📍EEA: Finding the Perfect Words for Every Situation with Jeff Klein

Jeff Klein:

Get a hat.

RJ Redden:

Well, it's time, everybody. It's time to hold on to your goggles, and it is time to welcome you to the Epic Engagement Adventure. My name, RJ Reddin, you know me, but you don't know Jeff Klein. Maybe you do know because the guy is a master net worker. Because he knows everybody. Because he is the guy. If you need to connect to somebody, he is the guy to do so. My guest today, several months ago, we were at, I believe, I believe it was Working deal.

RJ Redden:

And, I just couldn't, I just couldn't stop talking to him. So, obviously, I needed to invite him here because we need to find out his secrets. Jeff, tell us. Who are you? What do you do? And give us the secrets, Please.

Jeff Klein:

Who am I? What do I do? It sounds like the introduction to a song in the middle of a musical. Right? So now it's my turn to start. Yeah. I'm just a Yeah. I am a a public speaker and a speaking coach More than anything else and a business networking guru. I teaching business networking turned me into a speaker, And being a speaker turned me into a speaker coach. You know, you're doing something for enough hours, and, you become an expert at it. And when you have the kind of personality where you wanna help other people, that's how you become a coach at something.

Jeff Klein:

And, that's what happened to me, And my desire to help people and make the world a better place led led me to where I am now, which is sort of the culmination of a lot of different things. I I was in the film business. I worked for some sports teams, professional sports, film and video production, Advertising, and, now I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, which is helping people who wanna change the world, helping them change the world.

RJ Redden:

Beautiful. Well and what is it what is it about public speaking that really Just lights you up.

Jeff Klein:

You know, I've I have to, you know, figure some of that out, but the the the moment the moment for me is when I See that light bulb go on over somebody's head. You know, I can see it in their eyes that something I said made them go, I get it now. I I understand, and that's the moment for me. And it happens both in speaking from the front of the room and as a as a coach when you're Zooming with somebody and and And they go, okay. I, uh-huh, I got it. Yes. And that light bulb moment is what that's what gives me, the jazz. You know? That's that's that's the end.

Jeff Klein:

That's the that's the juice that I run on. Beautiful.

RJ Redden:

Couple weeks ago in the New York Times about how secretly, former theater kids are running the world. And, Yeah. So true. And I, I think it it was one of the guys from MSNBC, I think. And He was talking about the 1st time he stood on a stage when he was a kid and told a joke, and the audience laughed. And he was like, oh, yeah. That's the stuff. I know.

RJ Redden:

I know. There is Something about when you communicate the a message in just the right way and people really start to get it and start to communicate.

Jeff Klein:

Now I was the only kid at at my high school in Shreveport, Louisiana who went from football practice to play rehearsal. But

RJ Redden:

That's right.

Jeff Klein:

So that so I was different Right

RJ Redden:

away. We had 1 too. In our tiny, little, tiny town in Iowa, we had one too. But, but yeah. I mean, that's it's something there's something amazing, when people put the lights on and and, you know, start listening to you. What's you know, what drove drove you to choose that just as a career as opposed to coaching anything else.

Jeff Klein:

It shows me, RJ. I I I say I came to speaking through the kitchen. No. It's like that's how the band gets into the into the bar, into the venue, through the kitchen, and that's how I got that's how I came to speaking. Oh, I I start so it's it's also how I came to advertising, which is what led to the speaking. I'd been in the film business, And then I went to work for the Film Association of Texas, and, that was a very different job. Association management is a career. Who knew? I served in until I still until I got involved there.

Jeff Klein:

And then I, worked for a couple of companies, including The Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars professional clubs. And, then I found myself out on the street again, and, it was time to make Decision, and I decided to start in that agency because I wanted to help people do that do the production, do film and video, do TV commercials, and And, websites, and I wanted to help them do the creative. So I didn't wanna work for ad agencies, so I didn't that's why I started an agency instead of a production company for those of you who know the difference. And a couple years into that, I discovered an organization called CEO Space Or they discovered me. You know, one of those kind of things. And it it's that's an international entrepreneurs club that's still still in existence. Got involved there. And here in Dallas, every Friday, CEO Space had a lunch teaching the elevator pitch.

