Devin Sizemore - How to Build a Million Dollar Network: The 5 Principles That Turn Relationships Into Revenue

Devin Sizemore  0:00  
If you do want to go and add new people to your world, the best way to do that, if you don't like networking, is to find a way to do it around the things you love doing. Put yourself in an environment where that's the thing you're doing, but make sure you're intentional about meeting the people around you and getting their contact information.

David Bush  0:19  
Welcome to the Business Builders playbook, the show that breaks down the systems and strategies behind Predictable Revenue Growth to win in business. In each episode, we're diving into the proven strategies that separate the winners who scale from the losers who fail. This show is sponsored by bdr.ai the AI powered business development platform that automates your outbound prospecting so you can focus in on closing deals instead of chasing leads. Let's get started. All right. Well, welcome everybody. My name is David Bush from bdr.ai, and today I get a chance to have the distinct pleasure of interviewing Devin Sizemore on the topic of how to build your million dollar network. And I'm going to even go even as far as to say is that it doesn't have to stop at a million dollar network. I think Devin would be the first to tell you is that once you understand the game, once you understand the rules of engagement, once you have a strategy and you have the tactics that Devin has perfected over the last couple of decades. You can go beyond million dollar networks. You can have $10 million networks, you could have $100 million networks, and beyond. And so I'm excited to jump in and to dive into this topic. And many of you may already be aware of Devon's work. He's written an amazing book. He's got a huge following of people that are leveraging his strategies and tactics on expanding their networks. And, you know, he bought me a black shirt, and he said, after this session, I'm going to get you the words that go on your shirt that says, Who can I connect you with? And I can just tell you from firsthand experience and from the testimonials that I've had a chance to have conversations with Devin. Is the real deal. He doesn't just talk about these principles. He's actually living them out in real life. And he has added a ton of value from the point that I had my first conversation with him, he has introduced me to people. I've introduced him to people. So we're not here to preach to the to the people out there and say, This is what you should do. We're out here to tell you, this is what we've done. This is what we've shown other people how to do. Now let us show you how to leverage these same principles. So Devin, thanks so much for

Devin Sizemore  2:34  
joining me today. Thanks for having me. Man, looking forward to this conversation.

David Bush  2:38  
Yeah, well, let's just dive in and get the short bio version in your own words, what brought you to today in terms of your education, experience and expertise, to get you to really focus on building networks and building relationships?

Devin Sizemore  2:59  
Yeah, it's such a good question, because it is such a unique lane to do full time, right? I am blessed that I get to make connections for a living and make a living doing that. I always start with I'm a serial entrepreneur. So I love business. You know, my first big company was a digital agency, bought some agencies and sold and manufacturing company, co working and CAD cafe, couple product companies and some other stuff. So I just love the art of business, optimizing, systematizing, scaling, sailing, exits. And, you know, got into general consulting, as I've had all those companies, but realized I didn't want to be a generalist. And what the truth was is, I built all my companies, and I was helping all my consulting clients build their companies through relationships. Fast forward to last year. I wrote the book, connection expansion, to really solidify that system and approach in a way that allowed me to share it with the world. Because I kind of put the flag of the ground and said, I want to, you know, create a million connections. In order to do that, I need help like I can't do that alone. We've got to empower 1000s of people to come on this journey of actually helping others and actually making connections. And then I have a journalism degree, and I share that too, because that is a core foundation to my curiosity. So my love for business combined with the journalism background makes me a curious person, which is a great foundational skill set if you're going to go out there and build meaningful relationships,

David Bush  4:23  
that's fantastic. Well, I know that the participants are here to learn the things that they don't know and the things that they maybe don't know that they don't know, because they're wanting to be awakened to how they can build a million dollar network. So what is the basic framework that you leverage, or that you teach people to help them to go from zero to hero when it comes into building a network.

Devin Sizemore  4:49  
Yeah, this system is built on five core principles. And I think if we start there, it'll kind of start to paint the picture of what we're talking about and why. And so I'll hit those real quick. Quick. So the first core principle is always add value. So everything about what we're doing is about the other person. And when I say add value, it's not your product or service. It's providing resources, solving challenges, making connections. Obviously, I'm going to over index on connections, because that's what we do. There's a lot of value there. The second core principle is control what you can control. So often in in the networking and sales world, there's so many things outside of our control, or we drop the ball in the stuff we actually can control, right? So how we show up to a meeting? What our goals are when we're networking? What questions do we ask? How do we follow up? How do we book a connection meeting? How do we conduct that meeting? How do we follow up? How do we add value? There's a lot of controllables in there. We want to make sure we're optimized, and we're actually using number three and four go together. There's value in every relationship, and never make an assumption about a connection. That is a statement that I really want people to sit with for a second, is that every single person you come into contact with can add value to you. The issue is most people go around, especially if you're in a biz dev or owner role, role, looking for the next prospect. Well, if you're only looking for the next prospect, you're missing the vendors who have access to your clients, where your clients gather, the stages, the podcast, the partnerships, the opportunities, all of the other things that surround your ideal clients. So you've got to really approach networking and relationship building with this idea that there's value in every relationship. And number five, you have to train by doing so if you're here because you want to build a network that actively sends you connections and sends you referrals, it's a three to one ratio. You've got to give three to get one. And if you know that that's a true statement, then play the game as aggressively as you can. Right? How many connections can you give so that you're then getting more back? And so I think if, if if you understand that there's five principles that lay the foundation for it, we can kind of build on top of that, but, but that's always where I start with people.

