Episode 268

full
Published on:

23rd Jul 2024

Authenticity and Trust: The Foundation of Symbiotic Business Relationships | RR268

Imagine how much stronger your business relationships could be if built on authenticity and trust. Brad Englert, a technology expert with 40 years of experience, is here to enlighten us.

Brad and I explore why being real, sincere, and trustworthy is so important when building business relationships. He shares about a project he did for a liquor retail company and how trust and meeting the right people made all the difference to the success of the project. We talk about figuring out how to balance between doing what's best for you and what’s best for your customers.

We also cover why it’s key to understand who the power players are in any organization and how to effectively communicate with them. Brad even shares some heartwarming feedback he’s gotten on his book about leadership.

If you’re all about making real connections that last, you’re going to love this episode!

Some takeaways are:


  • How to create enduring, trusting, authentic, and rewarding connections that span years and even decades
  • Why understanding a client's goals, setting and managing their expectations, and genuinely caring about their success is key to successful relationships
  • How to master the internal and external spheres of influence that shape your business world
  • Why identifying influential people in organizations and understanding their values is crucial


You can reach Brad at: Brad@BradEnglert.com

Website: https://bradenglert.com/

Don’t miss Brad’s recent book, Spheres of Influence: How to Create and Nurture Authentic Business Relationships, that offers a practical guide to help leaders develop and perfect the skill of building effective and lasting professional relationships.


A little about me: 

I began my career as a teacher, was a corporate trainer for many years, and then found my niche training & supporting business owners, entrepreneurs & sales professionals to network at a world-class level. My passion is working with motivated people, who are coachable and who want to build their businesses through relationship marketing and networking (online & offline). I help my clients create retention strategies, grow through referrals, and create loyal customers by staying connected. 


In appreciation for being here, I have a couple of items for you: 

A LinkedIn Checklist for setting up your fully optimized Profile:  

An opportunity to test drive the Follow Up system I recommend by taking the  

3 Card Sampler—you won’t regret it.   


Connect with me: 

http://JanicePorter.com 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiceporter/ 

https://www.facebook.com/janiceporter1 


Thanks for listening! 

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Transcript
Janice Porter:

Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's

Janice Porter:

episode of relationships rule. My guest this week is Brad

Janice Porter:

anglers. And he is an author, advisor and technologist with

Janice Porter:

over 40 years experience in the private and public sectors. He

Janice Porter:

was with Accenture for 22 years a very well known company, as I

Janice Porter:

recall, including 10 years as a partner. And then with the

Janice Porter:

University of Texas at Austin for eight years, including seven

Janice Porter:

years as the chief information officer. His recent book, which

Janice Porter:

we're going to talk about today, spheres of influence how to

Janice Porter:

create and nurture authentic business relationships, offers a

Janice Porter:

practical guide to help emerging and established leaders develop

Janice Porter:

and perfect the critical hard skill of building effective and

Janice Porter:

lasting professional relationships. So first of all,

Janice Porter:

welcome to the show, Brad.

Brad Englert:

Thank you. I appreciate the invitation.

Brad Englert:

Absolutely.

Janice Porter:

And well, when I see anything to do with building

Janice Porter:

relationships, spheres of influence, networking, all of

Janice Porter:

that good stuff, that's right up my alley, because I'm all about

Janice Porter:

relationships, not only building them, but nurturing them,

Janice Porter:

because that's the key, right?

Brad Englert:

That's correct.

Janice Porter:

So the first thing that that actually came to

Janice Porter:

mind for me, when I think about your history, your background

Janice Porter:

and in corporate and the, the, the experience that you've had,

Janice Porter:

with lots of different age groups, I'm going to say,

Janice Porter:

talking and studying and learning about the business

Janice Porter:

relationships that have to take place properly for things for

Janice Porter:

people to be able to move ahead properly. Tell me something from

Janice Porter:

when you started getting involved in this to today. You

Janice Porter:

know, there's like all these different ages, you know, the

Janice Porter:

different the Gen Xers the millennials, now we have Gen Z's

Janice Porter:

were the baby boomers. How is it different? I mean, it changes

Janice Porter:

it's changed. People don't see things the same way. So you must

Janice Porter:

have to. It's different today, at least I think it is. So I

Janice Porter:

want to know what your take on that is?

