Adam Torres and Joel Bash how to replicate success.
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Show Notes:
Why are business introductions so valuable? In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Joel Bash, President at Joel Bash and Company. Explore Joel Bash and Company and replicate success.
About Joel Bash
Joel Bash started the Beverly Hills Business Organization and ran it from 1985 to 1994. The organization grew and enabled me to form good relationships with thousands of quality people. Today, he personally knows over 16,000 Professionals. He has developed an expertise for introducing people to one another and has found it to be essential in the business world. He has a system of business development that constantly produces people that have the ability to refer out a large amount of business to others. He basically sets up one on one meetings with people that he knows personally, that indicate that they are definitely able to refer to the specialty of business that my client performs.
Joel Bash & Company specializes in introducing quality professional people to each other to open the doors and create opportunities. He offers a system of business development that constantly produces people that have the ability to refer out a large amount of business to others.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today’s guest is Joel Bash and he’s president over at Joel Bashing Company.
Joel, welcome to the show. Thank you, Adam, for having me. I appreciate it. All right, Joel. So I’m excited to get into today’s topic. We’re going to talk about replicating and replication of past successes. So a lot, a lot of business owners, a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of executives out there that listen to this and hey, who doesn’t want more success in their life?
Many of them are, are tuning in for that exact reason. So great to have you on. And I guess maybe just to get this this conversation started, maybe start by telling us a little bit more about Joel Bashing Company and what you do. Thanks Well, thank you. My history, in 1985, I started my own networking group called the Beverly Hills Business Organization.
I ran that for 10 years. It grew to a few thousand members. I had celebrity speakers. You know, it was very enjoyable. I realized that everyone was going to my group to meet a certain target. So being logical, if you get work from A, B, and C, just keep meeting A, B, and C. If I go to a network group or a function, I don’t know where AD& C is, or I’m lucky if there’s one or two there.
So, in 1994, I started my company where I simply set up one on one meetings between professionals. So, people tell me how they get business. I personally know over 18, 000 professionals doing this 30 years. You know, mainly, you know, Southern California, LA, Orange, San Diego. You know, so I have a lot of knowledge, you know, who’s nice, who’s friendly, who’s gonna for work, you know, I’m from Beverly Hills.
I went to Michigan State. I’m a tennis player. I’m a golfer. Oh, so is Adam, you know, so I’m all about replication. I’m not a connector in the sense where I tell people who they should meet and get along with. People tell me who they want to meet. They tell me how they get business, how they’ve done it historically.
And it just is very prudent to replicate that instead of having situation, Adam, you’re great. You’re wonderful. I can’t help you. You know, I just can’t refer work to you. That’s good for business. No, tell me more, Joel. Tell me more about myself. I’m okay with that joking. Come on. You know, that’s good for friendship, but not good for business.
Of course. I agree with that. So I just take pride in taking stress away. I mean, I make the analogies, like imagine, If you want a Chinese food and you went to a Mexican restaurant. Now obviously you wouldn’t do that, but you’d be frustrated, you know, you know, good food, good people, but I, I want a Chinese food.
It’s like when I go to an event, I don’t know who can help me there. And my, my target isn’t there. So I’m frustrated. I’m stressed. I’m trying to meet all these people, but they can’t even help me anyway. So, There needs to be an alternative. There needs to be a higher level. There needs to be an option. The world is about options.
I can fly coach, I can fly business class, I can fly first class, but with business development, there’s no options. I have to go to this place and eat what they give me. So I’m on the soapbox every day telling people, no, there is an option. You can come to me and you can tell me who you want to meet and I’ll, I’ll introduce you accordingly.
That’s what I do. Yeah, you know what were you were you a natural connector before you got into this and I know you don’t use the word connection so let me let me rephrase that you’re not a connector you’re you’re giving very strategic introduction. So were you a person who liked to, I guess you’d say bring people together and and introduce them were you kind of that glue in the beginning before this or like, I get the how you started but I’m just curious if you had some of that in you already.
