Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections. An Interview with Laura Berman Fortgang and Michael A Forman
- mforman521
- May 7
- 13 min read
Welcome to Networking Unleashed, building Profitable Connections. The show where one conversation can change the direction of your business. I'm your host, Michael Foreman. Many people believe businesses grow from advertising funnels or perfect timing, but often the real beginning is much simpler. It starts with a conversation that leads to trust, and trust leads to opportunity.
My guest today built her business exactly that way. Networking didn't just support her work, it launched it from there, speaking engagements expanded her reach and cheated, and creating her own clear methodology made her memorable and easy to recommend. Today we're talking about how conversations open doors while speaking accelerates credibility and how having a defined approach helps people understand and refer you faster.
So if you want your connections to lead somewhere meaningful instead of ending with, nice to meet you. You're in the right place. That was a long, drawn out introduction, but I'm glad I got through it. I'd like to welcome to the podcast Laura. Laura, I am, I've actually been looking forward to this podcast because you've got a lot of the information that even I am interested in.
So welcome to the podcast and give us the cliff notes of how you got here today. Sure. Thank you so much. You're reminding me of my networking story, but how I got here was a stalled acting career. I've had relative success, was a union member, worked as an actor six months outta the year, but I waited on table six months outta the year and I grew very disillusioned.
Had an intuitive inkling, Nicole, an old mentor, and he'd become a coach. I'd never heard of such a thing. I became a client and two years later I was bypassing my own coach and I was. Off and running. And at the core is a networking story that I joined the networking group. It happened to be a women's group, and the leader of that group said, you know what I'm sick of hearing you talk about what you do.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna pay you. I'm gonna become your client. And her doing that in front of this room of 15 or 20 other women, every single person in that room became my client over the years, over a couple years and. It was that word of mouth and it was that someone standing up and believing in you that just made it spread like wildfire.
And, I really enjoyed a very meteoric rise from, starting in a profession that no one had heard of with no background that most people would think deem me a coach. And, I did get officially trained on one of the founders of the International Coaching Federation and a master credential coach, but in the beginning, no one knew what it was, and it was purely networking that made it happen, and I didn't have a network.
I knew actors and waiters, people who couldn't pay me. So I really had to start from scratch. Good. Good. That sounds great. It's, it sounds like the trail that every actor tries to follow, but either they make it, they don't, you always hear about the actors waiting tables while they're waiting for their next gig.
Speaking, waiting for your next gig. Oh, okay. You say networking launched your business. What was the specific relationship or moment that first proved conversations could create real opportunity? So I, I told you that story of the person standing up for me and other people followed, but I also I believe it was through that.
Same networking? No, I don't know where I met her. But anyway, I met somebody and we had a conversation about what do we each do? And she worked for a company that ran gyms inside of corporations and she was happy to refer me to one of those gyms to speak for free. So I did a lunch and learn. And at that lunch and Learn was a manager who said, I need you for my team.
And I got my first corporate check for a, from a big multinational corporation, and I leveraged that to the next one and the next one and the next one. So again, it was just a conversation an open-minded exchange, and it led to a free opportunity that became a paid opportunity and then many more.
Yeah. That's the way it always begins. It always begins that way. I too I spoke in the beginning for free and I wanted to get myself out there in front of all these other business people, and that's how it happened. It's all word of mouth and relationships just started that way. It was that's the way it all always begins.
Many people attend events hoping something happens. What did you do differently that actually turned introductions into clients? I don't introduce myself by my, by a title. Like I don't say Hi, I am a business coach, or, hi, I'm an executive coach. I always introduce myself by talking about the result that I create.
So for. Many years before I started working with small business owners, I helped people change careers. So I wouldn't say I was a career coach, I would say I helped people figure out what to do with their lives, and it always got me a great reaction. Someone would go, oh, how do you do that? Or, my husband needs you, or, where were you last year when I needed you?
So not using titles, but using a results driven message I think went a long way in, in my networking to. Lead to paid opportunities. That's very good. And I do something similar, I help executives, turn conversations into clients and that usually sparks something and they say tell me more.
And that's all I'm looking for. I'm only looking for them to ask me a question so I can continue on with the conversation. Speaking often accelerates trust. What does standing in front of a room change? How people connect with you? Compare to a one-on-one conversation. First of all you're granted a certain amount of authority right away because somebody else had to choose you for you to be on that stage.
So right away, that builds trust with your audience that if they thought this was a good person to bring in, then I'm gonna, I'm gonna listen to them. So it builds authority and credibility. You get to demonstrate what you do by speaking, whether it's. Through your pithy stories or you actually bring someone up on stage and demonstrate, or whatever the case may be.