Jeff Klein:

And I clicked with both the education and the educator, with the Kendall Lee Purdon, still a good friend and mentor We taught the who ran that at the time, and somebody and I started helping at the lunch and Filling in when she wasn't available, and one day somebody said, hey, Jeff. Would you go do that come do that 32nd commercial thing you do on Fridays at our meeting? I made sure it was okay, got permission, said sure. And I understood I was promoting my business as an ad agency because Networking is the most basic form of advertising, and I was promoting CEO space, doing being a good good member, giving back. And, after that meeting, somebody there said, hey. Would you come do that at our meeting? And before I knew it, I was doing it 2 or 3 times a month. And, the the karma aspect was that I had also joined the National Speakers Association As a vendor, the the North Texas chapter of NSA was, for 1 year of their 30 something years of existence offered a vendor membership, and that was the 1 year I was involved, and I I joined. Nice. And unlike some of the other vendors, I stayed in for the meetings and got

RJ Redden:

the education.

Jeff Klein:

So I'm speaking, and I'm getting education like a professional speaker, And I'm paying extra for some of the extra education that that they offered, and things just kept rolling. And there was there was one day where, and it was it was the week of my birthday in, 2007 Where I got 3 calls to speak that I didn't solicit. You know? And they called from, you know, somebody saying, hey. Jeff so and so said You need Jeff Klein. And, I said, okay. I'm done. I'm no longer a free speaker.

RJ Redden:

There you go.

Jeff Klein:

But I I'm a speaker who is willing to waive his fee for the right opportunity.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

So the money didn't change, but the attitude did. And then I set a goal to speak once a week in, That was in 2006. I set a goal to speak once a week in 2007, did that, and set a goal to speak twice a week in 2008 And did that for 2 years. So 2010 rolled around. I'd spoken 250 times in 3 years. I closed the ad agency, started turning speaker co op into my business. Speaker co op had been going for 4 years as a monthly lunch And kept and we've been teaching people about speaking for business and speaking to get results, And I helped so I had some coaches show up and help me systematize what I'd already been doing and teaching. And now so now it's, you know, how to turn a 20 minute talk into clients and leads Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

And how to one of my taglines is money after the applause because lots of folks are good at getting applause, but they're not good at getting results That turns into revenue.

RJ Redden:

Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

And I've cracked that code and and showed how not how it works for other people, not just me. So now I yeah. The pinnacle of that is that the class called 10 stages in 10 weeks, Which is a Zoom a group Zoom for 3 or 4 speakers, or business owners who understand speaking is one of the best ways to market themselves. Yeah. And we show them how to do it, how to get in front of the rooms, how to pick the right rooms for them, how to get the results they want, And how to turn 20 minutes into clients and leads. And, now, I, you know, I tell people That, you know, it's a lot less our mom and mom said learn from your mistakes. It's a lot less painful to learn from somebody else's mistakes. Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

So I got the road rash. I I I got the scars. You don't have to. Took me 4 years to figure it all out. Now I teach it in 10 weeks. And, tell helping folks speak Down the street and around the corner and virtually, of course, as well, because there's tweaks you gotta make to do this virtual speaking thing. It's not exactly the same as being in the room and, helping folks change the world.

RJ Redden:

There you go. Well, part of what I love about you is that This you know, like, just all of this started as this this heartfelt drive to help others. You know? This wasn't a, you know, you know, an influencer type. You know, you're not you didn't start out as a Kardashian. You know what I'm saying? Right. Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

Yeah. I'm I'm the kid of social workers, Literally. Yeah. You know, factually, that is the truth. Yes.

RJ Redden:

Holy moly. Yeah. I mean, it's, is that is just a delight. And a lot of my My people, my coaches, you know, heart driven coaches, that's who I serve. A lot of my people, you know, kind of One of the things one of the things that they have is that they really, really wanna, you know, network and be in front of people and do all that kind of stuff, but Turning that into a relationship further than that is often something that they just have a really tough time with. And, and you so you started, started the networking. What made you wanna start the networking? You know

Jeff Klein:

It was it was, I I'm I did the I made the mistake of of Of coming up with the idea. We were we had a coffee that I put together for 5 or 6 of us who were speaking, for different reasons. And, at one point during the meeting, I said, look. Why why don't we just start a lunch for people doing what we're doing and invite everybody we know who's doing it. And they went, great idea, Jeff. Why don't you start a lunch, And we'll support you. Oh, boy. And, well, and we all know that's where great ideas go to die.

Jeff Klein:

Right. But in this situation, I ran with it and Took the responsibility and they helped. And if they hadn't helped, it wouldn't have happened. You know, 1 guy said my building has a has a cafeteria, we can have the we can the meeting there, and and he worked on that, and somebody else said, well, have you ever used e you know, Evite? That's a thing we can use, and somebody asked. So Everybody were did chip in, and and they invited their people too. And at the 1st meeting in January of 2006, We showed up, and there were 50 people there. Yeah. Holy cow.

