Latest / Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections / Networking Unleashed: S1E63 An Interview with April Davis and Michael A Forman, Public Speaker

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Networking Unleashed: S1E63 An Interview with April Davis and Michael A Forman, Public Speaker · Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections

• 0:17
  Welcome to another episode of Networking Unleashed,
• 0:20
  Building Profitable Connections. The podcast
• 0:23
  relationships aren't just built, they're engineered
• 0:27
  for success. I'm your host, Michael Forman, and
• 0:30
  today we're diving into a world where connection
• 0:33
  is everything, whether you're closing deals or
• 0:36
  finding the one. My guest is no ordinary connector.
• 0:41
  There's a professional matchmaker who works with
• 0:44
  elite singles to help them find lasting love.
• 0:47
  And they do it with intention, strategy, and
• 0:51
  heart. But here's the twist. The same skills
• 0:55
  that bring two soulmates together could build
• 0:58
  powerful, profitable relationships in business
• 1:01
  too. So whether you're looking to spark a new
• 1:04
  partnership, build your network with purpose,
• 1:06
  or simply connect on a deeper level, this conversation
• 1:10
  is for you. So get ready and rethink how you
• 1:14
  approach every connection in your life, because
• 1:17
  matchmaking might just be the ultimate networking
• 1:20
  strategy. April, how are you? Welcome to the
• 1:23
  podcast. And please tell us a little bit about
• 1:26
  yourself. Hi, Michael. Thank you for having me.
• 1:29
  And yeah, my name is April Davis. I am the owner
• 1:32
  and founder of Luma Luxury Matchmaking. It's
• 1:36
  a high -end matchmaking firm, and we work with
• 1:38
  busy professionals and executives and people
• 1:40
  that are rather busy and very particular about
• 1:44
  the kind of person that they're looking to meet
• 1:46
  in a match. And so they utilize our service to
• 1:49
  find that person. So essentially, we're like
• 1:52
  an executive recruiter, but for people's love
• 1:54
  lives. Good, good. I like that. I like that a
• 1:57
  lot. Okay, so let's delve right into this. What's
• 2:01
  your go -to conversation starter when networking
• 2:04
  with potential clients? I think people... favorite
• 2:08
  thing to talk about is themselves right so I'll
• 2:11
  go into just you can always start with any kind
• 2:14
  of basic level type thing or just it depends
• 2:17
  on what you know about them and you know I always
• 2:21
  will tell people one of the best things that
• 2:23
  you can do is make an observation about someone
• 2:25
  and try to elaborate on that so if you know somebody
• 2:28
  is did say ballet for 20 years or something that
• 2:33
  tells you that they have a, they're very persistent.
• 2:36
  They're very dedicated type of personality. And
• 2:39
  it can give you just some insights into the kind
• 2:42
  of person that they are. Cause what does it take
• 2:44
  to be that level of an athlete? And, and then,
• 2:48
  so maybe making a comment about that and insinuating
• 2:50
  something about them and relaying that back to
• 2:53
  them because people love to hear and love, they
• 2:55
  love to talk about themselves and they love to
• 2:57
  hear other people's insights on who they are
• 3:00
  too. That's very good because you have hit upon
• 3:05
  the intricacies of networking itself. So when
• 3:11
  you speak to somebody, you let them talk about
• 3:13
  themselves. And there's a mantra for networking.
• 3:16
  Know you, you trust you, they'll do business
• 3:18
  with you. And I think you hit all those, all
• 3:21
  those bits right in your first sentence. So that
• 3:24
  was outstanding. I passed. Great. I got an A
• 3:30
  for the day. Perfect. But we still have a little
• 3:33
  bit to go and I'll let you know afterwards. You
• 3:36
  know, I said, know you like you trust you. They'll
• 3:39
  do business with you. Now, of course, yours is
• 3:42
  slightly different. But how do you quickly establish
• 3:45
  rapport and credibility in the matchmaking industry?
• 3:51
  Credibility, it's based on I've been doing this
• 3:55
  since I was 16 years old and I've created this
• 3:58
  international. company that is also a part of
• 4:01
  the Inc. 5000 list. So fastest growing companies.
• 4:05
  And so got a lot of credibility there, been on
• 4:08
  a lot of, been featured on a lot of publications
• 4:10
  and TV shows and stuff like that. So I think
• 4:13
  all of that lends to credibility, as well as
• 4:15
  I have a page full of clients that are testimonials
• 4:19
  to what we do. And also one more thing, I am
• 4:24
  ordained. So I actually did one of our clients
• 4:26
  weddings last year. So that's pretty cool. That's
• 4:29
  another credibility checkmark. And so it's just
• 4:32
  going through all of those things. But I think
• 4:34
  too, just when people hear me talk about what
• 4:37
  I do and why, how I might put together a match
• 4:40
  and why, and I'm also married to a divorce attorney.