Brad Englert:

Well, I came to conclude at the end of the book,

Brad Englert:

that there are three principles that apply to all business

Brad Englert:

relationships. And I think it applies to different

Brad Englert:

generations. And the first principle is understanding their

Brad Englert:

goals and aspirations. They can be wildly different between

Brad Englert:

generations. But just asking and having that dialogue, the second

Brad Englert:

principle is setting and managing expectations, what to

Brad Englert:

expect at the boss, what does your boss expect of you, and had

Brad Englert:

that dialogue. And then third, is genuinely caring about their

Brad Englert:

success. And I'd find in all business relationships, if you

Brad Englert:

really care enough to understand their goals and aspirations. You

Brad Englert:

take the time to set manage expectations, which is an easy

Brad Englert:

thing to do. But a lot of people don't do it. And then finally,

Brad Englert:

genuinely caring. And I think that really is where you develop

Brad Englert:

relationships that lasts years and decades. Well,

Janice Porter:

when you say, you know, managing the wolves, the

Janice Porter:

second one about your, your goals and aspirations, certain

Brad Englert:

manage expectations.

Janice Porter:

And you said, the one that you said to ask, just

Janice Porter:

ask, that seems to be harder. I think for the younger

Janice Porter:

generation, though. They expect but they don't dial

Brad Englert:

up. So I had this type A personality boss, and she

Brad Englert:

wanted everything read fast, fast, fast, fast, faster. And I

Brad Englert:

got our call one night at five o'clock, I was trying to leave

Brad Englert:

the office on a time to have dinner with my wife and cheap

Brad Englert:

bread. I did a white paper, a white paper. And it's like I

Brad Englert:

literally said, Well, I didn't say no, because that sets the

Brad Englert:

Type A personality off like a rocket. I said, Well, when do

Brad Englert:

you need this white paper? Because it sounded like

Brad Englert:

immediately. Yeah, yeah. Well, she checked her calendar. She

Brad Englert:

didn't need it for two weeks. Okay. How many pages is this

Brad Englert:

white paper? I was thinking 10. I wish she said three. Do you

Brad Englert:

have an example of the white paper that I could look at?

Brad Englert:

Yeah, yes, David. I did 110 years ago on XYZ Corporation.

Brad Englert:

Well, guess what I went home. came in the next day found one

Brad Englert:

of my staff. I said you have a week and a half to do the

Brad Englert:

research. Here's a model. It's three pages, and we'll get it to

Brad Englert:

the boss ahead of her client meeting. Right. And before I

Brad Englert:

learned the skill of saying, Whoa, I would have stayed up all

Brad Englert:

night, delivered a 10 page Paper got me all that procrastinator

Brad Englert:

expectations. So it's kind of a lose, lose lose. Yes. So have

Brad Englert:

the courage to say, Well,

Janice Porter:

yeah, that's a great, that's a great story

Janice Porter:

actually. Because I know I've had experiences with my daughter

Janice Porter:

who has had bosses like that, and she doesn't know how to

Janice Porter:

stand up to them. And, and that can be worse as it goes on.

Janice Porter:

Because you get bullied, you get bullied. So you have to learn

Janice Porter:

how to how to speak to them in a language that they will accept

Janice Porter:

and understand. Well, that makes me think of another thing that

Janice Porter:

makes me think of something you said, you said, she's a type A

Janice Porter:

personality. So how, how important is it for? For any

Janice Porter:

person in business, who wants to get ahead to understand say,

Janice Porter:

whether it's the disc or the, you know, the different

Janice Porter:

personality type tests that you can understand different

Janice Porter:

people's personalities? How important is that?

Brad Englert:

Very important with just give you a perfectly

Brad Englert:

simple example. Some people are morning people, and some people

Brad Englert:

are night people. So if your boss is a morning, people don't

Brad Englert:

come in late, work late, come in early, get a cup of coffee and

Brad Englert:

work when and the same. Tightens, because there's a

Brad Englert:

really good Wall Street Journal article about this 13 years ago,

Brad Englert:

the morning larks, think the night people are lazy, cuz they

Brad Englert:

come in late. And of course, the night people the night owls like

Brad Englert:

the larks are lazy because they leave early.

