291: Get Terrific Leads Through Networking - with Philip Pelto

EPISODE SUMMARY

Networking isn’t just about exchanging business cards or attending events; it’s about building genuine connections that foster long-term relationships and drive meaningful results. Doing it the right way means you can drive leads through referrals and partners, giving you ample opportunities to grow your software business.

In this recent podcast episode of Scale Your SaaS, Phil Pelto, co-founder and Chief Connection Officer at MyFirestorm, shares invaluable insights on leveraging networking to generate quality leads and establish impactful partnerships with host and B2B SaaS Sales Coach Matt Wolach. Read on to learn more!

PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE

Podcast: Scale Your SaaS with Matt Wolach

Episode: Episode No. 291, “Get Terrific Leads Through Networking – with Philip Pelto”

Host: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS Sales Coach, Entrepreneur, and Investor

Guest: Phil Pelto, Co-Founder and Chief Connection Officer at MyFirestorm

TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE

Use Strategic Networking Beyond Business Cards

Pelto underscored the critical mistake of rushing networking efforts for immediate results. He highlighted the need for patience, strategy, and intentionality. Understanding the purpose behind networking—whether for prospecting, nurturing existing relationships, or exploring partnership opportunities—is vital.

Tips for Effective Networking

1. Preparation Is Key: Pelto emphasized the value of doing homework before events, understanding the attendees, and setting up meetings in advance. Strategic preparation paves the way for more fruitful interactions.
2. Follow-Up Matters: Standing out means going the extra mile. Whether it’s sending personalized LinkedIn requests or handwritten notes, meaningful follow-ups leave a lasting impression.
3. My Firestorm’s Approach: MyFirestorm amplifies networking efforts by employing a software tool that matches event attendees, enhances connections, and facilitates post-event follow-ups.

Strategic Networking for Software Leaders

For software leaders looking to optimize networking efforts, Pelto advised understanding the intent behind networking endeavors. Identifying the right communities, investing time, and persistently engaging without expecting immediate returns are vital strategies for success.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

Persistence, Patience, and Success

Pelto highlighted the significance of persistence, patience, and consistent effort in networking. He emphasized that while it might yield little results, a well-thought-out networking strategy will inevitably bear fruit for your software business.

The Power of Quality Leads Through Networking

Pelto emphasized the potency of quality leads derived from networking, highlighting the common misconception and approach pitfalls. He stressed the importance of understanding the nuances and strategies behind effective networking to harness its full potential.

TOP QUOTES

Philip Pelto

[5:11] “The connection piece of it is never going away. If we want to get business done, we have to get in front of somebody.”

[14:43] “Patience, persistence, and preparation is an unbeatable combination or recipe for success.”

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Transcript

Matt Wolach: 0:10

One of the best ways to get an amazing amount of really quality leads is through networking through getting other people to kind of share the good word about you and your service. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't know how to do it, they approach it in the wrong way. I wanted to make sure that all of you have a great understanding of how to make sure you can get quality leads, get amazing customers out of networking with others. And so Phil Pelto came in fills with MyFirestorm. He does awesome stuff. In fact, he's so good. I had him come talk to my founders meeting circle. So he came and talked to our really small group of founders committed to growing and he shared some incredible stuff. But on this episode, he talks all about how you can generate great leads through networking and creating awesome partnerships. Check it out.

Intro/ Outro: 0:56

Welcome to Scale Your SaaS, the podcast that gives you proven techniques and formulas for boosting your revenue and achieving your dream exits brought to you by a guy who's done just that multiple times. Here's your host, Matt Wolach.

Matt Wolach: 1:12

and welcome to Scale Your SaaS Thank you very much for being here. Glad that you showed up. Make sure you're subscribed to the show. You don't want to miss any of the amazing guests and experts that we put in front of you so that you can grow your company, you can scale your SaaS, that's what we're here to do. And somebody who knows really well how to do that is joining us today. My friend Phil Pelto. Phil, welcome.

Philip Pelto: 1:33

Hey, thanks for having me, Matt. It's awesome to be here. Absolutely.

