then sales consulting can kick in. Because, yes, you need to have good sales meetings, ask good questions, position, be persuasive, all the things, but you're missing the whole opportunity because you're just targeting clients and you're just trying to get this. What about the strategic conversations? What about the podcasts, the events, the masterminds, all of these other things that have access to your clients that you're not targeting and you know your competitors aren't targeting? Go build those relationships.
Speaker 2:And it's wow, that is so much. And it just went in and boggled my mind because what you're talking about is so again is so easy, but yet it's so very vital to the whole process. You mentioned strategic network. Define a strategic network for us, devin, what am I trying to build? If I want to build a strategic network, what am I trying to do here? What's the objective?
Speaker 1:What is it I?
Speaker 2:guess what is. It is the better question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it goes back to what I said. Right, you want a network where whatever you need is accessible whenever you need it. The issue with your current network is, if I say, send your network and ask and see if it responds, they'd probably respond horrifically. And what I would prefer is that, whatever you need whenever you need it, your network replies. Now, that might be sales, that might be strategic partnerships, it might be a new vendor, service providers, stages, podcasts, interns, employees it doesn't matter what the need is. It matters if your network replies, and so that's a strategic network is.
Speaker 1:Have you built a network strategically where you've added value? You have given infinitely more than you've received, thus positioning your network to respond when you ask it to do something? The answer is probably not, and so what that yields is a network that you have low open rates on your emails. You have low click-through rates. People aren't booking meetings with you. All you're doing is selling, so people are all standoffish.
Speaker 1:You're doing bulk newsletters and all these bulk touch points instead of highly personalized touch points that's what the industry teaches, and so I just want to teach everything else. Bulk touch points instead of highly personalized touch points that's what the industry teaches, and so I just want to teach everything else, because that's what sets you apart and that's why I was just looking at our email campaigns for certain sectors. I mean, one of our email campaigns has a 96% open rate. The other one has an 87% open rate. It's because our database is so engaged with us. They open our stuff, they engage with it. Does your database do that? Do your active customers even open your emails at that rate?
Speaker 2:Probably not. Yeah, probably not. In fact, I can tell you mine don't. In fact, that's probably my biggest challenge, and if it's mine, it's probably our audience as well. I can post stuff and ask questions and use social media up the you know what, and I get nothing. I get crickets, even though I don't sell online, I don't sell on social media. All I do is try and add value and ask questions, but I get no engagement. So when you say, do they respond? Boy, that hits a nerve, and I bet it does with a lot of people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the issue. There's so much information overload right through your inbox, through the social world, through just I mean this phone which we all probably have in three feet of us, because that's the stat, right how can we do it different? And so, if you can get people into real conversations one-to-one conversations or, I do, group conversations have a different style dialogue where we're actually getting to understand people, add value quickly by making strategic connections that help them expand their network, provide resources that get them to overcome whatever challenge or obstacle they're facing, and then only provide our product or service when asked and positioned that they need it. What it does is it creates different engagement. And then you start to create all these little rating fans everywhere who are like oh my God, you got to know Bob, you got to know Alex, you got to know John. You got to know this person because, one, they're a super connector, they know everybody. They, john, you got to know this person because, one, they're a super connector, they know everybody, they're going to add value to. They, add value to everybody.
Speaker 1:Like, every time I talk to that person, they deliver. And they deliver with no strings attached, like there's never a motive, it's always just them delivering. If you start positioning like that, what happens is people will want to take meetings with you, they will want to connect people to you and if you can get that positioning correct, then again you're controlling what you can control, instead of all of this push marketing which you can't control. I can't make anyone engage with the post. I can make it easier for you to book a meeting with me because you see the value I'm going to bring and I can train you over time that I will continue to position myself that way. Thus you'll reply to my nurture emails and everything else we're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely Devin. Something that just crossed my mind is networking, memberships and organizations out there Success Champions Network, business Networking International, bni is that right? Are those things any good, do they? I mean, they cost a lot of money. Is it really worth getting involved with a group like that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it all depends on how much you put in, and so this is my answer to any networking is and I've made when I have my digital agency, we made multiple six figures from BNI and I love that style of networking, but you got to work the room. The issue there and this is where we started implementing our system is if you only are going in the room just chasing the one prospective client, you're going to have to show up a lot of times, do a lot of meetings to get the one referral that you can hope to close. So I stopped doing it and I just started asking the room for referral partners. Like, hey, this week I'd love to meet your business CPA, because business CPAs have access to my ideal client. And then boom, I get six or seven referrals to business CPAs.
