Lawrence Roberts - Networking for the Long Haul

Lawrence Roberts joins Derek to explore networking as a long-term leadership practice rather than a short-term sales tactic. Drawing on his experience building and leading large business networking communities, Lawrence reframes networking as relationship-based value creation.

Lawrence is at Jayson Global Roofing.

Derek is at Unconstrained.

Show notes are on the Essential Dynamics Wiki.

Podcast Produced by:
Bryn Griffiths / Mighty Mouth Communications 
[e-mail]

What is Essential Dynamics with Derek Hudson?

Join Derek Hudson as he explores Essential Dynamics, a framework for approaching the challenges facing people and organizations. Consider your Quest!

Derek: 00:16

Welcome to Essential Dynamics. I'm Derek Hudson. I've developed Essential Dynamics to help us understand how people and organizations can perform better. And I'm really excited today to have Lawrence Roberts on the podcast. Lawrence, welcome to Essential Dynamics.

Lawrence: 00:32

Yeah. Thank you very much for having me.

Derek: 00:34

I appreciate it. Lawrence, you don't remember when we first met because I'm pretty sure you were a pretty little guy, but I have very fond memories of working with your dad in the church scouting program.

Lawrence: 00:50

That would have been before my time.

Derek: 00:51

Yeah. Back in the early eighties. And he was the experienced guy, I was the new guy, he was quite kind to me. So I say hi to your dad for me.

Lawrence: 01:00

Yeah, for sure will.

Derek: 01:02

So, Laurence, the reason that I invited you on this podcast is because I've, from afar, admired your work in business networking. One of the things that I found is that there are some things that I don't enjoy doing or that I think I'm not good at. And if I can immerse myself in them and learn a little bit about them, they become a little bit less daunting. I remember a situation where our executive team had the opportunity to have executive coaches for for a little bit of a cycle. And there were three or four people that we met and I was able to choose one.

Derek: 01:46

And the one that I chose was the one that I was scared of. The other ones were really sort of like a positive and affirming and one asked hard questions and I thought, well, that's the that's what I need. So I'm here on a mission to understand how networking helps leaders of organizations get the job done. And so that might be business development and sales, but it might be some other things and I'm here to learn from you. So before we start into that, maybe if you could just give us a little bit of your background and describe how you ended up in the in the business of networking and then what you're doing now.

Lawrence: 02:26

Yeah. Thanks. So I wouldn't actually say that I'm a natural networker. However, some people had mentioned or often comment that I'm I'm a very inclusive person. So when I do things, I like to involve other people.

Lawrence: 02:45

And I think that is kind of the skill that I built a foundation on to be become a master networker per se. But I didn't really realize that until I was a little bit further into my career. I had started a a roofing business and needed a way to grow my business. I I wish I could say I had a big financial backer or something like that, but I did not. And, one of the lesser expensive ways to to get your name out there is networking or word-of-mouth.

Lawrence: 03:22

And I guess you could say out of desperation, I had to get out there in the community and meet as many people as possible. I quickly realized that I had a knack for it. And, not necessarily the the big big groups of network where you stand around and you socialize and you meet people and you try to balance a drink in one hand and a plate in another hand and business cards. I wasn't ever really great at that. I was better more so one on one.

Lawrence: 03:52

And, the fears of connecting with somebody or reaching out to someone I didn't know, they they kind of fizzled away as I put the needs of my business and supporting my family and everything first. I had to kind of brush brush aside the the fears that I had or the hesitations and and just get out there. And and so as part of that, I was introduced to an organization called BNI or Business Network International. It is exactly that. It's a word-of-mouth network.

Lawrence: 04:24

You you meet, you connect with other business professionals in the community. You teach each other the type of referrals you're looking for and you go out and you find those for each other. I fell in love with the program. I really enjoyed it. And so after a few years of running my business and then also participating in in, BNI, I decided that I was much better at BNI than I was, being a roofer.

Lawrence: 04:55

And, so I bought my first BNI franchise, in Saskatchewan. Really enjoyed that. Looked for additional opportunities to get involved. So I actually bought a second franchise in Ontario and then I bought a third franchise in Manitoba. So for about six years, I was running running three B and I franchises across Central Canada, working with about anywhere between 600 to 700 business professionals, teaching them how to network, how to build collaborations within the community, how to, you know, look for ways to support other business professionals and sales professionals and find referrals for them.

