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

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

0:13
Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
0:17
Connections, the show where relationships create
0:20
opportunity both in the room and beyond it. I'm
0:24
your host, Michael Foreman. Here's a question.
0:27
Networking is no longer limited to the conversations
0:31
you have face -to -face. Today, people are forming
0:34
opinions, making referrals, and discovering expertise
0:38
before they even meet you through search, through
0:42
AI. through your digital presence, which means
0:45
if you're incredible in person, but invisible
0:49
online, you may be leaving off half the opportunity
0:52
behind. My guest today believes that AI search
0:56
is becoming the new layer of networking. We're
1:00
talking about how to show up when people are
1:03
looking for answers, how to align your online
1:05
presence with your real -world relationships,
1:08
and why what he calls magic, those small, memorable
1:13
moments in conversation, still matters more than
1:16
ever. If you want to be found, remembered, and
1:19
referred to in both worlds, you're in the right
1:23
place. So I'd like to welcome, first of all,
1:26
welcome everybody to my listeners, to my podcast,
1:29
but I'd like to welcome Jimmy. Jimmy, you are
1:33
the professional in what we're talking about.
1:36
So first of all, welcome to the podcast, but
1:40
give us like the cliff notes of how you got here
1:43
today. Sure. Thanks, Michael. Excited to have
1:46
a chat with you. And I think everything that
1:49
you said in the intro is certainly where we are
1:52
right now and looking forward to digging in.
1:55
My background is a little strange in how I got
1:58
to where I am. I got a magic kit when I was a
2:01
kid and just fell in love with it. And in high
2:04
school. I met a guy who was an account manager
2:07
for a fortune 100 company. He worked for the
2:10
ad agency that handled the account and they were
2:12
looking for a promotional entertainer. And I
2:15
guess I checked all the boxes. And so for the
2:17
next 16 years, I worked for that agency doing
2:20
shows for this particular client. And of course,
2:25
magic is a great icebreaker in any situation.
2:28
So I was always able to rely on that. But as
2:31
I hung out at the ad agency i got to see all
2:34
the creative stuff that they were doing and really
2:37
thought if there was a career that was most like
2:40
a magic show it would be marketing and so yeah
2:44
i started working at ad agencies it was at the
2:47
tail end of the madman years and so the owners
2:49
of the agencies that i worked for had that vibe
2:52
which was cool and I guess I had a lot of questions
2:56
and I kept asking, like, why are we doing this?
2:59
What does the client want to accomplish? And
3:01
so they just said, Jimmy, why don't you just
3:03
go talk to the client? And so I would go talk
3:05
to the client and then I would come back and
3:07
start to work through whatever that assignment
3:10
was that we needed to grow their business or
3:12
sell their product or whatever the case may be.
3:14
And yeah, ended up being a creative director
3:17
of an agency, running an agency, and just fascinated
3:22
with learning about. what people do and how they
3:25
bring value to a customer. And yeah, so I have
3:29
been with Thrive Agency. We're probably one of
3:32
the largest digital marketing agencies in the
3:35
country, if not probably in the top 25 in the
3:38
world. And I came to them to lead up their strategy
3:42
team. I believe if you don't have a good strategy,
3:44
you're going to end up somewhere pretty expensive
3:46
and somewhere you don't want to be. So it's always
3:48
good to have a plan. And then I started leading
3:51
the teams that did all the work. And gosh, we've
3:54
been around for 20 years and we've never really
3:57
proactively told our stories and helped people
4:02
understand all the smoke and mirrors to use a
4:05
magic cliche there about what's going on in the
4:08
world today related to AI search and SEO and
4:11
networking. And how do you get known as an individual
4:15
and how's that attached to a company? And yeah,
4:18
the owner came to me and I think this is an important
4:20
point that we'll discuss today. came to me about
4:22
18 months ago when we were seeing the shift in
4:26
how these AI engines were looking for people
4:30
instead of logos. And he said, we got to practice
4:33
what we preach. So I want you to be the face
4:35
of the company. And so the founder asked me on
4:39
the executive team. So I didn't found the company,
4:41
but it's important to have somebody within an
4:43
organization who's leading that charge. And so,
4:46
yeah, I write articles. I speak at events. I
4:49
know you're a speaker as well. There are a variety
4:52
of ways that you can become visible for your
4:55
company and to create your personal brand, which
4:58
is a little bit different today than it has been
5:00
in the past. And so I would say that's the twisty
5:04
turning path that got me on this show that we're
5:06
having a chat about. It sounds great. It sounds
5:09
quite an eventful past that you've got. It really
5:13
reminds me because my wife's a graphic designer.
5:16
She wound up being a creative director, a project
5:18
manager. heading the whole studio and everything.
5:21
So I know your path and I'm sure it was not easy
5:26
on one hand, but pretty easy on the other, since
5:29
it was something that you enjoy doing. And if
5:32
you enjoy doing it, then really nothing is that
5:35
difficult. That's what I've always found. If
5:37
you really enjoy what you're doing, you're really
5:40
not going to work. You're just enjoying yourself.
