Biz Talk (Aired 05-16-25) Smart Networking That Grows Your Biz Fast

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:07] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Biz Talk. I am your host, Emily Galindo and we are here talking all things business. So if you are at it alone, going to the next level, running a giant organization, we are here to talk things business. And we are super excited for our guest this evening because Leslie Everett with Walking Tall, she's not only the CEO and the founder, but but she is an executive branding specialist. And these are the people that we need in our lives these days, is people who can help manage our online reputation. So welcome Leslie, to the show. We're lucky to have you back. [00:00:38] Speaker A: Thank you, Emily. Glad to be here. [00:00:40] Speaker B: I might need you in my near future depending on how this goes. But we're doing great. And you know, the thing about today's episode, I hopefully have not had to encounter this at this point in my career. But, you know, trust me and being able to trust people that are on camera all the time. And so our business folks that are watching and our viewers, our audience seems to be something that's on their mind. And how do in this untrustworthy world, or at least that's how we feel, how are we able to earn trust? And then ultimately we'll figure out what do we do when we break it. So with that, how do we earn trust in this space? Leslie? [00:01:20] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a great question and a really important one because as you rightly said, trust is so, so important to everything we do in life, in business and outside. One of the key things is so simple is doing what you say you're going to do and communicate, be responsive. Those are things I hear all the time with my corporate clients at the moment. You know, people just don't do what they say they're going to do, aren't accountable, don't take ownership or to my to, to people who are selling, perhaps people don't respond. Ghosting has become a I don't know if it's in the English Oxford Dictionary Dictionary yet, but probably is. Ghosting has become a thing. So do what you say you're going to do and communicate effectively. Communication is obviously a huge topic in its own right. The way we communicate a message is so important that it lands in the way we intend it to land. Otherwise it's not effective communication. But I feel the other thing is how we make people feel at the moment in the world that we all work in is so important in building trust. If people feel good when they talk to you, when they have an interaction with you, when they're being led by you, when they're in a meeting with you, whatever that is, if they feel good by the way that you treat them and the belonging that you make them feel, then you really are in a good position to build trust. Got to be consistent though. It's no good being up and down with it. So we've got to be consistent with everything we do. So I think those are things we can really maybe challenge ourselves to think about how much we're doing those or not doing those in everyday business. [00:02:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, great advice, especially being consistently all the way through. So I guess we might see that in online you look like an amazing person, but then in real life you're maybe not conveying that to folks. What do you say? How do you make people feel something whenever you're trying to convey through digital sources like television or digital media. [00:03:22] Speaker A: You know, that's, it's more difficult when you're not having a direct interaction, of course. So a lot of the trust can come from us being authentic and people knowing who we are, where we've come from, a little bit about us outside of the business message that we're presenting. So bringing in, and I've said this before, bringing in our own story and our own background can really help us to feel a little bit, to appear a little bit more approachable in, in business and be trusted on social media. I think one thing that does help is, is really gets in the way of building trust, is just putting so much out there that's all over the place that doesn't really follow a consistent thread of the work that you do or the expert you are or the industry you're in or the person you want to be seen as be. Have a strategy for social media. Don't just do it ad hoc. Have a strategy. What are the messages I want to, to send out when I repost something? Don't just repost it without a message linking it to something that you believe in that's relevant to your business, to your differentiator, to your brand. If you're all over the place, you're going to, you're not going to build trust fast and people start to distrust because you're inconsistent and they don't really know who you are. So a few things there perhaps. [00:04:43] Speaker B: So in the event that you know, for whatever reason, because nobody's perfect, right. Something happens, we break trust, somebody leaves maybe a bad review, something to that effect or, you know, what can an individual or company do to repair that relationship with the consumer or the client or friend? [00:05:01] Speaker A: Yeah, great question. It's first of all, own up to it in the appropriate way. Don't go quiet over it, don't not speak about it. I mean, obviously depending on how big it is, get advice on, on that. But the worst thing we can do is not front it up, not apologize. That's the, you know, the thing that people miss most. We need to apologize if we've messed up. I see this happening more and more and more. It's almost like people are afraid to admit that they've made a mistake. We, we all make mistakes. As you rightly said, nothing's perfect, but let's just admit it and let's just look at what we can do to repair that and make sure that doesn't happen again. It really does go a long way to building your personal brand in how you deal with the mishaps in this world, the mistakes that are made. It's never what happens, it's how you deal with it. That's the key thing. So apologize appropriately. Don't