• 4:43
  So that kind of gives me some interesting insight
• 4:46
  into what works and what doesn't work with couples.
• 4:51
  writing on the wall or something is probably
• 4:53
  not going to work out or you can pick up on different
• 4:57
  couples relationship challenges that they currently
• 5:00
  have or may have in the future and basically
• 5:03
  call it out because this is something that I'm
• 5:05
  very focused on this is my career Good. I'm going
• 5:10
  to bring it back to networking again, because
• 5:12
  that's the crux of the podcast. But in networking,
• 5:16
  I use something called F -O -R -M. That's family,
• 5:19
  occupation, recreation, and a message. And you
• 5:23
  have that word in your head before you speak
• 5:26
  with somebody. So when you're getting them to
• 5:29
  try to speak about themselves, you pick any one
• 5:32
  of the four letters and you can get them to talk
• 5:35
  about themselves. So just a little correlation.
• 5:38
  So family, occupation. Recreation. Recreation.
• 5:42
  And a message that you can get the same level
• 5:45
  of whatever you're talking about. But if you
• 5:48
  go in thinking about, okay, your son, your daughter,
• 5:51
  you can say about youth sports, their occupation,
• 5:55
  what do you do? How do you do it? Why do you
• 5:57
  do it? And they would just tell you. Recreation,
• 6:00
  you may find two things that you do together.
• 6:03
  separately of course they can be snowboarding
• 6:06
  could be boating it could be skiing it could
• 6:08
  be playing baseball it could be anything and
• 6:11
  they would just love to talk about those items
• 6:14
  so before you get to any business so to speak
• 6:19
  you can start talking about all that and have
• 6:21
  them talk yeah for sure i love that i love especially
• 6:25
  the recreation one because People get sick of
• 6:28
  talking about, it feels so superficial too when
• 6:30
  you talk about, oh, what do you do? What do you
• 6:32
  do? But people love talking about their family.
• 6:34
  And I think, especially in a networking type
• 6:37
  situation, it's a little different to start by
• 6:39
  talking about the recreational stuff or the family
• 6:42
  stuff. Because most people do, they start with,
• 6:45
  oh, what do you do for a living? And then go
• 6:47
  from there. That's more fun when you talk about
• 6:49
  the recreation. Yeah, it's something that I often
• 6:54
  find, ask people, what do you do? for fun and
• 6:57
  hobbies, interests. What are you into? Outstanding.
• 7:00
  How has digital networking changed the landscape
• 7:04
  of matchmaking? So it's pretty, it's opened up
• 7:09
  so many more opportunities because everybody's
• 7:12
  online, right? And you can find people anywhere.
• 7:16
  So people can be more particular about who they're
• 7:19
  looking for because. especially with like online
• 7:22
  with all the apps and stuff people they feel
• 7:24
  like there's a huge amount of singles to be able
• 7:27
  to choose from when they're looking for someone
• 7:29
  and we don't necessarily use the apps to find
• 7:32
  matches for our clients but we have other tools
• 7:34
  of finding people and you can figure out if they're
• 7:36
  single and then and connect with them that way
• 7:39
  so it just has opened up a lot of different avenues
• 7:42
  and which is great for what we do do you ever
• 7:46
  i'm gonna say make a mistake but i'm sure i'm
• 7:49
  using the wrong word but did you ever find somebody
• 7:52
  and then find out they were married but they
• 7:54
  were posing yeah i know network with tons of
• 7:58
  people and we'll ask them if they're married
• 8:01
  or not. And so, yeah, I'll definitely connect
• 8:03
  with them. But we've had people that reach out
• 8:06
  to us and then we find out, oh, you are married,
• 8:08
  so you're actually not eligible. We can't work
• 8:11
  with you. No, we don't do that kind of arrangement.
• 8:14
  So how important is it to specialize in a particular
• 8:18
  demographic when building a matchmaking network?
• 8:22
  Yeah, I think it... It was really important.