5:42
Okay. So I have a couple of questions for you.
5:44
Sure. You say AI search is becoming the new form
5:48
of networking. What does that actually mean for
5:51
professionals who are used to building relationships
5:54
face -to -face? Yeah, and I would say they're
5:58
both important. And I was listening to a previous
6:01
episode and the words that came out of your mouth
6:04
hit me and I'm like, of course. You said trust
6:08
but verify. Whenever you meet somebody, you want
6:10
to make sure. that they are who they say they
6:13
are, right? And so what do you do when you meet
6:16
somebody, whether it's virtually or in person
6:18
at a conference, at a networking event, you look
6:20
them up. And if they're invisible, then you scratch
6:24
your head and you go, I thought they had the
6:26
credentials, but I'm not seeing anything. And
6:29
so there've been a lot of studies that have been
6:30
done over the last few years where when an executive,
6:35
founder, owner, CEO, subject matter expert within
6:39
an organization is visible online, deals will
6:43
close quicker, referrals will increase, and the
6:48
deal size will be larger than if somebody starts
6:52
from a position of a cold intro. And so that
6:56
has dollar value associated with it. And so one
6:59
of the things that I was challenged with when
7:02
the founder came to me and said, I want you to
7:05
be the face of the company. I went to chat GPT
7:07
and Claude and Gemini and Grok and Copilot. And
7:11
I just started typing in my name, who is Jimmy
7:14
Gibson. And yeah, there were some references.
7:16
I spell my name a little bit different. So it
7:19
got some references to Jimi Hendrix and Gibson
7:23
guitars and things like that. And I said, wow,
7:26
I said, I think I need to be coherent to these
7:31
AI engines so that they know who I am. So that
7:35
when I do reach out to someone and they do that
7:37
research, whether it's before a meeting or if
7:40
I meet them at a conference. So I took a year
7:43
to try all these different things. And I tracked
7:46
what worked and what didn't work. And it's interesting
7:49
on how these AI models to pick up certain things
7:54
and don't value other things as important. And
7:57
then I said about Q3 into four last year, I started
8:01
to really get scientific about it. And I said,
8:05
I wonder if this is true for other folks. So
8:08
I did a study of 400 business owners in five
8:11
different industries. And I wanted to see, okay,
8:14
I see the numbers. Search Engine Journal did
8:16
a study back in November of 2025 that says if
8:19
an executive posts 10 times a year, not a month,
8:23
a year on LinkedIn. your referrals will increase
8:26
and your deal size will be larger. And so that
8:29
goes hand in hand with if an executive in a B2B
8:32
relationship reads something from a thought leader,
8:36
then that deal will close at a higher rate within
8:39
a 90 day period. And I'm like, okay, this is
8:42
an unlock for businesses all over. Like when
8:47
you look at LinkedIn specifically, do anything,
8:56
about 6 % engage. So it doesn't take a whole
9:00
lot of effort. The bar is subterranean at this
9:03
point, as far as if you want to make a difference.
9:06
And I saw that 46 % of businesses and business
9:09
owners in those 400 businesses, by the way, that's
9:13
like a 95 % statistical relevant sample with
9:17
about a 4 % margin of error. 46 % of those businesses
9:21
and business owners were invisible. And so you're
9:23
losing that ability to trust and verify whether
9:26
it's in person, whether it's an online search.
9:29
And so that got me fired up to go, come on, it's
9:32
not something that is that hard. And we can talk
9:35
about specific things that you can do, but I
9:38
would say the difference in where we're headed
9:41
now with AI versus a traditional Google search.
9:45
is a Google searches keyword based. And it's
9:48
basically looking for a page on the website,
9:50
right? And so it's going to present back the
9:52
top 10 links that, you know, earn page one and
9:55
you get to choose which of those links you want
9:58
to click. AI is different. It is fanning out.
10:02
It is looking for who is the expert, who has
10:05
the experience, who has authoritativeness, who
10:08
has trustworthiness, the word that you used,
10:10
right? Trust but verify. These are signals that
10:16
it's picking up in a variety of places to know
10:19
whether it's going to present you. And even if
10:23
it may not even know you specifically, especially
10:26
if you have a name that's common and you haven't
10:28
really attached things to your name that allows
10:33
AI to understand who you are. That's so true.
10:39
And I really got into AI and I want, I used it
10:43
for branding, just branding myself. And if I
10:47
have a quick story for you, I was talking with
10:50
somebody who has a partner in California and
10:54
the partner in California has a partner in Las
10:57
Vegas. And I was just talking to the person in
11:00
California, and he said, I have to tell you something.
11:03
I said, what's going on? He goes, my partner
11:06
in Las Vegas stopped our conversation and goes,
11:10
who's Michael Foreman? And he was blown away.
11:13
What do you mean? He goes, who is Michael Foreman?
11:16
Because I see his name all over, and I want to
11:20
know who he is. He goes, he's a speaker in Georgia.
