Latest / Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections / Networking Unleashed: An Interview with John Munsell and Michael A Forman, Professional Speaker

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Networking Unleashed: An Interview with John Munsell and Michael A Forman, Professional Speaker · Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections

0:14
Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
0:17
Connections, the show where real relationships
0:20
drive real results. I'm your host, Michael Foreman.
0:24
Right now, every business owner is hearing the
0:27
same message, use AI or fall behind. But here's
0:32
the real question, does AI weaken relationships
0:35
or can it actually strengthen them? My guest
0:39
today works with business owners on how to implement
0:42
AI strategically, not just tactically. We're
0:46
talking about using tools like the AI Strategy
0:49
Canvas and Smart Prompting to prepare for conversations,
0:54
follow up consistently, and stay organized, while
0:58
still keeping communication genuine and human.
1:01
This episode isn't about replacing connection
1:05
with automation. It's about using technology
1:08
to support better conversations, better understanding,
1:12
and better opportunities. If you've ever wondered
1:16
how to use AI without losing the personal side
1:19
of your business, you're in the right place.
1:22
I'd like to welcome to my podcast today, John.
1:25
John is an expert in the AI strategy field, and
1:30
I'd love for you to tell us, in a cliff -nose
1:33
version, of how you got here today. Sure. Thanks.
1:37
And thanks for having me on, Michael. I'm a big
1:39
fan of your work. And thanks for your service
1:42
as well, if I do say so. So I'll give you the
1:46
rapid fire version. So I spent 16 years in financial
1:50
services. And then in 97, I saw the web coming
1:53
out. And so I ejected that industry to build
1:57
a company that was a software development web
1:59
application company. And then we grew it over
2:03
the years. into a digital marketing agency and
2:06
we would build mobile apps as well. And then
2:09
my kids graduated from college. They have four
2:13
kids. And so my wife and I were kind of like,
2:15
man, it'd be neat if we were a little bit less
2:17
tethered to a company with 40 employees. And
2:21
so I sold off that side of the company and I
2:24
thought I'd just go be a fractional CMO. And
2:28
then I landed at a couple of fractional CMO gigs
2:30
and I realized that I just swapped one job that
2:33
I didn't want for the same job. So anyway, I
2:36
spent a year working with executives every Friday
2:39
in the thing we call the CXO round table. And
2:42
I would teach them something about marketing
2:44
and keep them up to date. But going from 40 down
2:48
to two and a half employees, I needed to use
2:50
AI to get a lot of stuff done. And back in those
2:55
days, it was. it talked in circles and then it
2:59
started to get a little bit better. And then
3:01
as it started to get better, I realized that
3:04
those CEOs were far more fascinated in how I
3:10
was using AI than they were about marketing.
3:12
And so they convinced me to create a training
3:15
program. And so I created a training program
3:19
to show them how to prompt. better and how to
3:22
understand the context that AI needed in order
3:26
to get the best results. And then I taught them
3:29
how to actually write in their own voice rather
3:32
than this garbage voice that AI would create.
3:36
And then it was a six -week course. And on the
3:40
second week, I realized they weren't quite understanding
3:43
what I could see in my own head, which then made
3:48
me go, ah, I need to explain this differently.
3:51
And I don't know whether you're familiar with
3:52
the business model canvas, but it shows somebody
3:56
in a literal grid and canvas, the various aspects
3:59
of running your business from your customer segments
4:03
down to your expenses and your partnerships and
4:06
your key relationships. It's a wonderful thing.
4:10
But that's when it hit me. I'm like, that's the
4:12
best way to illustrate what context needs to
4:16
go into AI. And so I developed something called
4:18
the AI Strategy Canvas. And on the third week,
4:21
I showed it to them and man, everything clicked
4:24
for everybody. And that's when I realized, okay,
4:26
I'm definitely on to something. And then LSU
4:30
called me because they heard what I was doing
4:32
and they asked me to teach their honor students.
4:35
And I was like, I don't really want to become
4:37
a professor. But I said, I think we can have
4:39
a bigger impact if we went through continuing
4:42
education. And so we built a program to go through
4:45
LSU's continuing ed. And then I branched it up
4:48
from there. And now we're growing again. So it's
4:52
been a wild ride. Yeah, you must be doing something
4:57
right because you keep growing your businesses.