Yeah, absolutely. Actually, no, I, I, I’m, I’m an introvert, you know, by nature, but because I, I was in the family business out of college and I didn’t really want to be in the family business anymore. I was searching for my niche and I started that networking group and people would come to my events and say, I need to meet attorneys.
I need to meet account. I need accountants. And I say, well, go meet ’em, . And they’d say, well, I don’t know where they are. I don’t have the time. Yeah. It’s a find them. And then the light bulb went off in my head to say, you know, people aren’t here to network. They’re really here for introductions. I know all these people.
I could just introduce them. Why am I giving them a smorgasbord of people when what they really want is an introduction? So, so just my, that natural progression, because I was searching for something, you know, there was a calling there to say, you know, this doesn’t exist, but it needs to, and that’s, it’s been 30 years.
Wow. So in 30 years, I mean, obviously you’re, you’re Rolodex. I don’t even want to deal with that. Like you’re well, and actually if it’s been 30 years, then, then it did start with a Rolodex, so Rolodex to CRM, that’s its own book in itself. But but what have you like nowadays? I mean, how do you find that?
I, I don’t feel like, no, actually I’m not even going to say that. My question to you is Joel is, has much changed with technology and everything else? I mean, an intro, a great introduction is still a great introduction. Am I off? No, nothing has changed. See, that’s, that’s the thing. The fundamentals still exist.
I mean, you think about your best clients, your best friends, started with hi, I’m Adam. It had to start that way, but it worked because they were the right people. Just keep meeting those right people, but people are different. Just as I say, don’t have that, that option. They’re just meeting a bunch of people and hoping, and you know, I’ve heard so many times, well, maybe this person can refer me, you know, one day you, you don’t want to do business development that way again, it’s like, I don’t want to go to a Mexican restaurant and say, well, maybe they’ll have some Chinese food, you know, in the back, you know, it just, it’s not an efficient way to do it.
I mean, this is, this is 2024 with all the advancements, but yet networking has not. It’s being done the same way today as it was done 250 years ago with Ben Franklin and Paul Revere who were known networkers. It just hasn’t evolved and I’m, you know, giving people an option at a higher level. Yeah, and it’s, and I love that you bring that up, and that’s what I wanted to hear from you, not just because it’s validating what I already thought, but I was, I’m genuinely curious, because you’re in this space day in and day out, and to me, like, saying networking evolved in our lifetime is like saying human nature evolved in our lifetime.
Like, that ain’t happening. Like, we got, we got a whole lot more time before we’re wearing, not in my generation at least, like, where we’re wearing this chip in our head, and it’s all changed. Like, That is not happening anytime soon. But that being said, I see it. And I think this to me, like anybody listening to this, that thought otherwise that thought that, Oh, I don’t know technology.
I don’t know this. I don’t know that it’s still, if we’re talking that the fundamental still work, then the right business introductions are still like, that’s the highest level still. Yes, I mean, as I said, there’s no other way. It’s like I tell people, you could, if you want to build up a muscle in your, let’s say your right arm, you have to pick up a weight in your right arm and just start doing curls.
There’s, there’s no shortcut to it. But it’s the simplest thing in the world is picking up a weight and doing curls. You will build the muscle. It’s the same thing with, Business development. If you’re meeting the right people, just by the law of averages, you’re going to get business because you’re meeting that business is with these people.
And that’s so someone will like you. It’s like the Woody Allen theory of success. 80 percent of success is just showing up, but you have to show up to the people that can give it to you. Otherwise you’re just, you know, again, I, I want, I want to play hockey. I’m, I’m, I’m at, you know, I’m at a football game that, that doesn’t help me.
You know, just go to where your business is and you’re gonna get it. Yeah, I remember it maybe and for those my long term listeners, they know this story, but you know, my background is I was in finance for almost 14 years and I remember as my, as my book of business got bigger and as like the client like threshold for how much somebody had to, to pay.
