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Growing Lean
Reinventing Business Networking: An Enlightening Conversation with Todd Davis, CEO of Gold Star Referral Clubs
Looking for a fresh take on business networking? Join us as we delve into an enlightening conversation with Todd Davis, the charismatic CEO of Gold Star Referral Clubs. Todd brings to the table a unique perspective on the art of networking that's rooted in fostering member relationships, enhancing the fun quotient, and making meetings shorter and impactful. Hear him share about how Gold Star's approach sets it apart from the larger players in the business networking realm and how they help businesses grow through effective referrals. Todd also unpacks the concept of 'industry exclusive', a term that will surely pique your interest!
Our conversation with Todd takes an interesting turn as he shares how the pandemic required Gold Star to pivot and adapt. The advent of Zoom meetings and other digital tools have reshaped the way businesses network. But it's not just about embracing technology, it's also about the right attitude. Todd underlines the significance of giving back and how it serves as a cornerstone in building enduring relationships. And in a heart-to-heart, Todd shares a personal story about his late wife and the challenges he faced when paying for a networking group.
As we wrap up, Todd imparts invaluable advice about researching groups before taking the plunge and joining. He discusses the importance of understanding the cost versus benefits of membership fees and emphasizes a kinder approach to business networking. He's a proponent of grace and relationship building and shares how Gold Star discourages backbiting and gossiping. To conclude, Todd extends an invitation to stay connected, offering his contact information to listeners. This engaging episode, brimming with insights into effective business networking, promises to be a game-changer for your business networking approach. Don't miss out!
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Yep, alright folks, welcome back to the growing lean podcast. This is your host, ethan half-eyed. Another amazing episode sponsored by lean discover group and award winning software development firm. I am here with the CEO of ghost, our referral clubs, referral extort and their net business networking. Extraordinary Todd Davis. Welcome, todd. Thank you, ethan, I appreciate you having me on. Yeah, happy to have you Tell the audience a little bit more about yourself.
Speaker 2:Well, we do business networking and the name of the company is gold star referral clubs and you can find us online. Goldstar clubscom is easiest. But we do business networking and we do it a little differently than all the big boys, because we actually try to be a little bit more member centric. Where are we care about the members that are paying us money to belong to a group that can get them referrals? It's not give me your money and who cares? No, it's they. They cost a little bit to get involved with us, but much less than other guys. We have shorter meetings, we have a lot more fun and we pass some serious referrals and the bottom line to listeners is that if they're looking at it for a way to get more business, looking into gold star is a great place to start.
Speaker 1:I love it. Let me tell you why I'm so excited about this episode. And this is genuine, because when I found out about gold star referral clubs, I started a Google search. I was like whoa, I didn't know this existed. I heard something about the B&I business networking, something. I think it's actually really big. It's probably surprising that I haven't heard about it, but I didn't know that things like this existed. Referral clubs and I've heard about you know fellow business owners and they get customers only through word of mouth, referrals and things like that, and they've mentioned it in the past because I thought it was just from their existing customers. But they are part of referral clubs. Tell me, like, what is the true value? Of course, referral clubs, you get referrals and you get new business. But what made you want to kind of start this business? Why do you see this as an essential part to every business?
Speaker 2:Well, I will tell you that when I was a real estate agent now many years ago I was in real estate for 25 years and I was with one of those big boys for a number of years. The difference for me is I always felt I had a thumb on the back of my neck Do this, don't do that and don't ever. It's like okay. So when I decided to launch my own real estate company, I decided that I wanted to focus more on my company rather than the noise I heard from the other group. So we got out and then sometime later we had we were approached by a guy who said hey, this is with my late wife. He said you guys know about that networking stuff his words, not mine and he goes maybe you should think about doing your own because those guys don't work for you. And my wife was a very much of a research nut and she tried to find something that we could do ourselves and be with a slight buy something or get something. That's people who matched our heart, and we couldn't find one. So we said you know, that may not be a bad idea, which is what brought us to the beginning of Gold Star and we decided we're going to have one great club. One great club and then all of a sudden, because we are industry exclusive, people kept coming out of the woodwork going. But my seats are already taken and I want to be part of this. I know other groups, but I want to be part of you guys.