just go quiet and ignore it and hope it'll go away. That's the worst thing we can do. If we're trying to build trust. Look at what you can do to build that back again, depending on what's gone wrong. [00:06:04] Speaker B: Right. We did have a digital marketing expert who said the same thing. If you have a bad comment, to actually address it right there on the platform and publicly. Right. Say the things that you've done and how we've attempted to repair that sort of thing. So definitely great advice with that being said. So, I mean, you said one of the things, a habit that you can do is say, do the thing that you say you're going to do is the easiest way to build trust. Right. What are some other strong habits that can help maintain, you know, consistent, trustworthy, building in, in your business image? [00:06:40] Speaker A: I think actively listening to people as well. Sometimes people feel like they listen. Leaders will tell me when I'm coaching them or working with them as a consultant. Well, I'm listening to what's being said and I'm thinking, well, you're not really, you're not taking that on board, repeating back to people what you've heard, paraphrasing what you've, you've heard just to show that you've listened, you've taken it on board, you've heard their voice, you've heard their suggestion. That's a great way to build trust there as well. But also a consistency. I've mentioned that before. The way you give feedback to people can help you to build that trust as well, rather than giving very blunt feedback or not giving feedback at all, it's a great opportunity for us when we're asked to give feedback, to give it in a way that's really full of integrity, full of courage, full of consideration, not just a flyaway comment. And one of the things I work on a lot with my clients when I'm working with teams, whether it's sales teams or just leadership teams, is having a culture of feedback, creating a safe environment, an environment of belonging for everybody, that you can give feedback effectively, safely. Nobody feels singled out, that they feel that they can take the feedback in the way it's meant. And that is a hugely positive thing to build in, to build trust as a leader, to build trust as a, as a business. Overall. [00:08:08] Speaker B: Having tough conversations is something I'm kind of, I'm incredibly passionate about and as we get become, you know, higher level professionals, something that we need to master, but it's definitely a skill. Do you have a nugget that you can bestow upon our viewers about a tip to have the best, most effective tough conversation? [00:08:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean obviously there's lots of different ones. First thing is don't procrastinate, deal with it. Because the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. Lack of communication around the issue can then cause some, a lot of ambiguity, a lot of assumptions. So first thing is deal with it fast. That's the key thing. I always talk about positive first response response as well. And I think the way that you first deal with it, the first thing that comes out of your mouth should be really positive. So whether it's a tough conversation, maybe it's about somebody really not showing up well in for a presentation to a senior group of people, maybe they just don't present themselves well. We don't want to go straight in with the negative. We want to go in with something a positive first response like the way you present, the way you engage people is fantastic. And I love that about you want to just consider the way the, the way you choose to dress or the way that you choose to use your voice, or maybe your eye contact isn't quite what it needs to be. That will actually enhance the brilliance you've got with the way that you engage the, the audience. So having the tough conversation, I mean some are obviously a lot tougher than that. But it's first of all, don't procrastinate. I think the second tip is have a positive first response because that sets an environment, more of a safe environment for you to then deal with the question that you've got or the issue that you've got, but actively listening to what's being said as well and showing that you've heard that other side of the story. [00:10:04] Speaker B: Incredibly well said. Because I think that if we would just ask the people that work with us. Right. Or for us, that if you just ask them what was going on, you might actually get an answer and it might solve the problem really easily. [00:10:14] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. They're never as bad as you expect them to be. [00:10:19] Speaker B: Right. Right. Well, wonderful. So if that's, if you happen to know somebody who doesn't present well and you maybe not want to have that tough conversation, please give Leslie a call because she loves to be able to coach them and do that, help you get that tough conversation taken care of. So if they needed to get a hold of you, Leslie, how would they do that? [00:10:38] Speaker A: Great ways on LinkedIn. My name, Leslie, is spell L E S L E Y. My website is lesleyeverett.com. you can complete a nice little executive presence assessment tool on there as well. And my email is lesley lesleyeverett.com so those are the easiest ways. [00:10:57] Speaker B: Fantastic. This is, I mean, this really is a topic that is, I think, important to a lot of people. How we present and how people perceive us is, I think, 90% of getting the right kind of business that you're looking for. And so definitely I need to get with you and get with Leslie and tackle this issue so that way people can trust you and do more business with you. So thank you very much for being here, Leslie. We'll see you next time. [00:11:21] Speaker A: Thanks, Emily. Goodbye. [00:11:22] Speaker B: Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for being with us. Hang in there. We'll be right back after this commercial break. Hi. Welcome back to Biz Talk. If you're just now joining us, my name is Emily Galindo. I'm your host today, and we are chatting with amazing entrepreneurs and professionals to talk all things