11:25
a solopreneur and just, but his name, but he's
11:28
writing charts for me for AI and everything else.
11:31
And I try to get my name out there, but he wanted
11:34
to know who Michael Foreman was. He was in Las
11:38
Vegas. I was in Georgia. So it's, if you put
11:42
my name in with professional speaker in coming
11:45
Georgia, you will get me in the top five. And
11:49
all of that is because of what I'm doing. And
11:52
I'm trying to keep my presence known. But all
11:55
of it works. Case in point. Case in point. Okay.
11:59
I didn't mean to take that much time. All right.
12:01
Awesome. If someone is great in the room, but
12:05
invisible online, what opportunities are they
12:09
quietly missing? Yeah, I would say that same
12:13
behavior is happening. So if you are great in
12:17
the room and you feel you can close that deal,
12:20
then yeah, I would say there's still opportunity
12:22
to do that. But how many rooms can you be in?
12:25
How many searches are happening outside of that
12:28
room that you don't even know that you're being
12:30
skipped over because your name is never showing
12:32
up? And I think that's the fear of missing out
12:35
or the FOMO acronym that, you know, is flying
12:39
around that. Unfortunately, and so here's some
12:45
other shifts that are happening. 60 % of Google
12:50
searches end in zero click. That means all the
12:54
information is being displayed on that results
12:56
page. So you may go, I don't even understand
13:00
that. What does that mean? In the past, you would
13:02
search and then somebody would click through
13:04
to your website. But now there's AI mode. There's
13:07
various answer engines that are showing up. There's
13:10
a knowledge panel. If that business has qualified
13:12
or that person is qualified, they're getting
13:14
all that information on that page. So if 60 %
13:20
ends in zero click, what's happening? If your
13:23
name isn't showing up, then that information,
13:26
and there's usually potentially a click to call
13:29
that may happen right there, you're out of luck.
13:32
You're not even in the conversation set. The
13:36
other thing that's happening is because of that,
13:38
traffic to the website is decreasing at a rate
13:43
that Gartner says this year will drop 25%, about
13:48
2028, it'll drop 50%. Because people are asking
13:51
these large language models like ChatGPT and
13:54
Claude and Gemini and Grok and all of these other
13:56
ones. They're asking them questions. They're
13:59
wanting to know who is the expert. So there was
14:02
an acronym in 2016 that Google started. It was
14:06
EAT and they expanded it to EEAT back in the
14:09
early 2020s. And it goes to exactly what I said
14:11
before, right? Experience, expertise, authoritativeness,
14:15
and trustworthiness. And so if you can't demonstrate
14:18
that. you're not getting a vote. You just said
14:21
that when people are asking who is a speaker
14:23
in this particular area, you're showing up in
14:26
the conversation set. And so unfortunately, we
14:29
talk to clients every day who are losing traffic
14:32
on their website, they're invisible in AI, and
14:35
the trajectory does not look pretty over the
14:37
next three years. And so I think that there is
14:40
an opportunity at this point where the bar is
14:43
relatively low. But if you're just going to ignore
14:46
it and be the ostrich with your head in the sand,
14:49
in a couple of years, as these AI starts to grow
14:54
its knowledge base, understand who are the relevant
14:57
folks, these various citations or signals are
15:00
established, those folks are going to continue
15:03
to be more visible while you are going to have
15:06
a harder time climbing that muddy hill to get.
15:12
that visibility that perhaps you should have
15:14
been starting on today. They make it much more
15:18
difficult on themselves. And it's really, it
15:21
takes a little bit of time now to do everything
15:25
through AI, write articles and everything else.
15:28
But it's taking you a little bit of time now,
15:30
but in the future, it'll take you less time because
15:33
you've already made those headways. So if it's
15:37
driving a car, you're going 60 miles an hour,
15:39
how much gas do you have to put down to keep
15:43
going 60 miles an hour? But if you're just starting
15:45
out, then how much gas do you have to put down?
15:48
So it's all relative. Before someone ever meets
15:54
you, they may meet you through search. What determines
15:59
whether that first digital impression builds
16:02
trust or creates doubt? How many hours do we
16:08
have, Michael? I would say one of the opportunities
16:13
that people have to build trust is to have an
16:17
opinion on something. What we've run into at
16:20
this point is, and you call it the chat GPT pile
16:26
of garbage, or folks are putting things in, they're
16:29
writing blogs, they're expecting these helper.
16:33
applications to produce magic, right? And so
16:38
the problem is whatever industry you're in, your
16:42
competitors are doing the same thing. And so
16:45
it has learned a very impressive amount of knowledge,
16:50
but it's generic. It doesn't know your bumps
16:56
and bruises, your scars, your champagne toasts
16:59
of victory. And you have to layer that in so
17:03
that you have a point of view. And what these
17:06
AI engines are looking for is they're looking
17:09
for somebody who stands out, somebody that has
17:12
an opinion, somebody who has, again, expertise,
17:17
trustworthiness. There's a vibe or a sentiment
17:21
online, which goes back to your reviews. And
17:24
they want to present the person who is the best
17:28
result. in a different way than a Google search,
17:33
but you know it now. You can meet somebody in
17:36
person if they're blowing hot air or if they've
17:38
actually been there and done that. And so if
17:40
you can't describe how you've been there and
17:43
done that online, number one, you're not going
17:46
to be in the decision set that's put out there.