So again, you're building trust and people are subconsciously saying yes to you many times by the time you finish your speech. Yes, I agree with that. Yes, they're in authority. Yes, they were chosen. Yes, I trust this person. And then that leads to it being an easier sales conversation.
If you get that opportunity with them, is that they. They've seen you in action. So I find speaking to be like an audition, it's a great exposure for people to see what you do. How long do you usually. Speak. If you go up on stage, I, there are se several, I have several variances of my what I talk about.
I have a 15 to 20 minute, a 25 30, 35, and 45 and an hour of course. But what's your average that you talk? Nowadays people want more, Ted's talk style, co, talk. So I'd say 30 minutes is a sweet spot. That would be great, but I've had as short as seven minutes, just go.
Yeah. So have I okay. What should someone do immediately after a speaking engagement to turn their audience members into ongoing relationships? Yeah, I don't leave it up to chance. S in the sense that, it, there was a time when you'd be like, you'd hope that people come line up and talk to you afterwards, and you give them their card and then you hope that they, make an appointment with you.
I flat out make a free offer to people from the stage, for the first 20 people who use this QR code, you're gonna get a 30 minute breakthrough call with me. So I actually get several people from that audience usually shooting for a quarter of the audience. On my roster to have conversations.
That, that's very good, now do you do more speaking engagements or coaching engagements? I probably say they're about equal. They're about equal. I keep a handful of clients. I run coaching groups. So I have small business owners and coaches and consultants who work with me in a one year program, and we meet once a week.
And then I have individual clients as well. Speaking a few times now with virtual speaking, you can be speaking much more often without having to travel. I'd say it's just about 50 50, maybe a little more coaching than speaking. Okay. Okay. You built your own methodology. How does having a clear framework make you easier to remember and easier to refer?
Yes. As I told you I was a career coach for 20 some odd years out of my 32 years in coaching, and I came up with a method for career clarity, how to figure out what you wanna do with your life. And being able to have a method that has a be a beginning, middle, and an end gives great comfort to a client.
It's not oh, an open-ended hopefully will come to some kind of result. It's no, I've got a proven way that works. That's repeatable. So it starts to build your credibility even more. It makes it more likely that people are gonna say yes, and then you are, even if, there's tens of thousands of career coaches, but no one does the now what methodology.
So you become a category of one. When you have your own method it's a way to, brand your intellectual property, be known for a particular result, and be able to say that you have a tried and true method. Really gives people a lot of comfort, makes it easier for them to buy. And makes it easy for people to repeat that and say, oh, she's the one with that, helps you figure out what to do with your life.
So I just, I, and when I train other business owners, I'm helping them come up with their own method so that they have that scalable piece in their revenue. Good. Good. What's the difference between being knowledgeable and being referable when someone meets you for the first time? Ah, okay. That's a good distinction.
I think being referable would require. Being more in an open conversation where you might ask a lot of questions of the other person instead of just hosing them with information, so I think it's the difference between giving information and implementing. You know when you have a, when you ask more questions, you have a more extended conversation with somebody.
You're feeding into the self-interest of the other person and that they felt something, something changed for them, and they're more likely to refer than if you just spew your knowledge. Yeah I agree. Whenever I go into a networking event and I, unfortunately, or fortunately, it depends on how you look at it.
I go to three or four events a week and you go in with what's called a servant's heart. You go in looking to give and not receive. When you're sitting down with somebody or talking with somebody, they are the whole room and you are asking them questions all about themselves. And then at the end you're asking, how can you make them more successful?
How can you be a good referral source for you? And if you did your job correctly, they'll say, wait, I don't even know what the hell you do yet. You're already trying to make me more successful, and that's how I know that I did my job. But they, but you will get much more out of it that way.
Agreed. How can a professional position themselves as a resource in conversations without sounding like they're promoting themselves? It's part of what we just. Talked about, you're a resource to people if you can solve their problem so keep a full. Rolodex, to use an old word whether you electronically or not to say, oh, you need that.
I've got someone for that. So that you're a resource if you can provide solutions for people. So you might be the solution or you might generously move them onto somebody else for the solution, but you become a resource by networking and have a lot of people in your network so that you can connect people and have them get their problem solved.
Yeah, I, I have all my clients. I tell them, you have to be a problem solver. They have a problem, and you don't just meet them at that point. You have to meet them three steps ahead, right? So if you solve their problem, they're like, okay. If they're done with you, but if you meet them three steps ahead, then you're getting with them to reach that other point.
So you are, you're not only answering their questions and they're solving their problems, but you're with them for the journey. And that's your goal, right? So painting a picture of the future, future casting, and and then you end up being the solution to getting them to that future. Yes, exactly.