business. And we are super excited about our guest today, Ms. Rachel Drody, the CEO of Harper Grayson Communications. Thank you for joining us. [00:11:59] Speaker C: It's so good to be here today. [00:12:02] Speaker B: You bet. You bet. I think that our viewers are going to be most excited to see you today because you talk about the one thing that nobody knows a whole lot about, marketing. Marketing. We all know that it's something that we need to do, but we are and think that we can do it because we're all on social media and we're swiping. And so therefore, I should just open my doors and open my Facebook page, and therefore I am Marketed and ready to go. [00:12:24] Speaker C: Is that right brand positioning right there? Just done. I'm good. [00:12:28] Speaker B: Yes. [00:12:28] Speaker C: I wish that's what went into it. [00:12:30] Speaker B: Wouldn't that be so much better? However, you're here to dispel those myths. So what is. I want to talk about the top three things that we can give our viewers today. Some information just to be able to maybe start implementing. So let's talk a little bit about what is marketing. [00:12:45] Speaker C: Oh, that's a big topic. What is marketing is getting your message out there to your audience, your intended message to your intended audience. Bottom line, that's what your marketing should be and positioning your brand in a great light. So if we're going to take three steps and let's just dive in because marketing is such a huge topic and I mean we could do, you know, the basics of who are you target audiences, who they are, what they want, what they need to hear and where you're going to meet them? Well, that's easy. But let's dive into social media management and social media management we're looking at there. Is your profile optimized? Is what's on the landing page what you need to see? Is it written correctly, the right keywords in there and are you ready to go? [00:13:28] Speaker D: Go. [00:13:29] Speaker C: Have you optimized what your messaging is going to have going out when someone messages your business? Is the correct information there? Then your next big thing that you need to worry about is your strategy. What is your brand, tone, voice, what does that sound like and what are we looking at? What's going to be going out on your page? So what is the overall strategy for all messaging going out onto your page? And then lastly, once you've got your profile optimized, your strategy down for what you're about to start posting next, we gotta talk about what's your actual execution method. So knowing when your audience is going to be there posting, when it's going to hit their feet at the right time. Nobody wants to see a business post about a sale or something amazing going on six days later. Are you making sure that you're getting your messaging out at the right time to the right audience and you're saying what you need to say. [00:14:19] Speaker B: Simple, right? That sounds incredibly simple. So to get more, even more simple, I would love to. I've actually had this experience lately. You said something that I know it doesn't. It seems very simple saying the correct or having the correct information about your business out there. I was just gonna say if I say that to the right marketing expert, how many times have you seen a business online profile that the phone number, you can't find the phone number. The phone number is the wrong phone number. Their address isn't up to date because they've recently moved or moved a year ago and it's still not up to date. Like talk a little bit. As simple as that is how important it is. [00:14:57] Speaker C: Getting your business basics across all the platforms is. It's disastrous if it's not correct. You would think it'd be so simple. But making sure that you're set up correctly on Google, are you set up correctly on Meta or all is LinkedIn got you right information and going through and doing audits. My team is constantly auditing all the clients that we work for. And so rolling through your audit profile and just running down and writing down. [00:15:22] Speaker B: What your goals are and what your. [00:15:23] Speaker C: Information is and checking back into making sure it goes across. It's very rare that you will find someone that hasn't been working with an established agency that is constantly checking these things back. It is so easy for little things to happen. [00:15:36] Speaker B: It really is. And that's I was actually talking. The person I was looking at was a person that I wanted to go and do business with. Right. And their phone number was not listed on this social media image that they had put out. I had to go to their web. Like I had to take four or five extra steps just to find the phone number to call the company. Like something that simple. They just lost a potential customer. [00:15:58] Speaker C: Absolutely. And you were a target audience. And for you not to be able to find their information. The fact that you'd even go at above and beyond that means they're missing so many other clients just by missing having basic information. And those are beginnings, checkpoints that you should always have. Right. And if you're not thinking about that then what your grand messaging is and then the delivery on top of it. Those three things always have to happen with strategy every single time. And we see so many businesses miss out on that every single time because they have an in house expert. [00:16:26] Speaker B: They have an in house expert or the in house expert is the business owner who thinks like they can make make time in their calendar for those types of behavior, those types of activities. I have found more often than not that they just don't. You, you just don't have the time to be able to be an expert in that one thing. [00:16:43] Speaker C: Nobody can be an expert in everything. [00:16:45] Speaker B: Right. But when you say that getting business is like the key aspect to actually being in business, it's the number one. [00:16:53] Speaker C: Thing that you need to have to get, you know, to keep the doors open is having good marketing to make sure that you've