4:59
So I think you have the right strategy. Okay,
5:03
let me jump into my questions here. Many business
5:05
owners fear AI. will replace relationships. From
5:11
what you're seeing, how is AI actually reshaping
5:14
networking instead of eliminating it? Well, you
5:19
got to remember, AI is not going to create a
5:22
relationship, but AI is going to free you up
5:25
to spend more time on relationships. But you
5:28
have to know how to use it and when to use it
5:31
and what to use it for. I'll give you, for instance,
5:34
when we work with businesses, Most of the CEOs
5:39
are afraid of it because they know people underneath
5:42
them are using it and they don't necessarily
5:44
know it enough. So they call us and say, look,
5:47
can you bring us up to speed so we can lead that
5:50
which we are not familiar with? And we want to
5:53
make sure we're all doing it safely. And so we'll
5:55
train the executive team and then we'll train
5:57
the staff. But some, we have this thing that
6:01
we call the 10 levels of AI mastery. Some execs
6:06
say, look, I only want to go to level three.
6:08
I'm going to delegate everything else to everybody
6:09
else. But some CEOs get in it and they get excited.
6:15
What is fascinating, like I had one CEO who built
6:20
a tool in our training program, because part
6:24
of our training program is you have to build
6:25
what we call a capstone project, which is a tool
6:29
that you build that. Can't use API calls or anything
6:33
else. So it has to be fairly easy for anybody
6:35
to build. But it has to solve a problem that
6:38
costs you at least three hours a week or more.
6:41
All right. So this guy builds something that
6:44
analyzes RFPs. So they're in the furniture business.
6:47
So they sell office furniture to big buildings
6:50
and stuff. So they get these big RFPs, 350 pages
6:55
long. Right. And they have to figure out where
6:57
in this 350 pages is something that has to do
7:00
with furniture. And then they have to look at
7:02
it and say, is this the stuff that we can sell?
7:04
Can we do it competitively? And he said it would
7:07
take them somewhere between three and nine hours
7:09
just to determine whether or not they wanted
7:11
to respond to the RFP. And then it would take
7:15
them another two and a half weeks times three
7:17
people to build that response to the RFP. So
7:22
consequently, they would only respond to three
7:25
RFPs maybe per year. And each one could be a
7:29
quarter of a million or more in revenue. So they
7:32
would pick and choose. So he built this tool.
7:35
He can now get to the go, no -go decision in
7:40
20 minutes. And he can get the full response
7:44
to the RFP in two hours. And so he said, this
7:48
will literally mean millions of dollars to us
7:50
because We can now take on more of these things.
7:53
We can respond to three per month or more versus
7:57
three per year. But the CEO built this. And that
8:01
was what was mind -boggling to me. So if you
8:03
know what you're doing, when you learn, you can
8:06
build magical things. Now, think about what that
8:09
does to his time. So instead of him being tied
8:12
up, because he was pretty much the guy who had
8:15
to look over him just to get to a go -no -go
8:17
decision, and then he would delegate it. three
8:21
to nine hours that he doesn't have to wrestle
8:24
with anymore. And he's built other tools. And
8:26
so that allows him to work with his big clients,
8:31
nurture those relationships, play a little golf,
8:33
do a lot more. And we get that all the time,
8:37
especially from people in the sales and the marketing
8:40
side of things. This frees them up to be. way
8:45
more in the relationship building business than
8:48
in the tedious administrative task shuffling
8:52
business. Does that make sense? It makes 100
8:56
% all the sense in the world. What you're telling
8:59
me is that it's taking the minutiae out of the
9:02
relationship and having the people talk to one
9:07
another, build the relationship. as well as I
9:11
do, that the relationships is what sells. It's
9:15
not like I have $1, you have a widget, and we're
9:18
going to exchange it, and thank you very much.
9:20
But the relationship is what lasts forever. So
9:24
that's very good. I'll tell you what, there's
9:28
a book called Corporate Life Cycles by a guy
9:31
named Ichak Adizes. And in it, he talks about
9:34
the mix or the chemistry of your... your business.
9:38
And he breaks it down into, I'll change the acronym
9:42
because it would be easier. Doers, those are
9:45
the people that just do the work, the producers
9:47
that really crank it out. The administrators,
9:49
those are the ones that like to put rules in
9:51
place and structure. Then you have the innovators,
9:54
those are the idea people. And then you have
9:56
the connectors, the guys that like to build relationships,
9:59
like to get the team working together and cohesively
10:02
and all of that. If you think about what AI does,
10:07
AI replaces doer work and administrator work.