Jeff Klein:

What's going on? Well, this is something, and and we didn't have time to do everything on the agenda with 50 people there because we had 2 15 minute spotlights arranged, and, everybody wasn't gonna be able to do the elevator pitch. And, of Of course, that was my bread and butter was teaching people the elevator pitch. So I came up with a unique way for us to introduce ourselves with what was important in that setting, And I told everybody, okay. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna do quickie introductions. Tell us 2 of your speaking topics, 2 groups you wanna speak to and your name in that order.

RJ Redden:

There you go.

Jeff Klein:

And, we it got to be a really a running gag where If you didn't conform to the to that, everybody in the room would say topics, groups, name, and and And make you conform to our format.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

And and when when sig when you go, I'm Joe, and 60 people go, Topics, grooves, name. You usually conform.

RJ Redden:

Oh, yeah. A little intimidating if you don't. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

And, and it it was great, and we still do it that way.

RJ Redden:

When you know, so much of public speaking, and running events and groups like that Is being fast on your feet and being able to make decisions on the fly like you just demonstrated. You also said you started out with the 32nd pitch. How much is that 32nd pitch needed to pivot since 2020?

Jeff Klein:

Well, actually, the way I teach it, it hasn't, not since 20 20. The changes of of the on on the way I teach the elevator pitch happened early in the teens K. Because we were The the main thing I teach is so there's there's people teaching you the elevator pitch for investors, and the the elevator pitch I teach is that 30 seconds you do at a networking event at a at a at a meeting, at a BNI, at a Chamber of Commerce Where you have 30 seconds till you get the cowbell, and your goal in that 30 seconds, in my opinion, is to get somebody to write down an introduction for you And give it to you. But what's changed is the introduction you asked for is no longer customers. It's partners. And that's the main difference is teaching people to ask for a referral partner instead of a customer.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

So and the referral partner is simply somebody who wants to sell something to the same person you do. So now when you meet them, you have an opportunity to share referrals instantly if you get along and agree to, Yeah. And neither one of you is spending money with the other.

RJ Redden:

Right.

Jeff Klein:

So it's an easier low lower pressure introduction. I wanna meet your friend, the financial adviser, so we can help each other grow our businesses.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

Would you be able to make that introduction? That's an easier introduction for people to make.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

And that's the biggest change.

RJ Redden:

Why did you decide that that change was? Sir, was there a set of events, or was it just, hey. I think things are going this way?

Jeff Klein:

It was a matter we have too many people living in scarcity And being afraid to introduce their customers to somebody, because if my customer spends money with you, they won't spend money with me. Oh my god. Which is baloney, But it's how a lot of people spend their day Yeah. Living in scarcity. And it it and it's really hard to get somebody out of the scarcity mindset, But if you talk to them about power partners or referral partners, you don't have to you don't have to change their mindset to to get that introduction.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

Yeah.

RJ Redden:

Lot lot easier.

Jeff Klein:

Yeah. Yeah. It's a lower lower barrier to entry.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

And I teach people that your the introduction is not a is not a reputation. It's not your reputation isn't on the line when you make an introduction. Like Could

RJ Redden:

you explain that part? Because I I think I think not a lot of people understand that.

Jeff Klein:

If you make a recommendation, you can put your reputation on the line. You say, this is the per you know, this person makes the best ice you No. Best ice cream in the world, I guarantee it. You know, that's a recommendation. But if it's you know, I met this guy, and he makes ice cream for a bunch of restaurants. I've never tried it, but a lot of people like his stuff. You guys should talk because you're also in the restaurant business, and you might you might have some be able to help each other. That's there's I'm not putting my reputation on the line when I qualify that introduction.

Jeff Klein:

You know? Hey. You he this guy asked to meet divorce attorneys. You're a divorce attorney. I just met him. You you know, here's the intro here's an introduction.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

I'm not I'm not putting anything on the line for that. And and too many people wait until they've known somebody for a year Before they'll make a referral, and it's like, loosen up. I mean

RJ Redden:

Lots changes in a year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

And I make introductions the day I meet people.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

As you know

RJ Redden:

I experienced that. Yeah. Absolutely. You immediately introduced me to a couple people, over over LinkedIn, which I Truly did appreciate. Gosh. I think too, you know, sometimes people, They just they wait on introductions, you know, they're because they're afraid or or well, you know, maybe this person isn't taking introductions. Maybe I should check with them or you know what I mean? Like, there's a whole bunch of if if you were advising people on, you know, number of introductions, they make and how long they should wait. What would that advice be?