David Bush  6:49  
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Devin Sizemore  7:50  
every relationship. Is that four or three, that's three, and then four is never make assumptions about a connection. And let me I'll index that one a tad. What that looks like is when someone introduces you, you may be in the habit of like, let me pull their LinkedIn up and their website kind of figure out who this person is. That's a great activity. It's good to know, but don't let the research you do influence how you approach the meeting and the follow up. Because you don't know anything other than what their social presence or website says. You have to show up curious to those meetings, because that's where you find the hidden gold. Yeah.

David Bush  8:25  
And then the final one. Final one was trained by doing, and I love that three to one ratio concept. And most people, they think that it's a one to one or it's a zero to one. They think that they can go out there and they can get something for nothing and and that's oftentimes why they have continued to give up on the concept of being able to build their network. Because they've tried it. They've gone to all these networking events, they've done all these things. What they haven't done is they haven't added value to the three to one ratio. So talk a little bit more about where most people struggle. I mean, they could be in any one of those five areas. But where do you find the most common like they skip step number one, or they just don't do this to build out that framework, or they build it on shaky ground. They don't have a good foundation, and so then it just they lose trust, or they lose opportunities because they just do X

Devin Sizemore  9:22  
or don't do Yeah? So yeah, it comes down to shifting your ask, right? And so let's go here, because this again, once you understand the five principles that gives you the foundation, shifting your ask is the thing that unlocks this. Let me explain what I mean by that. If I ask David. So David, who? Who can I connect you with? Most people's default answer is their ideal client profile or their ICP for their client, that's great because you're educating me on who your perfect fit client is. Great. You need to know that what happens when that's your default ask is you're asking me to narrow my network down to a really specific demographic. You then want me to make sure that they're qualified. Aligned, perfect fit for you and can afford you, right? There's a lot of qualifiers. Then you want me to introduce them to you so that you can sell to them. There's so much friction in that. And then people get frustrated because they go, Well, I'm educating people on who's a good referral for you, but they're not referring anyone. Well, they're not referring anyone because there's so many barriers to entry to what you just asked somebody to do. And so if we shift the ask, it unlocks everything. So by shift the ask, what we mean is going through the connection expansion exercise, who has access to your ideal clients, so that ICP of your ideal client. We then go through an activity where we look at, where does your client spend money? Where do your clients gather. Where do they seek education? Who do they trust? Who has influence over them, and then who's just a super connector? Because you need as many super connectors in your network as you can have. All six of those things don't create friction when we ask. So using a real estate example, because it tends to be something people can relate to. If I ask a realtor, who can I connect you with? Right beginning, realtors typically be like, Oh, I'm looking for first time homebuyers. Maybe they're pregnant. Just got married. There's a big life event that's going to trigger a home purchase. Great. Savvier realtors will be like, You know what? I'm looking for, mortgage lenders and insurance agents, because they know those are trusted referral partners in their industry. But that's what every realtor is looking for. So when you go through that activity, you don't want to just stop with what do you think the most obvious is, you want to find those referral partners or strategic opportunities that resonate best with who you are, your background, your hobbies, your personality, so that you are asking for something that's super impactful. So for myself, when people ask Devin, who can connect to it, I always default to, I want to meet community host, mastermind host. Why? So we can do exactly what we're doing here. I can come into people's worlds and create and make and create amazing content and provide a ton of value, which I know will open the doors to future profit. If we go a step further to that process right shifting the ask to whatever your ideal referral partner is, or strategic partner, that will influence how you approach networking events. Because when you walk into a networking event again, most people walk into a networking event going, all right, I'm going to get in here. I'm going to find some prospects. No, no, you're going to go into a networking event and you're just going to meet people. Because now everyone, if we go back to the five core principles, can add value and with our shift and ask there are six buckets plus clients, so seven buckets of potential people in this room, it should change the way you start to think about your current network, the network you're building, the conversations you're having

David Bush  12:26  
absolutely you know, one of the things I've learned, and I don't know this is kind of complementary to what you were just talking about, is is that most people go out there and they miss their opportunities for referrals, is because what they're asking for is highly complex what you just said, and most people's motivation doesn't match your expectation. So by decreasing your expectation down to their level, and you meet them where the motivation matches the complexity of the ask, you're going to have a better chance of matching where they're at and getting them to do the things that you are expecting them to do, but if you stay out here, you're constantly going to miss that opportunity. So is there an example that you know? Let's just say that right now, there's somebody out there that you know, they have a large network. They've got lots of LinkedIn connections. They've got lots of people that are in their phone they've got lots of people that are inside their CRM. A lot of people know them, but they're not getting any business from those people. What would be your step one? Devin,