Speaker 1:Next week I'm meeting six to seven business CPAs. Well, guess what? A fraction of those business CPAs need websites too, but they also have access to clients. Then the next week, hey, I'm looking for business attorneys, especially ones that help in starting and launching companies and being the agent of record, because that's a good moment where they can introduce me on the marketing side to help these people scale up websites the next week. And so if you attack those networking groups again with the bigger picture and the bigger ask to the strategic connections, it then can produce results. But if you just show up with your hands out going, here's my ideal client, please refer.
Speaker 2:Good luck. Yeah, and that hadn't worked for me yet, that's for sure. So a lot of times I don't know about the rest of the world, but for me, when it doesn't work, I stop, I just stop doing it altogether. And that doesn't seem to work either. So some kind of getting out there and becoming visible. Dr Richard Kay was a guest on my show one day and he said, morris, it's not about who you know, it's about who knows you. And by getting out there and networking I'm helping other people get to know who I am and what I do Seems to me that's a piece of the whole thing, isn't?
Speaker 1:it. Well, you want to be visible right, and so, having you mentioned my shirt as soon as we hopped on right I know this will be audio, but I'm wearing a shirt that says who can I connect you with, which is our brand, and on the back it has the call to action basis connection group. And so what are you wearing? How are you showing up? Is your brand and logo positioning proper so that you're getting that repetition? And what happens?
Speaker 1:If you're on enough podcasts, you're on enough networking events, you're on enough stages, you're doing enough presenting, you're creating enough social content? What starts to happen and this is what we're in a season of seeing is I have people all the time where they're like oh my God, you're everywhere. Yes, I am. So that creates that noise right, which then allows you to build instant credibility with people, Cause now they're like dang Devin's been on 74 podcasts, he's been on, he wrote a book, he hosts a community with 150 people Like, all of a sudden, instantly, there's credibility, it breaks all the walls down and we can have real conversations. And so part of networking is just that brand exposure and getting out in the market. So, going back to the BNI thing, when I had my digital agency. We were in six BNI groups. Every one of my team members that was local was in a BNI group. We owned the whole BNI region for digital marketing and social media and that was because I wanted my team all wore polos with our brand on it. We went to every networking event.
Speaker 1:I wanted competition to be like, oh, these guys can't, right. Because I wanted brand exposure. And so I think, depending on your market, you physically do that with logo and brand presence right. But in a digital market, you can accomplish that with updates on your website, testimonials being on more podcasts, leveraging that in the social content, doing social proof and posting. All of those things validate your existence and who you are as a person, which then make it easier to have conversation and or sell to people, depending on what type of meeting you're in.
Speaker 2:That makes perfect sense, devin. I love it. Tell me this. We've been talking about this, like the folks who are listening to us have this conversation know what we're talking about. Well, what do you do with someone who comes to you and says you know, I've never really been able to do any networking, I don't know where to begin. Where do I start, devin? How do you handle that individual who's going gee, I don't even know what you're talking about yet. How do you get them started? What do you tell them to do first?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So again it really gets to this conversation of are you super clear on your ideal client first, so that we know exactly who we're trying to reach. Once we're clear on our ideal client, do we understand who has access to them? And as long as you have that information, the third piece and this is where I think people go wrong is what are you interested in? What are your hobbies? What are your passions? What's your history? How do you communicate? Do you have an engineer background? Are you naturally an introvert? You need to then explore opportunities to engage in a networking setting that's comfortable to start until, unless you're like me, you're an extrovert. I'll talk to anyone anywhere, any line it's great, right. But if that's not you, that's okay.