Jeff Klein:

Well, it's so instead of saying I'm gonna get 2 referrals at my networking meeting this week, your your goal should be I'm going to give 2 referrals at my networking Meeting this week. Mhmm. Mhmm. Just approach it that way because you will gain if you give. And, You know, BNI, the biggest networking organization in the world, Business Networker International, their motto is givers gain, and that's the truth.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

A lot of people knock the NI for various reasons, but because they're they're very structured, and a lot of people don't like that much structure and Blah blah blah. But the truth is they figured it out, and they do it right. And if you don't like their model, then you don't have to join. I've never been a member of a BNI, but but they're a great way to go if you find you but, like everything else, each individual chapter Sure. It's different.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

You know, if you're shopping for a networking group, the groups that are thanking each other for new business are the groups to stay with. Yeah. And the groups that are not, the groups that are thanking each other for for coffee, but they're not there's no business there, or the groups that are only doing business with each other and aren't referring people from aren't referring business to people from outside the room, Those are the groups to run away from.

RJ Redden:

Yeah. Well, so tell me, speaking of the People in the room, you are a great big gregarious guy, and with that winner smile, how do you engage your audience?

Jeff Klein:

Well, from the front of the from the so from the front of the room as the speaker, I'm given instant credibility by The fact that I'm in front of the room. Yeah. And that's one of the beautiful things about speaking is you are automatically the expert. Yeah. When and and you should write an your introduction should be written accordingly. A lot of folks will spend 5 minutes of their 20 justifying why they're in front of the room, and you don't need to do that. When you're in front of the room, it's assumed. Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

You know? And and you can throw in things that'll that'll add to your credibility. When I was at Harvard, blah blah blah. I mean, Whatever. That may there's a joke along those lines that that just popped into my head, but, it's one of my favorite Aggie jokes. But, anyway, if if we have time, I'll be glad to tell it. But, you know, so when when you're the speaker, you have instant credibility and you should own that.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

When you're when you're networking, start with the best question you can ask, which is not, what do you do Or how are you? The best question you can ask when you walk into a networking room is, what do you need next? Who are you looking to meet? Some form of Who do you wanna meet? And you'll confuse people because they'll go, I'm fine. No. No. No. Who do you wanna meet? Well, what do you mean? Well, are are you here to network? What's a good referral for you?

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

You know? And then they'll tell me one of their they'll tell me beside you know, the ones who are the ones who are good will give me a good answer, and the other ones who are less Experience will say, anybody, everybody. I wanna meet whoever, you know, whoever's breathing who can fog a mirror, and then then we then we start We try we try to start teaching gently. You know? Are you open to feedback? But, usually, I just ask more questions, like, you know, who's Who has who what job title has given you a great referral recently?

RJ Redden:

Yeah. That's a good one.

Jeff Klein:

Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's how you start getting to the referral partners kinda thing. You know? And and and who do you get your referrals from? And And the the answer that'll make you crazy if you let it is, oh, my clients are the my best referral source. Well, you know what? They should be if you do a good job. Truth. But they're not a they're not a referral partner, and you can't you don't walk into a networking meeting. I'd like to meet more of my clients to give me referrals.

Jeff Klein:

It's not why you're here, dude. It's Thank you for sharing, but who else can be a good referral partner for you? You know, it's that other person who's trying to sell to, tell me about that client. Okay. So does that mean that so and so who's also selling them something is a good idea for a referral partner. Right? And when I speak about this, I'll I'll have somebody describe their a target prospect of theirs or who's your best customer, And then I'll turn to the room and say, who else would like to have that person as a customer? Okay. Everybody who raises their hand is a potential referral partner for you. That's only potential. We we gotta kiss a lot of frogs before we find those princes and princesses to become partners with because they have to we have to be simpatico with them.

Jeff Klein:

We can't just be anybody.

RJ Redden:

Can't just be anybody. I you know, I've I've also heard people, And these are not people I wanna do business with at any time. They run around the room asking how big is your list? I mean, you know, and that's who they choose.

Jeff Klein:

Yeah. Oh, loves And and right. Yeah. The the one who wins who gets the most business cards At the end of the meeting isn't the winner.

RJ Redden:

No. No. I would rather have deeper connections. I I'm quality over Quantity Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Day.

Jeff Klein:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

RJ Redden:

Holy moly. Well and one of the things that I have heard in this always when I heard it, it made so much sense. You know, as an opening question to say, what are 3 or 4 things your clients might say right before they need you? You know? So that I can I so that I can recognize, you know, what they sound like?