Devin Sizemore  13:27  
yeah, 100% every single person listening to this, watching this, every person you know already has enough contacts in their network to double, triple, quadruple their business period. You have enough, but you have to re approach how you're nurturing your network. So most people have a network, but the network is very cold. So these people know you. They know of you, and you're marketing at them, right? So you're sending them newsletters. Maybe you're a little bit top of mind. We have to change the way you're nurturing and so that starts with some scripts. And so let me give you the script we use for check in, and then I'll explain why it unlocks your network. So our check in script was, if you're in my database, you've received this email, and you're gonna receive it every six weeks for the rest of your life. Is checking in. How are you doing? That's the subject line. Hey, David, hope you're doing well, having a great day. It's been a while since we last connected any new chat or anything new and exciting in your world. Any new challenges, as always, please let me know who I can connect you with. I look forward to forward to hearing back from you. That's the standard checking email. What we do if we want to book meetings, so if you have a network you're trying to reignite, is we add a sentence to there, so you know what's new and exciting, anything new and challenging. Let me know if I can connect you with. Hey, it's been a while since we last connected. Let's get together and catch ups, but I better know who to refer you to or connect you with. What that does is get people back into a meeting with you so that you can recalibrate the relationship. Then in that meeting, this is where you start to shift them from being cold in your network to being warm to being hot to then referring you and opening doors. And so in that meeting, we want to take them. On a journey. I call it the five step process for connection meetings, right? What's their current state? Who do they serve? Why do they serve them? What are they doing? How did they get there? Even if you know them really well, hey, remind me. Give me some backstory, like, why is this what you're doing? Why? Why are we here? Where are they going? So have them cast the vision and dream. Ask them what's in their way, what's your challenge? Because you know their current state and future now, what's in between, what's in the problem, and then ask them, Who can I connect you with? The reason we always end with who can I connect you with is that's where we add value. But we're also training the person we're talking to that that is the desired outcome from the meeting, is that I want to understand enough about you to make connections, and therefore I am implying that I would like you to do the same by having that meeting, right? So first, we use a direct email to get them into a meeting. So one to one, nurturing, instead of bulk nurturing, we get them into a meeting where we change the conversation from that meeting. We then are going to make three connections for them. We're going to thank them for the meeting, and that unlocks and teaches, right? Because if we just take one person who is called, get them into a meeting that's realigned, make three connections and add value. We're setting up the relationship where every meeting we have should equal one referral coming back to us. That's where we start to flip the script on our network.

David Bush  16:13  
That's great. I hope that all of you are writing that down. What Devin just said could be the only thing that you do coming out of this session and watching this video, if you're watching a recording that in itself could take you through the next you know, 3060, 90 days, and blow your business up. And if you were just to go back and take a look at the people like if I was to look back right now, we're at the very beginning of September of 2025, if I was to go back and look at the last eight months of your calendar, if I was to go look at your emails, your messages, your Facebook message, everything, all of your communication to the people that know you, like you and trust you, and who could refer you, would I find any evidence that you have added value that could be measurable? Something that people would go, thank you. Wow. Like, that's a big thing. Did you add value, or did you just do your job? Because there's a difference between doing your job and adding value. So what are the things Devin that you do? Because I know that you're all about connections and making introductions. Is there anything that you do that increases trust and credibility and authority that inspire people to want to introduce people to you, because it's not just you added value to them. It's like you're known, you're an expert, you're valuable. And I want to be like the good guy. I want people to say, man, thanks so much for the introduction to Devon Sizemore, man, dude, that guy is awesome. I'm so excited I got a chance to meet him. That makes me feel good, and it makes me kind of raise my level of authority in the marketplace. So anything else that you would recommend,

Devin Sizemore  17:53  
yeah, connections, like I said, is always where I over index. And so my promise to people is I'll make three connections for anyone to introduce me to. And so at a minimum, every single person you connect me with is going to get three high caliber, super aligned, very well connected, connections that makes you look like a rock star, gives me permission to follow up, gets them into the process. Now, there are some really sneaky things you can do with people you're meeting. And so let me share because I think there's people aren't thinking through some of these. So if in the meeting, someone mentions something that they're interested in. So I was on a meeting the other day, and the lady's like, I really am into, like, sourdough right now, somehow we ended up with that being the thing she was doing. I was like, cool, you my wife should talk, for sure. But I took that note, and what I did is I went in GPT after and I said, Hey, can you recommend some podcasts or some amazing training on sourdough? And it gave me a top recommendation. And so in my follow up email, which was still great, meeting you, I might have made connections, here's links to my community, my book, whatever, all the stuff, I also tuck that in and say, Hey, I know you mentioned sourdough. I found this podcast that may be interesting. Maybe you've already listened to it, but I thought I'd share so you can use AI to help you find things to give to people that's educational. Could be a book, a podcast, a video, things like that. The other thing I like to teach people is do wow moments. And so if you really value relationships, create a budget for it. And so wow moments are listening for the things that interest people. And so here's some examples we've done over time. Is I was meeting this guy in his office. He was a big Porsche fan, and he was talking about the the one he really wants to buy, and he's, like, working up towards it, and he already has enough money. I don't know why he didn't buy the damn thing, but he's working towards it. He had a clear goal. And so what he said is, here it is, what it is. I took a picture of it. I was like, let me create a picture that's awesome, man. I went and found a hot wheel that was as close to it as I could, and I sent it to him, because it creates that extra moment, like I listened and I loved on you, right? I had another guy, he had candy dishes on his desks, and he's like, ah, doing a sweet tooth. I love M, Ms. And he kind of jokingly said, but I only like this one color of M, M's, like, just being a smart ass, right? I was like, great. So I literally had my assistant. Go on the Eminem's website and order him that color of Eminem's and ship it to his office. So yes, make the connections, because it gives you permission to follow up, and it teaches them to do what you want, but where you become memorable and you really create those moments, that's what's going to make you stand out. In order to also get the connections, you've got to be active on social right? So write a book, create content, post things make yourself an easier to identify authority, and the more easy it is for people like that's an authority, the easier it is to refer you. So quite a few tips there. Grab the nugget that means something to you and use it.