Speaker 2:So we started a second one. Then we started a third one. Then we realized we could take Gold Star out of Oklahoma, where we're headquartered, and we could do it and expand across the country. So now we can do it anywhere in the US and I can help people start their group. We're not a franchise big deal, big difference because some franchises 10,000, 50,000, it can be a lot of money. Mcdonald's, you got to have a million dollars in the bank and then a whole bunch to invest. It's like whoa, okay. So we're very cost efficient. It's a licensing situation and they can make money and, more importantly, the couple of bucks that we pay in commission, which more than that, but all right. The bottom line is they get referrals for their business and if they've ever been closed out of an industry exclusive group, they don't have to worry about that because the seat is theirs period.
Speaker 1:So I pause you there. What do you mean by industry exclusive?
Speaker 2:Good question, ethan, I'm sorry I zapped over that. Industry exclusive means that we only have one real estate guy, one loan guy, one lawn care guy, one of each industry, and when we have one we don't let anybody else in because we have that position filled. And the idea behind that is is you want to help them develop a really tight knit camaraderie with the other people because, well, bottom line, you don't want somebody to try to think about, well, who do I use? It's like in the old school there used to be a big old book that had yellow pages in it and you'd go and try to find a plumber. Well, this way we have one plumber. You get to know and like and trust and be able to develop a little relationship with the owner, perhaps or maybe their sales representative. And the kind of bottom line is you'd know the people that are gonna be taking care of your home, somebody else's home, a great client of yours may need somebody and you go, wait a minute, I know somebody that can handle that and I'll tell you I have. Was it my wife? My now wife has a Joanie, I'll just say current wife. She has an office and they were complaining. I was in visiting. They were complaining about their wifi being terrible and I said but I got a guy and would it be okay if I asked him to call you? And the owner was like, yes, please. And we were able to make a connection with a guy that has done work for me since since literally when we started in 2007. And that because I know him, lack him and trust him. In anything I need with my computer he does for me because he knows all that stuff and the benefit is to me. I don't have to know all that stuff. I got a guy. So that's where we go down and it makes it so one person if you can start having two and three and four people gonna go. Well, who do I use? Now? And I'll give you another example we have a lot of clubs here in Metro Tulsa and we all have real estate agents in them.
Speaker 2:I had a commercial building, a little small single family home zone commercial, that I sold recently, and I used a Gold Star person, of course, and this gal had been with us for years and we had got to know and like and trust each other real well. If I had a question about my neighborhood, she would answer it, she would creep around literally her words, creep the neighborhood to find out what was going on and it was great. But she did all that for no charge, of course. But when I needed my building done, I called her and I said you're the only person I'm talking to Now. As a former real estate guy, I closed my shop down in 2009.
Speaker 2:As a former real estate guy, I know a bunch of real estate agents, but she was the one that stood out to me because I wasn't, of course, gonna go outside of Gold Star because they pay me to be belong to Gold Star. I'm gonna pay them for doing work for me. So this anyway. So she sold my building, but she was a great lady and I but I could have used any number of agents, but I chose her Long-term relationship. I have that relationship with her. I have my own personal club. I said I'm sorry I had to use her because of the length of time I got to know her. I said you're fairly new to Gold Star eight years and I said but I've known her for so much longer. And he said Todd, I got no problem with that, so happy there, and it worked out just fine.
Speaker 1:So an industry exclusive helps prevent.
Speaker 2:Who do I use and who gets the business this week it's like get to know somebody that's gonna take care of your people 100%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and one thing I'm curious about we're on the back end of the whole COVID and digital work, remote and all that big transformation, but how did that change? I mean business networking in general, but specifically Gold Star referral clubs.
Speaker 2:Well, we did have to close down for a while because the restaurants weren't open. So we went on. We went on virtual, we went on Zoom. Pretty much 100% of the country went on Zoom, but in Oklahoma. And then we had other states that started opening back up. Oklahoma was one of the first states to say our governor said this is nuts. But Oklahoma and Texas both opened up, about seven months closed and we did Zoom the whole entire time. It didn't affect us as much as you might think. Some people didn't like Zoom, I mean.