10:11
But the innovator and the connector work still
10:14
falls on us, right? In order to be innovative
10:18
with AI, you have to be the one driving it. It's
10:21
not going to just sit there on its own and go,
10:22
hey, I got a great idea, Michael. So you have
10:26
to be the one that does that. It's also not going
10:27
to be the one that, you know, makes those relationships
10:31
really sticky. It can't do any of that. That's
10:37
the cool thing. If you're in the relationship
10:40
side of building a business, if you're in sales
10:43
or if you're of the connector, AI gets rid of
10:48
all those things that keep you from doing that.
10:51
And you just have to know how to do it. And that's
10:53
the critical function. I think just learning
10:56
how to master it. I get calls all the time that
11:00
people are sick of being approached by AI bots.
11:05
Right. They're constantly being inundated with
11:07
all these bots. And they think that in the salesman
11:10
of the bots, they think that they're doing a
11:13
world of good because they're attacking so many
11:16
people at the same time. But at the same time,
11:19
all these people are pretty much getting sick
11:21
of it. And they are craving the personal touch.
11:25
And that's where I come in. And I made my business
11:29
doing exactly that. It's interesting. That's
11:32
how you derive your business. There's a fellow
11:35
here in town. I'm in Lafayette, Louisiana, the
11:37
heart of Cajun country. There's a guy in town.
11:40
His name's Fred Reggie. And he just wrote a book
11:43
called Tell Me. And I just wrote a book called
11:46
In -Grain AI. And we've been friends. And he
11:49
called me up one day and he said, hey, I got
11:52
approached by a large community banking organization
11:56
to do a keynote address. But they really would
12:00
like somebody who knows AI and he doesn't know
12:03
AI, but his business is on building relationships
12:07
and that he coaches people around that. And so
12:10
he said, why don't we get together and let's
12:13
figure out a way where we can do a joint keynote
12:15
speech. And so cool. So we met, we came up with
12:19
some ideas and we have this concept where the
12:21
two of us juxtapose each other's position. I'm
12:25
the AI guy. He's the relationship guy. And so
12:28
we pitched it to them and they like, yeah, we
12:30
love that. So we said, look, we need 90 minutes,
12:33
not 45. And they're like, how come? And we're
12:36
like, because this is going to be a story and
12:38
it's going to evolve into something big. And
12:41
so they they're like, OK, let's do it. So it's
12:44
going to be really fun. I can't wait to get that
12:47
started. Yeah, no, that's it's I'm a professional
12:50
speaker. I go out across the country and I speak
12:52
about what your friend. speaks about. I too have
12:56
an AI person where I go into the same speeches
13:01
and we go off of one another. He's the AI and
13:05
I'm the personal touch. And my 45 minute keynote
13:09
or hour and a half workshop turns into a three
13:13
hour workshop or an hour and a half. keynote
13:17
speech so i know exactly what you're talking
13:20
about oh that's cool i thought we were so original
13:23
no we've been doing it for about six months but
13:27
you'll have a blast you'll just have because
13:31
i'm i've been called in because there are a few
13:34
people out there that do the ai and they want
13:37
what i talk about what i service and they want
13:41
to bring it together so it's a you'll have a
13:45
blast Excellent. Cool. You teach strategic implementation
13:49
of AI. What's the difference between using AI
13:53
as a shortcut and someone using it as a relationship
13:57
building tool? Man, that's blending a whole lot
14:02
of concepts. So when we talk about strategic
14:06
AI implementation, we're talking really about
14:11
how do you make sure that you get everybody in
14:15
the organization understanding how to use it
14:18
and how to communicate about it at the same level.
14:21
So they have to have a common language and they
14:24
have to have a certain level of proficiency.
14:27
But as they go up in their level of sophistication,
14:31
what they get it to do, are they getting it to
14:33
do? multi -step workflows? Are they getting it
14:35
to integrate with their desktops and manipulate
14:38
files? And are they scheduling robotic tasks
14:43
with it? As they do that, then the complexity
14:45
of the AI architecture increases. And as that
14:49
increases, The governance needs to increase in
14:52
rules and such, all right? That's what we mean
14:55
by a strategic implementation of AI. In a big
14:59
organization, there are three moving parts, and
15:01
that's your level of efficiency, and then the
15:05
sophistication of the architecture, and the restrictions
15:08
of the governance. Those three have to move in
15:11
synchronization. But in order to really work
15:16
on the relationship side of things, and let's
15:19
just talk about intercompany relationships, right?
