Episode 237

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Published on:

19th Dec 2023

Navigating Your Connections at Year End and Beyond! | RR237

In this episode I take a look at the importance of strategic networking during this busy holiday season including some practical strategies that can be done easily, show gratitude, and set you up with new prospects in the New Year.

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  

10 Card Challenge – 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:

Hi, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode

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of relationships rule. I'm continuing my journey on my four

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part solo series on relationship marketing and navigating your

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year end connections and beyond. And this is episode three in

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this series, we're going to talk about navigating your busy

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networks and, and what I would call the holiday hustle. So

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welcome. My last episode was a bit on the philosophical side.

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And I have to admit it wasn't originally planned that way.

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However, when I received the blog post from Seth Godin in my

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inbox that day, it just inspired me to dig a little deeper and,

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and talk about that. So I do hope that you enjoyed it, and

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got some inspiration around the power of giving and receiving

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generosity and gratitude, and gave it some food for thought.

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My hope is that you begin to think about acting on your

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promptings, sending unexpected cards to people in your network,

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and paying close attention to details on things like your

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LinkedIn profiles and websites that you can use as starting

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points to build rapport easily with new connections and

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prospects. Thinking how you may serve others, rather than

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focusing on what's in it for me, will take you a long way, and

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start to build that muscle until it feels so natural, you'll be

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operating that way all the time. So now we're gonna take a look

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at the importance of strategic networking during this busy

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holiday season. With some practical strategies that can be

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done easily show gratitude, and set you up with new prospects in

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the new year. Let's start with LinkedIn networking tips. Number

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one, take inventory of your existing connections, it's a

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great time of year to do that. And here's a way that you can do

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it. That might yield some new business for you. You can bring

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up all your first level connections by going to your

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mind networks page and listing your connections and hone in on

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a particular type of prospect by using filters, perhaps using

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Boolean search logic to create your optimal list. And if you

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aren't familiar with Boolean search logic, then let me know

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and I'll send you some information. It allows you to

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cover more than one option for a name of a title for example, or

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some other things that you might want to search by, then choose

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one of your first degree connections. To do this, to do

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this project with and look at their first degree connections.

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Using your therefore your second degrees, and using filter

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searches there as well have them do the same thing with your

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first several connections. Review the names with each other

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with the goal of making a few warm introductions for each

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other. Maybe choose five or 10. To get started with. And that's

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probably all you could ask somebody to do an introduction

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for at one given time anyway, then let the magic begin, send a

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threeway message introducing the person to your connection. And

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you can ask me for a sample intro message if you like. This

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strategy is a great proactive way to initiate and nurture new

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connections for the new year. When you take inventory, you can

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also identify those prospects, past clients and referral

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partners that you may have ignored this past year, and

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perhaps send them a mobile video message reconnecting and wishing

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them well for the new year. Notice I said mobile video

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message because in order to send a video message, you do have to

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do it from your mobile device. And it just wanted to remind you

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of that it will show up on people's desktops and laptops as

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well when it's recorded. But to record it, you must do it on

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your mobile device. When scrolling your newsfeed, Don't

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be the person who just likes your connections posts. add

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value to the conversation by taking the time to comment. So

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you'll be noticed and seen for your expertise and leadership as

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well. Number two, show gratitude to your LinkedIn network. You

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can endorse your first degree connections for their skills,

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although I only recommend this if you have experienced those

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skills from that person recently and personally. So it is indeed

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a sincere endorsement. You can share or repost someone's post

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they will always appreciate that it gives them their their

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comment there content, a new audience when it lands on your

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profile or your newsfeed. So that's always appreciated. And

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also you could give some recommendations to some Have

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your most recent connections that you've worked with, for

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example, or people that you know their character and so forth.