David Bush  20:37  
Yeah, for those people that are struggling with being a content creator or not able to, you know, pull off exactly what it is that they want to pull off in the way that they want to pull it off. Start wherever you are. So principle number two is control, what you can control. So the question I love is, are you doing all you can do? I tell my kids all the time, all I want you to do is to do all you can do, not anymore, and not any less. So at the end of the day, all I'm going to ask you is, did you do all you can do? And if you didn't, why? What was holding you back? What's missing and what's next? And how can we get you to do all you can do? Because if you keep doing all you can do, which step number one is Devin has a link in the chat, for those of you that are on live to this book. You may not know how to do all the things that Devin knows how to do, but you can buy the book, right? If that's all you can do today, then just buy the book, and then the next day is, could you read one page in the book? Could you pry? Try one principle like number one, add value to the people you want to get value from. Those are all simple steps that you can do to take the next step. So let's jump into the idea of a person that says, I'm an expert, I'm somebody that people can trust, I'm credible, I've got authority on my topic or the things that I talk about, but man, I hate networking. So what you just said to me, and doing all those things, I'm super busy. I want to grow my business, but I just don't want to do networking. What would you say to that person?

Devin Sizemore  22:14  
Yeah, there's two, two paths here. The first is, wear out your for your current network. First again, we already talked about it. Most people have in their phone, in social media, in their database, in their emails, enough contacts that, if you just re engage them and had quick conversations, just to kind of let people know, so you don't get scared of time. When I do one to one meetings, they're 15 minutes so my Zoom meetings are 15 minutes long. And we're implementing the system. We're going deep enough, we're adding value, we're moving things forward. So use your current network and get it reignited. First. Make sure you're nurturing it, using it, meeting the people, talking to them, educating them. Now, if you do want to go and add new people to your world, the best way to do that, if you don't like networking, is to find a way to do it around the things you love doing. So again, we use a real estate example, because I worked with this young realtor just starting an industry. He's like, Dude, I won. I'm never going to dial for dollars. It's like, fantastic. Don't do that. Like, that's not like, I wouldn't advise it because I don't like it. Now you could, if you're going to automate that process, yes, right? But if you personally going to sit there and pick the phone up, like, there are way better things to do. And he said, So what could I do? And so I just asked him, What do you love? He's like, dude, I'm really into cigars and whiskey right now. I said, That's fascinating. How many cigar lounges are there in your city? And he looked in, there were 13. Seems like a high number, but there were 13. So great every night a week before you stop home, stop in the cigar lounge, smoke a cigar, and talk with the people that are there, and just build your network that way, right? Or go to cigar and whiskey whiskey tastings, right? The Elks club has one in our area twice a year, so go to that go meet the people there, go talk to the sponsors, go build your network that way. So whatever your passion and hobby is, put yourself in an environment where that's the thing you're doing, but make sure you're intentional about meeting the people around you and getting their contact information. No matter what path of networking you choose, make sure you're grabbing their contact info real time. Example, as we've been on here, I'm looking at who's hopped on right. We've got some live attendees. I've already copy and pasted your name onto my notepad, and you'll get a LinkedIn ad after this from me, saying, hey, it was great. You know, didn't get to chat with you directly, but I'm so glad you're here, because, again, I want to capture the data and get back to the control that I can control principle. So there's your two paths. Path one, abuse use your current network. Path two, do networking in a way that aligns with stuff that you're already comfortable with and you're already passionate about, yeah,

David Bush  24:43  
and we talked about this in the green room prior to going live, is that the idea that people have, you know, 1000s, some people have 10s of 1000s of LinkedIn connections, or they have 1000s of phone numbers and contact data in their phone but they're stepping over those opportunities. Entities to go chase down brand new connections, and they're adding more connections, but they are not taking advantage of the people that are right. And taking advantage may not be the right word. They're not leveraging the million dollar network that they have. And I believe that, Devin I don't know if you would agree with that, but I believe that people already have a million dollar network, but it's buried underneath a layer of conversation and connection and value. And if you'll just go out there and do like Russell Cromwell's book, the acres of diamonds, if you'll go look in your backyard and you'll basically dig up the diamonds that are right in your own backyard, you'll have a tremendous different future than if you just go out there and chase the diamonds that are elusive, that are in this far off, distant land. So I know that you mentioned earlier something about this concept, about every six weeks people get this check in message from you. So let's talk a little bit more about scalable and trackable systems that turn relationships into revenue. Sounds like that. You have one? Can you expand a little further on that? Yeah.