• 8:25
  That's what we started. When I first started
• 8:27
  the company, I was just meeting with people every
• 8:29
  day. I would have five meetings in a day. So
• 8:32
  I have my corporate job and my background is
• 8:34
  in process improvement. And I just, and I've
• 8:37
  always been a connector. And then I realized
• 8:39
  that this matchmaking is an industry. So I'm
• 8:41
  like, oh, I'm going to. just start doing it and
• 8:43
  for fun. And so the first year I was doing it
• 8:47
  for free and just would meet with people building
• 8:49
  up my network. And then eventually it grew and
• 8:53
  I, and then I left my corporate job and just
• 8:56
  did this full time. And I was eventually then
• 8:58
  I started going to Chicago almost every other
• 9:01
  week and then Denver almost every other week
• 9:03
  and just kept building it from there. Wow. That's
• 9:08
  good. Okay. So let's go on to referrals a little
• 9:10
  bit. What strategies do you use to encourage
• 9:14
  client referrals and grow your network organically?
• 9:18
  This naturally does it. We do, we get naturally
• 9:22
  a lot of referrals from people, but also it's
• 9:25
  in our signature line asking people. And we also
• 9:30
  will send out. An email to our network. So we
• 9:33
  have our own proprietary database of individuals
• 9:35
  and we'll say we have a client that we're looking
• 9:39
  for a match to and we'll blast that client's
• 9:42
  information to the people that are in that client's
• 9:46
  area and say, is this you or someone you know?
• 9:49
  And then that way we're able to get feedback
• 9:51
  from people. and find some matches that way as
• 9:55
  well. So I think it's when you go to BNI, they
• 9:58
  tell you to be very specific in who you're asking
• 10:01
  for. So that's the strategy that I'm utilizing
• 10:04
  there. Yeah, I think the more focused you can
• 10:08
  be, the better off your end result will be. Yeah,
• 10:11
  because if you say, oh, send me all your single
• 10:14
  friends. Sure, but if we say, okay, do you know
• 10:17
  anyone that is this age and blah, blah, blah.
• 10:19
  So then that helps people to narrow it down.
• 10:22
  And they're more likely then to reach out instead
• 10:24
  of just in general terms. And isn't referrals.
• 10:29
  really the basis of seeing how well you're doing.
• 10:32
  Because the more referrals you get, I think the
• 10:35
  better off you're doing, aren't you? Yeah, word
• 10:37
  of mouth is huge, especially in this industry.
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  Word of mouth is really the best of any industry,
• 10:45
  any networking you can do. It's gold. It's gold.
• 10:49
  Okay, let's switch over to industry events. And
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  which networking event or conferences have you
• 10:56
  found most valuable for matchmakers? For me,
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  I think I go to any kind of business or marketing
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  type events I really like because it's all about
• 11:07
  learning how you can grow and improve and running
• 11:11
  your business in general. There are matchmaker.
• 11:15
  With other matchmaker type events, those can
• 11:18
  be really beneficial too, because people share
• 11:20
  best practices and you can network with other
• 11:24
  matchmakers. So we have alliances with other
• 11:27
  matchmakers. So if we're looking for a match
• 11:29
  to a client, we can reach out to other matchmakers
• 11:32
  and see, okay, does anyone have a match for this
• 11:34
  person? And we help each other that way. Good.
• 11:39
  Good. Okay. So let's change this a little round
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  to partnerships. And how do you cultivate mutually
• 11:45
  beneficial relationships with other professionals
• 11:48
  in adjacent industries? Yeah. So we have a partnership
• 11:53
  with wardrobe consultants. And so we will basically,
• 11:58
  we will offer a complimentary. wardrobe stylist
• 12:02
  session with these wardrobe consultants and they're
• 12:06
  through their outside parties and so we introduce
• 12:10
  them they get and the client gets either they
• 12:13
  help them to pick out their first date outfits
• 12:15
  or maybe if they're going to do a photo shoot
• 12:17
  they'll help them figure out a photo shoot help
• 12:20
  them put together outfits so they can do like
• 12:22
  a closet edit where they go through and say okay
• 12:24
  what do you have for dates maybe you need to
• 12:26
  go and get a jacket like this or a shirt like
• 12:29
  that, and then go from there. That way, then
• 12:32
  the wardrobe consultant is meeting someone, the
• 12:34
  client is getting something out of it as part
• 12:37
  of their membership with us, but then they're
• 12:40
  getting the introduction to the wardrobe consultant
• 12:42
  so they can take it from there if they want to
• 12:45
  do more with them. That's good because you're
• 12:48
  offering more of a well -rounded service and
• 12:51
  you're not saying, all right, you'll have to
• 12:52
  go here or you have to go there. You're like,
• 12:55
  no, I have somebody who'll come to you. He'll
• 12:57
  call you and it's on us. Yeah. And it's neat.
