Wendy Caverly With Crusaders Networking

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxAmbassador.com To learn more. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Wendy Cavalli and she is with Crusader’s networking. Welcome, Wendy.

Wendy Caverly: [00:00:45] Well, thank you so much for having me, Lee. I’m excited to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:47] Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Crusader’s networking. How are you serving, folks?

Wendy Caverly: [00:00:53] So I am serving folks because I am a coach who specializes in the skill of networking and networking is a skill that while people know the necessity of it, is often misunderstood and not valued until troubled times come up like they did in twenty twenty. And they start to realize that it’s something that they they feel a little intimidated by. But but they shouldn’t be because it’s a skill like any other. It’s very learnable, and I am here to help them find comfort and success using the skill of networking.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:28] Well, I really appreciate that, and that’s at the heart of my business and and what we do here. Business RadioX is a version of networking. But for folks, for some folks, networking is kind of an icky thing that they feel like it’s, you know, almost too superficial or too transactional. And for other people, networking turns into not working because it’s almost like they’re not using it properly in order to grow their business.

Wendy Caverly: [00:01:56] Absolutely, absolutely. And I love that you touched on both those points, but I did have a client recently say that to me that they feel slimy, like it’s something that it’s a it’s a trick used to get a transaction done or to fake a relationship with a customer so that you can get them to agree to the services and then disappear into the night. Or another client recently said it’s something that but kissers do to try to get a promotion at work. When that is, that is the misuse of the skill of networking at the end of the day, beginning and ending. Even with this, the dictionary definition of the word networking is about connecting with people. And and that is that is what this is all about, finding great connections with people that are mutually beneficial and bring value to everyone involved.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:44] Right. I do a lot of work with salespeople, and sales has the same kind of issues where people think it’s icky and they think it’s a manipulation or you’re tricking someone to do something they don’t really want to do. But in both of the cases, I think that that they’re both for, like you said, it’s about connecting and finding the right fit and seeing if there’s ways to collaborate and work together. And it isn’t a manipulation or a any type of deception. You’re just trying to help each other win if you’re doing it right.

Wendy Caverly: [00:03:15] Politically, absolutely, I think sometimes people forget the net in networking, you are literally creating a network of people who are there when you meet. They either make you more valuable to your current customers because now you can solve a problem for your customer rather than just tell them that you really feel bad for their issues or in your own times of need. When you find yourself in an unexpected situation, you know who you can trust that will step up and help you move forward in life.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:47] So let’s kind of dig in and talk about, you know, how you communicate this and how you educate and coach your folks to be better networkers.

Wendy Caverly: [00:03:57] Crusaders networking was actually inspired by what changed in the world in twenty twenty. And I had a lot of business professionals coming to me wanting to know what they could do now that they couldn’t doorknock or have exposed to set at or, you know, be face to face with their customers. And when I started coaching how to build these effective relationships, I realized that networking is a much larger skill set than most people recognize. It has a lot of different potential outcomes, depending on which skills you use. So I started translating the skill of networking through nature references to play off of the ones that we already know very well. In the professional world. There is farming and hunting. Everyone is familiar with that in the sales world and in the professional world, and networking is very much at its heart. Relationship building, which is what the farming practices. So to help people, first of all, not be overwhelmed by this skill, I broke it down into four landscapes. I call it the networking landscape. There is farming and hunting and fishing and foraging, and each landscape is a different part of networking and has a different skill attached to it for results. And I don’t know how deep you want me to go without. I like it back and forth. So tell me what? What do you think of when you think of of farming practices?

Lee Kantor: [00:05:30] Well, I’m not much of a farmer, but I would imagine in farming that your network is very important because you need, first of all, some of the materials in order to farm. So you need kind of seed and you need kind of the machinery involved in farming. And then you also need a place to distribute the excess stuff that you farmed. So then you would need a network to help you kind of get your product out to market. So I would imagine a network is very important when it comes to farming.

Wendy Caverly: [00:06:01] So well, actually, just from a networking standpoint, farming is that building the relationship part where it’s not the one and done, it’s the home base that you are comfortable bringing people back to other professionals. It’s the people who share your farm that you are comfortable referring to. And and it’s that place where those they’ll go to mutually beneficial relationships are nurtured and cared for. You very rarely are comfortable referring somebody that you just met because you don’t actually know their quality of work. How are they going to respect your reputation? So it’s it’s a repetitive process. It’s that relationship building that happens over time. And and it’s it’s that home base where those are your go to people and those are the people who come to you when they need resources. So that’s that’s the farming aspect of networking. That’s that’s what a lot of people grow their business on. I’ve known so-and-so for 10 years and you’ve known them for 10 years because you’ve had interactions with them over the course of that time. Therefore, you know, they are someone that you can know and like and trust.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:16] So then you kind of look at this as kind of concentric circles that your closest circle is the farming circle.