Devin Sizemore  26:04  
So everything I teach is a scalable, duplicatable system, right? And so I want this to be very clear to anyone on here, right? If there's something where you're listening going like, I don't have time for that, great, we probably optimized it to where it takes the least amount of time possible. And so that example, every six weeks check in. That's just a nurture funnel, right? Where, every six weeks, everyone that I tag with that thing in my CRM gets the personal one to one email. So it looks like it comes directly from me, which it does, right? But it's not a mass email, because it's coming on their six week cycle. And then we get about a 40% response rate. So of all those emails we sent out, about 40% of people reply to me and say, Hey, thanks for checking in. Here's what's here's what's going on. Great to see you or, haha, got another one? Good to see you, bud. Like, that's it. So it creates the conversation where you have chance to follow up. Now, here's where that gets fun. I don't want to plant the seed for people, because they go, that's great, but I got to make money. When people reply to me, I they'll usually ask, well, what's new in your world? That's where I get the opportunity to say, hey, ACES is growing. We're at 290 members. Are you a member? Here's a link, right? And so I can kind of provide an update that guides them the direction I want to take an action. Now, if we go back to the front end when we're networking, right, how are you capturing people's contact info? So if you're networking in person, do you have a digital business card? Do you have a form on your phone where you can hand your phone to someone say, hey, just put your name and email in there. Hit go. It'll send you all my stuff. What that's really doing is dropping them in your funnel that's inviting them to a meeting, and it automates all of it. That's what we do, right? Once that's done and you have a meeting, do you have tasks assigned for the next day? So as soon as you book a meeting with me the next day, there's a task that shows up on my to do list that says, follow up for meeting. So I'm holding myself accountable to actually following up on the meeting. How many people have you met with that? You have a great conversation, there's all this energy, and then you drop the ball on following up and you never hear from them. It's a pretty high number, actually, right? So again, make sure you're following up. When we get referred people, we have an intake form that we use where I can say, Hey, David introduced me to this person. Log, in, log. It hit go. It automatically drops them into the messaging sequence that says, Hey, I'd love to have a meeting with you. Here's an invite to my connection Blitz, or here's an invite to a one to one meeting. Depend on that type of intro, and it nurtures them after four touches, it drops them into the six week nurture cycle. So everything we do can be automated, because it's all exactly the same email templates too. Your VA can do it as well. So if you guys have a VA or EA, they can also implement the system for you, because there's no custom messaging. 100% of the messaging we use when building relationships is exactly the same templates.

David Bush  28:40  
Yeah, and I love the concept about having a business that works because the business model and structure works, not necessarily because you work all the time. I love the quote by James clear that says, you know, you don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems, as from the book atomic habits, and what Devon just said, is a critical success factor, because, as Michael Gerber said, there's only one thing people do predictably, is they act unpredictable. So if you think that you're going to have a million dollar Network, or 10 million or $100 million network, like Devin does, but you don't have systems, and you aren't working the system like what he just said, he could set a task, but if Devin doesn't show up and do that task, or doesn't delegate that task, it doesn't get done. So it's about accountability and responsibility. So George just asked the question, do you have a preferred CRM system?

Devin Sizemore  29:34  
Yeah, let's talk about it. It's a great question, George. My first default answer is, Don't over complicate this decision. So can you track contacts and assign a task to them? Those are the two things that matter. You track your contacts, and can you assign a task to them, as long as the CRM lets you do that. I don't care what CRM you choose, because that's all that matters. What I explained. A whole lot of optimization and automation and a whole lot of stuff, which I have a team right that we partnered with that does all of that. My preference is high level. I think high level is doing really great things in the coaching, consulting, thought leader space when it comes to integration, automation and scalability. So that's what we use. But the disclaimer there is, like, find an agency who can help you implement and scale properly so that you're optimizing and systematizing everything. And so every week, they audit our processes and they build something that solves it, saves us time. Otherwise, yeah, free ones. I know you put HubSpot in there. HubSpot is great for free. Gets really expensive over time. They also have some deliverability issues if you've used their email platform. Personally, that's been my experience. So again, pick a CRM you like, as long as you can assign tasks to contacts, and then you have to hold yourself accountable to the task, because that's going to hold you accountable to the process. If you want to automate then choose a platform that lets you do that over time, but perfect the process before you start automating it. How about some kinks