Have an, you know, an investable assets to make it worth my time, or even like just possible for the products that I was positioning, like it, it became like, Oh, I can’t do what I did in the beginning of my career when I could take anybody. And now if I’m in a, if I’m just, you know, hunting aimlessly for new clients, and if I’m not in the right rooms with individuals that have the net worth, that was gonna satisfy like my, my minimums.
then man, I could go broke. I could spend a lot of time like chasing my tail and go broke. So this sounds to me like a little bit of a, of a shortcut to getting to some of the right people, like ultimately. Yeah, I mean, you said it exactly again, like if I want to fly from LA and if I want to go to travel from LA to New York, I can go by bus, I can go by train, you know, I can go by, you know, or I can go by plane.
So why, why would I go by bus where it’s going to take me five to seven days, whatever, when I can go, go travel five hours on a plane to, to achieve my result. So, again, options, you need to have those options. Talk to me about like the science or the method methodology behind what you do. Cause I’m sure there’s a process.
I’m sort of this processes and I’m, I know there’s only so much we can do in a, you know, 20 minute podcast episode, but give us a flavor for the, the methodology behind these introductions and why they’re so valuable. Well, it’s similar to the picking up a weight and doing the curling. It’s like, you know, Bruce Lee, you know, the famous martial artist, said, I don’t fear the man that knows 10, 000 kicks, but I do fear the man that knows one kick and does it 10, 000 times.
Keep meeting your target. Just keep, because that’s where the distance is. That’s the efficient way. That’s why it’s so valuable. Because, you know, people can’t even imagine that they’re in a room with 30 people where all of them can refer them business. And they just have to, to, to meet you and know you and like you and, and hopefully bond with you with, with sports or music or dinners, whatever it may be.
But that’s the ultimate business development. You know, I think people are hoping they can meet one person there, but imagine a whole room full, full of Your prospect. It just doesn’t exist, but it, but it needs to. And that’s the value that you’re, you’re getting, you know, with me. What what do you do with, I feel like you, from time to time you must run into individuals that don’t quite know their exact introduction that they want.
It’s hard to ask for something if you don’t know exactly what it is, especially if you haven’t had the, the most success lately with some things changing, like how do you work with them? It would be very rare. I mean, anybody who’s been in business for a while, they all know where the work is coming from.
If they don’t, it’s a problem. They need to know. Again, fundamentally, they need to know. Yeah, that that’s interesting. And now what I was thinking about is kind of like the avatar. So then it sounds to me like the people that you’re working with, definitely not the startup where they’re still kind of trying to figure it out.
This is, this is, or I should, I should ask you, is this more for service based business? Is this more like like where do you find kind of some of your niches are? Well, my specialties are service professionals. I mean, I can’t help everyone. I mean, if someone said, you know, Joel, we make eyeglasses, who are you going to introduce me to?
You know, Joel, I work at Nike or Google, who are you going to introduce me to? Mm hmm. That’s a full time job within itself, but within the service professional community, all the attorneys and accountants and bankers and consultants and real estate and mortgage insurance, et cetera, they all give work to each other.
So, again, it’s just finding each other, doing it efficiently. I mean, how many times has someone said, I’ll give you these referrals, you never hear from them again. Yeah. Or, you know, you try to even reach them and they don’t answer you. There’s a lack of efficiency and then you get distracted and then it doesn’t happen.
Through me, it happens over and over and everyone’s vetted and everyone is followed up with. So, but it works. Yeah, and talk to me about the other side of the equation. So obviously the person, the person you’re referring, you’re, you’re, you know, being referred and we’ve kind of talked about that. What about the person that’s being, that’s accepting the referral?