Janice Porter:

They put in three hours.

Brad Englert:

Observe your boss's behavior and match it.

Janice Porter:

Yeah, that's brilliant, of course. So you say

Janice Porter:

that you say that relationship building is a skill that you can

Janice Porter:

master. And you don't need to be born with this ability. Right.

Janice Porter:

And I always talk about, I like to ask, usually, towards the end

Janice Porter:

of a conversation with my guests, I like to ask about the

Janice Porter:

word curiosity. And I think that I don't know, I think maybe it

Janice Porter:

can be learned. But the I think my daughter again, who's very

Janice Porter:

introverted and doesn't have that curiosity factor with some

Janice Porter:

things. I mean, if it's something she's passionate

Janice Porter:

about, I think she does, but otherwise, I don't really care.

Janice Porter:

So what's your take on that? Is it about curiosity? Or is it

Janice Porter:

about just learning how to question and, you know, just go

Janice Porter:

through the motions, because I don't believe that you can just

Janice Porter:

go through the motions, but

Brad Englert:

Well, I think curiosity is certainly plays

Brad Englert:

into it. But if I want to know what the goals and aspiration of

Brad Englert:

my customer is, I mean, it's in my self interest to know what

Brad Englert:

they need. And so why wouldn't I want to learn that? Be curious

Brad Englert:

about it, because the only way I will sell them a service is

Brad Englert:

aligning to their business needs. And by asking what the

Brad Englert:

Coulson aspirations are, that I can set and manage expectations,

Brad Englert:

so it's all in my self interest to have a symbiotic

Brad Englert:

relationship.

Janice Porter:

So I think I think there's a fine line

Janice Porter:

between having something being in your best interest and making

Janice Porter:

it seem as though it's in an IT needs to be in the customers

Janice Porter:

best interest. Right. Right. So I think that's, that's a, that's

Janice Porter:

an art, I think that needs to be a skill that needs to be

Janice Porter:

learned. I think it's a fine art, to be honest. But

Brad Englert:

one part of that is accountability. You need to

Brad Englert:

hold your customer as accountable as the customer hold

Brad Englert:

you accountable. Oh. So I had a customer who I was providing

Brad Englert:

services to his organization. And he wanted one of his people

Brad Englert:

to be in with my team, a hybrid solution, where every time a

Brad Englert:

problem happened, he was causing the problem and pointing the

Brad Englert:

finger at us. And it's like, we don't have to serve everybody in

Brad Englert:

our store. I had lunch with the executive Mike here. And I

Brad Englert:

explained this situation, he looked up and said, You're

Brad Englert:

firing me as a customer, aren't you? And I said, Yes, I am.

Brad Englert:

Plus, I'll buy you lunch. Because this arrangement didn't

Brad Englert:

work. I won't charge you anything. And we stayed friends,

Brad Englert:

but it wasn't working. And so so you can't force it. That's good

Brad Englert:

point. Customers knowledge, right?

Janice Porter:

Yes, that Yeah, exactly. So in your book, The

Janice Porter:

spheres of influence, you talk about that you talk about. I

Janice Porter:

didn't observe, wanted to see that you broke it into internal

Janice Porter:

and external. That's correct influence, okay, I kind of focus

Janice Porter:

on the external because I wasn't in and a lot of my, my audience

Janice Porter:

is not corporate, right. So I think about those external, but

Janice Porter:

I mean, it's all it all pretty much is people skills right and

Janice Porter:

so forth. So, but you also talked about that the

Janice Porter:

traditional type of networking is not what you're talking

Janice Porter:

about. So, building relationships goes much deeper,

Janice Porter:

I'd love you to, I'd love to get your take on on the difference.

Janice Porter:

Well,

Brad Englert:

I find traditional networking to be superficial.