15:23
Because as a C -sweeter, I think everybody is
15:29
aware that your rank and file are afraid that
15:32
you're just trying to replace them. So that creates
15:36
tension in the organization. And there's already
15:39
inertia in the organization of we've done it
15:43
this way and it's been just fine. Why do you
15:45
want to rock the boat? And so now, You have a
15:50
big issue of more than just technology adoption.
15:55
You have a change management issue, right? You
15:59
have a culture issue. So you have to work with
16:02
people on, you know, they have to feel safe and
16:05
they have to feel secure. But so that's a big
16:09
part of implementing AI is showing them that
16:13
this actually. makes their job easier, gives
16:16
them more free time and gives them more time
16:19
to do those tasks in their job that they really
16:23
love because they can delegate the rest to AI.
16:27
But that whole thing is about building confidence
16:31
in the organization and building a structure
16:36
to where people can experience success, share
16:40
success and feel. contribution, right? Feel like
16:44
they've contributed, right? That's what makes
16:46
people happy. That's a, I don't know, that's
16:48
a long way to try to answer your question, Michael.
16:51
But at the end of the day, an organization is,
16:55
an effective organization has a tight culture.
16:58
And the trickiest part about bringing AI into
17:02
the organization is you could sacrifice your
17:05
culture. You could sacrifice the soul of the
17:07
company. And we don't want that. What we want
17:12
is to retain the employees as much as possible,
17:15
but make them hyper powerful, right? Very efficient
17:19
and enjoy that efficiency, not just go, all right,
17:22
I'm checking out for the rest of the day. You're
17:26
pretty much, if you want to keep the culture
17:29
the way it is, or actually make it better or
17:32
different, your leadership then has to either
17:36
change or adapt. Because I talk about this all
17:41
the time in my workshops, the difference between
17:44
leaders and bosses, right? You want to move the
17:48
bosses away and just have leaders in your management
17:53
positions to teach all your employees to be leaders,
17:58
not just a boss. And it goes on a whole bit,
18:01
but I know exactly what you're talking about.
18:04
How can professionals use AI? To prepare for
18:08
conversations so they show up more informed and
18:12
more thoughtful. Oh, man. Yeah, that's funny
18:15
because that's exactly what I do all day long.
18:19
So if I have a lot of times people schedule meetings
18:22
with me. All right. They're going to the website.
18:25
They'll schedule a meeting. I don't know who
18:27
they are. But the best I can do is get an email
18:31
address or a domain or something like that. So
18:35
we have a process that triggers when somebody
18:40
fills out that form to schedule a meeting. And
18:44
it's a prospect analysis process. We do the same
18:49
thing before we call anybody in the first place.
18:52
But what it does is it goes and it scours the
18:56
web for everything it can find on them. And then
18:59
it makes sure that it's the right person. And
19:03
then it analyzes their business and it analyzes
19:07
the structure of the business. It analyzes the
19:12
history as much as it can. And then it creates
19:15
a brief for me. And that brief tells me just
19:19
about everything I could find. Now, if it's somebody
19:22
who's relatively. public, like they've, they've
19:25
appeared on podcasts or stuff like that. It'll
19:27
pull back a whole lot. And then it'll, it'll
19:30
tell me a lot more about how they think and how
19:32
they work and how they act ahead of time. And
19:35
I, like I had a call just yesterday with a guy
19:38
and I already knew that two years ago, they splintered
19:41
off part of their company and it's now held by
19:44
private equity. And he's in that side of things
19:46
and that they were 120 years old and blah, blah,
19:49
blah. He goes, well, you did do your homework.
19:51
And I was like, I didn't want to tell him. Yeah,
19:53
that was like 10 minutes ago. But it's helpful.
19:58
Now, I'll give you another, for instance. So
20:00
when we have our sales calls, 90 plus percent
20:05
of them. I would probably 98 % are held over
20:08
Zoom like we are now. And then we have our AI
20:10
note takers in there so I can pay attention.