Speaker 2:But if you can't do an in-person meeting where you can shake somebody's hands, possibly give them a hug, get a little business hug on the side, look in their eyes and get to know these people, zoom can work. It's not great, but in-person meetings is what we do everywhere because it matters to build that relationship and if you don't have a relationship you don't have anything. So and it's kind of like Ethan when someone comes to me and says, todd, I'm gonna join Gold Star and I'm gonna try it for a month or two. But I'm gonna stop them and say, if you're gonna try it for a month or two. There's a couple of things I'm gonna tell you to do Number one, don't, and they would look at me like I'm crazy. I say but if you're gonna try it for a month or two, it means you're coming to get. And we are all about give, then receive. Not only is it a universal law, it's a biblical law. And if they come in with the idea I'm just gonna get a bunch of referrals in my hand that I can make money at, it's the wrong attitude and I'll tell them not to.
Speaker 2:I say, if you can't, you also won't listen to anything. We tell you about the training that we have on how to develop those relationships to be able to build up your network, to be able to get referrals from them. And people will give referrals without thinking because they know and like and trust that person. And I've got a plumber that I have no problem making a phone call today and saying can you come over? And they'll do what they can to get to me as soon as they can. And that helps me a lot. And I have a restoration company. She goes if you let the people that answer the phone, if I don't answer the phone but the office answers the phone, you tell them your goal star, we will put you at the top of the list to get to, and that's just going out of their way to give back to us.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. That's one thing that I wanted to bring up. You know specific tactics and tools that have been particularly effective in growing your business, and I know you have a book over your right shoulder called the goal. That might be a good way for you to kind of explain your methodology when it comes to business networking.
Speaker 2:I will and I'm gonna hold it up so everybody can look at it. But I'll tell you it's called the go giver. It's by Bob Berg and John David Mann. Now Bob Berg is a mentor of mine. I have been to his class in Florida and I'm still connected with them. I pay him a couple of bucks, like I get access to Bob and it's awesome.
Speaker 2:The Go giver is based on a. It's a little short story and an easy read to kind of gear your mind to how not to do what people might expect, because you're not out to gimme, gimme, gimme, you're out to give. What can you give back to those people that you know, even if you don't have a relationship with them, but you want to maybe develop that relationship? How do you do that? I'll tell you a quick story my late wife.
Speaker 2:We met in real estate. I was selling new homes. She was a real estate agent and I needed a good real estate agent and the gal I was dating at the time ended shortly. But I said she's a good agent. Is it all right if I made the connection All right?
Speaker 2:So I got to know this lady and she would do crazy things to get into more new homes and I mean crazy things. Every client she had went to the new home, whether they could afford or not, just to look at the decorating, and it helped the salesperson have something to do that day and she'd be in the neighborhood nothing to do. She'd call the sales rep, find out if they were in with a client and say I'm running through McDonald's, I'm going to pick up some fries, would you like some? And come over and just sit with them and visit those salespeople. Really like that. I come to think of it. She did not offer me French fries, but anyway turned out to be not only a great agent, she turned out to be a real nice lady and when I broke up with her friend, she well, anyway, we developed a relationship that lasted 26 years until I lost her in 19.
Speaker 1:Happy. Happy to hear that. Yeah, I guess happy and sad, right, Because it's a little so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got remarried, so it's all good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but let's talk about what specific challenges have you faced in your business and how did you overcome them?
Speaker 2:Well, people think that paying for a group is something that they shouldn't do because, yes, there are free groups out there and unfortunately, the free groups out there is not a blind. You're going to get what you pay for. And that sounds really trite and I'm sorry, but it is true. Most of the free groups you go to it's more like having a cup of coffee with some people not your friends, not a business associate. I went to one meeting and I had I was still a real estate agent. So this is years ago and, lo and behold, I sat down with 10 other real estate agents and one lender and I was thinking, well, not only is this, does not have any organization to this little group, and I said, you know what are we doing here? And bottom line is they weren't doing business, they were having lunch in Chitty Chattin. And you know I've got better things to do with my life than sitting Chitty Chat for no purpose.