Brad Englert:

And, you know, you're encouraged to go meet with people and trade

Brad Englert:

your business cards, people still do that. And in 40 years,

Brad Englert:

I've yet to have a authentic business relationship come out

Brad Englert:

of one of those events. And I had someone I was talking with,

Brad Englert:

who had read the book and said, Yeah, I went to an event, I got

Brad Englert:

someone's card, and they called me for a donation to their

Brad Englert:

nonprofit the next week, I didn't even know this person.

Brad Englert:

That's not networking. No, no. And so you know, I get a little

Brad Englert:

frustrated. And actually, one of the reviewers of the book said,

Brad Englert:

people say, to go network, but they don't show you how to go

Brad Englert:

network. And that's what he liked about the book or exam

Brad Englert:

examples of how to network. So when I was at the university, I

Brad Englert:

would meet every four to six weeks with my peers in the

Brad Englert:

university. And so they were assistant Dean's over all the

Brad Englert:

colleges, who had it responsibilities, it would have

Brad Englert:

reporting to them. And I would meet with them and just say, How

Brad Englert:

are our services? Anything we need to improve with any things

Brad Englert:

you need, that we're not providing? And then oh, by the

Brad Englert:

way, we have a big project coming that's gonna affect your

Brad Englert:

college, we're gonna replace all the telephones. But don't worry,

Brad Englert:

we have a contractor who's done this many times before, you'll

Brad Englert:

get plenty in warning, and instruction, and it'll be okay.

Brad Englert:

And then some of my peers would share rumors with me, Hey, I

Brad Englert:

heard a rumor that your system detract training isn't covering

Brad Englert:

students who need to have training and labs to meet

Brad Englert:

federal requirements. I said, Good rumor, I'll check. And so I

Brad Englert:

checked in. And no, we had to kind of hurt their students. But

Brad Englert:

it was good to know that if I didn't have that dialogue, that

Brad Englert:

could have festered into a big problem.

Janice Porter:

So you have to be on top of it with with your

Janice Porter:

people all the time and keep those avenues of conversation

Janice Porter:

open. And

Brad Englert:

I expect my direct reports to do the same. So I

Brad Englert:

have seven direct reports. They had seven to 10 peers and

Brad Englert:

influencers throughout the organization. So every week

Brad Englert:

someone report back in our meet weekly meeting management

Brad Englert:

meeting, what did you hear what's going on out there? It

Brad Englert:

was almost like our nervous system. And the university is

Brad Englert:

52,000 students, 21,000 staff, 40,000 faculty, what could

Brad Englert:

possibly go wrong? And we changed the learning management

Brad Englert:

system. We changed student email, we moved faculty and

Brad Englert:

staff to teams, you know, these are all to your projects that

Brad Englert:

affect 1000s of people. Sure. And so having that nervous

Brad Englert:

system was very important.

Janice Porter:

I remember I don't know if I think I told you

Janice Porter:

this I went to university here in Vancouver University of

Janice Porter:

British Columbia, which was a big school. We went but now it's

Janice Porter:

like double or triple the size that it was then and it's like a

Janice Porter:

city on unto itself and I think it's 60 or 70,000 students on

Janice Porter:

campus there. And then when I was in corporate and I worked

Janice Porter:

for the telephone company, we would go out and do the reminded

Janice Porter:

me of this because you said you'd put new phone systems and

Janice Porter:

so we would go and put new phone systems into the and it was like

Janice Porter:

a huge project because they were like standalone city kind they

Janice Porter:

have their own elect. They had their own telecom setup. So lots

Janice Porter:

of people and lots of moving parts. It's kind of interesting.

Janice Porter:

Okay, you I was reading I love this because it reminded me you

Janice Porter:

were talking about. If you want to have a positive impact as a

Janice Porter:

change maker in an organization, you need to identify the most

Janice Porter:

powerful people. Now this with, you know, if you're going to do

Janice Porter:

work in a company, and you need to know who you need to talk to,

Janice Porter:

right, that's one reason to do it and also within the company.