17:49
Number two, when somebody reads it, they're going
17:51
to go, and we've gotten pretty smart today. that
17:55
poor M dash has died a horrible death because
17:57
everybody can recognize that that's being produced
18:00
by usually chat GPT. When they start to read
18:05
it and they go, okay, I met the person and they
18:07
were very interesting in person, but now look
18:09
at them and I go, this is pretty bland and generic.
18:12
I guess they just got AI to write it. And so
18:14
that builds some doubt and that builds some,
18:16
a little bit of a pause and you go. I thought
18:19
they were the expert. And so I think all of these
18:21
things come together and you talked about building
18:23
your brand. Your brand is not one thing. Your
18:26
brand is the sum of all experiences somebody
18:29
has with you. And so if they start to look around
18:31
and there's a weak link in the mix, then it sort
18:35
of triggers something to go, I don't know, this
18:39
might be just a poser or a little too fluffy.
18:42
And yeah, I would say you got to be careful and
18:45
have a point of view and have an opinion on something.
18:48
Yeah, it all goes back because I bring everything
18:51
to networking and it's the face to face. So for
18:54
Zoom, it's AI. But if they know it is a mantra,
18:59
if they know you, if they like you and trust
19:01
you, then they'll do business with you. And to
19:05
know you, well, through AI and everything else,
19:07
everybody in the country can know you. But like
19:10
you, that kind of narrows down just a little
19:13
bit. But that trust factor. That's so important
19:17
because nobody's going to do business with you
19:19
if they don't trust you. So you're doing everything
19:24
just to gain that little bit of trust. And then
19:27
they can go through AI and everything and then
19:29
see what you've written, see what you've done.
19:31
But it all comes down to that trust factor. Okay.
19:37
What does it take to become someone AI tools
19:40
naturally recommend when people are looking for
19:43
expertise in your space? Yeah, I would say try
19:48
to be in the right places. And AI loves certain
19:52
places that it looks for. And then again, say
19:56
things that demonstrate what we've talked about,
19:59
EEAT. And then I have a real easy framework for
20:02
people to be able to speak into that. And so
20:07
I'll start with the places and then I'll talk
20:09
about the framework that people can use. And
20:13
literally it will give you about 80 or 90 things
20:16
that you can talk about that will magnetize you
20:20
to these AI engines. So I would say in the top
20:23
five right now are Reddit threads. We've all
20:26
seen that about 40 % of AI. And I would say.
20:30
There is a knowledge base that happens. And so
20:34
AI has cataloged its knowledge base. And if you
20:36
think about a pizza, that's a pizza dough. But
20:39
then it goes out and it looks for current or
20:41
timely information. And those are the pizza toppings.
20:45
So the mushrooms and the pepperonis and the green
20:48
peppers and whatever your favorite topping is.
20:50
So number one, you want to make sure you're included
20:52
in that knowledge base, which is a little bit
20:54
different than the toppings. But I'll talk about
20:56
the pizza toppings for now. So Reddit is an interesting
20:59
place. If you have not been on there, it might
21:02
be worth investigating that. But LinkedIn, we
21:06
mentioned that earlier. LinkedIn is number two
21:07
at this point. And so it will understand your
21:11
post. Remember, only 2 % of people post. So if
21:13
you post, you're in the small majority. And articles
21:18
have become way more popular now because they
21:20
stick around longer. And so I would say talk
21:24
on LinkedIn. The third one, Wikipedia. It's kind
21:27
of hard to get a Wikipedia page. There are companies
21:30
that can help you with that. If that's appropriate
21:31
for your industry, investigate that. Medium.
21:34
Medium is a platform where you can write. So
21:37
yeah, I would say write on your blog, but then
21:40
also you might want to look at Medium. It's a
21:42
free platform. Put information up there. It loves
21:44
to look at that. And then YouTube. You have this
21:49
podcast on YouTube. It is scraping these transcripts.
21:51
It understands that. You're interviewing people
21:54
who have an expertise in certain areas. So perhaps
21:57
you could either start a podcast or you could
21:59
be a guest on a podcast. And so these are probably
22:02
the top five areas. There's also other areas
22:06
that you can focus on, but I think that gives
22:08
a good baseline. And then if you have a blog
22:11
on your website, I would say that's a little
22:13
bit lower in the tier. If you can connect with
22:17
your local media, radio station, TV station.
22:20
newspaper and become a columnist or they can
22:22
interview you, that would be amazing because
22:25
that's also a very high signal of trust and authoritativeness.
22:29
But then you go, okay, I got to write all this
22:32
content. No, you don't. 10 articles or 10 posts.