Jeff Klein:

Yeah. And and when I had the ad agency, I created ad agency bingo where every every square on the bingo was, was a phrase that Somebody would say that when when you hear that phrase, you should tell them to meet they need to meet me.

RJ Redden:

Yeah. There you go.

Jeff Klein:

Yeah. Love that. So Yeah. Absolutely.

RJ Redden:

I'm gonna I'm gonna drop some, I'm gonna drop some information in here, everybody, into the oh, I just messed that up. Into the chat, hopefully. You know? I will get around to it, but y'all ought to get ahold of Jeff, and and and here's here's the thing. It's it's about Working smarter. It's about finding ways in that aren't The absolutely usual, hey. What do you do for a living? You know, standing there in a networking thing. And it's also about Getting and keeping people's attention with without using gimmicks, without using tired you know what I mean? We're all tired of that. We all are.

RJ Redden:

And so being able to engage, being able to speak, and get paid for it, not just in applause. That's a that's a heck of a lot of stuff right there. So I'm gonna put some information shoot. I am having a I'm having a heck of time

Jeff Klein:

with this While you're cutting and pasting, speakercoop.com is the website for speakers, and it's coop it's coop online. It's not there's no hyphen, so it's speaker coop .com/education for our free education page. And we have that we change the downloads regularly for the, What? The audio education there, but we have we have a tool to build your introduction there. We have a letter sample letter of agreement to use when you're speaking. Make sure you get lunch and things like that. What else do we have? We have a couple other things there for you to help you As a speaker, and, if you're interested in the networking education, jeffkleinspeaker.com/education, You will find a 1 on 1 worksheet or checklist rather for your 1 on 1 meetings with all the stuff you need the information you need to gather When you have a networking 1 on 1 that'll help you avoid those people who are trying to sell you their stuff. Tell them that, you know, here, I'm I I need to fill this out. If you'll help me fill this out, then we're networking.

Jeff Klein:

We're not Selling each other stuff. Because we're not here to sell each other stuff. We're here to network.

RJ Redden:

Holy moly. That is exactly right. I'm I'm here to find people who I wanna do business with and for and you know? I'm here to find partners. I'm here to find partners and and and connections, that are deep rather than wide. It so business card bingo. Never no one ever wins business card bingo.

Jeff Klein:

No. And and and, you know, I've a couple of, like, chambers will have these power they call them power networking or speed networking events, And all they really are, they they're speed introducing.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

Because they'll go around the table, and everybody will Try to do a 32nd commercial around a table, and mostly they're doing infomercials Yeah. Where they're just Pardon me. Verbal vomiting all over everybody else at the table about how wonderful they are And, how great their stuff is. And if you would just tell me a person you wanna meet, I'll pull them out of my phone and introduce you to them. But if you just say, oh, everybody is everybody needs my stuff or anybody, needs my stuff, I I I stopped listening.

RJ Redden:

Yeah. Yeah. Because if they're not focused, if they're aiming for everybody, they won't get anybody.

Jeff Klein:

Mhmm.

RJ Redden:

Yeah.

Jeff Klein:

Yeah. You mark it with a laser, not a a laser, not a, Not a rifle. A shot not a not a shotgun, I mean. Yeah.

RJ Redden:

I always say that too. I I always say you mark it with a laser, not Oh, not a

Jeff Klein:

net. Yeah. Yeah. That works.

RJ Redden:

Beautiful. Well, listen, folks. If you've Ever been in a networking meeting and you find yourself verbal vomiting all over people when they say what do you do? Or If you have been at those meetings and you've been verbally vomited on, this is the guy to go see about that. He has a special vomit bag. It's invisible, but it works. And, and the ability to catch that and turn it into something valuable. From vomit to valuable that you can't possibly do. Unless you want to.

Jeff Klein:

You have such command of the language, RJ.

RJ Redden:

It's a hidden talent. Real hidden. Anyway, I wanna thank you for coming on and and talking to my audience today. It's a pleasure to talk to somebody so heart driven. It's a pleasure to talk to somebody who who does business and has other People's good in their mind. You know? It has doing other people good in their mind. And And, if you talk to Jeff for just a minute, and I've dropped plenty of links in the chat so that you can, you will understand. You will understand the value.

RJ Redden:

So, I encourage you all to do that, and, holy moly. Thanks again, Jeff. And yeah. Well and, that's it for us. Hey. My friends, Unmasking AI happening, next week on Wednesday, come see me. On Thursday, We will be here. Same bot channel, same bot time.

RJ Redden:

And, and, we can't possibly have A better guess than we had this week, but you know we're gonna try. And, that's it from Jeff and I. Let's wave to the audience, Jeff.