Lawrence: 05:40

And through that, I really, really learned a lot. And, I I was actually invited to to to be what's called on the founder circle. So when you have really healthy, successful franchises, they invite you to sit on a panel with other franchisees from around the world. There's roughly about 1,200 franchises across the globe. And they they pick 40 or 50 people to sit on this board and essentially make it a better organization.

Lawrence: 06:17

So I got to sit on the board for about a year and and then was able to successfully sell my franchises. And and now I'm a business development manager, so I'm for for one of the larger roofing companies in the city, Jason Global Roofing. And it's my job to, again, be out in the community, meet people, connect with the builder community and renovation and property managers and bring in business for the company. So using a lot of the skills that I had learned to apply them into a different business to grow. Kind of

Derek: 06:53

brings us to today. Well, that's a great story. And we may talk about roofing at some point, the business networking part is fascinating to me. So you had a chance to work with a lot of businesses and a lot of people and you were training and demonstrating, I guess, the skills.

Lawrence: 07:16

Correct, yeah.

Derek: 07:17

What is the If you think about, I'm very interested in what I call leaders of organizations. So I don't always use the word entrepreneur. I've actually done a lot of work in the not for profit sector some with government. And everywhere we are, organizations could run better. And so that's what I'm interested in.

Derek: 07:42

And sometimes it's a, you know, a salesperson has a very simple job and they get an order and then it goes into the machine and they don't worry about it. And a lot of times it's more complicated than that. And so if you're thinking about an owner manager or someone in maybe a larger organization, what would be one of the things that people just basically don't get about networking that you've been able to like shine the light on?

Lawrence: 08:15

I would say one of the things that is the hardest to wrap your head around is the long term investment of it. Oftentimes sales, you want it to be transactional because then that means you're getting paid faster. But when you're networking, you gotta be in it for the long haul because it's the relationship that pays off in the future. So that relationship can take many forms, whether, whether that relationship is a is a resource for you of information. I don't know how to solve a problem, but I know somebody who does.

Lawrence: 08:53

I have that level of trust with them. They can help me with that. Or, you know, one of my friends needs a transaction. Well, I have a relationship with somebody that can help you with that problem or that can service that or has that product or good, you know, let me get in touch with them because I have that relationship. They're gonna give you a good honest experience.

Lawrence: 09:13

Or when it does come to sales, you know, investing in people in what they're doing, helping them and solving problems for them in in return at some point, if they need your product or service, then they are going to reach out. And as you continue to deepen or strengthen those relationships, that loyalty is there. And the longer that you do it, the more of those relationships that you have, the more those relationships that you have, the the larger your your client base is, and then your sales begin to grow. But it is long and it is a lot of work. And unfortunately, you may not see quick results, but it is a matter of, investing into your future.

Lawrence: 10:07

So if you're if you're a salesperson that, you know, you're only gonna be working at something for a couple months or a few years, you know that networking can be tough and you may not see the lasting results. However, if you're someone that is in it for the long haul, it is one of the most successful ways to to grow a business.

Derek: 10:29

That's a great answer to my question. I'm just going remind myself. My question was, what's the thing that people don't understand? So if I just put that back to you, it's the long term nature of it. Now, one of the other things that I often have a challenge with in what I see as, I don't know, I guess salesmanship, if I would call it that an older term, is somebody's got something to sell to me that I don't want or need or I probably don't want or need and they need the deal.

Derek: 11:05

So it's kind of one-sided. And so a pushy salesperson is like, I don't like that coming at me. I don't want to be that guy going the other way. So if I'm going to a networking function with on my mind, my order book, and how am I going to get my orders? I think you're going to tell me I'm doing it wrong.

Lawrence: 11:29

I'd say that's a if you have something to sell and you are introducing yourself or you're meeting somebody, how do you portray the fact that you wanna be a genuine relationship for that person, but also I would like to sell to you too. Right? That is an ultimate a large one of the largest challenges in sales, in networking. I I actually I put a I put a post out on LinkedIn about that because it is it's a constant conscious struggle. How do you genuinely build a relationship with someone if your motivating factor is to sell to them?

Lawrence: 12:11

And so I think that circles back to to the idea that if you're if you're in it for the long haul, you don't have to take that approach. Where is if you can network with anyone regardless of if they could be a potential customer or or not, then if those people need something or if you're building a connection or a real good relationship with somebody else, you can then leverage that to help you contact the person that you want to or the business that you want to. So what I'm saying is you can use genuine relationships that you have to ask for the connections to the people that maybe might be a better fit for your business or better suit as a customer. And when you meet that person, you don't know if they need anything. You don't know if they're gonna buy from you or whatever.