Matt Wolach: 1:37

And I am so glad that you're coming here. This guy knows his stuff. Everybody. Let me make sure you know who he is. So Phil. He's the co founder and chief connection officer at MyFirestorm. Phil Pelto is passionate about teaching and coaching and loves to see his friends and clients grow and succeed. MyFirestorm organizes weekly meetings and events that are designed to help high quality professionals meet, build relationships, and share referrals. And basically, my Firestorm groups and socials are typically composed of high quality b2b salespeople, entrepreneurs, business owners and others whose business can be influenced by networking, strategic connections, and referrals. He's also the co founder and co host at the referral bench podcast, really great show, I highly recommend you checking it out, where he interviews some of the greatest minds in relationships, sell selling, strategic partnerships, networking, and referral generation. So when it comes to getting a bunch of leads, or networks and, and referrals, Phil knows his stuff, Phil, thanks for coming on the show.

Philip Pelto: 2:35

Totally, man, super stoked.

Matt Wolach: 2:37

Likewise, so tell me what have you been up to lately? And what's going on? Or what's coming up in the future? So dude, it's never a dull moment here. Like we've got, you know, a bunch of businesses and you know, I've got a kid and you know, there's all these other extracurricular activities that we're you know, doing. So we're getting ready for ski season now. So that's, you know, all the fun stuff, right. And, but yeah, I'm excited for the future. I've got some big, some big plans cooking for the next, you know, 18 months that actually, this is one of the bigger undertakings I've had are planning an event. And I'm like, I don't know that 18 months is actually going to be enough to plan this. I might have to push it back another six. So yeah, it'll be cool. It must be some event.

Philip Pelto: 3:19

Yeah, it's, it's gonna be it's gonna be pretty epic. What I just hope that the vision that I have for it in my brain plays out in reality, and I think it will, but I like I'm super pumped to see it come to life. So that's

Matt Wolach: 3:36

so cool. So tell me about these events that you run, what are they all about?

Unknown: 3:39

Well, so this is actually gonna be a new one. And the sort of what we typically do is we organize small group meetings where people can, you know, meet and build relationships and really go do a deep dive with each other. And then we do some fun stuff. We do, you know, social events, we do speed networking, which like speed dating, but for business, you know, we do some educational events, we got a goal setting and vision boarding workshop coming up. But this, this new thing that I'm going to do is going to be more of a you know, Expo trade show, specifically focused on our target market. And, um, I'm bringing in some speakers and gonna have some breakout sessions. It's gonna be it's gonna be pretty cool.

Matt Wolach: 4:18

definitely sounds like a lot of fun. So tell me. I want to understand how MyFirestorm came to be what inspired you to start that and how did all come about?

Philip Pelto: 4:26

Yeah, so I've been a sales guy for 27 years now, which is insane. I can't believe I'm saying that. And anyway, when I started out, I got really good at cold calling. I was a telemarketer in the beginning, and then I went and got recruited to sell Cutco knives and realize the power of referrals. And so that philosophy kind of carried me through the next couple of sales gigs that I had and when i i was looking to go deeper with that right and to kind of build a system that was a duplicatable, repeatable process to help me get you know J generate referrals and leads, without me actually going and sit down and asking everybody individually. And so I found a group that was kind of doing that. And it was, it was great. It's local to the town I was in at the time, which was Minneapolis. And I made some suggestions like, hey, we could probably tweak this a little bit, you know, do this thing better. And they said, now we're good, we're just gonna stick with the way we do been doing things. And that's when I was like, Okay, I'm gonna just go do this on my own. And there was never really a business plan or an idea that it wasn't, it wasn't even supposed to be a business, it was just supposed to be a way for me to control my prospecting efforts. And, and then it turned into something bigger. And here we are. 18 years later. So it's been? Yeah, so, so cool.

Matt Wolach: 5:47

So tell me, I know that you're so good at networking, you put these events together, you're good at it, doing it yourself, and what role do you think networking plays in the success of entrepreneurs and business professionals today?