got good clients coming through the door and bad clients will cost you. [00:17:03] Speaker B: And let's talk a little bit about that. But how, how is a bad client costly to a business owner? [00:17:07] Speaker C: Well, besides a customer service experience, experience the bad experience that's going to come out on both ends, stressed out employees, a business owner who's going to be disheartened at the end of it. These are all things that are avoidable if your marketing is pointing at the right clients. Your dream client isn't everybody. And that is one of the biggest stressful things that we hear people say. They're like, my clients are everybody, but they're not. We really need to hone down into who is actually the best person for you. That person's gonna, those clients will set you on fire, make your business success explode. They'll write good reviews for you. You're not having to hunt them down and bug them to get that stuff done. [00:17:43] Speaker B: With the right audience, how do we, how does a business owner right now identify their best client? How would they even know who to be marketing to? [00:17:53] Speaker C: Well, let's start taking one. If you're an established business, who are your best clients and making profiles off of them. What are your best services that you've got that you're offering? Who do they align to? And let's talk about personalities that are going to align with your team. Make a complete customer profile based on those things. What does this person see, think, need to feel all of these different things that you're going to answer their problem. Start filling that out after you've established who they are, what do they need next? And then how are you going to answer it? And by just going through that and being very selective about where you give your energy and it's to your target audience, what, what you want the most. If you start just putting all your energy into that instead of focusing on everybody, you'll build a much better marketing strategy. Being direct to who you need to hear and telling them what they need. [00:18:44] Speaker B: To hear for sure. And when it comes to marketing, we have a saying that there is no silver bullet in marketing. But if I only had one avenue to invest in at this time, like if I'm a small business owner, I don't know where to start. Where's the one place that you would say I would, I would put most of my marketing budget in this one avenue. [00:19:04] Speaker C: If I'm a small business owner and I have a small budget. It's gonna be starting off with my digital presence. Is my website built? Don't do a bad website. Get your socials right, get those up and going and then build into those. But making sure that you've invested very well into what your strategy is gonna be for marketing. Just throwing paint at the wall all day long. It'll drag you down. Making sure that you're targeted. Start in with your socials, making sure that they're answering those exact things, that they're talking and that you're being social and you're monitoring those pages. Don't start up a page. We see a lot of people start up pages and then they don't answer people. They're not being reactive, they're just talking at them. And that's not the point of social media. It's having a conversation. [00:19:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:46] Speaker C: So you're building a conversation. [00:19:47] Speaker B: Absolutely. I've seen so many. Especially when you look at comment reviews or people making reviews and they're saying bad things and then the company just doesn't respond to the. To the bad comments, potentially. What would you say to those? [00:20:01] Speaker C: Business owners respond to your bad reviews. What is most important? Ignoring your bad reviews is going to hurt you in the long run. What happened? Was there a lesson to be learned? Did you make a mistake? Everybody makes mistakes. How are you going to come back from it? Some of the biggest lessons that you will have just in your life. You've made a mistake and now you've got to do something better about it. Turn it around and use that as a good. It's a great opportunity for marketing. When you fail, it's how you get back up. And so I see so many businesses forget that they've just been given an opportunity. You failed. There was a hole in the process. Somebody wasn't happy. Great. Now we've got an opportunity to fix this and come back even stronger. [00:20:39] Speaker B: Right? Because no business is perfect. Obviously. Nobody is. No businesses. And being able to acknowledge that. I've seen companies really excel at that. Like they post, you know, this happened on this day. We tried to contact you. We're so sorry. Like, that's going to go a lot long, a lot farther with your clients and customers than just ignoring the situation and being proactive. [00:21:00] Speaker C: You know, hey, I realize, like some practices, you know, legal, medical, they can't go into detail what happened. But responding back. Hi, we'd like to have a conversation about this occurrence. You know, either we've got a record of or we don't. Please contact our office. Staff and have a conversation with us and show that you're at least answering and that you're opening the door for this type of a conversation to happen. Don't just ignore bad reviews. You have to be proactive and you have to meet those clients other people want to see. Everybody wants to come back, kid. Everybody wants to see you excel. Everybody wants to see somebody get back up from being hurt and to fix it. This is your chance. You've just been given an opportunity. Shine. [00:21:38] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. You have bestowed so much wisdom. I know that was a lot, but I mean, if people actually took into account everything that Rachel just said, you'll be better off on the already getting going. But if they wanted to contact you, tell us a little bit more about Harper Grayson Communications and who you'd like to work with. [00:21:54] Speaker C: So we're at all of the marketing. You can find us on social media, you can find us on the web at all of the marketing. And