Speaker 2:So maybe maybe that's just me, I don't know, but a lot of people don't want to waste time at a meeting that isn't productive for anything. So there is that we have a specific way of running a meeting and literally anybody can do it, but we teach them how to run a great meeting so that it produces referrals. That's the bottom line. We want them to instruct the members and visitors how to give referrals. And I say that's not the only thing. It's because of how we run the meetings. It's all geared to be able to get to know and like and trust and think about who is in the room that you may have a referral for and be able to share that with them and hand them a piece of paper, and we do paper slips. People go oh, you should be online. Paper slips are the icing on the cake for us.
Speaker 2:You see somebody. If a visitor sees somebody walking over with a slip filled out, bob walks over to Sally and says Sally, this is the person I mentioned to you. I called you last week or five days ago, whatever, but here's just to put it in your hand. And that's tracked by the club. Because we want to track everything Dollars, we do. I mean, we track everything you know. So the free groups don't have anything like that. They hope you get something out of it. That particular one that I went to, I got nothing out of it and I decided I would not even waste my time anymore, although potentially I could have helped some of those real estate agents get more business. But at that time it wasn't the right time for me to step into that area and I just said, okay, I'm in. I had lunch, I left, goodbye.
Speaker 1:I have a lovely life. Yeah, that makes sense. So I mean, often, like you said, you get what you pay for. If you pay nothing, you might just get nothing right, you gotta pay a little bit to get into the exclusivity, right? So now talk to me, especially with these paid groups that are looking to improve their value, how do you believe software, and especially generative AI, how do you believe that can enhance the value you bring to your network members?
Speaker 2:Well, I know a lot of them and I am toying with it. I'm a little behind because, well, I know people that know stuff, and sometimes I don't have to know stuff. They can say, well, this is what you do and I can just put it together and it's all good. They are taking it to the extreme. I did my computer man his name is Brandon, just to put a name behind a guy. He's a phenomenal guy here in Oklahoma and he came with us. He joined us in 2007, and I've been he's my guy ever since.
Speaker 2:He put together a website literally for a presentation in one of their clubs and he did it all about. Well, he had me. I liked a fish, and he had me holding monster fish and not my face, but AI facsimile of it I guess that's what you call it, and not a facsimile but caricature. Ai has words for those things but he made me kind of look like me without holding a fish that was probably as tall as me, and I mean, of course, it was obviously fake, but AI put the fish together. He had another.
Speaker 2:The real estate agent in the group had one. She was into cat boxing, mitts on the cat boxing and it was, I mean everything. It was just so people are taking this to some really extreme levels and it's so much fun to see what they're doing, but they're doing it also incorporating their business. I mean, that presentation was hilarious and that's what he meant to do, because he wanted people to go. I've got questions and then he opened it up and he said if you want to talk about it anymore, let me help you incorporate that into your business. So I see a real turn of how people are not only using AI, but getting to use it and playing with it is not the right word but trying to make it work for their business.
Speaker 2:I wrote a success tip. I write a success tip every week and took four-hour clubs and I set it out and say this is good business stuff, which it is. But I wrote one using AI and I thought, well, that's a pretty dang on cool and I don't do it all the time. I did it once and I thought the tip was great, but I'd like to put my own fingers to the type, to my keyboard, and to say, all right, here's how I want it to say and AI can make all those things lovely. I use a spell check software, which is AI. It says isn't this what you want to say?
Speaker 1:It's like Like Grammarly, right yeah.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what I use and it's like well, yes, that is what I want to say. Thank you, grammarly. And that is AI to the extreme. I bumped into a guy that does a software for LinkedIn and I do a lot of prospecting, if you will, on LinkedIn and I met this guy because he developed a little app and it's boy. I'm drawing a blank of the name, it's in my extension, but the thing is, you can write a letter that is so personal to somebody they want to pick up the phone and call you, and that's how he got to me. He said isn't it worth? At the end was like is it worth a couple minutes of your time? Maybe we can connect my phone? I was like blowing my mind here. He had, I mean, if he hadn't known me for 10 years, I would have never known it. I would have like you're my long lost friend, where were you been? And it was great. We connected. I use the product and it's free to start and a couple bucks after that.
Speaker 2:But very inexpensive and really great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so one. Yeah, there's so many use cases, especially when you think the value of software is to connect people right Now that we're so connected, and then AI can enhance those connections and generative AI can automate messages and things like that 100%. But bring it back a little bit because we have to wrap up here. I want to know what advice would you give to another business owner who is looking to start out in the industry and succeed in that industry?