20:14
That's the main thing for me on an AI note taker
20:17
is I was never good taking hand notes because
20:20
the minute I'm writing, I can't walk and chew
20:22
gum at the same time. So I'm not really paying
20:25
attention. I'm not watching the visible cues
20:27
and all that. But with an AI note taker, it's
20:31
taking all those down for me so I can really
20:34
be involved in the conversation. Now, when that
20:38
conversation's over, our workflow is it automatically
20:42
takes the transcript of that call and then runs
20:46
it into a project that we have set up on Claude.
20:50
And we have another one on ChatGPT, but let's
20:52
play with Claude for a little bit. It analyzes
20:57
that call, but instead of just giving us a to
21:00
-do list like all the other ones do, we built
21:02
our own analysis tool. tells us what was the
21:07
theme of the call, what was the purpose of the
21:09
call. It will then tell me what the pain points
21:13
were that the customer articulated. It will tell
21:17
me what the consequences were and what heaven
21:20
looks like for that person. And from that, it'll
21:24
help me generate a proposal because the knowledge
21:27
base in that particular project has all our products
21:30
and services and everything else. So it creates
21:32
that. But it also does a couple other things.
21:36
And one of them is it looks for nuance in the
21:39
conversation. It looks for those things that
21:42
we might not think about. And so that particular
21:46
part of the prompt pulls out some really cool
21:49
things that you go, oh, wow, I would not have
21:51
remembered that or I would not have recognized
21:54
that. And it's really fascinating what it comes
21:57
up with sometimes. Then it rolls into another
21:59
workflow. And it analyzes the people on the call,
22:04
the person on the call in particular. And it'll
22:07
tell me it does what we call an ocean profile.
22:10
It's kind of like a disk profile. Right. And
22:13
so it'll tell me how this person thinks. Now,
22:15
all it has to go on is text. You can't look at
22:19
your body language or any of that. But it'll
22:22
tell me what's important to that person, how
22:24
they think. Are they a numbers person? Are they
22:26
more of an emotional person? So it gives me a
22:29
really good idea. And then it'll expand it by
22:33
researching that person. It'll expand it into
22:35
a persona profile. All right. So now I have a
22:38
solid persona profile and I can save that persona
22:41
profile. Then what it does is I have another
22:44
one that. emulates that persona profile and so
22:47
it pulls in that profile and now ai is emulating
22:50
that person and it reads my proposal and then
22:54
it gives me the objections or the questions about
22:58
the proposal and then it loops around and it
23:01
rewrites the proposal to address those objections
23:03
and those questions and then the persona reads
23:07
the new proposal And it rewrites it according
23:10
to that again. So it goes through that loop three
23:12
times. And then finally, I have a completely
23:15
bespoke proposal that hopefully speaks directly
23:18
to that person. That whole process takes about
23:21
30 minutes. So I have a completely bespoke proposal
23:26
for somebody that hopefully addresses everything.
23:29
And then it gives me a whole lot of feedback,
23:32
right? I can look at, I'm watching this happen
23:35
in real time. I'm looking at the objections and
23:37
I'm like, oh, that's interesting, right? So I
23:39
get a much better feel for how that works when
23:43
I'm actually now in front of the client or the
23:45
prospect making that presentation of the proposal.
23:50
I've already got that persona and I have personally
23:54
role played with that persona in advance of that
23:57
meeting. Right. So I'm going at it pretty well
24:01
prepared. And I couldn't do that without AI.
24:04
But that also compresses the proposal time from
24:08
what used to take us about eight days to prepare
24:11
a proposal to about an hour. cooled off. I can
24:22
have that appointment in a day or two. And while
24:25
he or she is still really excited about what
24:28
we're doing and make that proposal, that's one
24:30
way that you can use AI to really get revenue
24:34
in the door faster. Yeah, no, it sounds like
24:37
you've really done it. I like the idea of when
24:40
you're sending out the proposals, it's reading
24:42
your proposal. It's asking you those questions.
24:46
the objections to those questions and you're
24:48
doing it again and the three times and it's really
24:52
narrowing down your proposal. And it's because
24:57
I just, my wife's a project manager of a design
25:01
firm and she goes crazy trying to think of all
25:05
this. So I really know what you're talking about
25:08
and I know how much time it's saving and it sounds
25:11
like a wonderful thing. Tell us about your AI
25:14
strategy canvas. How can a clear framework help
25:18
someone stay personal while using automation?
25:23
So the canvas has nine blocks and each block
25:28
represents some type of context or some action
25:33
you need to take with AI. And the first block
25:37
is the target audience. So we really want to
25:39
know who's the beneficiary of this AI initiative,
25:43
right? Who are we really trying to speak to?