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That's always a win win. When you recommend people without

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being asked, it's amazing what happens, the law of reciprocity

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always comes into play. And it might not be reciprocated by

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that very same person. But it will happen, trust me, it's just

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the law. Another fun thing you can do to recognize a person or

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group is to give kudos. This is a feature that's not used very

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often, but it can be very effective. And actually more so

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when it isn't overused by you as well. To find how you can give

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kudos to somebody, you would go to their profile, and just below

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their headline and so on, you will see a more button and one

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of the options there is to give kudos. It says that in LinkedIn

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that you can use this feature three times a week, but I

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actually think that's too much to be. To be honest, I think you

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want to send it to your connections once in a while just

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to make it stand out and make them stand out. Number three is

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seeding new connections. I love New beginnings to you. While

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it's time to direct your attention to the New Year and

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being proactive to initiate and nurture new connections as the

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year begins. LinkedIn can be leveraged for the new year by

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doing strategic searches. As you decide what your goals are for

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relationship marketing in the new year, you can begin to

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search specifically for new connections that will help you

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move towards those goals. Do you want to venture into new

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geographic locations? Do you want to focus on working with a

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specific industry, financial industry health and wellness

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manufacturing specific types of entrepreneurs, coaches,

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consultants, authors speakers, begin to create specific

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targeted searches to find your target market or your ideal

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market, and start to build a list on a spreadsheet perhaps,

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of people to reach out and connect with. Remember to keep

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your connection request note brief. Then when someone accepts

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that's when the work begins to build the relationship. How many

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new connections can you manage each week? How will you keep the

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new connections moving forward. This is a great time of year to

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plan your approach your target audiences and your tracking

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methods for leverage leveraging LinkedIn to plant seeds for

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fruitful relationships going forward. This is also a great

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time of year to spruce up your LinkedIn profile for the new

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year. So you will start the new year making a strong first

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impression. This is the backbone of your presence on LinkedIn. So

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remember, if you're busy putting up a lot of content on LinkedIn,

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and you don't have your best foot forward with a fully

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optimized magnetic profile, showing you in your best best

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best light, then it may all be for naught. So now I want to

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turn my thoughts to thoughtful gifting. Yes, this is the time

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for gift giving. And gifts can be so many different things.

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They can be unique time effective ideas that leave a

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lasting impression on your clients and colleagues.

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Sometimes it's good to shake it up and not do the same thing as

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you have done year after year. It disrupts things doing

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something new and it gets people talking. It makes them pay

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attention. For example, I've already received two calendars

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this year. Some print print calendars from two realtors that

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have been sending them to me for years. Do you still use a print

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calendar? I don't know. I just think it's time for a change

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sometimes. There's a motto or credo from Send Out Cards, the

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company that I'm partnered with that I love to share and that I

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follow. Give to give send out to give. Create joy everywhere you

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go. Be kind to those you come across today and all day. Every

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day. Choose kindness, kind words kind of actions kind thoughts.

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Every time you send a card or gift you are choosing kindness

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and kindness matters. sending letters of appreciation,

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recognition and joy. It matters. Every single card and gift you

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send creates a ripple effect of kindness that reverberates over

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and over again. As long as the kindness keeps going. That keeps

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happening. Be the start of a kindness ripple in the lives of

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your friends and family by sending them what I like to call

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a hug. With the folded it.

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There is a lot to think about an axon in this episode, and my

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hope is that you begin to integrate something from each of

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the ideas I've shared with you. Examine your existing

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connections and shake the tree a little with those you haven't

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spoken to for a long time, rekindle those relationships,

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show gratitude to your connections, LinkedIn and out

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and elsewhere. Even disrupt your usual urine process, send a

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different message, send a Happy New Year card instead of a

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Christmas card. Sometimes a small act like that will get

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noticed and trigger a new and different response. Seed new

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connections for next year, make this app activity part of your

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daily and weekly operating procedure. Now I just like to

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share a little quote with you that comes from an ancient

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Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu the founder of Taoism. He said

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kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking

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creates profoundness kindness in giving creates love. I like

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that. So I will see you next week with the last episode in

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this series in which we will take a look at sustaining those

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relationship marketing habits, and how to look at how to be

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consistent all year long. So thanks for listening, and if

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something inspired you or if you have any questions about this

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episode, please feel free to reach out. And in the meantime,

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stay connected and be remembered

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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.