David Bush  30:59  
in the hose? I like to say is that when when you have done the things that you are recommending that we do, and you're not getting the inputs, or you're not getting the return on investment, and there's usually a kink in the hose, and oftentimes what I found Devin is that usually it has to do With trust, credibility and authority is that you know you could be the best connector on the planet, but if people don't trust you, they won't reciprocate. You might have to do a 10 to one ratio to ever get a chance to get somebody to refer you, because you may have not showed up, or somebody gave them negative feedback after you introduced them, or, I'm sorry that person gave you feedback that, hey, I got a chance to connect up with Devin, but he never showed up to the appointment. He he scheduled something, but that didn't happen. Now, I know that that wouldn't happen with Devin, because he's a pro, but if you don't have trust, and you don't have credibility and you don't have authority, so you know if, if you are quoting misinformation, or you're giving less than desirable solutions to people, you're going to lose opportunities, and you're not going to create that momentum. So just talk a little bit about what would a person need to commit to, not that you're going to be perfect, right? There's been times that I missed an appointment, it skipped me for some reason. I had to apologize and I had to go back and earn trust again. But what are some things that we can do to increase trust, credibility and authority?

Devin Sizemore  32:31  
Devin, yeah, so I always default to the five principles. That's why we started. Bear Ray, so most of the time, if the system's not working, it's because one of those was compromised. So always default and hold yourself accountable to those. But beyond that, yes, there are some things the systems we talked about will empower you to be a better business owner, professional, in that your response time typically is better and your follow through is better. And so if your inbox is not under control to where you're actually able to reply to the introductions you're receiving, or your LinkedIn is not being checked frequently to where you're getting LinkedIn intros, and you can't reply to them. You've got to solve that, because there's nothing worse than a really well aligned referral or connection coming in, and then you following up a week later, and then when you follow up, you have to think about, how do I create the path of least resistance? So if you're still going back and forth, or you're trying to move them off of whatever you were introduced to, to another communication preference, and so I have this with a client right email intro default to like, let's go to a text message. Wait a second. But they're on an email platform. Why are we trying to move the conversation right? So let's keep the conversation there. And if you don't have a calendar set up where people can click a link and book with you, like it is 2025, like it is more than time for you to sync your calendar and make it easy for people to book with you. So think about how quick can you respond? How easy do you make it for people to take action, engage and book with you. And then everything you say you'll do, do it right. AI is a great, phenomenal partner in taking notes. Whatever you told the person you'll do, make sure you do it. If you said you're going to provide resources, make connections, follow up, you know, send them a birthday card, whatever it is, make sure that you do the thing. And so there's some best practices there. And then the thing I'll always tell you goes back to those wow moments right over index on adding value. The more value you can add, the more you give away, the more you show people that you're in it for them, the easier it is for people to engage with you and refer you. Great.

David Bush  34:36  
I want to just go back to the five principles to remind those people, just in case you've navigated a way. I want you to come back to your screen and remind yourself of these five things, because these are going to be the things that are going to be the major game changers. So adding value is principle number one, controlling what you can control is number two, there's value in every relationship. Four, never make an assumption about a connection. And five, train by doing. Three to one. And there's another part of that that is not part of that equation, Devin. But I did notice recently it was something that you practice, and I can tell you that it's the first time in my half a century, plus a few years experience that somebody has ever done this. And it was a wow moment. It made me know that Devin was paying attention, and it was this one thing. I don't know if you know what it is Devin, but it was after I had opened up my referrals to Devin. Is he followed up after he met with one of the referrals and thanked me and said, that's exactly the kind of person that I'm looking to make connection with. So affirming, not only did I do a good job of finding the right value to introduce them to or the right person, but that it was beneficial to him, and again, just having that follow up communication. So some of you, my hands going up too, have gotten introductions to people, but you have been so busy chasing the next opportunity that you forgot to thank the person that made the introduction and give them a recap of the right person, if it was the right person, or maybe some correction. So Devin, have you ever gone back to somebody and said, Thank you for the introduction, but maybe it wasn't the right connection. Maybe they misunderstood who was a good connection for you, or is it just thanking the people that give you the good ones?

Devin Sizemore  36:27  
Yeah, closing the loop is something I still have to work on too, right, especially in the volume that we play like we get so many inbound connections that sometimes I get caught up in it as well, but as much as I remember, and I again, it's on my notes and action items, as I try to provide feedback, regardless of how the conversation went, sometimes the feedback might be, hey, you know, I wasn't able to, never able to connect with this person, right? So, like, I followed up, they got the first touch, plus four touches, plus nurture. I've never heard back. Like, could you help me bump that intro so we could get into a meeting. So that might be the follow up. The other thing too, and why I appreciate follow up, is sometimes takers make it into our world. And so takers are the people that are only there to quick close, quick sale. They want everything. They're there to pitch. That's all they know how to do. We've all experienced those that, if that's you like, you've got to stop because you're killing so much opportunity because you're alienating so many people. I love to get the feedback from people that are like, Man, I don't know what you thought was gonna happen in that meeting, but I got on a meeting and they just pitched me fantastic, because it starts to let me know, like, hey, of these 1000s of people I'm connecting, maybe I need to keep an eye on this person, or maybe I'll connect them a little bit less, because I don't want to tee people up to only be sold. That doesn't work. So yes, all directions provide the feedback loop. It's good for the person receiving it. It's good validation. It's no different than being a podcast guest, right? If you're going to guest on podcasts, send the host to thank you. No one does that like just send an email. Thank you. Thanks for hosting. Appreciate you. Right close the loop on your conversations.