Lawrence: 13:06

So come as it come to the situation as if you are starting to build a friendship. That friendship needs to be aware of what you do and who you are. And if, you know, if you're like most business professionals I meet, your identity is shaped by what you do. So those things come up in in normal conversation and then add value. You know?

Lawrence: 13:30

Find out about who they are. Find out about who, or what they like. Bring those things to the table. Drop off nice things and gifts that they like, or if there's information that they need, provide that. Be a value to them so that when they need something, you're the first person that they think of.

Derek: 13:48

This is very consistent with a conversation I had with Christian Hansen a few months ago. And so I really like that and I'm gonna have to sit back after we're done talking and see what the what the common themes are. But what I really like about what you just said is this idea of adding value all the time. My personal experience is that if I can help someone and I'm genuinely interested in their success,

Lawrence: 14:19

then

Derek: 14:21

I feel good. And it occurred to me a few years ago I was, or I still am, involved in some volunteer organizations that help business leaders and I also get paid to do it. And so because sometimes the ratio is not all that good, you know, for the business, But I'm what I found was that if I'm sitting in a conversation, someone's talking about their business and I'm asking them good questions and guiding them along, I feel great about it and there's zero difference to me as to whether I'm getting paid or not. Because if the experience is all about, you know, I have the opportunity to help someone typically because of something that I learned through hard experience and I have an opportunity to help someone out or it's because of somebody that I know. And that's a different mindset going into a room than having my order book.

Lawrence: 15:22

Mhmm.

Derek: 15:23

And I guess that ties into the long term is I don't know what I'm going to get out of this. In fact, that's not what I'm here for today. What I'm here for today is that I'm a member of a community and if I talk to people, I can probably help them or be in a position to help them in the future or maybe just brighten their day today. I don't know.

Lawrence: 15:43

Absolutely. And it's actually I believe it's called the law of reciprocity. When somebody does something nice for you, you naturally have a tendency to do something nice in return. And a good example is if you're new to a neighborhood and a a some a neighbor brings over a plate of cookies, how awesome do you feel? And oftentimes, what what do we do?

Lawrence: 16:09

Well, we bake cookies or we do something and put it back on their plate and and deliver it to them. Right? It it's it's a tendency that we have as humans when when we're treated kindly to do the same back to them. And so, again, going back to your point that you made, like, how do you how do you bring that genuine care towards other people? And I I think if you if you always have that per the purpose of how can I help or what can I help with or is there a need I can fill, then I think naturally humans will in turn reciprocate that?

Lawrence: 16:46

So if if we can do that, if we can help, an example of me in in my current position as a business development manager, one of the things that I I I value is the network that I have. And because I value it, I try to give some of that value to new people I meet. So oftentimes I work with smaller builders or newer builders. They're they're still building their their trade list. You know, they don't they may not have everybody that they need.

Lawrence: 17:15

I've been in construction a little while now. I know a lot of those people. So one of the things that I try to ask when I meet people is, are you looking for other trades? Is there anybody else that I can help you find? Now that I I don't sell more roofs because I I refer a good concrete guy or a good framer.

Lawrence: 17:32

However, I I build value with that person that, oh, when I need something, if if I ask Lawrence, there's a good good chance that he'll probably be able to help me with that. And so that's an example of one of the things that I try to do is I try to I try to add value to the builders so that they see, you know, well, this is actually a good person. Maybe we should do some business with them.

Derek: 17:50

I really like that. I'm gonna take you to a little bit of a parable that I came up with some time ago. And it's kind of based on my childhood, but there's no one incident. But here's the concept is that there's a new kid in the neighborhood and that new kid's mom meets your mom And they decide that since you're the same age that you should be friends. And and so they they call it a play date now.

Derek: 18:20

It certainly wasn't what they called that when I was a kid. But so we get together and there's this weird kid you've never met before and you're supposed to be friends. And you look at him and you're like, I don't know anything about this guy. He's not my friend. And so in the parable, they put you out in the backyard and the kids looks at this pile of lumber in your backyard and says, what's that?

Derek: 18:43

And you say, that's leftover from when my dad built a fence. And the kid says, I don't have any lumber, but there's a tree in my backyard and I want to build a fort, but I don't have any lumber. And so you take the fed sports over to your new friend's house. As soon as you start building a tree fort, you'd be you have a friend. Yeah.