22:36
year on LinkedIn. You don't have to write it
22:39
yourself, but make sure it has your flavor. The
22:42
other thing is knowing that if you're going to
22:44
use a tool like ChatGPT, it's going to be very
22:46
safe. So you have to add in some spice, right?
22:49
You don't want the pizza to taste bland. So I'm
22:52
holding up my left hand. I'm going to give you
22:54
a real quick run through of each finger. And
22:57
if you can remember. one or more of these fingers,
23:00
you literally will have enough content for the
23:02
rest of the year and beyond. So the first one
23:05
is the pinky. You probably remember the pinky
23:07
promise that you did on the playground, right?
23:09
I pinky swear to do this. And you didn't break
23:11
that promise. Okay. Now you're in business. What
23:14
are you promising your customers? Do you have
23:16
a guarantee? Do you have some sort of risk reversal?
23:18
What is your opinion on things that you should
23:20
stand behind that you will not budge because
23:23
you believe it's the right thing to do? If you
23:25
have a product, does it go into you know, the
23:29
raw materials that you use? What about your customer
23:31
service? What do you promise to do in customer
23:33
service that's different from your competitors?
23:36
What promise are you making from a culture perspective
23:38
to the people that are on your team? What about
23:41
your vendors? So just on the pinky. You can have
23:45
an opinion and have a stand. And I've just given
23:46
you 10 or 12 things that you can talk about that
23:49
will show that you're an expert and you're committed
23:50
to being the best. The next one is the ring finger.
23:53
And you might think that's a promise, but it's
23:55
actually a relationship. How did that relationship
23:57
start? What was the passion? Why are you doing
23:59
what you're doing? What is the origin story,
24:02
the founder story of your business? Why do you
24:04
do what you do if it's not about the money? And
24:07
then the relationship. Are you in it for the
24:09
long haul? Are you going to stick with your customers?
24:11
Do you have partnerships that have lasted for
24:13
many years because you believe that's the best
24:16
way to do business? It's the ring finger because
24:20
most people in Western culture wear their wedding
24:23
band on that finger. Don't ask. a prospect to
24:26
marry you on the first date, respect that courtship.
24:29
So all of these things are important. And again,
24:32
there's another 10 or 12 things you can talk
24:34
about. The next one is the middle finger. And
24:36
no, I'm not giving Michael the finger. I'm holding
24:39
up all my fingers. If you're listening to this,
24:41
but usually that's considered a vulgar gesture.
24:45
It's actually a gesture of defiance. And so if
24:48
you truly believe your product or service can
24:50
save your customer or help them get to where
24:54
they want to be, then you have to name the villain.
24:56
Who are you flipping off? Who is the villain
24:59
to your customer? And again, there's nice ways
25:03
to do it. You don't have to be rude or divisive,
25:06
a little tongue in cheek, a little snark. If
25:08
people are investigating other options, then
25:10
you should tell why you're different and why
25:12
you're the best choice for them. I think people
25:14
are afraid to do this, but you can't rally your
25:17
community around you, your team around you. Or
25:21
the product or service, if you don't name the
25:23
villain, who are we after, right? Look at any
25:24
sports team. We just went through the final four.
25:27
That's a friendly way. And every team your team
25:30
was up against or your picks for the brackets
25:34
were the villain. The next one is the pointy
25:37
finger. And I say pointy finger because you have
25:38
to know who you're talking to. You have to know
25:40
exactly who that person is. What are their pains?
25:43
What are their fears? What are their dreams?
25:45
It's also the symbol for number one. Do you want
25:48
to be number one? What is it going to take to
25:50
be number one? Why should you be considered to
25:51
be number one? And then you should be able to
25:54
say effectively on any communication, the one
25:59
thing that you solve, the one pain that you remove,
26:06
you should have one solution and one call to
26:09
action. And that keeps it very crystal clear.
26:12
And the next one is the thumb. And again, if
26:15
you don't know who you're talking to, you can't
26:16
talk about those previous three fingers, right?
26:19
The next one is the thumb. Universal symbol for
26:22
thumbs up or thumbs down. If you turn it upside
26:24
down, we've seen all these things in magazines.
26:27
Do this. Don't do that. Okay. How are you guiding
26:29
your customer? Do this. Don't do that. Goes back
26:32
to the villain, but it's also your thumbprint.
26:36
It's unique to you. What thumbprint are you leaving
26:39
on your customers, on your community, on your
26:42
world, on your industry? And then what's unique
26:45
to you that's different? What combination of
26:47
things? You heard me tell my story about starting
26:49
out as a magician. That's unique to me. I see
26:51
the world through a different lens. You're going
26:53
to attract people who like the story that you've
26:57
told and what's unique to you and how this combination
26:59
of things has brought you where you are today.
27:03
And yeah, five fingers. There's about 80 or 90
27:06
things you can talk about. You carry it with
27:08
you every day. If you get stuck, just look at
27:10
a finger and that should give you plenty of things
27:12
that will make you unique enough to number one,
27:16
layer on top of whatever comes back out of chat
27:19
GBT to make it sound like yourself and then trigger
27:23
that uniqueness in how it's looking at other
27:27
businesses who are satisfied with just taking
27:29
something that's very bland and vanilla and generic.