so we specialize in helping service, small to medium service providers get their marketing out the door. So we'll help you with strategy, we can help you with your socials, your website design, graphic design, all the other fun things. We're there for you. [00:22:13] Speaker B: Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. I hope you guys learned a lot from, from Rachel and Harper Grayson. Please stick around. We'll have another amazing guest right when we get back. [00:22:29] Speaker D: Foreign. [00:22:35] Speaker B: Welcome back to Biz talk. If you're just now joining us, I'm your host, Emily Galindo and we're super excited to have you here because we are talking all things business. And this one of our guests, this guest is one that we are super excited about because it is the hot topic that everybody loves to talk about real estate. So please welcome my guest, Rami Georgi with the Jones Home Group. Welcome, Rami. [00:22:55] Speaker D: Hello. How's it going? [00:22:56] Speaker B: It's going great. How about for you? [00:22:57] Speaker D: It's going well. [00:22:58] Speaker B: How is the market? Is what everybody wants to know? [00:23:00] Speaker D: Oh, hot question. It really depends. Are you buying, selling, renting? I mean, if you're buying, it's good time to buy, but bad time to sell if you're selling, could probably be good time to sell, but bad time to buy. So it really depends. It's, it's, it's a heavy loaded question. [00:23:16] Speaker B: That's a great, that's actually a great answer, by the way. So, I mean, so let's say because of the economy, the last couple of things have been going on, we got the election and finally in the first hundred days, like If I wanted to. If we're looking to sell, how are. [00:23:28] Speaker D: Things actually right now? It's, I want to say it's a seller's market, but we're kind of in the middle of, between seller and buyer's market. [00:23:38] Speaker B: Okay. [00:23:39] Speaker D: If you're selling, now is a good time to sell. If you're buying, now's a great time to buy. Simply because the rates are fluctuating, we still don't know whether it's high or not. If you got into the market, then it's, the rates are what it is. If you're comparing it to 2020, the rates are high. If you don't know what the rates are, the rates are perfect. And I see this a lot, and I see a lot of buyers telling me, hey, we want to wait till the rates go down. If we break the numbers, the rates don't make that much difference. Yes, it will end up on a 30 year loan with a big chunk, but, but on a monthly. Monthly it probably will make a difference. Maybe 100, maybe $200. Really depends on the loan, but we're looking at fractions of a number. [00:24:27] Speaker B: Okay. So really, I mean, if we're only making decisions about buying houses based off of numbers and where the market is and or like the rate and that's the only thing we're looking at, then maybe we shouldn't be buying. [00:24:40] Speaker D: No, that's not, that's, that's, that's the thing. I mean, everyone needs a home at the end of the day. [00:24:46] Speaker B: Spoken like a true real estate agent. You need a home, Right. [00:24:50] Speaker D: If you're waiting to time the market, I could tell you you won't. If you, if you time the market to get in, then you probably won't be able to time it up to get out. So. And if you wait, home prices are only getting higher. I don't think they're getting lower anytime soon. I don't have a crystal ball, but it doesn't seem like it. So, yeah, I mean, if you're in the market and you're ready and you've got the means, by all means, now is a good time to buy simply because we can get you a good price on the home. And whenever the time is right, you can always refinance. So now you get the best of both worlds. [00:25:27] Speaker B: Okay, perfect. I mean, we would love that. Everybody would love to get the best of both worlds. If. Let's take money off the table for a second. What is the number one thing that people are most, should be most focused on when they're looking at buying or selling a house. [00:25:38] Speaker D: Oh, tough question. So with real estate, there are no right and wrong answers. There simply are no right and wrong answers. It really depends on what your motivation is. It could be area, it could be schools, it could be design, it could be, it could be whatever. It's your home, it's your rules. The way I like to handle things is I talk to you as a buyer. What do you imagine your home to be like? Do you imagine your home being like a place where you can take the kids to school, or are you retiring and you want to stay there? And accordingly is what I act upon and this is where we go. So it really depends on what your motivation is. [00:26:36] Speaker B: Okay. And what do you think are some of the, what are trends that you're seeing right now in home purchasing? Any type of like, if you like, if I'm, that might particularly maybe potentially would want me to list my house or sell that. Something that's being like looked at. Right. [00:26:52] Speaker D: That's of course, so it's, That's a very good question. So my biggest, the biggest motivation and the biggest driver of getting a home sold is usually how well it's maintained, how well it's kept, how well it's designed. The fact is, regardless of what the market is or what the rates are, good homes sell really fast. So if you have a home, you've, you've put some love into this home, chances are if you love it, someone else will love it. So this is what I would tell all my clients and this is what I actually see. I mean, good homes just sell and they sell really fast. So show your home some love. [00:27:33] Speaker B: Okay, I love. That's really great advice because we have a lot of businesses on here that can help service homes, right? Like those types of the roof, the H Vac, the foundation. If those things are all well maintained, that looks great. When you go into reason, people, people. [00:27:47] Speaker D: Don'T buy a home because the H Vac is good. People buy a home just because it looks good. They imagine their sofas being here. They imagine growing old here, they