Exactly. Where do speakers and business owners miss opportunities? Because they stop networking once the presentation is over. Yeah. So you feel relieved and you're like. Phew. I can go home now. So sticking around, talking to people, being visible, being seen at the lunch or whatever, not rushing off gives people an opportunity to come up and speak to you.
And there really is no such thing as a free speaking gig if you know how to work a room. That's true. I always make a point of getting there early and I mix with the people in the audience, and I usually sit in the back, and I talk with the people in the back. So when I'm up on stage, I'll say, yep Joe's just said X, Y, Z, or Sally you wouldn't believe what she had to go through.
And I'm bringing the people into. The conversation and that helps keep their attention. For someone who feels they aren't ready to speak yet, what is the first step they can take to start building authority? Through conversations your client testimonials will start building your authority. So if you are not ready to be on the stage, but you've worked with people one-on-one and they've gotten results.
You can talk about it, oh, I worked with someone who was in a similar scenario than as you, and we did such and such, and this was the result. So your testimonials, your experience becomes your calling card. That's a absolutely. And would you say you, you prefer a video review or a regular handwritten anything like that to Oh, you mean the actual testimonials that people testimony?
Yeah. Yeah. People are so video driven now. So visual. So if you can get it on video, that's great. Put it on your website. I'm just meant like in conversation, you can talk about your one, whether you work with people one-on-one or, whatever it is that the result that you produce.
You can talk about that. As long as you have permission from your clients to share it or you don't use names, if it's a confidentiality issue that you talk, talk about your results in a one-on-one conversation without being, without being too much of a space hog, bringing it up where it's appropriate.
As a matter of fact I'm hosting a business show, a business expo here in Johns Creek, in in Georgia. It's not a very big show. It's 20 businesses. We invited well over 200 people and we're having the event on Thursday, but I invited all my clients, all everything to see.
The interactivity between the businesses, between the customer and professionals and see how it really comes into play. And it's pretty exciting because I've gotten feedback already saying I can't wait for the show. I want to try this, I wanna try that. So it's all really good. Okay. Let's bring this podcast full circle. If a listener wanted networking to become a consistent source of a business in the next 90 days, what's one behavior? They should begin practicing immediately. The behavior is finding the networking groups and getting out there like you do three or four times a week.
So identifying where you need to be. And also getting really good at saying what you do without using a title and without tripping over your tongue, make it very short and concise and results driven, and you'll have people's attention. And the more you're out there, the more you're seen, the more you're seen, the more people are gonna remember you and everything works that way.
Yep. Laura this was absolutely great. It was a great podcast. If somebody wanted to speak with you, to be coached by you or just say hi, what's the best way that they can get hold of you? If you Google my name, my. My website is laura berman fort gang.com. So if you can spell it, L-A-U-R-A-B-E-R-M-A-N-F-O-R-T-G-A-N g.com, or just put Fort Gang into Google, you'll find me and we'll get to connect.
That's great. This conversation is a reminder that opportunity rarely appears all at once. It grows from relationships built consistently over time. When people understand what you stand for and how you help, they naturally become advocates for you. Take one simple step this week. Explain what you do in a clearer way to just one person.
The most understandable. The more understandable you are, the more referable you become. If you found value in today's episode, make sure you like, follow and subscribe to networking unleashed, building profitable connections, so you keep getting practical insight on networking and communication.
And share this episode with someone ready to turn their conversations into real opportunities. If you like help, if you help, lemme start it again. If you'd help strengthening your communication, positioning yourself, or building relationships that lead to growth, visit michaelaforman.com. Learn how I work with professionals.
Teams and organizations. So until next time, be clear, be consistent, and build connections that open doors. Laura, thank you again for coming on my podcast. This was a wealth of knowledge. Thank you, Michael.
Well, hold on folks. Don't go anywhere. Let's hear from our sponsors. David Neal, co-founder Revved Up Kids. Revved Up Kids is on a mission to protect children and teens from sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. They provide prevention, training programs for children, teens, and adults. To learn more, go to RevD up kids.org.
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A huge thank you to our guests for sharing such incredible insights today, and of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners, for tuning in and spending your time with us. If you're interested in my digital courses being coached or having me come and talk to your company, just go to MichaelAForman.com and fill out the request form.
Remember, networking isn't about being perfect. It's about being present. So take what you've learned today, get out there and make some meaningful connections. If you've enjoyed this episode, please don't forget to subscribe. Leave us a review. Share it with someone who could use a little networking inspiration.
Let's keep the conversation going. You can find me on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, or my website michaelaforman.com/podcast.
Michael is a business networking expert specializing in enhancing professionals' networking and communication skills to drive profitability. As a leading authority in this field, he is highly sought after for his dynamic presentations and workshops. His extensive experience has consistently led to significant improvements in corporate profitability by empowering individuals and organizations to connect more effectively and efficiently.
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