Dive into the networking know-how with Dalene Allen, your 'Connection Concierge,' as she unveils the secrets to building warm, genuine relationships that blossom into business opportunities. Bid farewell to awkward handshakes and monotonous elevator pitches as Dalene redefines networking with a touch of humanity.

Here are a few topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market Podcast.

• Transform networking anxiety into joy
• Strategic connections fuel business growth
• It's about relationships, not transactions
• Daily action plans lead to networking success
• Employ visual cues for engaging interactions

Resources:

• Networking Naturally
• Podcast Chef

Connect with Dalene Allen:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our host, Brian Mattocks:

• LinkedIn
• Email

Quotables:

• 03:06 - First of all, I believe looking to make a connection with another human being is if you like each other and trust each other. Business can happen organically. So if we take it from a different point of view, let me learn as much as I can about you, and how could I help you? It's a law of reciprocity. If I can help you, that's where the trust starts. And by looking at a relationship as opposed to transactional, you're gonna love your life a whole lot more. And I truly believe business will grow. You know, what you send out until the lives of others can come back tenfold.
• 11:42 - If you're a person that needs to network, but the very thought of it creates anxiety, get the focus off you and pretend every person in that room's got a sign around their neck that says, make me feel important. So here, here's a couple of tips. Get to the networking early, get to know the organizers. Guess what the organizer's trying to do? They're trying to introduce you to people. Then that's where I would go in, and I would say, help. I can help you set up, I can help do anything, but I'm paranoid about networking. Could you help me meet some people? And if they're the organizers and they don't do that, well, you're never going back to that networking event again, are you?
• 01:23 - If we look at it from curiosity point of view, that person in front of you learn as much as you can about them as a human being. Because if we've ever had to deal with a crappy client, if you got to know them as a human being first, we could likely save ourselves a lot of heartache or headache. And so I had a real fear when I started my first business of even handing out a business card. So I did everything wrong. And what I realized was I was willing because my goals and dreams were big enough to find a way that worked for me. Most people that fear never goes away.
• 08:25 - I was the worst networker in the whole wide world. I would be like a car dealer in Las Vegas and just throw cards at people. I'd collect them, and then I'd get home and say, why did I do that? To gain a little bit more of a strategic plan. But here's the other part, even reaching out on a social media platform that can be intimidating. But if we look at it from the other point, you know, in another way, they wouldn't have the website if they didn't wanna do business.
• 19:10 - Listening like a sponge, not a brick. Most people will ask a question, listen until they can get their word in. That's not what it's all about. And so one of the sweetest things you can say is if somebody starts talking, you say it now that was interesting. Tell me more. And that person suddenly it's like doors open, shoulders go down. Because if you're really sincere, just that little thing they've opened up, not a lot, but it's like the segue into

Connect with our host, Brian Mattocks:

• LinkedIn
• Email
• Schedule a Free Podcast Consult

Dive into the challenges of marketing with Loralyn Mears from STEERus! Uncover the art of balance as we explore her journey from burnout to brilliance, helping businesses shine online, snag grants, and gear up mid-level managers for the top. Tune in for her transformative tales and practical advice that could steer your business to success!

Here are a few topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market Podcast.

• Small Biz Visibility is Key
• Overcome Overwhelm with Strategy
• Grants: Lifting Businesses Higher
• Adaptive Leadership for Managers
• Podcasting as a Marketing Tool

Resources:

• SteerUs
• Podcast Chef

Connect with Loralyn Mears:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our host, Brian Mattocks:

• LinkedIn
• Email

Quotables:

• 03:50 - Brian: That's normally the way it works. Right? It's never a direct line to success. It's always much more of a search algorithm, a much more of a spiral pattern.
• Loralyn: Yes. Downward spiral being a lot of it, but yes. And then now I'm spiraling up. I've got it. 'cause it's really the messaging is now really more clear. It's helping people get seen and get paid. And what does that mean? Well, if you're a mid-level manager that everybody's overlooking or you're not getting along with your staff, well, you need to get seen, right? And do all of these things differently so that you get promoted or keep your job.
• 17:14 - It's so much easier to fix other people's problems rather than your own always plus, right? The cobbler's children has no shoes, right? Because we're always fixing everybody else's thing. So like, my website sucks, but everybody else's that I do looks really good. And that's a whole other thing.
• 15:11 - The cost of change is often not measured in dollars. It's often measured in organizational fatigue. It's measured in all sorts of the emotional cognitive expense work that isn't easy. It's the same as going to the gym in a lot of these kind of environments where it's like you have to do the, you know, you have to lift the weights, nobody can do it for you. And so you have folks that come in in the small business space, and very often they wanna buy their way out of a problem. And it's like, no, you exercised your way into this problem, you're gonna need to exercise your way out of it. And that creates a very, very difficult dynamic.
• 17:29 - I think it's the state of overwhelm. I think you talked about change, that there is a cost. Mentally, people aren't ready. They know that they need to make change, but it's too much because they've got to change everything on every axis. Right? It's like that movie, first it was only a little bit, and then everything all at once. And it really does become overwhelming, and it's all-consuming, and people just don't have, not even the, the financial capital, which of course is a constraint. You look at the number of small business loans, and two-thirds of small businesses are subsisting on loans. But you look at just the mental energy, it's too much.
• 23:29 - The third thing I would say on go to market is don't get so hung up on the perfection. It's gotta be 99.99% perfect. I really like this. No, I like this image a little better. Let's craft this. Hmm, that post isn't quite right. Just do it. I really believe Wayne Gretzky greatest hockey player of all time, although Alex mentioned, is like taken over. But that's another story, and good for Ovechkin, but Wayne Gretzky said famously, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. And so that's what I say, don't wait till you're 99.99, 80% is good enough. Get it going. See if it works, test it, try it, refine it.

Connect with our host, Brian Mattocks:

• LinkedIn
• Email
• Schedule a Free Podcast Consult

Discover the secrets to propelling your expertise-driven business to new heights with Ann Carden on the Hard to Market Podcast. Dive into transformational strategies that go beyond basic branding, leverage your full potential, and harness high-level marketing to close major deals and amplify your influence.

Here are a few topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Hard to Market Podcast.

• Elevate beyond entry-level offerings
• Specialization should be market-specific
• Leverage assets to build client relationships
• Avoid the "one-trick pony" approach to business
• Premium market strategies drive bigger profits

Resources:

• Expert In You Marketing & Media
• Podcast Chef
• Expert In You Podcast

Connect with Ann Carden:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our host, Brian Mattocks:

• LinkedIn
• Email

Quotables:

• 18:14 - McKinsey and Deloitte have said that like the consulting and the professional service industry is going to hit trillions of dollars in the next two years, in 2026 and 2027. But they also said that the premium market is going to be where the real opportunity is which is great news for me because that's where I help people play, right? So I'm like, oh, yes, sounds good. This great. Finally, now it's not a want anymore. Now it's a need, right? If you wanna stay relevant in the market, go high.
• 38:33 - Brian: What are the three biggest takeaways that you've picked up in your journey so far?
• Ann: The three biggest takeaways is get help from someone that can move you faster, really move you forward faster because business is not waiting any longer and it is, you really will become irrelevant very quickly if you are trying to DIY things. So that would be the first thing. A lot of people think they can DIY it, they can get the information, but information doesn't equate to being able to do it. So that's where I believe everybody now needs help because things are moving at warp speed. It's, it's just not like the old days. Right. Yeah. The second thing I would say, especially with AI coming onto the scene, is don't think AI can do it all for you.
• 32:49 - It goes beyond just their online presence, but everything that we do is to drive revenue. So a lot of people start a podcast to put out value, to put out content that's not what we do. There's a more strategic approach in the way we utilize those assets so that they are either working through the people they're having on their show. To get to the right people, or they are actually interviewing the people on their show that could be clients for them or could be referral partners for them.
• 11:45 - ​​I am such a proponent of specializing, but a lot of people do it the wrong way, Brian, and this is, this is the problem. When people say the riches are in the niches, that doesn't mean you only show up with a portion of your value, because that's how you put yourself in a beginner category.
• 23:34 - There was such a gap in the market. I call it the elevation gap. You've got startup and getting good at what you do over here, and then you've got scaling. Nowhere in the middle is anybody closing the gap, right? So people are jumping over the elevation phase in business. They're not, they're not going as high as they can. And then scaling that, they're trying to scale what they first did or what they originally did. And that's why they end up. A lot of the clients that I work with have tried to scale, and they have found they're unfulfilled. They, they're working with clients beneath their skillset. They don't feel like their value is really being seen or appreciated.

Connect with our host, Brian Mattocks:

• LinkedIn
• Email
• Schedule a Free Podcast Consult