Wendy Caverly: [00:07:24] I don’t actually I look at as a as an atlas, as a large landscape map that has a spider web. Actually, that’s that’s one of my favorite references is is a spider web. But when I teach the skills of networking, I first break them down into four different landscapes and then we talk about how those landscapes overlap and interact with each other. So it’s a more of a Venn diagram than than than concentric circles.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:57] So then there’s an overlap among these four landscapes.

Wendy Caverly: [00:08:02] Yes, depending on the desired outcome. Are you looking for a referral partner or are you looking for a customer? Are you looking for a resource or are you looking for a mentor? Each one of those desires? Our reach in a different manner,

Lee Kantor: [00:08:20] And then so how would. So let’s go through them, so you have the farming one, I kind of understand. So now how does the hunting one come into play?

Wendy Caverly: [00:08:28] The hunting one is from a networking standpoint, most people know hunting from a sales standpoint, from a networking standpoint, the hunting landscape is used to make a plan for your Long-Term success and manage your frustration by tracking that success. So it’s the the help was impatient that this isn’t going fast enough. I went to that one event. I met nobody. It was worthless. I’m not going to do it again. Networking is repetition, repetition. You have to have layers. So if you make a plan, it’s harder to get frustrated because you’re still making progress and you can see how far you’ve come. So that’s that’s the hunting aspect of of networking.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:10] And then where does fishing come in?

Wendy Caverly: [00:09:13] This game is actually the most classic form of networking. It’s how you meet your future mentors. It’s how you meet the people who are going to take you to the bigger rooms and introduce you to the bigger people. They’re not your clients. They’re probably not even on your farm. It’s that process where you are the one learning, and it’s commonly think about it as why do people join athletic clubs or fancy golf clubs? Of course, you know, they’re looking to surround themselves with these bigger professionals who have the ability to introduce them and help grow their business. So fishing is. You’re the bait. And how do you meet the mentors, the people who are going to carry you up? People are going to bring you to the bigger room.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:01] And then the last one is foraging.

Wendy Caverly: [00:10:04] Foraging foraging is about really looking at not only viewing networking as an adventure, but being excited by whatever opportunity you might spot around yourself, raising your awareness to what’s around you. You might find an opportunity for a new client. You might find an opportunity for a new referral partner. You just might find an opportunity to introduce two people together and look like a rock star. And and that’s why it’s foraging. You don’t know what you’re going to find, but you are looking for all the opportunities, whatever they might be.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:37] Now, when you’re coaching your clients about how to do this, well, what is kind of a day look like for them in order to implement all four of these landscapes? Or do they kind of spread them out? Do they say like one day is farming day, one day is hunting day, one days fishing day, one days foraging day? Or is this something that you just kind of build into each of your days

Wendy Caverly: [00:10:58] When when we first start out, we usually start by just learning how each individual landscape is a stand alone and what to expect from there. But as they build the skill, they start to learn the ebbs and flows. You very rarely do all four in one day, but you could do three in one hour, depending on the environment you’re in. So, for instance, you’re at a networking event, right? You’re surrounded by people you have never met before. All professions, all levels of experience. That’s a that’s a classic foraging environment where you’re there because you’re there to see what opportunities you might spot, but you might be there because of a hunting practice where you made a plan. I had a plan to go to this event so I could increase my business, make new contacts, meet new people. And if you meet someone that you think might be a valuable resource to you, you would follow up with them to try to build a relationship with them that might land them back into your farm. That home base, those, those those people that you can count on in your inner circle.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:10] So now let me see if I got this. So now I know I’m going to an event, maybe at the Chamber of Commerce. Maybe my plan is to OK, let me see who’s invited to this. Let me see who typically comes to this. Let me target, you know, I’m going to try to meet or get to meet through somebody else or directly one of these people. And then at the event, I go and either make my way to that person, introduce myself, or even better would probably be have one of the people that we mutually know introduce me to that person.