Derek: 19:08

And you might not even get the tree fort built, but you will have the friend. And so in this context, what I'm wondering is you meet this person for the first time and there's no tree fort to build, but you're trying to develop a relationship. What are the kinds of things you do so that you start to have those shared experiences?

Lawrence: 19:31

So what what you're talking about is the building blocks of of of building a new relationship. And one of the fastest ways to do that is based off of commonalities. If you find something in common with that other person, that can be where you start to then relate and build that relationship. And so over time, you start to identify in yourself, and and maybe it's a workup a a that you do on yourself. There's some online tools you can find out.

Lawrence: 20:08

What are some things that are very common that a lot of people like to talk about that you can relate to on an easy basis, and that you can easily slip into conversation or point out or sorry, should say pick out from a conversation that the person is having with you that you can then build on. And so some of those very, very common things are things like pets. Right? People love their pets. If you have a pet, that is an easy thing to talk about with another person.

Lawrence: 20:38

Or, one even that we kind of mentioned even before, we even started was, sports. Right? A lot of people love talking about sports and your experiences. Things like family, things like vehicles, things like hobbies and talents and, those things that are naturally part of your life and of course, naturally part of the life of the person that you're speaking with and focusing on those and building off of those in a genuine way, are are exactly the way that relationships are made. And, a good example for for me and and because motorcycling is a is a very, tight knit community, you mentioned to anybody that if if if you have a motorcycle and they have a motorcycle, you're almost instantly friends.

Lawrence: 21:24

It just it just happens that way. Right? Or, you know, if you have if you have a daughter or maybe you have a poodle or maybe you have a favorite car and, you know, you hit you hit that point with somebody else and you've started a great conversation that you're now both enjoying and that relationship is growing on both sides.

Derek: 21:45

That's great advice. I think for me in some circles, one of those things is just the outdoors and in particular, like the Canadian Rockies. And the fact that I was at the same lake campsite that someone else was at and it took you six hours to get there. Like you didn't have to go together to have a bond, right?

Lawrence: 22:07

Exactly. No, that's perfect. Exactly. Yeah.

Derek: 22:10

So Lawrence, think what we've established in this conversation is a really solid basis for taking away some of my discomfort, I guess, with the idea of networking. And you've talked about it in such an open and sincere way that I feel better already. But what I'd like to do is get back together again and talk a little bit about taking like a systematic approach to networking. I think you kind of maybe gave us one other first step. So when get back together, you know this stuff really well, just maybe take us through the way you could build that into a system because we always like to talk about systems.

Derek: 22:56

But before we close, just let us know how we can find you and also about the event that you and I are going to have the opportunity to participate in together.

Lawrence: 23:09

Yeah. I would love to. So as as I mentioned, I am a business development manager at Jason Global Roofing. We are one of the largest roofing companies in Alberta. We have offices in Edmonton and Calgary.

Lawrence: 23:23

And, so I can I can be found easily there? You can find us on our website, jasonglobal.com. And, our company, Jason Global, is actually sponsoring an event that I am putting together. Our our church community, the Latter day Saint Church community is a a fairly large community with, you know, a few thousand, people in the Edmonton area. And many of those people are business professionals and sales professionals.

Lawrence: 23:56

And I thought what a great way for us to support and try to help one another, than to try to buy from one another or try to support each other's businesses. However, there isn't really a great way for us to find out what all those businesses are or who those people are. So I'm hosting a networking event on February 28, and that event is for members of the Latter day Saint community to get together and meet one another, learn about one another's business and start that process of building those relationships and and getting to know and potentially supporting through sales.

Derek: 24:33

How can people get access to information about that event?

Lawrence: 24:38

So I do have it posted on my personal LinkedIn and Facebook pages. I also have an Eventbrite where you can buy the tickets. Tickets are $5 and I can send that link along. And also to just reaching out to me via email, we can get that link out as well and we can get some tickets to you.

Derek: 25:01

$5. $5. Best deal you can ever ever get. And you don't have to be a Latter day Saint to go. But if you go, you probably know somebody already even if you don't.

Lawrence: 25:13

That's the key. Yeah. We want to try to bring more awareness to the business and community within the Latter day Saints. So yeah.

Derek: 25:21

Awesome. Awesome. Well, thanks very much, Laurence. I will make sure all that information is in the show notes. And until next time, I'm Derek Hudson with unconstrained.

Derek: 25:33

Consider your quest.