imagine the kids playing there. So however you want to frame this, if you put enough love into your home, someone else will also love your home. And that's all it takes. The motivation is to find a home you love and you go for it. [00:28:10] Speaker B: Okay, wonderful. And what are some, Are you seeing any trends with like multi, not multifamily, like with the growing family of having like the in laws live with you or what is that called? Multi, Generational multi Generations, yes. [00:28:23] Speaker D: So that's an upcoming trend. We do see. We're seeing that more and more. It's sort of changing from what previous used to be an Airbnb sort of thing, especially with all the crackdown happening on Airbnbs and short term rentals these days. So, yeah, we are looking at that more and more frequently. I can't, I don't have exact quantified numbers, but it is a growing trend. [00:28:47] Speaker B: I've been seeing just a lot more of talking about that, like the compound, you know, idea and things like that that I'm like, I wonder and I'm hoping from a philosophical humanity standpoint that we all kind of get back together. I think that creates another different layer of foundation. [00:29:00] Speaker D: I mean, I come from a big family, so I completely relate how that is. And I like being around in the noise. [00:29:06] Speaker B: Right. Okay, last question for you is our real estate expert. So what is one, aside from like buying and selling a. What aren't people doing to leverage their real estate agent enough? Like, what kind of questions? Do you guys have access to the information that we could leverage for you that other people just think buy and sell houses? [00:29:24] Speaker D: Fantastic. This is a great question simply because realtors are a lot. In Houston. [00:29:32] Speaker B: There are a lot of you. [00:29:33] Speaker D: It's a fact. Another fact is 74% of realtors have not sold a single home last year. So when it comes to realtors, you need to have someone who has some, some, some experience. And you basically want a realtor that would really go to war for you in the terms of you want someone who will fight a good fight because that's that person who's really working on probably what could be one of your biggest investments of your life. You want someone who knows what they're doing. You don't want someone that you could trust. You want someone that would basically do your deed for you. Anyone could do it. Yes, but no one has the time to do it. You have your full time job, you have your family, you have someone. You need someone who's dedicated enough to do the work for you, to do the heavy load for you. You want someone in the market who knows that this is a good home, this is a good area that goes with what you're looking for. There are no perfect homes out there. There's a perfect home for you. And this is where you need your Realtor to understand what your needs are and talk to you as a human that we've forgotten to do. And this is where I come in. And this is where my service comes in that in terms of negotiation and terms of finding the right home or perfect fit for you, I like to take my time with my clients. I like to get to know them. My clients are not really clients. By the end of the transaction. They're more like friends. I've been, I've been invited to my clients children's birthdays. [00:31:13] Speaker B: Sure. [00:31:13] Speaker D: Still, I'm still in touch with most of my clients and, and again, most of the, most of the transactions I've done, I could tell you 110% that something unique has happened in that transaction, that if I wasn't there, if it wasn't me as a realtor, that probably transaction would have gone through. And this is where I'm proud to say that my services are above the rest of the people out there because I simply care. I don't take no for an answer. In terms of negotiations. I'm always there to fight a good fight. I'm always there to be fair and transparent with everyone and basically get the transaction seen and done to the very end. [00:31:58] Speaker B: Wonderful. And if any of our viewers needed somebody like Rami right here, who's an amazing advocate for you and getting those transactions taken care of, how can they get in touch with you? [00:32:07] Speaker D: You can easily get in touch with me by social media, by phone numbers, by emails. I'm very communicative. I am very responsive. So just reach out anytime and I'll definitely be there to guide you, to help you. No strings attached. I'll make sure that you are very well taken care of. [00:32:24] Speaker B: Wonderful. So reach out to Rami at the Jones Home Group to take care of all of your real estate needs. And Houston, we would love to have you guys reach out to him. He's an amazing advocate. And stick around, guys. We've got more advocates and more amazing experts coming up right now. Coming up right now. So stick around. And we'll be right back after that, this commercial break. Hi. Welcome back to Biz talk. If you're just now joining us, my name is Emily Galindo and I'm your host. Today at Biz Talk, we talk to business experts and help you, our viewers, understand more about business and how to make it more efficient, more effective for you. This last segment, I want to talk directly to our viewers, just you and me. I really would love to help you understand a way that you can market your business. That's probably the most affordable way to do it ever. Also the most beneficial. And I know that has big promises, but that's really what I'm offering today. So for some of you, you just know me as the host of Biz Talk, but in my off screen life, I actually am a sales and marketing expert and specifically I specialize in helping business owners understand and leverage the concept of professional networking. Professional networking is something that I'm extremely passionate about because it really does have the ability to change business owners lives in so many different ways. And as I've gotten into this field, I realized that not a lot of people understand that networking even exists or, or really how to do it. And so I want to spend some time at the end