Speaker 1:And so I had a realtor who came to me, young guy, just starting his career. We helped him implement the system. It was brilliant. He became the top producer in his brokerage and he's like dude, I don't want to do cold calls, which is huge in that industry, and I don't want to go and just be in a room at the chamber with 70 other people.
Speaker 1:Well, it turns out he likes cigar. He likes cigars and whiskey, and so we just went hey, how many cigar lounges are there in town? Well, there's seven, Okay, great. So every night or whatever, however many days you want to go, go smoke a cigar and have conversations with people in the room. And then we just started planting these seeds where he could position the conversation from what are you smoking? How was it rolled? What's the whatever to? Well, what do you do? And then, using the what do you do into a series of questions right, how long you've been doing it? What'd you do before? How can I help you? What are you looking for? What's your biggest challenge? To position a relationship, get them into a meeting and then start the process. He also liked whiskey, and so we just started looking at all of the whiskey events. So the Elks Club happened to be hosting a cigar and whiskey event.
Speaker 1:Well, Elks Club members tend to be business people or experienced in a professional circle, and so he joined Elks and then he just went to every monthly dinner and then he went to the cigar thing and same thing. Oh, what whiskey did you try? What'd you think it's easy to talk about, because he's comfortable in that environment, and then he just defaults to the questions. That then position for meetings. That's how he built the whole market. Dominance in his market was positioning things he enjoys to get access to people that are a fit strategically or client wise. And so if you like golf, then join a men's club or a women's club and go play golf and talk to the sponsors, join the events, go do charity golf tournaments, Because guess what? Every charity golf tournament has 18 people standing on a hole trying to sell you something.
Speaker 1:So you're going to get 18 people's contact information instantly right. And that's if you suck at communicating, right? So go play golf. You like racquetball? Join the league, join the club, right? Oh, you're a parent and parenting is the most important thing to you Fantastic. When's the last time you actually talked to the parents in the PTA? Did you actually start conversations and have that? So it doesn't need to be hard. You just need to get the hell out of your own little sphere and go talk to a few new people.
Speaker 2:It's amazing. You know, in the olden days we used to call that personal observation getting out and just being observant about the people around you and what's going on. I have a client who told me. He said, morris, I love this because I want to get in the longest line possible at the grocery store. And I said tell me more, rick. He said, well, if I'm in the longest line, the person in front of me is a prospect and the person behind me is a prospect. All I have to do is start a conversation.
Speaker 2:I met with him one time and on the way into his office I had the opportunity to stay with him at his home. And on the way into his office he said do you want to stop and get a Starbucks? On the way in I said, sure, why not? We walked into that Starbucks, devin, and this guy. From the minute he walked in the door there were people saying hey man, how are you? Tell us what's going on, what's happening with you, and he looked at me and said go on and get in line and get you a coffee and I'll be there as soon as I can.
Speaker 2:He talked to nearly everybody in the whole dadgum place before he joined me in line and then he talked with the person behind us and the person in front of us and the people on the side of us and it was just like a masterclass in getting out there and talking to people and being observant of the people around you. And obviously he had done a very good job of that before then because, again, everybody in the place knew him. It was truly amazing to watch this gentleman be of benefit, add value to all those people around him, because he wasn't just talking to them about when can I come and sell you insurance. He was talking to them about what was important in their life and how their kids were and what they were doing now and how their business was going. And you know, it was just general conversation.
Speaker 1:Rarely, if ever, did he ever ask for business because it just generically or organically it came to him 100% and as you were talking, I, you know, jokingly stared at my phone and picked my head up right, and I think that that's the message Pick your head up, put your phone away, take the AirPods out and be observant, because I've landed so much business having random conversations around a place.