• 13:02
  I think it's really beneficial, especially in
• 13:04
  this industry. You want to have appearances so
• 13:07
  important and whether it's your photo on your
• 13:10
  profile or even your LinkedIn profile, because
• 13:13
  people will do research on you afterwards and
• 13:15
  they will, they'll be able to see your picture
• 13:18
  online. So you want to make sure you have a good
• 13:19
  image out there. Yeah, you really have to be
• 13:23
  careful with social media. Now, that's part of
• 13:26
  my next question. But with social media, you
• 13:29
  have to realize that LinkedIn is for business.
• 13:32
  That's what I always do for business. But you
• 13:35
  have all the social. media also which is facebook
• 13:40
  instagram even tiktok and you have to be aware
• 13:44
  who's on it who's not and how do you dress so
• 13:48
  you don't become like over anxious yeah it's
• 13:51
  interesting it's social media has become such
• 13:55
  a status symbol especially for younger people
• 13:57
  it's not about how much money that you have or
• 14:01
  anything they people look at status now is like
• 14:05
  how many followers how many likes or whatever
• 14:07
  you have, that is about, it's almost as valuable
• 14:11
  as actually having money in the bank, if you
• 14:14
  will. People will try to find, I've had people
• 14:18
  with this like mindset where they're looking
• 14:21
  for somebody that has at least so many followers
• 14:24
  because that says something about their status
• 14:26
  in society. They could be broke, but they have
• 14:30
  millions of followers. So that is a status symbol.
• 14:34
  Okay. Okay. Let's just stick on the social media
• 14:38
  level here. What role does social media play
• 14:41
  in networking and client acquisition efforts?
• 14:45
  I think it can be really beneficial where, because
• 14:48
  especially say if I'm reaching out to someone
• 14:52
  and seeing if say on behalf of a client and reaching
• 14:57
  out to a woman to see if she's, if she is single,
• 15:00
  then it's going because I. say the owner of this
• 15:05
  company. And if I have a blue check mark by my
• 15:09
  name or something like that, they're going to
• 15:11
  see this is a real person. This is not just like
• 15:13
  some sleazy bot. And then they're probably going
• 15:17
  to be more apt to listen to meet my suggestion
• 15:20
  for them to meet with my client because I'm vouching
• 15:24
  for my client. I'm a legit person and I own this
• 15:28
  company. And it's not just some like random.
• 15:32
  person from a foreign country saying, hey, will
• 15:35
  you meet somebody for a date? It's so important
• 15:39
  to have a presence. And I also, I've heard people
• 15:42
  say, yeah, I checked out so -and -so online,
• 15:44
  they haven't posted. And so then they think that.
• 15:47
  It's just, it doesn't exist anymore that it's
• 15:50
  maybe it's fake or it's gone out of business
• 15:52
  or whatever, because they haven't been keeping
• 15:56
  it up to date. So I think it's really important
• 15:57
  to maintain it, you know, depending on what you're
• 16:01
  doing, of course. Absolutely. Or at least have
• 16:04
  the right, have the right job. If you're a business
• 16:07
  owner, make sure your LinkedIn is updated. Always
• 16:10
  make sure it's updated. That's one thing I absolutely
• 16:13
  say. You have gone through the corporate world.
• 16:17
  and you've come into your own into having this
• 16:20
  business, I'm sure you've made mistakes along
• 16:23
  the way. So why don't you give us a mistake you've
• 16:27
  made and how you overcame it? How do you know?
• 16:32
  Because you're a business owner and every business
• 16:35
  owner has mistakes. I think the mistake I keep
• 16:39
  making and I keep kicking myself and I'm like,
• 16:42
  why do you keep doing this? It's the definition
• 16:43
  of insanity, right? You have to trust your gut.
• 16:48
  Like usually something's not going to be right.
• 16:51
  Something's not going to work. And you just have
• 16:53
  to, you definitely have to lean into that. But
• 16:56
  at the same time, I also, I think I'm very optimistic,
• 16:58
  obviously to be a business owner, I think you
• 17:00
  have to be an eternal optimist. And I was also
• 17:03
  like naive when I started this business. I'm
• 17:05
  like, oh, I'll just put people in front of each
• 17:06
  other and they'll fall in love. It'll be easy
• 17:08
  because I love everybody. Everybody else should
• 17:10
  love each other. But so I think with hiring,
• 17:13
  it's really important too. I think you have to
• 17:17
  give people a chance because you never know.