of the show today to help you understand a little bit more about networking and how it can impact your business. So what is networking? So networking is ultimately connecting you and your business to other business professionals in the community and ideally creating business partnerships, friendships and relationships with other professionals that can help increase your business and get you more exposure in the community. There are lots of different ways to do networking. I remember when I first found out about networking, I kind of tripped into the opportunity, had no idea that it even existed when I was an outside salesperson and found my way into these rooms. So these rooms are specific in terms of the different types of networking. So I would love to cover a little bit more about the different styles of networking that are out there. The traditional kind is what we call casual networking. So that's most likely what you've heard of or are familiar with. So that's going to be like the chamber, the Chamber of commerce, where you show up to a breakfast or to a happy hour. There's a lot of people there. It's a random room. Sometimes you have a cocktail or breakfast and you walk around the room shaking hands, kissing babies, passing out your business cards and kind of hoping that you find somebody that is a good person to talk to, that might be interested in learning more about your business. That's really what we call beginner level networking and it can be effective. You definitely will find lots of people to partner with and lots of people to talk to. And it's a great place to start to kind of get going and finding other events and other places that you can build these relationships with. I would say in a setting like this, one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you is that you don't go there to sell your business. That's what everybody does. So please don't do that. Go there to learn about other people's businesses and ask people how can you help them, what can you do to support them and think about who you have in your own life that you might be able to connect that person with to make an impact that makes a huge impression on others. And it really helps people feel like you care about them. And if you care about them, then people just automatically want to care about you and try to help you as well. So casual networking is great. You could literally casually network all day, every day, five days a week, breakfast, lunch and dinner. And it can take up a lot of your time. So while networking and joining networking organizations is a very affordable way to stretch your marketing budget, it is very time intensive. So if you have a shoestring budget for your marketing line, but you have a little bit of time on your hands because you're not quite as busy, this is a great opportunity for you to meet people in the community, build those relationships and get those networks working on your behalf. Another kind of networking is going to be online, right? So you joining nextdoor or Facebook, local Facebook groups of neighborhoods, local networking groups on the Facebook groups, things like that. Also professional services, if you're an attorney or a dentist, like there are professional organizations that you can join and ideally attorneys are a great example of that. If I don't do that type of law, I now know somebody else in another area that I can refer that business. Business too. Ultimately, that's what networking is all about. It is creating these business partnerships so that people know you, like you, trust you, and ultimately will refer you business when that opportunity presents itself in their own life. Right. Like I'm out doing whatever I do on a regular basis talking to my own clients, and that client might have a need that is outside the scope of what I do for a living. And if I have a great network, if I know a lot of wonderful people in this community who are also trying to run a business that are friends of mine and I know that they provide a great service when that client need comes up, I can then feel confident in referring my client to my friend that I've met through networking that I've built a relationship with. And that makes me look like a really great warrior and a great advocate for them. And I'm providing resources to them that are outside of the scope of what I do, which makes me then more valuable to them. So it's a great way to increase your retention as a business owner and professional as well if you can offer other services and connections that are more than just what you do. So we've got the online networking, we have the casual networking and then we have community service networking. So there's lots of organizations out there like the Rotary, the Lions Club, lots of nonprofits that you can go and do community service type work that's for the community. It's a wonderful place to meet other professionals who are like minded and want to give back to their community as well. And you then can say, hey, well what do you do for a living? And that's a great opportunity to potentially build those business partnerships. The last thing, and I believe is the most effective one is going to be structured networking. So structured networking has a little bit more framework around it. As you can imagine with the word structure, these organizations have rules about how often you need to come. Typically there are what we call industry exclusive groups, so meaning only one person per profession, which gives you exclusivity in your industry, which is a wonderful thing. In marketing, it's not often that you get to be the only plumber, the only attorney, the only insurance broker in a room. There's typically lots of competition in any industry and this is a way that you can be the exclusive expert in your field within that group for those people and become the professional. So along with the one person per profession, there's also, like I said, rules about your participation. So if you are going to be our dedicated expert, then we expect you to show up, actively build relationships with other people in the room. Genuinely like, create