27:32
You hit across so many points that I don't have
27:36
time to go over each and every one of them, but
27:39
they're all so valid. And if my listeners would
27:44
just listen to what you said about all five fingers,
27:47
and if you took one thing away and put it towards
27:51
a client and just started to go through those
27:54
fingers, you'll get to the crux of their problem
27:57
almost immediately. and it'll make you that much
28:01
better and put you more of an expert in that
28:04
field. So I agree with you wholeheartedly. So
28:07
one thing I did want to bring up, Michael, and
28:08
I know that took a little bit of while to go
28:10
through, but people asked me this question a
28:13
year ago, and I had a random answer that I would
28:15
say. And then I started thinking about my magic
28:19
career, and I thought magicians do magic tricks
28:22
with their hands, right? There's manipulation
28:24
and sleight of hand and all of that. And I said,
28:26
I bet I could attach it to my hand. And if you
28:30
go into ChatGPT or Claude or Jim and I or Grok
28:33
or any of these right now, and you type in Jimmy
28:36
Gibson five finger method, it will give you a
28:39
summary of exactly what I went over because it
28:43
loves organized, structured content. You do something
28:48
and you just take it for granted. But if you
28:52
could name it, if you could put it and package
28:54
it and then repeat that over and over. It is
28:59
going to love you. And so I don't want to skip
29:02
over that point because it's an important difference
29:06
in the way that you attach frameworks to your
29:09
name or your business or whatever the case may
29:11
be. Absolutely. And I personally did that about
29:18
six months ago and I created the Foreman Method.
29:23
And what that is, when I coach my executive coaching
29:27
business, When I coach, I teach the Foreman method,
29:31
which is connection, C -O -N -N -E -C -T -O -N.
29:34
It's all part of it as one package. And it's
29:38
what I am teaching. And when I put that into
29:43
ChatGPT, the Foreman method comes up. Because
29:47
you're the expert and you have pulled that together
29:51
and that separates you from somebody who says,
29:54
oh, I just chat and we work through their problem.
29:57
That's so good. Okay. What are the small amounts,
30:02
sorry, what are the small moments in a conversation
30:06
that makes someone feel remembered, understood,
30:10
or valued? Yeah. And again, I'm going to keep
30:14
going back to my years as a magician. So in a
30:19
magic show, or even in an interaction that's
30:23
just one trick, You are trying to have them suspend
30:27
disbelief and see something that is physically,
30:34
intellectually, through physics, impossible.
30:38
And so the first thing that I have to do is I
30:41
have to magician walks out on stage. They greet
30:44
the audience. They have to establish some sort
30:46
of connection. And I'm sure in any networking
30:48
opportunity, this is table stakes for. Don't
30:54
sit there and spit out your resume. Be genuinely
30:57
interested in the other person, right? So how
31:00
to win friends and influence people has been
31:02
around for so long because what? It's focused
31:03
on the other person. And before we got on the
31:06
show, we talked about how was the weekend. You
31:09
were sharing that your son had just gotten married
31:12
and we had a little chat. And so what happens
31:15
in those interactions, whether it's across the
31:19
screen, whether it's in person. is there's a
31:21
release of oxytocin. And that oxytocin is a neurotransmitter
31:25
that floods your bloodstream with, oh, this is
31:29
nice. This is going. We have some camaraderie
31:31
or things are going well. Let's see where this
31:35
goes. That gives you the permission to then move
31:38
to the next stage. And the next stage is basically
31:42
eliciting curiosity. And I would say that's the
31:45
one thing that is missing in. professional relationships,
31:50
personal relationships, because we all want to
31:53
establish that connection. And then what do we
31:55
want to do? We want to go for the close. Oh,
31:57
they like me. And you said no and trust. And
31:59
so they know me. They like me. Let's just go
32:03
for the close. And it's interesting. We talking
32:06
about LinkedIn, it's called a connection request.
32:08
What happens when you accept that connection
32:09
request? Immediately, somebody hits you up for
32:12
some offer and you're sitting there going, oh,
32:14
that's icky. They don't even know me. Like, why
32:17
are they doing that? Because we haven't established
32:19
the trust through that curiosity. And so what
32:24
does that mean? Curiosity is actually a release
32:27
of dopamine. And you may have heard dopamine.
32:30
Oh, you're addicted to social media. No, you're
32:32
not addicted to social media. It's the addiction,
32:35
not the addiction, but it's the expectation of
32:38
a reward or that you're moving in a direction
32:42
of closure. Women float in the air. And so your
32:52
brain goes, how is that possible? What in the
32:55
world? And so you're expecting either it's going
32:59
to happen or it's not going to happen. And then
33:01
when the person floats in the air, they come
33:03
back down. Everything is fine. That's a release
33:06
of serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that
33:09
says, hey, everything's right with the world.