Janice Porter:

But what struck me with this piece in your book, you talked

Janice Porter:

about Michael Boyles writing about power mapping, what it is

Janice Porter:

and how that how to use it. And he did that in the Harvard

Janice Porter:

Business School's Business Insights blog. But you say, once

Janice Porter:

you identify the central people, you need to understand what they

Janice Porter:

value. And you talk about an example here that made me think

Janice Porter:

of something that is, is I think, at the heart of building

Janice Porter:

and nurturing relationships, which is, you know, finding that

Janice Porter:

right person and that right person to help you move through

Janice Porter:

an organization. It could be the top of the chart, or it could be

Janice Porter:

the receptionist that has, right, and you talked about

Janice Porter:

this, the person that was the Chief of Staff for the CFO, do

Janice Porter:

you remember that story? Yes,

Brad Englert:

of course. I

Janice Porter:

love that story. Can you share that with us?

Janice Porter:

Sure.

Brad Englert:

I'm a big, huge research one university, the CFO

Brad Englert:

had this trusted Lieutenant. And she had worked with him for 25

Brad Englert:

years and put out fires help colleges and schools and press

Brad Englert:

resource needs, and was really a trusted the tenant. And so she

Brad Englert:

helped me guide me as we transformed all their accounting

Brad Englert:

and payroll systems to a new technology, which was a multi

Brad Englert:

year effort. I went to another research one university, same

Brad Englert:

size, same scale, great reputation. The chief of staff

Brad Englert:

said, the CFO, I don't think you should meet with me. I've only

Brad Englert:

been here for two years, and I'm just doing special projects.

Brad Englert:

Don't waste your time. Thank you so much for saying that.

Janice Porter:

Yeah. And were you able to ask her who it might

Janice Porter:

be that you should talk to? Did she? Oh, yeah.

Brad Englert:

She just said, work with a CFO.

Janice Porter:

Yeah. So that's brilliant. And then the, that

Janice Porter:

also reminded me of the old days when, you know, the receptionist

Janice Porter:

in a big law firm or a big accounting firm. She was, and it

Janice Porter:

was always a she back then was always, you know, the hub and

Janice Porter:

the gatekeeper for everything. But she wasn't respected in the

Janice Porter:

organization the same way she should have been as,

Brad Englert:

as a customer.

Janice Porter:

I would respect her. Yes. But internally, it was

Janice Porter:

never quite sure. Yeah. Do you think that's changed? We don't

Janice Porter:

even have receptionist anymore. Mail true. Yeah.

Brad Englert:

It's probably gotten better. Yeah.

Janice Porter:

I mean, I remember teaching receptionists

Janice Porter:

and I remember teaching them and getting them to understand that

Janice Porter:

they were the key person, because they were the first

Janice Porter:

person that people heard when they called into the company.

Janice Porter:

They were the first impression. And it had to be a good one.

Janice Porter:

Right? That's right. Yeah. But

Brad Englert:

your gatekeeper comment is something I want to

Brad Englert:

highlight. Because if you're trying to meet with the

Brad Englert:

executive, you have a relationship with the

Brad Englert:

gatekeeper. Yeah. You know, and having that respectful

Brad Englert:

relationship and caring relationship. Yes. Ask about

Brad Englert:

her, her family. While you're waiting, you're waiting. And

Brad Englert:

just trying to establish some sort of connection.

Janice Porter:

So tell me with your book, has it taken you to

Janice Porter:

some interesting places? Have you noticed any? Like I did ask

Janice Porter:

at the beginning, but I still think there's got to be a

Janice Porter:

difference between the young leaders of today and the ones

Janice Porter:

from the back in the day, and how they I mean, I think the

Janice Porter:

good ones probably get this really well. But you do you get

Janice Porter:

any pushback.

Brad Englert:

I've been pleased that people have been very

Brad Englert:

receptive. People my age are giving it to their adult

Brad Englert:

children. Oh, great. So they can consider in their first five to

Brad Englert:

10 years of their career, and they don't teach this in

Brad Englert:

business school now. And so I had at the book signing here in

Brad Englert:

Austin. I had several people who I've known for years buy two or

Brad Englert:

three copies for their children. That's fine. I thought that was

Brad Englert:

great. And then on Amazon, it's a best seller and leadership

Brad Englert:

training, mentoring and coaching and customer relations, which

Brad Englert:

were the three areas I really was focused on. That's

Brad Englert:

brilliant. And I've always enjoyed mentoring. And so a lot

Brad Englert:

of these stories, I would share with my mentors, but that's only

Brad Englert:

two or three people a year that doesn't scale. And so that's why

Brad Englert:

I wanted to put these ideas into the book.