Philip Pelto: 5:59

Dude, it's so important. And it always has been important. I mean, this is nothing new. Like I didn't invent a space, you know, I didn't really come up with anything new and original. I mean, Napoleon Hill was talking about this and thinking grow rich, you know, way back when just the power of getting people together. And Ben Franklin had these groups that he called Joon tau groups. And so the idea is as old as time, right, get people together that share common interest are going after a common goal, you know, and can have conversations together to help each other. And I just think that that's never going away, you know, no matter how advanced technology gets. And you know, now we've got the metaverse, and we've got AI, and we've got all these other things that are tools to help us do these things better. But the connection piece of it is never going away. So you know, if we want to get business done, we have to get in front of somebody, we have to share an idea with them. And sometimes the best way to get in front of somebody is to be introduced by somebody that person already knows. And so the more people can understand that and grasp that idea, and really, like go fully in on it, I think is it's, you know, the faster the better. So

Matt Wolach: 7:14

I totally agree, but what mistakes do people make when they try networking?

Philip Pelto: 7:19

Well, I think the big one is, they don't give it enough time. You know, it's, we're, we live in an instant gratification society, right? So you can go out and you can test the LinkedIn ad, you can test a Facebook ad, you can test a Google ad, you can get immediate feedback on whether it's working or not, you can a B test it, and then you can tweak it and then all of a sudden, in a week, you've got something that's working or it's not working, and when it stops working, you make some changes, and you know, continue that process to iterate, right? With networking and relationship building, you don't get that immediate feedback, you know, and you need to put in, like, sometimes months, sometimes years worth of work in order to get a result from it. But you know, if you do that, and you do it the right way, and you trust the process, and you believe that this is going to eventually work and pay off, you're gonna see like these crazy results at the end of it. But most people don't have that long term game plan and the, you know, the patience to see it through. So I think that's probably the biggest mistake. And then the you know, the other one is not being very strategic or intentional about it, they just go out to any event, and they think that going to a local chamber, after hours or some happy hour and you know, passing out a bunch of business cards is networking. And that's, that's just not what it is. So yeah,

Matt Wolach: 8:38

I mean, I totally agree. I think that that's it right there just that people don't exactly understand the right way to do it. And they think like you said, just go out and pass some business cards out is the is the best method. And it almost feels bad on the other end, if somebody just comes out here with their business card, and I just don't think that's the right way to do it. But unfortunately, most people don't understand what the right method is, what's the right strategy and, and how to do that. Can you share some ideas on how people should be doing it the right way? Totally. Yeah,