Speaker 2:Well, if they're going to, let's pretend that you have somebody that says, well, I'm going to do it myself, and I can say great, do it. And I'll refer to the guy that started a group and I he said I'm not going to go into Gold Star, I'm going to start my own. I said you go for it, because what happens is they don't have the structure. And we have a very specific structure, got a lot less rules and again shorter meetings, more fun, which we are. But I said you go for it. And I talked to him about a year later and I said hey, how's your group going? I mean, I just called to visit and I said how is your group? And he goes great. I got 21 people. I said Jim, I said that's his name and I said that's incredible. How's it working? He goes well, I'll wait two or three show up to the meeting every week. I said, oh, ok, so it wasn't working. And if there's no structure behind, if there's no structure behind a group, it will Fall apart.
Speaker 2:The other question is yes, we as a corporation, we take a couple of bucks so people can become members. It's not expensive. You can find out on the website Go start clubscom. But here's the thing If you're paying money to a guy or a lady that is starting this on her own, where's that money going? And the question is is it worth your money to get involved with a one off group that you're going to pay? I don't know how much 40, 50, 60, 80 bucks a month or a week or whatever. How greedy is that? I don't want to say greedy. How entrepreneurial are they to take your money and what are they going to give you for it? Now, we're very simple and we're basically 50 bucks a month and we have a discount for annual membership. Ok, that's fine, but 50 bucks a month is all you pay Some groups out there and warning is, some groups. If you join one, they charge a percentage of what you make to pay them back 10, 15, 20 percent. I think that's absolutely ludicrous.
Speaker 2:So, said that we charge 50 bucks a month or about 450, about 450 bucks a year. Now the deal is, you make as much money as you can because of our relationship with you and your relationship with us, which is fine. That's what we do, and I don't care how much you make. I hope it's a whole bunch. You don't have to pay me a nickel of it. You pay me monthly or annual. That's all I'm asking you look at me like, well, you could make a.
Speaker 2:No, I will not do that. That's not my heart. I want my company to be graceful to our members because there's so many out there that want to have that thumb on their neck. No, no, no. So I would tell anybody that's thinking about getting a group started look into something that your heart says works for you. It doesn't. Don't do it.
Speaker 2:If you're going to do it on your own, do some research, find out more about it. Find out. You know there are groups around. You've got the big boys out there, the letters that you mentioned. I was with them for a while years and I'm just going to say they know stuff, but they don't do it the way we do it. And that's, to me, is really important, because we took kind of sort of some of what they had and said well, some of this stuff is garbage and we're not going to do any of that.
Speaker 2:For example, if somebody misses a meeting without getting a substitute, we are very graceful to give them a little bit of leeway. We send them a little email automatically through the system. If they missed, they get an email. If they missed they get a substitute. We actually have a list online that they can go to scroll down and find somebody to cover their, cover, their meeting, and so it's like those guys, you miss one meeting.
Speaker 2:It was a certified letter. I don't know if they do that anymore. I mean that was back in early 2000s for a while, so I don't know what they do now. But I'd know that when the administrator in that group that I was with wrote a certified letter to a guy that missed a letter meeting and it was a mean letter, it was like don't you ever miss another meeting? It was nasty and she had a target on her back for six months until she quit. And this was an older lady, probably about my age then, and she she just did not get any referrals because everybody heard that she sent the letter she was instructed to. She sent the letter and the guy she sent it to was just a backbiter extraordinaire and just made her life miserable. So it's kind of like we don't do any of that crap. Nice gentle email, you know, we, we. So it's a liberal, we go, let's do a little bit nicer, and that's what we do.
Speaker 1:Love it All right.
Speaker 2:You're going to do it, do it nicely.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, Todd. And for those that are looking to stay in touch with you, how can they get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:Well, the website, gollstarclubscom. They can call me at the office and I answer my own phone. It's 918-933-4866. I try to take most of Friday off, so if you need me, please leave a message. I've got a thing. It'll text me and tell me. I've got a message 918-933-4866. Or the website at gollstarclubscom.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Thank you so much, todd, it's been great.
Speaker 2:It's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me.