25:46
So if it's a marketing piece, then I need to
25:48
know who's the target audience. If I'm doing
25:50
a grant application, I need to know who's reading
25:54
my grant application. And then the company block
25:59
and the products and services block. You didn't
26:03
know, what does this person need to know about
26:04
my company? And what does this person need to
26:07
know about my products and services? And those
26:10
could be segments of a prompt or they could be
26:13
really rich. documents that sit in a knowledge
26:16
base. The next block is the context block. I
26:19
want to inject my own thoughts, my own feelings
26:22
into this whole thing. I might have other bits
26:26
of information that need to go in there. So it's
26:28
a catch -all called context. Then we have the
26:32
role. What did we just hire AI to be? Did we
26:36
hire an analyst or did we hire a direct response
26:40
copywriter? What are we getting AI to be? What's
26:43
that role? And then we have style and brand voice.
26:47
Style and brand voice is how does this thing
26:49
talk? If you don't tell it how to talk, it will
26:53
compose sentences that have 17 words in them
26:58
or really big words. Like I said, a $10 word
27:01
when it's 20 cent one will work. We have a calibration
27:04
method for style and brand voice. And what I
27:08
mean by that is instead of saying, I want you
27:10
to use a little bit of humor, we'll say humor
27:12
equals two slash 10. So two out of 10. And so
27:16
if I don't like that, I can crank it up or I
27:18
can crank it down. I can go zero out of 10. And
27:21
there are several other things in there like
27:22
sentence length and a bunch of other things that
27:24
make it sound more like me. And what we typically
27:28
do is we have all these variables and we'll take
27:30
a whole bunch of samples of our writing, whoever
27:32
it is we're trying to do, me in particular. I
27:36
would have it analyze all that and create the
27:39
actual calibration for that based on the variables
27:42
that we choose. Okay. And so now I've got it.
27:45
I've got it pretty much looking at my writings
27:47
and cloning it in terms of variables. And that's
27:51
the style and brand voice. And the next one is
27:52
resources. What else do we need to use here?
27:56
Do we need to tap into a database? Do I need
27:59
other research? Whatever. The next one is rules.
28:02
What do I not? want it to do. I don't want it
28:05
to say certain words that it does all the time.
28:09
And it's funny because every new model has its
28:11
own favorite words and we've at least gotten
28:14
away from delve, but now we're into some other
28:17
words that drive me crazy. And then the final
28:19
one is the request. What are you asking it to
28:22
do? What are the goals of this particular exercise?
28:24
So when you pull all that together the right
28:27
way, then you have a mechanism that will write.
28:31
like you write and sound like you write so that
28:35
when somebody gets your communication, they don't
28:38
go, I wonder who he handed this off to because
28:41
that isn't Michael talking. Right. Okay. That
28:47
was, you hit on so many points and so many valid
28:50
points and you're making things so easy for somebody.
28:56
to use it. I can't wait to the end when I'm going
29:00
to give you the ability to have people contact
29:04
you. This all sounds fantastic. Prompt engineering
29:08
sounds technical, but at its core, it's communication.
29:13
What does writing a strong prompt teach us about
29:17
asking better questions in real conversations?
29:22
I think the problem that we have is we call our
29:25
method of prompting scalable prompt engineering.
29:28
Okay. And that just means that we're giving you
29:32
a method for writing a prompt that anybody can
29:35
look at and understand what you did. And they
29:38
could change out some blocks or variables and
29:41
get it to do something different for themselves.
29:43
All that is a common way of communicating. with
29:47
AI that everybody else understands. And we call
29:50
it a common language, right? All right. So the
29:53
more people know how to do that, the more they
29:57
start to recognize that because we have this
30:01
strategy canvas that gives you all the context
30:03
windows, they start to recognize that this is
30:07
much like talking to a fellow employee. If you
30:14
don't tell that fellow employee or your coworker
30:18
or the person underneath you as a leader, if
30:22
you don't tell them exactly what you expect and
30:25
you don't give them all the tools they need to
30:27
succeed and you don't give them the context and
30:30
you just simply say, go do X, you're messing
30:34
things up, all right? So the more you start to
30:39
recognize the thought processes, if you will,
30:43
of AI, then the better it's going to get. And
30:47
so it's interesting because I don't know which
30:49
is the chicken and which is the egg. But I can
30:52
tell you that when people start to think in terms
30:55
of how would I communicate to a real human, then
30:59
they realize what they need to give AI to succeed.