Philip Pelto: 9:06

I would love to. And by the way, that's actually one of the things that I'm working on, among a million other things, but it's actually a course that we're going to, you know, put out on, you know, the proper way to do this because one of my missions with what we're doing is just to help elevate everybody, as a you know, networking, like you don't have to join my organization or, you know, subscribe to my particular brand of doing it. Like I just want everybody to be better at it because it makes all of us more successful and it makes the conversations more enjoyable. And, you know, I just, I can't stand when people go out to these events and they come back and they're like, oh is crap, you know, like, I met 17 Northwestern Mutual sales guys, and they all tried to sell me insurance and, you know, or, you know, the whatever the multilevel marketing flavor of the month is and, you know, it's just it puts a bad taste in people's mouths and there's so much more to it than that. So, so how to do it the proper way, right? So First off, you have to understand why you're there, right? There's two different things, there's actually probably two or three different reasons you could go to an event, one might be prospecting, you might be trying to find a new client. And that's totally fine. But understand that that event now is a prospecting event and not a networking event. So you're just cold calling, and the organizer of the event was nice enough to put fish in a barrel for you to go after. So that that's most of the way you know, people treat it treat these events. But if you look at it as a prospecting event, totally cool. Just know that that's what you're there for. The other way is to nurture an existing relationship, you know, I, you know, if you and I are going to meet in an event, you know, we live in different towns, and if I'm like, Hey, I know you're gonna be at this conference, I'm specifically going to this conference to get FaceTime with you to deepen our relationship to go further to, you know, get that that, you know, meeting on the calendar for us, that's totally acceptable as well. And then another thing might just be to, you know, meet some new people to explore if there are some partnership opportunities. And, you know, true networking and strategic partnership, is, when you think about not, can I sell this person? Are they a good prospect? For me, it's like, who is that person dealing with? Who are their clients and understanding? Are their clients good prospects for me, because then that one relationship is a conduit to potentially hundreds of other, you know, referrals and other deals that I could have, you know, again, people are really short sighted, and they can only see what's in front of them. And they're like, oh, Matt's a great prospect, you know, let's let me try and pitch him. And if they blow that up, then you know, you've got hundreds of people that you may have introduced him to that, you know, you're never going to now because they just blew up the deal. So, so yeah, be have a goal, understand why you're there, do a little bit of research ahead of time, see if you can figure out who else is going to be at that event. If you can't figure out who's going to be at the event, go find the event organizer when you get there and try and ask them, hey, you know, here's what I'm interested in. Here's the people that I want to partner with, who should I be talking to, you know, I'm new to town, I don't really know anything, who Who should I be introduced to at this event. And most organizers, if they're, you know, worth their salt as an organizer should, you know, be happy to do that for you. Or they'll have some sort of Ambassador to go out and do that. And then the other thing that I think is just absolutely blows my mind, I've met 1000s and 1000s of people over the years. I can't tell you how few people follow up with me, you know, like we meet at an event. And just something man, like, send me a LinkedIn request. You know, and by the way, if you're gonna send a LinkedIn request, put a note with it. You know, like, I mean, a ton of people like I don't, I don't know where we met. I might not remember your name. You know, if you shoot me a random connection request. I don't know. Actually, I think I might have done that to you. When we connected. But, but yeah, just like, you know, send me a note like, Hey, good to meet you at XYZ event or, you know, at Mass party or blah, blah, blah, you know, just so I like jogs my memory. I'm like, Oh, that's really cool. Yeah, good, good to connect with you. But you know, if you really want to go like you know, ninja level, send a handwritten thank you card, you know, reach out to people you know, do something that's going to set you apart from the crowd.

Matt Wolach: 13:20

We'll be right back. Scale your SaaS is supported by Torowave. Lots of software leaders I talked to are looking to scale their SaaS and I keep hearing over and over about one major struggle getting ghosted by buyers after the demo. How frustrating is it when you have a great demo? You're feeling good they like it. It seems like a done deal and then crickets nothing reach out they're not responding to you at all. And when these software companies they asked me to dive in, I noticed that the sellers are following up the wrong way or actually I should say with the wrong medium what they're doing is they're hammering emails over and over again I got a newsflash for you email effectiveness is dwindling down and down every year so why beat your head against the wall losing all kinds of business start texting mixing tax all along with emails and calls and watch your conversion rates go up in fact conversion rates go up by about 50% When you use texting as part of the follow up people are used to it and did you know though response rate on text is 98% 98% So why throw emails into a black hole knowing that they're never gonna get returned text buyers and get results but don't use your own phone? All kinds of security and compliance issues if you do also none of that data is with your company. That's not good. Instead use this system Toro wave Toro wave is designed for sales. It makes texting with buyers super simple and fast and it helps drive more deals, deals that you've been losing until now for being a listener. You get 50% off your first month of using Toro away 50% off just go to Toro wave.com/scale as t o r o wav.com COMM slash scale get signed up and start winning more deals like Tracy who closed$170,000. In three days after starting again, go to Toro wave.com/scale Catch up and win by texting with poor win. And we're back. Those are other ways. Speaking of setting apart, so Phil came and spoke to my group of software founder members, we have a mastermind group came and delivered just crushed, it gave a lot of great insights. And then he sent me a t shirt, which I loved Phil, so thank you for setting that I use it for working out he sent me a t shirt, his company shirt, but it was just a great way to stand out. We have a new expert guest speaker that comes in every month. And he's the first one to send me a t shirt. And so like he said, stand out. He knows how to do that do things that other people are not doing. I love the handwritten card idea actually just did a webinar on that last week, believe it or not, but it's really important to get yourself separated from the herd. And that's one of the best ways to do it. Well said.