Janice Porter:

That's awesome. Do you find any difference in

Janice Porter:

terms of females versus males? In their response, and in how

Janice Porter:

they maybe would use the information,

Brad Englert:

I think the feedback from people who I

Brad Englert:

worked with in the past when they reviewed the manuscript was

Brad Englert:

when I talked about apologizing, and every you're gonna screw up,

Brad Englert:

your people are gonna screw up. Yeah. And I, I emphasized the

Brad Englert:

need to apologize. But one person of color said, Well, I

Brad Englert:

don't want to over apologize, because then it looks weak. And

Brad Englert:

I said, You're absolutely right. And I put that in the book.

Brad Englert:

Yeah, you need to say you're sorry, you need to say what

Brad Englert:

you'll do to keep it from happening again. You might need

Brad Englert:

restitution. But you genuinely say, you know, I work to make

Brad Englert:

this never happen again. And people are forgiving, forgiving.

Brad Englert:

I guess don't over apologize is what popped out?

Janice Porter:

Sure. Of course, I see that in your notes here,

Janice Porter:

too. Okay, so what would you say? The three most important

Janice Porter:

things are to keep a relationship going? A business

Janice Porter:

relationship where you don't see people all the time. So how do

Janice Porter:

you keep it? How do you keep it going?

Brad Englert:

If you hang on a second? Yes. Well, I would

Brad Englert:

definitely keep in touch over the years. So, you know, with

Brad Englert:

people I've worked with in the past, you know, once a year,

Brad Englert:

twice a year, I might reach out and just say hi, doesn't have to

Brad Englert:

be in person. You know, many of my people, all clients I worked

Brad Englert:

with are all over the country. But I think just not forgetting

Brad Englert:

about them. And, and then often what I find is, I often get

Brad Englert:

contacted by them when they need something. And sometimes I need

Brad Englert:

something from them. So a good example is a woman who were was

Brad Englert:

my client, we had two or three really good projects very

Brad Englert:

successful. And I got to meet her side who's five. And here's

Brad Englert:

a cute little chi. And literally 20 years later, she calls me,

Brad Englert:

her son is just graduated from law school. He wants to get a

Brad Englert:

job as an attorney at my university. Would I talk to him?

Brad Englert:

It's like, well, of course, I'd be happy to talk to him, or talk

Brad Englert:

to him when he was five. I said to him that in the universities,

Brad Englert:

people have different professions talk to each other.

Brad Englert:

So autonomy is having an association across all the major

Brad Englert:

universities and they share contracts, they share ideas. And

Brad Englert:

so when we started a large contract with a global vendor, I

Brad Englert:

got the contract from Berkeley. I didn't start from scratch,

Brad Englert:

work with my attorney to update it for us. So I think being open

Brad Englert:

to helping people, especially when you've had a history of

Brad Englert:

success, I think is is the way to go.

Janice Porter:

Yeah, and I think just probably being authentic

Janice Porter:

and being sincere because it's those relationships, that like

Janice Porter:

you say, symbiotic relationships, it keeps going

Janice Porter:

back and forth over the years it becomes, you know, like you feel

Janice Porter:

like your friends, right, because you'll do things for

Janice Porter:

each other. And I know for me, one of the things that I'm going

Janice Porter:

to take us back to networking a little bit, one of the things

Janice Porter:

that I think makes a difference is being a true connector. are

Janice Porter:

not just a networker, but really looking at your connections. And

Janice Porter:

if you meet somebody new, maybe you can support them with

Janice Porter:

somebody in your network, but you have to feel that that

Janice Porter:

person is worthy to open your network to them.

Brad Englert:

And a word that popped into my head as you're

Brad Englert:

talking is trust. Yes, you need to build trust trust over time.