Speaker 1:In my book I talked about a birthday party, a birthday party for my daughter, who at that time, I think was four, and I ended up doing six figures in business from a birthday party for my daughter, who at that time, I think was four, and I ended up doing six figures in business from a birthday party because I just talked to the parents, worked them through a process and followed up and it was just because I was innately curious and, to be honest, it was like the worst, most awkward stuff Because, like birthday parties when you're not, when the kids are friends but the parents aren't, is so awkward, oh it is Birthday parties when we're going because the parents aren't is so awkward.
Speaker 1:Oh, it is Birthday parties when we're going cause the parents are all friends and, like, the kids are all friends. That's great, that's just hanging out with friends. But have those conversations. And, to my point, like you know, wear a branded polo, wear your t-shirt that's got your brand on it, wear something that sparks a conversation. And so when I wear the who, can I connect you with shirt?
Speaker 1:I was at a mastermind speaking in Palm Springs and we walked up to this dinner. We had a private room for 20 people and we walk up to serious and the guy goes oh my God, I love your shirt. Can I take a photo? Sure, we'll end up connecting on LinkedIn. Come to find out that he owns six companies. Come to find out that we follow up on LinkedIn. He books a meeting, all because I was just wearing a t-shirt. That made someone go well, what the hell do you do Right? Well, what the hell do you do Right? Like, make it easy. Like, think about those moments that you guys are missing, like, like, why are you not optimizing those moments and why are you not having those conversations? Yeah, there's so much opportunity.
Speaker 2:It's just amazing, Devin. Last question I don't want to take you too much away from your work and everything, but one last question what system or what software or what thing do you use to keep all of your network connections in where you can find them and get to them easily? What sort of database do you use?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I personally use High Level. I like their platform. I think it fits well. It's supported by Business Done Better, so they manage my whole back office and my funnels and make everything easier.
Speaker 1:In my book though I really want people to hear me on this your CRM needs to do two things, and I think people overcomplicate this and then get stuck building the CRM, not doing the work. That's not beneficial. And so your CRM needs to track contacts right, so you can have people inside of it. They need to be able to assign a task. If your CRM can do those two things, that's all it needs to be able to do. Everything else is extra right Automation, funnels, email marketing, social posts all those things are great, but you need to add contacts and add tasks, because if we can assign a task to someone, we can hold ourself accountable to following up and following through and following up for meetings and scheduling meetings.
Speaker 1:So that's it. It can't be in a spreadsheet, though. That's not going to work. It's got to be in an active CRM where we can have a to-do list and task manage, and then, like I said, I use high Level and Love it, and then Business Done Better does my whole back office, and I can't rave enough about them because they make it. So I don't have to know anything. I can just tell them here's what I want, and they just make it happen.
Speaker 2:Isn't that great? Oh man, that's wonderful. That makes perfect sense. It can't be a spreadsheet and it can't be the database I used back when I was a salesperson, which was a stack of business cards tied up with a rubber band. That's not a good network, not a good CRM. It just doesn't work well, does it.
Speaker 1:Not today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got to get those business cards into your system.
Speaker 1:You need to have tasks assigned so you make sure you're nurturing and following up, and you know you got to hold yourself accountable to that to-do list and you got to prioritize it. You know fires are going to happen in your business the day's going to kick here, you know what and so at some point you need to prioritize building your network, because that is what's going to generate the most top line impact.
Speaker 2:Devin, this has been a wonderful conversation. Thank you so very much for joining me today on the commission code.
Speaker 1:Morris, I appreciate you, brother, great conversation, morris. I appreciate you, brother, great conversation.
Speaker 2:Well, that does it for this episode of the Commission Code Podcast. This is the place where we want to help you find the commission code to success in your business. Remember, go to MorrisSimscom for more information and in the meantime, hey, have a great week, get out there and meet somebody new, and we'll see you again next time right here on the commission code. Best wishes. I'm Morris Sims, you.