a sense of loyalty to those individuals in the room. Because if they are helping you and you are helping them, we are in this all together. And that is ideally the best place for that network in action, which is actually a franchise that I own in the professional networking space. And that is what we do. We meet on a monthly basis. It's expected of our members to show up. They are, you know, in a structured meeting. It's a 90 minute meeting. We are leading that meeting to helpfully make an impact on their business. Talking about more business type things like we do here on Biz Talk, and then creating referral opportunities by partnering specific people together. Part of the networking thing that we do is by wanting people to make sure that they are talking to people and building relationships with other professionals that are not in competition with them, but talk to the same people or the same type of clients that they also want to talk to. So for example, a merchant service person who sells credit card machines to a lot of restaurants would also like to talk to a commercial insurance person who likes to insure restaurants. So the two of them obviously have two very different products. However, their clientele is the exact same. So it's kind of like killing. It's having you Know two people working on your pipeline versus just having one. If that merchant service person is talking to restaurant A and you know, now the insurance person can get in on that opportunity as well potentially. So that's really what business, what referral partnerships look like is it's of part people who are not in competition with you, but talk to the same clientele that you want to talk to so that you guys can partner together in those opportunities. I think for me one of the best biggest things because I did say at the top of this that this can be a life changing opportunity. It really is much bigger than just getting referrals and more customers and getting more sales opportunities. That's a beautiful thing. That's why we all walk into those rooms, is because we want to increase our sales. I think that the side of it that a lot of people miss is the amount of support and community that you can receive in one of these rooms. It is really, really life altering. These people become genuinely your friends. And speaking as an adult, it's very difficult to make friends as you grow up and have children and things like that. This is a place where you can actually create genuine friendships. And I have friendships of over a decade from having met people in these rooms who have become really great friends in my life. And aside from that, the community that I'm speaking of is the business community. Being a business owner is incredibly challenging. It takes a lot of courage to start your own business. And when you get into it, you get into it because you're doing the thing that you love to do. The thing that people mostly find out throughout that process is the thing they don't love to do is run the business side of it things, the accounting, the hr, the hiring, the firing, the marketing, these are not the things that you are experts in. And so you're expert in the thing that you do. So being in a room when you're surrounded by other people who are experts in that field really allows you the opportunity to leverage them and talk to them about what's going on in your business and how can they help and what can they do and how can makes it not so lonely. It's lonely at the top, as they say. And when you own a business, this is one of the loneliest roads you're going to be on. And I say don't go it alone if you don't have to. And being in a networking organization and finding one that fits right for you because there's lots of different options, lots of different styles, but when you can find one that really meshes well with you. It really can change how you go about doing business, how you feel about being in business, because you are surrounded by people who genuinely want to help you and genuinely want you to be successful because they want you to do that for them. So it's an amazing opportunity that really can change the way that you go through business. And I really hope that if you are, if this is landing or resonating with you at all that you will go onto Google in your local area and just look up networking events near me and check out some of the things that are there. Not again, not all networking opportunities are created equally. Some of them are not a good use of your time. Some of them are. You will find that out as you go through these experiences. But simply googling or searching on the Internet networking events near me is a great opportunity if you are in the Houston area. Network In Action is an amazing organization that has higher level individuals. We teach a lot about how to network effectively, how to leverage referral partnerships, how to be in business and do it well. So there's a lot of education attached to the referral opportunities that we create in our room. So Network in Action is a wonderful resource as well. And I encourage you to really take this on because again, it is the most affordable way to market your business and one of the most fulfilling and rewarding ways to market your business as well. What other things could I say about networking other than I just am extremely passionate about it? I just think that it's a wonderful thing to invest in and definitely spend some time checking that out. If you want to reach me at our organization, it's niahouston.com we would happily take a meeting with you and encourage you to find the right group and help you do that. So please make sure that you reach out to us and we would happily help you find your way through the networking world because it's not as scary as it's it seems and there's lots of people there that want to help. So thank you all for joining us here at Biz Talk today. We love talking business and love helping business owners not have to go it alone. It's been a great show. We will see you next week. [00:46:47] Speaker D: This has been a NOW Media Networks feature presentation. All rights reserved.