I feel like a lot of that has to be based on your your vetting and your reputation really for them to even, you know, want to take it many times. Like talk to me about the other side of that equation. Yeah, no, that’s a good question. And yes, it’s exactly what you said people trust me that I bring them nice friendly people And they’re all vetted if they’re happy with whom they’re working with they say joel No reason to meet adam i’m happy with whom i’m working with but if they’re not it’s open to a new relationship And that’s the key.
It’s the relationship that that drives the business if they they like you and again if you can Socialize with them in any way you’re going to be in But I get you in the door. That, that’s, you know, again, your biggest clients, your best friends in the world, just started with that introduction and it built up from there, but it worked because they were the right fit.
So just keep meeting those, those right fits, but just getting in front of them is half the battle. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. What, what do you like as you’re, as you’re out there, obviously you’ve been doing this for a long time. How do you keep your your, your database going or your, your relationships continually expanding?
Because that can’t be, obviously people retire, there’s new people entering the field. It’s like you’re, you’re in a, in my opinion, a very people intensive business. How do you keep your, your database getting full with the most relevant people? Yeah, I mean, you know, people refer me, you know, frequently, you know, I go to events.
I, you know, people, you know, to, to networking events, but, you know, every day, you know, I’m meeting people either in person or on zoom. And, you know, as many people as I know, I want to know that many more. It makes me stronger. But everyone I meet, whether we do business or not, it’s all knowledge. So somebody can help somebody, and that’s where I take pride.
As I say, I want to take stress away from people, from, from trying to find these people. And they could be in your, in the same office building as you, but you just never knew that there was someone there that could help you. But someone needs to get that knowledge, and that’s, that’s what I’m doing. Yeah.
Any tips on how to, how to manage those? Like, like cause you’re, you’ve been, I mean, you’ve been dealing with thousands of people through the years. So, so you obviously on your end have your systems down in terms of how you’re making these introductions, but for the people receiving them that maybe haven’t had the best management systems in the long time, and I don’t mean it has to be tech, but however you’re ranking, like, like what, I mean, let, let, let us behind your, your doors a little bit here.
Like how, how are you managing all, all those contacts and data? Yeah, it’s very simple. Again, I’m just using Outlook, but, but, you know, but I’m taking good notes. So it’s like, you know, where you’re from, hobbies and sports, anything you told me, kids, you know, schools, you know, something, you know. So when someone asked me about that, Then I’ll know, but because I’ve met you, I can vouch for you that you’re nice and friendly.
It’s all about nice and friendly. That’s always the key ingredient, because nice and friendly people, you know, bring other nice and friendly people and they can get along well. So, but, but it’s just those it’s the socializing, which brings the, the bonding and, and so anything that, that helps me with that, I’m taking good notes on that.
Yeah, that’s I love it. And what I love a lot about your practice is that, you know, you’re, you’re really executing on the fundamentals. And I, I talk to people all the time. I’m like, when they say, Oh, I met so and so or this or that or whatever. And I’m like, you don’t have any notes in them. Like, you don’t know, like, like, I, I know that the least you can, the less you can make somebody repeat something that they already told you, the better we’re all busy and I’m not claiming I have that iron trap mind, but I know one thing I can take a note when I’m having a conversation or right after the conversation, if I’m out in public and I, and I felt that it was a Person that I wanted to you know have in my world at some point or and then in some way I know I can, you know Move over to the side after I save that it put a couple quick notes in my phone like one way or another right?
Right. Yeah, so it’s a belief It’s a belief in the fundamentals and a belief in the system like anything else we do What we what we deem to be successful. We have to practice continuously What are some of the traits of, like, the people that are out there that you’ve seen, like, that you’ve made connections with, or for, excuse me, like, clients and otherwise, that, like, what are some of the traits that they have that have made them, like, successful in this?
So now they’re receiving an introduction, like, go from that point, like, what makes them successful many times? Well, that, that’s an excellent question. Being A, they’re, they’re, they genuinely are talented. I mean, there are a lot of people out there that just, you know, they may not have a lot of people skills, but they’re so talented in what they do that, you know, people are seeking them.