33:11
This worked. And in business. We can structure
33:17
that in a way that if you know what their fears
33:22
or their pain or their goals are, and you know
33:26
that they have been looking at some other opportunities,
33:30
back to the middle finger, the villain, you should
33:33
know all about whoever your competition is, then
33:36
the two magic words that you can say in any interaction
33:39
that will elicit a high level of curiosity are
33:44
the two words, what if. And if you know that
33:47
the traditional path to get to this goal is ABC
33:49
and you say, what if I could provide you that
33:55
same outcome at half the cost and half the amount
33:59
of time with no effort on your part, whatever
34:02
the contrarian perspective is based on your offer.
34:07
Remember we said solving one problem with one
34:10
offer. So that's one what if combo. You go, what
34:14
if? And so all of a sudden that person is disoriented
34:17
and they go, I don't know. What if? And you start
34:22
to explain it. What happens at that point? You
34:27
go, wow, this person is the expert. They know
34:30
exactly my situation. They know that what I've
34:34
tried in the past isn't going to work. They know
34:36
that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, on and on.
34:38
And then they're actually going to bring you
34:40
to the point of the close or the conversion and
34:44
ask you, well, how do I get that? How much does
34:48
that cost? When can we start? And then you don't
34:51
ever have to feel icky or do the close because
34:54
they're asking for it because they have completed
34:57
and they have a need for closure that you have
35:01
already worked. And so that is a three -step
35:04
process, connection, curiosity, and conversion.
35:08
that you can use, whether it be leading your
35:11
team, motivating them to beat last quarter's
35:14
sales goals, a blog post, a social post, an interaction.
35:19
If you follow those three phases, you're naturally
35:22
going through the brain chemistry that gives
35:26
you the best opportunity for success. Absolutely.
35:30
And again, I have to tell you that you hit on
35:34
so many points and you were so on point with
35:38
those points. In networking, everything you said,
35:42
it really revolves around the rapport that you've
35:46
built up. And I have certain little things that
35:50
I do to gain that rapport and have the outcome,
35:53
as you had stated, everything you had stated.
35:56
But that rapport is so important, such an important
36:00
cog in the wheel that everybody goes about it
36:04
differently, but it must be done in order for
36:07
them to trust you. So everything leads into one
36:11
another. All right. Where do people unintentionally
36:14
break trust between their online presence and
36:18
their in -person interactions? Yeah, I think
36:22
we've hit on a couple of them today, relying
36:24
on some tool that does not express who you are.
36:28
I post a lot on LinkedIn and I see LinkedIn is
36:31
transforming from a place where you go if you're
36:34
looking for a job and everybody wants to put
36:36
their resume up there. Again, when you move into
36:39
content creation. You want to make sure it sounds
36:43
like you. If you meet me in person, I'm pretty
36:46
snarky. I'm pretty like matter of fact, I've
36:49
told you how it is today. And when you read something
36:53
from me, like it takes, and I use tools like
36:57
chat GPT and Claude and some of these other tools,
37:00
and you'll find one that you can work with, but
37:04
it takes a lot of effort to strangle and pull
37:07
and tug to get it. to be snarky and to get it
37:11
to be sarcastic. But it's worth the effort because
37:16
I get comments back to go, oh my gosh, I could
37:19
tell you wrote this because it sounds exactly
37:21
like when I met you at such and such a conference.
37:24
And so again, it's the sum of all experiences
37:26
that you have. We're sitting here visually. I
37:30
spent a lot of time figuring out what's the best
37:32
camera. What does my lighting need to look like?
37:34
What does the background need to be? Because
37:35
I want it to convey. the professionalism and
37:40
the passion that I have for communicating a message.
37:45
I could have been in a dark room and backlit
37:47
in front of a window and you couldn't even see
37:48
my face and all of these types of things. And
37:51
so I think you have to look at all the touch
37:52
points and those are all reflections of the brand.
37:55
And you want people to go. Oh my gosh. Like when
37:58
I get on a Zoom call with somebody, they go,
38:00
oh my gosh, that looks exactly like the video
38:01
that I saw you put on YouTube or LinkedIn or
38:04
whatever the case may be. And yeah, so you just
38:07
kind of have to step away from yourself and you
38:08
go, is that really what I want to do? Is that
38:10
really sound and smell and look like me? Yeah,
38:13
no, I agree with you a thousand percent. Part
38:17
of what I do is I post probably four times a
38:23
week. on YouTube, on LinkedIn, on everything
38:26
else. And that helps me get where I want to go.
38:30
But it's, you can, if you train, if you put a
38:37
prompt in and you don't get back the results
38:39
you want, you have to put in another prompt and
38:42
another prompt. You have to train AI so it gets
38:46
to that point where you are. And for me, it takes
38:50
five or seven prompts to get to about where I
38:54
want it to be. And then I'll begin, right? But
38:58
first I have to train AI, whatever search engine
39:02
I'm using, whether it's GPT, Gemini, Grok, whatever.