Wendy Caverly: [00:12:44] Hmm. A warm introduction is always a great way to meet a new person. Yes. And another aspect of the foraging is actually knowing how to effectively introduce yourself to get the the response that you want. A lot of people don’t like being sold to now. They can they see it coming. So if your goal was to meet this person, you don’t want to immediately try to give them a sales pitch and just dump everything on them. You don’t need to. The goal is to get to what I call the professional first date. You want to get the next time on your calendar. So by making that that warm introduction or that connection in your foraging landscape or at the networking event, in this case, the goal is to get the next appointment with them. You don’t need to close a sale. It’s not a sales call, it’s a networking event, and networking is about connecting and that open exchange of information. So take some of the pressure off yourself. It’s not a one and done scenario if you’re doing it right,

Lee Kantor: [00:13:46] And this is one of the things where I think people make a mistake as they try to accelerate the relationship faster than that, it really needs to go. It should be organic like you described, and it should be. You should be in there for the long run. This isn’t something where you’re trying to sell that person, something in that five minutes that you’re having a conversation.

Wendy Caverly: [00:14:07] Absolutely, absolutely. And it’s not the right time for that anyway. There’s there’s a lot of people there that they want to get to as well. You want to leave a positive impression and you want to give yourself a reason to follow up with them.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:20] So really, that’s the objective is really that next step. And if you go in with a plan like you described and you know, going in the object isn’t to sell anybody anything, it’s just to get, you know, the next conversation. Then it takes a lot of the pressure off.

Wendy Caverly: [00:14:36] Oh my goodness. Yes, it’s and it also helps take the pressure off when you don’t feel a ticking clock. I think that that’s true for anybody. So that’s one of the one of the skill sets in the hunting landscape is by making the plan and being able to track your process progress. It takes the pressure off that you’re not going far enough. Fast enough, you can see that you’re making progress.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:02] So now, having been involved in networking for a while, can you share an experience either with yourself or with one of your clients where you’ve helped them network and help them kind of take their business to a new level?

Wendy Caverly: [00:15:16] Yeah, actually, I can. I personally have been running referral teams for businesses for seven and a half years, so they get a very immersive experience in the farming landscape where they get to build those relationships. And we talk a lot about those long term relationships. Don’t come from laying out your expectations up front, it’s from trying to be of service to them. This is this isn’t new. This is Dale Carnegie one on one, right? You’ll make more friends in two months caring about their problems than two years. Trying to get them to care about yours. And the go giver right now is a very popular book. Same principle. How can you be of value or of service to the person that you’re connecting with? So by kind of tweaking that thought process a little bit as opposed to treating it like a sales call, treat it like an exploratory on how you might connect, find mutual common ground and and then find some to do for yourself. And it’s amazing how frequently because attitudes are important, I should back up for a quick second. When you leave a conversation with another person with something to do for them, even if it’s just, I’ll find the answer to that question. You just gave yourself a reason for another connection. Another touch. So, so without feeling like you’re just randomly reaching out to them, it’s like, Hey, I hope you had a great week. Here’s the answer to that question. Does that help you help you? So it gives you that other thing. It’s not unusual for me to have clients that when they start practicing this skill, they start finding synergy between their business and another business. I have a business consulting firm that I work with who was introduced to a leadership coach I also work with, and they’ve actually partnered in teaching one of their their clients. It’s a large credit union out west, and that synergy came because both of them were open to exploring how they could help the other person, not just what they could get from them.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:33] And it’s one of those things when you’re kind of move away from sales to service. Amazing things can happen.

Wendy Caverly: [00:17:42] Hmm. Just. For me personally, I jokingly call it my drug of choice. I the sense of satisfaction that I get when I can connect to people who may not have met otherwise, and it was a great connection or to watch my clients stop being nervous or embrace their own professionalism. Or heaven forbid, they have imposter syndrome. And they finally embrace the fact that they have things to offer that other people want to know so they don’t have to feel jealous or shy or intimidated by wanting to connect with other people. It really helps people overcome those hurdles in their professional lives.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:30] Now, Wendy, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team or get into your network. What is the best way to do that?

Wendy Caverly: [00:18:40] Well, right now I have a brand new website, Wendy Cavalry dot com, and it has right now. It’s still a landing page, but there are multiple ways to contact me. I love to connect with new people, find out what makes them amazing and share them with others. And the best way to do that is to say hello.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:57] And that’s w e and y CRV e rl wiki. Correct. Well, Wendy, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Wendy Caverly: [00:19:09] My pleasure. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:13] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see, y’all next time on Coach the Coach radio.