The Advantage Introverts Have When Networking and Speaking with Matthew Pollard.

Welcome to Public Speaking with Peter George. Do you want to be calm, confident, and credible every time you speak in public? Then stay tuned as Peter and his guests discuss public speaking tips, techniques, and tactics that help you increase your impact, influence, and income. Here's your host, Peter George.

People tell introverts they have an edge when it comes to public speaking. Maybe it's to bolster confidence, and maybe there's some truth to it. In my case — as a proud, card-carrying introvert — I've found a great deal of comfort in this idea. Today's guest, Matthew Pollard, is going to show you how introverts can outspeak, outsell, and outnetwork anyone. And if you happen to be an extrovert, don't turn this episode off. There's plenty here for you too.

Forbes calls Matthew the real deal. Global Gurus lists him as a top 30 sales professional. Top Sales World Magazine named him a top 50 speaker. He's the bestselling author of The Introvert's Edge — which hit Amazon charts as the eighth most sold book of the week and appears on HubSpot's list of the most highly rated sales books of all time — and its follow-up, The Introvert's Edge to Networking, which has received endorsements from Harvard, Princeton, Neil Patel, Marshall Goldsmith, and Dr. Ivan Meisner.

Peter: Welcome to the show, Matthew.

Matthew: I'm ecstatic to be here. As an introvert myself, I've really been looking forward to this conversation.

The Introvert's Natural Edge

Peter: A large percentage of truly excellent speakers are introverts — and people are often shocked to hear it. Why do you think that's so often the case?

Matthew: I think it's because introverts need systems. We can't do it in an organic, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants way. But when we have a system and a process for succeeding, a process will always outperform a dynamic experience. Ask an extrovert to recreate exactly what they did on stage that worked brilliantly, and they'll say, I don't even remember — I just went with it. Ask me, and I can tell you exactly what happened and how to improve it. That's the introvert's edge. In seven years, I went from terrified to speak — literally bouncing off the sides of the stage — to being listed by Top Sales World Magazine as one of the top 50 speakers in the world. That happened because of system, practice, and preparation. Not winging it.

People like Zig Ziglar, Bill Murray, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Oprah Winfrey are all introverts. We tell ourselves there's a gift-of-gab wall we can't cross. It's a complete falsity — but we believe it so emphatically that we never try.

Why Most Networking Doesn't Work

Peter: A lot of introverts avoid networking entirely because they hate the thought of it. What's going wrong?

Matthew: Most people see networking as one of two things. The first is transactional networking — walking around the room asking everyone if they want to buy from you. It's horrible, and most introverts won't do it. The second is aimless networking — shallow conversations where you can't even clearly explain what you do, you walk away with a stack of business cards, and no one ever follows up. Both approaches lead people to conclude that networking doesn't work. The truth is it does work. You're just doing it wrong.

Speakers often make a specific mistake: they open up the fire hose of free information, the person walks away overwhelmed, thinks I'll try that and hire you later, and never does either. That's not the other person's fault. That's doing networking wrong.

Dr. Ivan Meisner, the founder of BNI, once put it this way: if you asked 100 people going to a networking event, Who here would like to sell something tonight? — 100 hands go up. But if you ask, Who here wants to buy something tonight? — no hands. So if you're there to sell, you're probably going to fail.

Momentum Partners and Champions

Peter: So what should we be going to networking events to do?

Matthew: There are three categories of people at any networking event. Most people focus exclusively on prospects — the people they can sell to. But the two categories that create lasting results are momentum partners and champions.

A momentum partner is someone who believes in what you do, and you believe in what they do. You introduce each other. You look out for each other — not because you signed an agreement, but because you genuinely care. One of my strongest momentum partners has put me in front of dozens of podcasts and introduced me to clients that represent six figures in revenue. None of that came from a formal arrangement. It came from mutual belief and consistent generosity.

Champions are different. These are people with substantial credibility and a large audience who share your work because they genuinely believe in what you do. Dr. Ivan Meisner is one of mine. I've never asked him for anything. He offers his support because we've built a real friendship, and because I've always been willing to speak honestly about the role BNI played in my own success. That costs me nothing and means the world to him. Champions are tired of being approached transactionally. Treat them with genuine care — and the credibility that follows is extraordinary.

Story: The Introvert's Superpower on Stage

Peter: What's the first action step someone who is introverted can take to become a more effective speaker?

Matthew: Tell stories. Most introverts get on stage and feel they need to justify why they deserve to be there, so they open with fifteen minutes of personal history and the audience hears I, I, I about 45 times and they're already done with you. Stories change everything.

When you tell a story, it activates the reticular activating system of the brain. It creates artificial rapport — you feel at ease, and so does the audience. It also short-circuits the logical mind. The logical mind is the part of the brain that's thinking, Is this relevant to me? Do I have time for this? When you tell a story, you speak directly to the emotional mind — and it listens. People absorb stories. And more importantly, they remember up to 22 times more information when it's embedded in a story.

I limit myself to three stories, each carrying one key message. Before I ever talk about the tactical content, I tell the story of someone outside my audience's industry who faced a similar challenge — and arrived at a positive outcome. People hear the ideology without the ego. They assume the details are real and listen for the moral. And when I deliver that moral, I've tailored it to the specific group in front of me. That's the customization. Not a rewrite — a two or three minute adaptation of the conclusion.

As soon as I stopped being a trainer dumping information and started being a storyteller, everything changed. People applied the content. They felt like I was speaking directly to them. And at the end of the day, if I don't speak from stage, there are hundreds of thousands of people who miss out on hearing a message I genuinely believe matters. That's what gets me there.

Message, Niche, and the Category of One

Peter: You've talked about differentiating your message as a speaker. What does that actually look like in practice?

Matthew: Most speakers put themselves in a box — sales trainer, marketing coach, communication specialist. If you fit in a box, there's always someone willing to do it cheaper. And people walk into sessions already expecting it to be boring. I don't call myself a sales trainer. I call myself the Rapid Growth Guy. Nobody else is that. And when someone asks what I do and I say, I'm the Rapid Growth Guy, they say, I've never heard that before. What exactly is that? Now I have their permission to explain.

Here's how to find your own version. Ask yourself: what do I do outside the scope of my functional skill? Then ask: what is the higher-level benefit of that? The answer to that second question is your category of one. For me, I combine sales, marketing, and networking. The higher-level benefit is rapid growth. I had a client — a language tutor who taught Mandarin — competing against people charging $12 an hour on Craigslist, and even against a free language-exchange app. Race to the bottom. When we looked at the clients she truly served best, they were executives being relocated to China. She didn't just teach them Mandarin — she helped them understand Chinese business culture, relationship-building, rapport, and the differences between commerce in China and the West. We stopped calling her a Mandarin tutor. We called her the China Success Coach. She charged $30,000 for a five-week intensive. The hardest part was finding the right referral partner — which turned out to be immigration attorneys, who would earn a $3,000 commission for a simple introduction. She had the easiest sales in the world.

That's the power of having a differentiated message and knowing your niche. Once you have that, everything else — networking, speaking, selling — gets dramatically easier. And for introverts in particular: stop winging it. Strategy before action. Know your message. Know your niche. Know your three stories. Then go outperform the room.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Public Speaking with Peter George. Are you ready to be calm, confident, and credible every time you speak in public? Then visit petergeorgepublicspeaking.com and let's make it happen. I'll see you next time.