David Bush  38:06  
I would assume that, and I know that you've used the term in the past that I've heard called Power partners, and I'm assuming that you have, like, a ranking order, and you've got, like, your, I come from a football sports world, so you've got your starters, like, your go to people that are probably a smaller number of people, and then you've got kind of, like, your backups that are more of, like an alternative to your starter. You've got somebody else that does something similar to that person that, you know, if the time is needed, or if that person retires or gets a little bit, you know, lazy with their responses and doesn't follow up with people that you bring in a backup as an alternative, and then you probably have a whole bunch of, you know, rookies that are just people that are coming into your world because you are so influential and affluent in the area of connections. There's probably a lot of people that are like, Man, I want to get I want to be the person that Devin refers to for automated business development or whatever. So how do you organize and prioritize and follow up with the power partners, and what do you do with all of those people that are trying to get on the list?

Devin Sizemore  39:17  
Yeah, so let me give general advice for everyone listening, and I'll tell you what we do, because this is what we do. So it is slightly different advice. So I recommend you tier your network or rate your network. So we have a four tier system, tier 123, and four. Tier one is typically people who play at the eight figure and above level and or operate in that world. So they own businesses that level. They work with people at that level, and then we kind of go down by revenue from there, and it starts to help me calibrate who and where people are playing. The other way is we clearly identify super connectors in our network. And so there are people that, once they send me 10 inbound connections, we'll tag them as super connectors. So it triggers to myself and my team, if we need to over index on connecting someone else, that's the person we're going to love, we're going to tee up because they're the ones sending us the most. And so 10 for us happens to be a good mark for you. It might be three, five, whatever, whatever feels like a little more than everyone else in your network. 10 for us is a good benchmark of like, hey, like, you've actually put in some effort. We see it, we recognize it. So therefore I'm going to put in a little more effort to you up. So that's what we recommend. I get asked at least five times a day to be someone's new referral partner, promote their thing, be an affiliate, whatever it might be. And so we have a paid system for that. And so if you really want me to be a partner for you and come alongside you. That's a pay to play game with us, because that's our world, that's our business. That's what we do for a living. Most people listening, that's not going to be a true statement or make sense. You're not gonna be able to sell that, but that's what we do, right? But we also make more than 5000 connections a year. We receive more than 2000 so we have the numbers to justify it.

David Bush  41:01  
Does anybody else have any questions? I'd love to see those into the chat. If you have one for Devin, we'll try to get to them as we close up here. But one other thing that I want to I want to touch on Devin is the idea of technology in its what's the word automation factor. So how much are you using in terms of automating your communication with partners? Because at some point you must run out of time. So how much is tech and how much is touch?

Devin Sizemore  41:35  
Yeah, it's the same disclaimer I said level one. Start with touch, right? So start with doing it manually, seeing the messages, really understanding the response rates in the flow and what's happening like it's really good to get the eyeballs on it as you're starting. And then over time, all of it can be automated, right? There's so much good tech now. So you know, we're automating the meeting notes from fathom, directly attaching into the CRM to the contact. The thing we can automate is, you know, I've got to do the follow up, right? I've got to send the follow up emails. And thank you. That's a very custom moment, because we want to resonate with the person a conversation we had. We're even getting ready to automate the connection side of me. So, you know, we're building some tech on that side where it'll scrub your list recommend connections. You hit yes, and it sends the emails. So, like it could all be automated. Start with the touch and just start wherever you're at in the journey, right? So start with, you know the nurture emails is typically where I say start, start at the end. Work your way backwards, because the nurturing emails get your current network re engaged. And then don't do the tech yourself. Bring in a tech partner. So whatever platform you're going to choose, or whatever you're trying to solve, bring in a tech partner. You know, you guys are amazing when it comes to sales automation and making sure your LinkedIn is actually activated. Like, use a partner for that. Don't go try to figure out how to build that yourself and best practices and rules of engagement, because you're going to mess something up, right? Your your email is going to get blocked, your LinkedIn is going to block you from sending messages like there's rules of engagement. So when it comes to tech, do it with a partner, right?

David Bush  43:13  
Well, I know that there's a bunch of people out there that are taking copious notes and they're just excited about jumping in. You've got tools. You've got resources. You've got some community resources that can help people. If you were to give people, kind of like a 3060, 90 day game plan, if they want to take this concept that you've just talked about and in the next 90 days they want to scale their network, they may not get to a million dollar network that's, you know, as valuable as maybe what other people have got in 90 days. But what are the tools? What are the resources? We got the book, we got the ACES group. What are some of the other things that you would say over the next 3060, 90 days? This is the stepping stones that Devin Sizemore would recommend. Yeah.