Philip Pelto: 16:04

Yeah, absolutely. So I, by the way, another plug plug for one of your other members. There's a person that does the cards, which I connected with him after after we talked.

Matt Wolach: 16:16

So ignite post. Yeah, it's pretty close. Yeah, they do handwritten cards automatically. So you don't have to write them yourself. It's cool. Yeah. Yeah, big plug. Okay, cool. What you said though, I really resonate with it's what find a way to be strategic about these events. And one of the things you talked about was, do the work in advance, like so many people just show up to the event? And, hey, let's see what I can do now. But there's so much you can do beforehand to understand who's coming. How can I set up meetings with them beforehand? One of my clients, his name's Peter, he actually had had an event coming up, I walked him through some things. And he booked nine meetings before he ever even arrived at the event. And so you're absolutely right, Phil, if you can get that, that effort put together in place beforehand, you can make the event that much more successful.

Philip Pelto: 17:03

It's Yeah, Alex Hermoza talks about that he had a quote, and I'll butcher it, but the sentiment is, right. Like, it's amazing how much smarter you can seem, with just 20 minutes of prep work, you know, like, do your homework, figure out why you're there. You know, what, what am I going to talk about at this meeting? What are my goals, whether the outcomes and make sure you have an intention going into

Matt Wolach: 17:27

it? So well said, so how does my Firestorm support this and help people do this better? Yeah.

Philip Pelto: 17:33

So a couple of ways. Back in the day, I was just really good at connecting people, I still am. But you know, we're growing. And I'm not able to do that as much as I would like to. And so I built a software tool, which is pretty slick. And where there's, when you register for one of our events, you fill out a little questionnaire, it's super simple. But it gives us an idea of who you're who you're selling to, who is your ideal client, and who do you think is a good partner for you, but I think I've got some other, you know, additions to that, that I'll kind of throw in there as well. But then what it does is it matches you with people, your attendees at our events, and it'll tell you like, hey, there's gonna be 100 people in the room. These are the top 10 That you should talk to, or top 15, or whatever, it just, it gives you the whole list of 100. But it stack ranks them based on how you guys answered those questions. And then that piece of information is there for you, after the event as well. So you can follow up with people and like, Oh, hey, I didn't get a chance to talk to Matt, at that event, I really wanted to, but, you know, let me reach out to them after the fact, you know, via this tool. So that's one thing that we do. And then also, you know, we try to be really intentional about how we build our groups, right? So a lot of times people, you know, you go to a thing, you go to a group, you go to an event, and they're there, Ron, well, a lot of them. But maybe they're not the right people in the room for you know, like, that changes everything, you know, having the right people in the right room together. So we're really intentional about putting the right people in the room together. very intentional and strategic about that. And that's just kind of, for me, it's our whole, you know, system. So that's, that's where the rubber meets the road is, you know, are you talking to the right types of people, because, you know, you go to an event sometimes, and if you're selling software, and you're there with a bunch of like, you know, real estate brokers and mortgage people, it's like, that's not really a valuable use of my time, you know, so it could be a great event. And it could be an amazing event for them. It's like, connect with each other, but like, you as a software provider, might not have anything to talk about or contribute or get value from so. Yeah. That's kind of the major stuff. And then, you know, they're fun. Right? That's, that's got to be in there as well. So

Matt Wolach: 19:46

yeah, I think that's a big part of it. If the events are fun, it makes people want to come back makes people want to remember it. And I think that's really important. So So tell me, if you're a software leader, what advice would you have for somebody running a company who's saying, Okay, I need to get better at networking, I need to get better at connecting and building this community, what should they do? So,