39:06
I have to get to that point. And it's usually
39:09
after five or six prompts that I can get to it.
39:13
So you do have to train. So it takes a little
39:15
bit of work. Okay. We're going to bring this
39:17
podcast full circle. If a listener wants to become
39:23
both highly referable online and unforgettable
39:26
in person in the next 90 days, what's one habit
39:32
they should start immediately? Wow. Again, I
39:36
think we've had this through line all the way
39:38
through the process. If you are not visible online,
39:42
then you're not visible. And so how do you get
39:46
visible? You have to start creating something
39:48
that is visible. And so look at where you're
39:53
most comfortable at this point. I'm not going
39:55
to tell you to go shoot a video if that has got
39:58
you sweating profusely, even thinking about sitting
40:02
in front of a camera, right? But the interesting
40:04
thing is you could probably get on a Zoom call
40:07
with somebody and be perfectly natural. So why
40:10
don't you record that? Why don't you have a professional
40:12
conversation on Zoom, record it and post it?
40:15
And it can be like a little podcast. Ed could
40:18
be a friend, a colleague that you work with for
40:21
a long time. You know how to poke each other's
40:23
buttons and you'll laugh. Maybe you want to write
40:26
something. And so I would say the first thing
40:29
to do is look at your own website. It might need
40:31
a refresh. If you have blogs that have no author
40:34
attached to them, put your name as the author,
40:37
right? And so then that's going to create. coherence
40:41
to your name and that person. I would say go
40:43
to LinkedIn. We mentioned that LinkedIn is the
40:45
number two place. Polish up your about section.
40:49
Spend some time making sure you have a professional
40:52
image. Everybody's got a thousand dollar camera
40:55
in their pocket as their smartphone. And it has
40:58
all sorts of settings. If you don't know the
41:00
settings, find a 10 or 12 year old. They'll show
41:03
you all the settings, right? To get a good picture.
41:07
And so clean up your LinkedIn. post something.
41:10
And I tell you, it's scary to post something
41:12
because you're thinking that your whole network
41:15
is going to see it. All I hate to tell you, the
41:17
algorithms are not in your favor and it's going
41:20
to be invisible. Find something safe to talk
41:22
about. Again, make it professional, make it something
41:25
about your expertise. And yeah, I would say those
41:28
are good places to start. Hopefully that's helpful
41:33
to get people off a square one. I believe it
41:36
would be. Jimmy, this was absolutely great. I
41:39
learned so much and I thought I knew so much,
41:42
but I learned so much from you. Listen, if somebody
41:46
wanted to either hire you, get some information
41:49
from you, or just say hello, what's the best
41:52
way that they can get hold of you? Yeah, sure.
41:54
As I said before, I'm on LinkedIn. I publish
41:56
about five times a week, Monday through Friday.
41:59
DM me if you have a question about what we chatted
42:01
about. I'm there, I'm available. Would love to
42:04
answer any questions, comment on my post, whatever
42:06
the case may be. If you're interested in figuring
42:10
out your visibility, go to thriveagency .com.
42:15
There's a whole lot of information on there,
42:16
articles, so forth. You can fill out a request
42:21
to have a meeting with one of our marketing consultants,
42:23
or if you want me to do the warm introduction
42:27
and have a chat with me first, happy to chat
42:29
with anybody. That's great. This conversation
42:33
is a reminder that networking today happens in
42:36
two places, the room and the search bar. When
42:41
your presence is strong in both, your opportunities
42:43
expand ways most people don't even realize. Take
42:48
one simple step this week. Look how you show
42:51
up online and ask yourself, does this reflect
42:54
how I connect with people in person? When those
42:58
two align, trust forms. Trust forms faster and
43:03
conversations carry more weight. If you found
43:06
value in today's episode, make sure you like,
43:08
follow, and subscribe to Networking Unleashed,
43:11
Building Profitable Connections, so you keep
43:13
getting the best insights on networking and communication.
43:17
And share this episode with someone who's great
43:19
in the room and ready to be just as strong online.
43:23
If you'd help strengthening your communication,
43:26
your visibility, and the way you build meaningful
43:29
relationships, visit michelaforman .com to learn
43:33
how I work with professionals, teams, and organizations.
43:37
So until next time, be present, be visible, and
43:41
build connections that people can find, feel,
43:44
and trust. Jimmy, again, thank you so much for
43:47
coming on the podcast. You were great. Thanks.
43:50
It was fun, Michael. Thanks for having me. Well,
43:56
hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere. Let's hear
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561 -427 -4888. A huge thank you to our guests
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44:56
a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners,
44:59
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45:02
If you're interested in my digital courses, being
45:05
coached or having me come and talk to your company,
45:08
just go to Michael and fill out the request form.
45:12
Remember, networking isn't about being perfect.
45:16
It's about being present. So take what you've
45:19
learned today, get out there and make some meaningful
45:22
connections. If you've enjoyed this episode,
45:25
please don't forget to subscribe. Leave us a
45:28
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45:30
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45:33
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45:41
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