Devin Sizemore  43:59  
So, I mean, we have a ton of free resources. You mentioned the two big ones. You know, my whole master class is available inside of our school community. You can go to the school platform and search aces, connection group. You can go to Dennis sizemore.com click aces. Get in there. All the contents there. It's all free. There's no catch. It's all available. The book takes 90 minutes to read if you're a decent, quick reader. So get through that. Now, when it comes to implementing where I see the quickest best impact, the nurture emails 100% so that is a great thing, the follow up email template. So once you meet someone at an event, or you get their contact info, how you communicate to book a meeting, that email is gold, because we book almost 95% of the cold contacts or referrals. We received almost 95% book meetings. And so that email template is gold. We have, we've it's vetted. It works. Don't customize it. Copy and paste. So if you are following up with someone, you can literally just use the template so that. Be the next step is switch all of your language and messaging to just align with what we're teaching. Because all the email templates we provide are the exact email templates we use, and we use them 100 times more than you're going to and we continue to adjust them to optimize the response rates. And that's subject lines too. So the subject lines, again, don't, don't go customizing and trying to reinvent the wheel like I promise they work because of how we've used them. So change the language. Add the nurture, touch. Start there. How you conduct a meeting is a little more advanced, but that'll unlock a lot as well, right?

David Bush  45:36  
Well, we're not getting a lot of inbound questions. So is there anything else that you'd like to share with us, Devin as we wrap up today's session, yeah, there's a quote I

Devin Sizemore  45:47  
don't think I've actually said out loud, which is, everybody wants to buy, nobody wants to be sold. And I think, you know, most of the time when I work with sales teams and I do a lot of corporate training, that's the post it note. I tell them, like, here's post it notes. They're in the room, right on the post it note. I want you writing your own handwriting, and I want you to stick it on your notepad, your padfolio, your monitor, stick it everywhere, because you have to remind yourself to get out of the sales tactic world that we've been living in for pretty much the existence of sales. Because that stuff works great if you have volume, but most people are solving the wrong problem. They're solving trying to solve the sales tactic world with a super small pipeline, right? And so you're trying to squeeze water out at nothing like go build such a massive network that's referring so much deal flow to you that you don't care if someone buys or not. That puts you in the control of the sales process, right? There's no emotion. Because, you know, as soon as I get off this call, guess what, there's seven more people that want to buy and work with me. And so remember, everybody wants to buy, nobody wants to be sold. And just make sure you're continuing to recalibrate. I do think there are some amazing sales tactics that work, but if that's your focus, and you don't have volume, solve the volume side first.

David Bush  47:04  
Well, I'll just wrap it up by saying you've added a lot of value to us, and I can tell you that if you do connect with Devin in the resources that he's sharing, he's gonna three to one you. And so be prepared to be indebted to Devin size more because I've personally experienced it. I've seen how he delivers value, and I would say that he's probably five to one on value to requests back to me, and so I can already just tell you, from personal experience and the testimonials from the people I've had a chance to talk to about Devin, he is the real deal when it comes down to expanding connections. So Devin, thanks so much for just investing back into me personally, and investing into those people that took the time to attend live and to watch this video. If you're watching a recording of it, please share this video with other people. Devin's on a mission. He's on a mission to make a million connections. Is that right? Devin,

Devin Sizemore  47:59  
100% Yeah, it takes an army. And what's the,

David Bush  48:03  
what's the purpose behind that? What's the thing that drives you and gets you up early and keeps you up late at night to make a million connections?

Devin Sizemore  48:11  
Yeah, it's the, it's the non revenue transactions, right? And I think that's what I want people to really hear, is in the process of making connections, receiving connections, we're going to find new friends, we're going to find new mentors. We're going to find husbands and wives and spouses. We're going to find communities, trips, amazing places to experience and exist. We're going to have nonprofit impact. We're going to align sponsorships. We're going to move communities. We're going to fill jobs. There's so much more that comes from connecting people and collectively adding value to each other than just the revenue. And so a million connections is actually that times two, just direct impact, let alone the ripple effect or the butterfly effect of all of that that comes from it. So that's why a million I encourage everyone you know, make a few connections today and help support the mission.

David Bush  49:00  
Fantastic. So we'll put all of the details to how to link up with Devin in the show notes and inside of the video description. If you're watching this on social media, you can get a chance to just click on the link, and it'll take you back to more details and how to connect up with Devin if you are looking to leverage technology and you want to utilize automation, AI and all of the cool stuff that comes with sequencing to do all the things that Devin was talking about. Check out. Bdr.ai, we'd be happy to support what it is that you're trying to accomplish, and we're a very big believer in the principles that Devin shared, and we'll show you how to use a high tech and high touch approach. So Thanks, Devin. Appreciate you. Man, keep living the living the dream and changing the world as you are. Thanks for tuning in to the Business Builders playbook. If this episode gave you some plays that you can start running in your business today, hit subscribe and share with another revenue leader who's tired of the pipeline grind. Building Predictable Revenue isn't something you figure out alone, whether you're looking to. Automate your prospecting with bdr.ai, or you just want to talk through the growth challenges you're facing, reach out. We help business leaders just like you to build systems that actually scale. And if you're ready to stop being your company's Highest Paid Prospector, let's have a conversation. Reach out to us@bdr.ai until next time, let's keep building you.