• 17:19
  But also you have to pay attention to those things
• 17:22
  that are like, yeah, this is a bit of a red flag.
• 17:25
  Because usually those things will come back and
• 17:28
  be the final strong way you end up. That person
• 17:31
  won't work out. And I also. I have a strong rule
• 17:36
  with don't hire friends or family. So that's
• 17:41
  my rule. My friends and family do not want to
• 17:44
  work for me. I don't want them to work for me
• 17:46
  because I want to keep them as friends and family.
• 17:49
  And I have really high standards from the people
• 17:51
  that work for me and expect a lot because my
• 17:55
  clients expect a lot. So you don't want to blur
• 17:58
  that relationship. It can be really... a challenge
• 18:01
  to blur those lines and those relationships.
• 18:04
  As a business owner, you have to learn not to
• 18:09
  deal from your heart. You have to deal from your
• 18:12
  head. And that's a rough thing to get used to
• 18:16
  because usually everything's from the heart.
• 18:19
  You're like, you're a good person. So you think
• 18:20
  everybody's a good person. You have to put everything
• 18:23
  in check by things that are right in your head
• 18:26
  or right in your heart. And as you said, it's
• 18:29
  that gut feeling. And being a business owner,
• 18:32
  you have to rely on that gut feeling more times
• 18:35
  than not. All right. So I already asked the biggest
• 18:40
  obstacle. So how do you measure success of your
• 18:44
  networking efforts in terms of business growth
• 18:47
  and client satisfaction? We can see. I have reports
• 18:52
  for everything. So I can see because I have recruiters
• 18:56
  on my team, right? So their job is just to network
• 18:58
  and to find matches for clients. So we track
• 19:03
  it. We track every person that they bring in.
• 19:05
  They get paid based on their commissions of what
• 19:08
  they're doing. And so it's really important to
• 19:12
  us. It's front and center of what we do constantly.
• 19:17
  That's outstanding. I have to tell you, I can
• 19:20
  probably ask you another 20 questions because
• 19:23
  I have them already in my head, but I don't have
• 19:27
  the time for it. So, April, if somebody wanted
• 19:30
  to get hold of you, whether they wanted to use
• 19:34
  your matchmaking services just to be coached
• 19:37
  by you or something, how would they get hold
• 19:38
  of you? Anyone can join our database and be considered
• 19:42
  as a match. We have over 50 ,000 members in our
• 19:45
  proprietary database, and it's just for us matchmakers
• 19:48
  to see. It's private. It's not for clients or
• 19:51
  other random people online to see. And so that's
• 19:56
  free. Or you can become a client where we are
• 19:58
  working proactively on your behalf. And to get
• 20:02
  started with that, you just go to our website,
• 20:03
  lumasearch .com. And Luma stands for Luxury Matchmaking,
• 20:07
  L -U -M -A, search. and fill out the profile
• 20:11
  form, then meet with one of our matchmakers and
• 20:14
  go from there. April, that sounds great. And
• 20:17
  I have to tell you, I love your name because
• 20:20
  that's my wife's name. She sounds pretty cool.
• 20:23
  She's definitely a pretty cool person. So April,
• 20:28
  I'd love to have you on a podcast. I hope all
• 20:30
  of my listeners got something out of it. I hope
• 20:32
  they contact you if they need you, but either
• 20:35
  way, I hope to speak with you soon. Thank you
• 20:37
  for having me. Take care. You're welcome. Well,
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  children, teens, and adults. To learn more, go
• 21:48
  to revvedupkids .org. That's R -E -V -V -E -D
• 21:53
  -U -P -K -I -D -S dot org. Well, that's a wrap,
• 22:00
  folks. A huge thank you to our special guests
• 22:03
  for sharing such incredible insights today. And
• 22:06
  of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing
• 22:10
  listeners, for tuning in and spending your time
• 22:12
  with us. Remember, networking isn't about being
• 22:16
  perfect. It's about being present. So take what
• 22:20
  you've learned today, get out there and make
• 22:22
  some meaningful connections. If you enjoyed this
• 22:25
  episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave us
• 22:28
  a review, and share it with someone who could
• 22:31
  use a little networking inspiration. Let's keep
• 22:34
  the conversation going. You can find me on Apple,
• 22:38
  Spotify, YouTube, or my website, Michael. Remember,
• 22:43
  until next time, keep practicing, keep connecting,
• 22:46
  and keep building those relationships. This is
• 22:50
  Michael signing off. Take care and happy networking.