31:03
And they do it. in one shot rather than having
31:06
to go back and forth and back and forth and discover
31:08
that they never gave AI enough context in the
31:12
first place. And then they get all ticked off
31:14
at AI. Likewise, I think when you get good at
31:18
dealing with AI, I think you start to realize,
31:22
oh, maybe in my own human. conversations, I should
31:26
provide a little bit more context. I don't want
31:29
to pick on my wife, but there are times when
31:32
we have a conversation and she'll all of a sudden,
31:34
she'll go, she did what? And I go, wait, who's
31:38
she? We were talking about. I'll just say the
31:42
same thing. So I know what you're saying. And
31:46
I have to look around to make sure she's not
31:48
here. Because all of a sudden, we'll be sitting
31:52
down and just blurt something out and expect
31:54
me to answer it. I'm like, whoa, who are you
31:58
talking about? What are you talking about? Where
32:00
are you talking? Because she went through half
32:03
the conversation in her head first. And it just
32:06
came out. So I know exactly what she was saying.
32:09
Oh, boy, I get myself in so much trouble. Before
32:12
a meeting even happens, how can AI help you understand
32:16
someone's business? goals, or challenges in a
32:20
way that deepens the first conversation. I described
32:24
it earlier. A little bit. Yeah. So for your listeners
32:29
who have never experienced the business model
32:31
canvas, there's a book called Business Model
32:33
Generation. And I can't pronounce the guy who
32:37
wrote its last name, so I'm not going to bother.
32:39
But it's just called Business Model Generation.
32:41
The business model canvas. tells you a lot about
32:45
how a business should operate. And so what we
32:48
do is we run a business model canvas on that
32:53
business. So now I literally understand how that
32:57
thing works. And then we'll even take that a
33:00
step further and we'll say, okay, based on that
33:04
way that business operates and their customer
33:07
segments and their key relationships and their
33:09
funding sources, et cetera. How can we serve
33:14
them best with what we do? And so we have a knowledge
33:18
base that describes for AI, all of our services,
33:22
our transformation roadmap is what we call it,
33:26
our training programs, our workshops and all
33:30
that stuff. So I have all that in there. But
33:33
now that I have. really deep context about that
33:37
business and how they operate, I'm telling AI,
33:39
I want you to tell me how I can serve them best
33:43
and what would be of the most interest to them.
33:46
And so it'll produce that. And one of the things
33:48
that we have on our website, for instance, is
33:51
what we call the AI impact analysis. And what
33:55
that does is you answer. a bunch of questions
33:59
about your makeup, your number of employees and
34:04
how many of them use a computer and blah, blah,
34:06
blah. That actually, once you provide it with
34:10
that information, it runs an analysis on your
34:12
business and it runs a business model canvas.
34:15
And it then looks at what would be the financial
34:19
impact if you trained your employees how to use
34:24
AI the right way. And what could they produce?
34:27
It even gives you some ideas of the things that
34:29
it could produce. And then when you get that
34:34
report, you say, wow, okay, yeah, if we just
34:37
trained 50 out of our 100 employees or 500 employees
34:41
or whatever, we just trained five out of 40,
34:45
what would that actually look like? What's the
34:48
financial benefit to us? And it starts to make
34:53
a whole lot more sense. And that, so we do it
34:57
when we're about to meet with somebody, but we've
35:00
also made it available on our website, this report,
35:03
it's 200 bucks or something like that. But it's
35:06
not a, it's not one of these bogus assessments
35:09
that everybody has right now. This is a pretty
35:11
deep thing. I want to say it produces somewhere
35:14
between eight and 20 pages of material. And we
35:17
actually have to manually do it ourselves. We
35:21
do it with AI, of course, but we take our time
35:24
going through it just to make sure that it's
35:27
giving you meaningful information. But that briefing
35:30
is amazing. Sure. Okay, let's bring this podcast
35:34
full circle. If a listener wants to strengthen
35:38
relationships and opportunities in the next 90
35:41
days using AI, what one practical habit should
35:46
they start to do immediately? So I would give
35:51
you more than just one practical habit. I guess
35:54
it depends on how you're conducting your meetings.