Philip Pelto: 20:09

the first thing is just kind of sit down and figure out what your intent with that is, you know, like, it might not be the best play I, I would really like to see a case where it's not but but but understand why you're doing it, you know, is it to get new business is it to, you know, develop really good channel partners, you know, that could be a play, it could just be to raise brand awareness in your local, you know, community, it could be, you know, there could be a variety of reasons that you're doing these things, or you know, a lot of those things together. But you have to figure out kind of what the game plan is, why are you doing this? And then you figure out, what are the organizations, what are the groups that are going to be the highest value, you know, targets for me, like the most bang for my buck, because, you know, we don't have unlimited amounts of time, money you can throw around all day long, but you know, like these things you actually have to invest time in. So you got to be very judicious with where you spend that time. So, you know, is it going to be, you know, there's a local group here, that Colorado Technology Association, you know, and then there's like Colorado technology, sales professionals, you know, those could be a good play, or it could be, you know, go where go where your clients are, you know, maybe it's a Contractors Association, or, you know, electrical, you know, contractor thing, whatever that is, figure that out, identify those groups, and then go invest in those communities, right, and know that it's not going to pay off, immediately, you've got to invest the time. And, and I would say, just, I don't know, you can always like shortcut some things. And, you know, put in extra time, put in extra effort and do a lot of stuff to kind of condense the timeline. But I would say, don't plan to get anything for the first year, you know, the first year is just you getting your name out there, you know, showing people that you're committed to the group, and you're not just there with your handout, trying to get something, you know, get on the board, volunteer for stuff, see, you know, make sure your face is at all the events, your people are there. And it really, really kind of dive in headfirst with the, with the groups. So that's kind of, you know, high level what I would say, and then make sure that you're following up with people, you know, just, it's the basic stuff. You know, I think we talked about this on, on the call last time when I was talking to your people. It's it's not sexy, right? Like shooting free throws and layups. It's not the flippy spinny kicks that you know, get you. You know, the winds, it's the base hits and the layups and the free throws, and the super simple things that really nobody wants to talk about. Nobody's making Instagram posts about, you know, spending 17 hours in the gym, you know, doing the basic stuff.

Matt Wolach: 22:45

So, yeah, yeah, very, very true. And I totally agree. And I think it's so important to, to make sure that you were in, in American football, we call it blocking and tackling, doing those fundamentals. And having that that in place and having the understanding of how important it is, is critical. Yeah, I love that you say you gotta be persistent with it, because I see so many times leaders say, hey, we tried this didn't work. And whether it's networking, or SEO, or ads, or whatever. And in many cases, it was the right thing. They just didn't stick with it long enough. And it seems like that's a theme of what we're talking about today is you've got to stick with it. You've got to trust it, and have that confidence that it's going to come through for you

Philip Pelto: 23:27

100% Yeah, and just know that, you know, it's a formula like it will work and there's no, if it doesn't work, it's because you didn't do one piece of it. Right. And, you know, I mentioned Napoleon Hill earlier. He has another quote. It's patience, persistence, and perspiration is an unbeatable combination, or recipe for success. So just love that follow that plan. That

Matt Wolach: 23:52

is a great one for sure. Well, this has been great. Phil, how can our audience learn more about you? And MyFirestorm?

Philip Pelto: 23:58

Yeah. LinkedIn is kind of the place where most active so I'm just, you know, Philip Pelto. And the company is MyFirestorm. But if you find either one of those, you'll find the other one. So yeah, we're all over LinkedIn, a little bit on Instagram. Not so much there. Go to LinkedIn.

Matt Wolach: 24:16

Okay, perfect. We'll put that into the show notes. So if you're listening, you can go check that out. But, Phil, this has been awesome. Thanks for coming on the show and sharing all this with us. Absolutely. Thanks for having me, man. For sure, and everybody out there. Thanks for being here. Really appreciate it. Once again, make sure you're subscribe so you don't miss out on any other amazing innovators and leaders like Phil got a lot of good stuff coming up for you. But thanks for being here. And we'll see you next time. Take care. All right.

Intro/ Outro: 24:44

Thanks for listening to Scale Your SaaS for more help on finding great leads and closing more deals. Go to Mattwolach.com