But, you know, you need, you need all the ingredients. I mean, there’s a lot of people who have excellent, You know people skills and they’re very successful even though they may not be the most talented and they may be just bringing it bringing in the business and then You know handing off to someone else who’s who’s who’s more talented than they are in terms of you know their craft But but you know you need but and also you need to be responsible You need if someone calls you you need to call them back.
Someone emails you you need to respond That is that’s the number one reason why people lose business is because they’re not being responsive So But that, that, that is part of the fundamentals. And I, and I’ll throw something out there. I, I feel I’m not putting these words in your mouth. So you tell me if you feel otherwise, but I feel that many times that when people aren’t responding, it’s because they’re super busy and the reason why they’re super busy is because they’re spending most of their time talking to people that are wasting their time, like that are not a good fit.
So if they, if they had a inbox or a phone calls full of, People that were the right people to do business with them. I feel like things would be different, right? Or they’d be more successful. Now they’d have more resources for more staff or whatever else needs to survive that to not survive, but to to fulfill that request or to be faster or to be more efficient.
So to me, it’s kind of almost like a self fulfilling prophecy on that one. If you’re talking to the right people. If that’s where you’re spending 80, 90, whatever the percentages that we want to put on that, whatever it is. I don’t know X amount of percentage of time, but the majority of your time for sure, talking to the right people, you’re going to be more successful than this is this wheel of response of follow up, all that.
It just gets easier. It just gets you, even just mentally, it gets easier because now you’re, you’re having more success and I don’t know, but I don’t know if it’s just me, Joe, but I’ll tell you when I’m going to run. And when I’m feeling, when everything’s going right. I just have so much more energy. If I’m going to lose in streak, then man, I’m just like, Oh, it’s hard.
It’s hard to return any email. Well, you know, I’d say again, I’m to the philosophy, you have to return them, you know, just for credibility purposes, because again, you have to have, you know, humility and you have to, you can’t underestimate anyone. You don’t know if that person, you know, if, that you didn’t respond to, either A, could be a great client for you, or B, refer you to someone that’s great, but you, for your credibility, you have to, to respond.
And some people get that, some people don’t, like anything else in the world, but that’s the way I feel. Yeah, no, I agree. And if they took their time to write you an email, I mean, that’s just a respectful thing to do. I don’t know. That’s the, that’s the Midwest to me. I’m like, I, I, I respond and you got to respond.
That’s the, that’s the main thing. Well, Joel, I’ll tell you, this has been I feel like you, you taught us a, a bit of a masterclass here today on business introductions why they matter really why, why they’re, they’re an efficient way of getting getting goals done. So I think it’s awesome.
Overall and then also one of the one of my main takeaways is that you know, the evolution of this Has not changed like and you’ve been doing this for 35 years So i’m going to take your word for that because this is your business and I know you’re good at what you do So that being said joel If somebody’s listening to this and they want to follow up and they want to learn more and connect with you and your team how do they do that?
Well, well, thank you, Adam. We appreciate that. My email is joel, joelbash. com website, you know, joelbash. com, and I’m obviously, I’m on LinkedIn, and so anybody that wants to reach out and say hello to me, I’m happy to do it. Fantastic. And for everybody listening, we’ll also we’ll put the website. So joelbash.
com super simple, but we’ll still put that in the in the show notes so that you can just click on the links and head right on over and check out Joel. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you have been not hit that subscribe button yet. Hey, now, now here is your invitation.
Hit that subscribe button because this is a daily show each and every day. We’re bringing you amazing entrepreneurs, executives, and experts and giving you the best of what they have to offer and to share and to teach, and if you think that’s valuable, definitely hit that subscribe button and Joel really appreciate you coming out and making some time for us.
So thank you. Thank you, Adam. I, this is very nice of you. Thank you.