35:56
And I'm taking it from a sales perspective at
35:59
this point. I think every meeting you have, you
36:02
should have a note taker in. Now, when I'm, I
36:05
don't know. Yeah, I don't have it here. Are you
36:07
familiar with a plug note? P -L -A -U -D? Okay.
36:11
If I'm having an in -person meeting, I'm taking
36:13
my plod note with me and it's the exact dimensions
36:16
of a credit card, but twice as thick. Okay. And
36:19
I just say, hey, you mind if I record this? And
36:21
they're like, no. And so I turn that on. It digitizes
36:24
it. It gives me a transcript and I can analyze
36:26
that transcript six ways to nothing, right? So
36:30
I get after that transcript. Again, the recording
36:34
helps me be present. It helps me really understand
36:39
that. person that I'm with and pay attention,
36:42
but then it also helps me serve them better.
36:46
So to me, that would be the first thing that
36:49
I would do is I would make sure that I have an
36:52
AI note taker, and then I would learn how to
36:54
use that transcript to learn more about my prospect.
37:00
And I would learn how to use AI to help me learn
37:04
more about. who my prospect is, how I can serve
37:07
them best. Because to me, it's about service,
37:10
right? So that's what I want to know. And AI
37:13
accelerates that like to an incredible degree,
37:17
but you just have to learn how to do that. Absolutely.
37:20
Absolutely. John, this was great. You gave me
37:24
three times as much information as I thought
37:26
you were going to give me. I'm going to go and
37:28
replay this video four, five, six times. If I
37:32
can actually get what you said. I'm going to
37:35
go to my AI note taker and read it as well. John,
37:39
if somebody wants to get hold of you to either
37:42
hire you for your services or just say hello,
37:45
what's the best way they can get hold of you?
37:47
The best way would be to go to our website. We
37:50
have two of them, bizuka .com. And that's the
37:55
company that I've been. Head of for 27 years.
37:59
And the book is called In -Grain AI. And you
38:02
can go to ingrain .ai also if you want to learn
38:05
more about the book. But I would like to do something
38:07
special for your group, Michael. But if they
38:11
go to ingrain .ai slash impact, that $200 report
38:17
that I just told you about, if they'll see that
38:20
there's a coupon code. If they give me the coupon
38:23
code foreman. then I'll know it came from you
38:27
and that'll give them 100 % off. So they'll get
38:30
that report for no fee whatsoever. But it'll
38:34
take about 24 hours to get it. So just don't
38:36
expect it to immediately spin around. That's
38:40
great. That's great, John. Thank you very much.
38:42
This conversation shows that technology doesn't
38:47
replace networking. It amplifies it when used
38:51
intentionally. When you combine preparation,
38:55
thoughtful follow -up, and genuine interest in
38:57
people tools simply help you do those things
39:01
more consistently. Try one small step this week.
39:04
Before your next meeting, spend a few minutes
39:07
learning something meaningful about the person
39:10
you're about to speak with. Even a small amount
39:13
of preparation can completely change the quality
39:16
of the conversation. If you found value in today's
39:20
episode, make sure you like, follow, and subscribe
39:22
to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
39:25
Connections, so you keep getting practical insight
39:28
on networking and communication. And share this
39:31
with a business owner who wants to use AI wisely
39:35
without losing authenticity. If you want to help
39:38
strengthen your communication, your follow -up,
39:42
and your relationship -building approach, visit
39:45
foreman .com. to learn how I work with professionals,
39:48
teams, and organizations. So until next time,
39:52
stay thoughtful, stay prepared, and build connections
39:55
that technology helps you maintain, not replace.
40:00
John, I want to thank you again. You were a wonderful
40:03
guest. Thanks, Michael. I enjoyed being on. I
40:06
appreciate you having me. Well, hold on, folks.
40:14
Don't go anywhere. Let's hear from our sponsors.
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41:06
A huge thank you to our guests for sharing such
41:09
insights today. And of course, a big shout out
41:13
to you, our amazing listeners, for tuning in
41:16
and spending your time with us. If you're interested
41:19
in my digital courses, being coached or having
41:22
me come and talk to your company, just go to
41:25
Michael and fill out the request form. Remember,
41:29
networking isn't about being perfect. It's about
41:32
being present. So take what you've learned today,
41:35
get out there and make some meaningful connections.
41:39
If you've enjoyed this episode, please don't
41:42
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41:45
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41:47
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41:50
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41:55
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