Brad Englert:

Because if you have that trust, then you'll be very comfortable

Brad Englert:

reaching out. Exactly. So I did a little project after I retired

Brad Englert:

from the university for Texas based liquor retail, which I

Brad Englert:

didn't know much about,

Janice Porter:

not your not your normal baileywick, right.

Brad Englert:

But they said, you know, we've grown from 40 stores

Brad Englert:

to 100 stores. We need an IT strategy, you know how to do

Brad Englert:

that. And it's not that hard. It's point of sale inventory. So

Brad Englert:

you'll figure it out. And so we came up with a strategy where we

Brad Englert:

outsource as much as we could to the cloud. And so they were

Brad Englert:

trying to run things. And then they needed a mobile app with

Brad Englert:

delivery and a new website. Well, then they wanted me to be

Brad Englert:

their IT guy. And it's like, I'd love to do it. I love you guys.

Brad Englert:

But I have to write this book. If I help you, I will never

Brad Englert:

write this book. I said, I'll find somebody. And there was a

Brad Englert:

woman who worked with me at The Ohio State University brilliant.

Brad Englert:

And at Accenture, but she didn't want to travel anymore. So she

Brad Englert:

came back to Austin got a job@dell.com in the mid 90s, and

Brad Englert:

actually created the e commerce website for Dell computer. So

Brad Englert:

she's brilliant, new e commerce at scale. And after 15 years at

Brad Englert:

Dell, she went to a private equity firm and did a medical

Brad Englert:

marijuana website for a Canadian firm on Vancouver Island. So she

Brad Englert:

knew controlled substance over the web. So about three months

Brad Englert:

into her tenure, she located white label, mobile app and

Brad Englert:

website for the liquor industry. Are there 25,000 items in a

Brad Englert:

store, you can't physically take pictures, and you have to have

Brad Englert:

feeds from the distributors. And so within a month or two, she

Brad Englert:

had 1020 stores. Then she had 40 stores and the pandemic hit. And

Brad Englert:

they said all 100 stores. So she and her team were bad night and

Brad Englert:

got off 100 stores up. And the customers love it. Because it's

Brad Englert:

just so easy to use. And I would test it every two weeks to make

Brad Englert:

sure it worked. Had my

Janice Porter:

well and you would test it because you were

Janice Porter:

also curious because you would trusted this person. That's

Janice Porter:

right. That's

Brad Englert:

right. So I even found a date timestamp error.

Brad Englert:

Show at the book reading. She was there. And I mentioned that

Brad Englert:

story. She says you still call it about

Janice Porter:

but that's so cool. That's really cool.

Janice Porter:

Because yeah, it's important. Like my, my, my contacts in my

Janice Porter:

phone, they're, they're important to me and I would not

Janice Porter:

want to waste their time or use my connection unwisely. Right.

Janice Porter:

You have to be careful who you do it for. So I think that's the

Janice Porter:

key to relationships. And, and keeping them keeping them going

Janice Porter:

right and being remembered and being known as the person who

Janice Porter:

connects people. When it counts, right when it comes. Right. So

Janice Porter:

So where is this gonna take you? Where is this book gonna take

Janice Porter:

you now?

Brad Englert:

Well, I enjoyed the podcasting world have really

Brad Englert:

enjoyed the different perspectives that hosts bring,

Brad Englert:

like yours. I mean, relationship rule, it's perfect. I am working

Brad Englert:

on a TED Talk. Woman who worked for me at the university

Brad Englert:

branched off and started her own creative consulting firm. So I

Brad Englert:

hired her and she's also working on a half day workshop, where we

Brad Englert:

will take the three principles, you know, yeah. What are their

Brad Englert:

goals and aspirations set manage expectations and and genuinely

Brad Englert:

care and have role playing different exercises. People can

Brad Englert:

actually Practice the question in the listening. Oh,

Janice Porter:

good. That's great. So you're really going

Janice Porter:

into this whole new world of entrepreneurship and, and, and

Janice Porter:

taking it on the road, so to speak. That's awesome. That's

Janice Porter:

great. This has been really good. And really interesting,

Janice Porter:

because it is something that I I'm all about relationships. And

Janice Porter:

so it's very important to me to get other perspectives on it.

Janice Porter:

And yeah, you say, right, in your somebody said about your

Janice Porter:

book spheres of influence brilliantly illustrates that in

Janice Porter:

the game of life, the strongest moves are made through the power

Janice Porter:

of genuine connections, which is exactly what we were just

Janice Porter:

talking about. Right? That was Liz.

Brad Englert:

It's more rewarding to it's more fun.

Brad Englert:

Yeah,

Janice Porter:

exactly. It really is. So how can my

Janice Porter:

audience find you and find your book, I think you have something

Janice Porter:

a special place that they can go, which I will put in the show

Janice Porter:

notes. So please share with us. Well,

Brad Englert:

my website is branding like.com. And I have

Brad Englert:

all sorts of information about the book and the workshop, but

Brad Englert:

it's available. And there's going to be a special link with

Brad Englert:

relationships rule. So I shared that link with you. So Friday,

Brad Englert:

like that comm backslash relationship rules. And they can

Brad Englert:

go in there and they can get a sample the book for free. They

Brad Englert:

can certainly find the link to Amazon, if they're interested in

Brad Englert:

ebook or audible or book book. And then third, they could sign

Brad Englert:

up for a free consultation with me. Oh, fantastic.

Janice Porter:

Okay. That's amazing. Well, thank you for

Janice Porter:

that generosity. And thank you for being here today. And I wish

Janice Porter:

you well on your retirement career, because that's really

Janice Porter:

what it is. And a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. And

Janice Porter:

you're still mentoring. Are you still mentoring people?

Brad Englert:

Yes, sir. Yeah.

Janice Porter:

That's fun, right? That's really rewarding,

Janice Porter:

I think. And so you've got this wealth of knowledge, you've got

Janice Porter:

your book, which really says it all. It's about relationships

Janice Porter:

with all the different people in your business world. And yeah, I

Janice Porter:

think it's really, I wish you well with all of that. And one

Janice Porter:

last thing I would like to ask you to leave with my audience,

Janice Porter:

maybe your favorite or best or most go to piece of business

Janice Porter:

advice.

Brad Englert:

genuinely care about people, let them know you

Brad Englert:

give a damn. Oh,

Janice Porter:

that's so good. Because I totally agree. And I

Janice Porter:

love that. Thank you so much. And I'm just going to end with

Janice Porter:

that because I think, show people you care is what it's all

Janice Porter:

about and genuinely care. So thank you, Brad. Thanks for

Janice Porter:

being here. Thank you to my audience again for being here.

Janice Porter:

If you like what you heard, please go and check out Brad's

Janice Porter:

special page for us at Brad Brad angler.com/relationships rule

Janice Porter:

and check out his book. Appreciate you. Thanks again.

Janice Porter:

Remember to stay connected and be remembered.

Unknown:

Thank you

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About the Podcast

Relationships Rule
It’s always about Relationships!
Imagine that 68% of our clients leave because they feel we don’t care. Then visualize having authentic heart-based retention strategies, proven to minimize client losses, while organically generating a substantial number of loyal clients through referrals.

Catch a glimpse of how Janice opens a conversation by applying her fine-tuned curiosity. Notice how genuinely interested she is in building a relationship with her guests – heart-based business owners and entrepreneurs. In mere minutes, guests generously share their most sweet and powerful retention systems that you can adopt today!

As a seasoned relationship marketing specialist, Janice invites us to listen in weekly, as she reveals how to nurture and build relationships in real-time.

The Relationships Rule podcast’s aim, is to help you naturally ease your networking fears, so you can adopt strategies that amplify your client list, because the facts are, that today, success is built on a foundation of strong relationships. You can relax now, knowing you can activate your relationship marketing plan, by simply tuning in to Relationships Rule each week.

About your host

Profile picture for Janice Porter

Janice Porter

I began my career as a teacher, was a corporate trainer for many years, and have now found my niche in coaching business owners to network at a world-class level.
My passion is working with motivated people, who are coachable and who want to build their businesses through relationship marketing and networking (offline & online). I help my clients create retention strategies, grow through referrals, and create loyal customers by staying connected.