0020: LinkedIn Social Selling Index and how you can benefit from it with Social Media Marketing & LinkedIn Consultant Brenda Meller

Intro [0:00]

EA interviews Episode 20. Inspiration, transformation, success stories, and the Imperfect Action Round seven days a week. Join Mario Fachini for today’s Expert Authority Effect Interview. 

Mario Fachini [0:12]

Welcome Expert Authority World. I’m excited to be here with another great episode for you. I have none other than Brenda Miller from Meller Marketing. And she’s going to be talking about social selling across the platforms. Now, there’s a way to do this and there’s a way to not. So I’m excited to have her to share with you the proper way to do it. And I already asked her, but I’m going to have her touch on something you may or may not know about on LinkedIn. I don’t want to take that from her. I’ll let her jump into it right after we thank our sponsor. 

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Mario Fachini [1:03]

All right. Here she is everyone. Brenda Meller from Meller Marketing. Brenda, how are you doing today? 

Brenda Meller [1:08]

I am great, Mario. How you doing tonight? 

Mario Fachini [1:09]

I’m having a lot of fun. It’s good to have you here. 

Brenda Meller [1:11]

Good. 

Mario Fachini [1:12]

So what inspired you to start Meller Marketing? I mean, you could be doing anything. Why this? 

Brenda Meller [1:18]

Well, it’s kind of funny. It started as a side hustle. It was really something just as a side. I had a knack for marketing in my career, obviously. And then was picking up a lot of work through social media just doing my job. And kind of sort of blogging on the side. And I needed to have some pages just to play around with different settings and things. And I decided just to create a Meller Marketing page. And in the beginning, it was really just a place to put articles and blogs and almost a bookshelf where I can find things later. And I started having some side engagements here and there in addition to my full time job and decided to set up an LLC. And you know, one day the universe nudged me forward and I had the opportunity to really lean into it and give it a try full time. And one year later, here I am. Yeah, that’s it. 

Mario Fachini [2:09]

Well, congratulations. I’m glad you’re still doing it. So tell us a little bit more about what you do and how you help people? 

Brenda Meller [2:16]

Sure. So what I tell people is what I do with Meller Marketing is I help people and businesses with marketing and social media and I specialize in LinkedIn. So if your organization doesn’t have somebody who’s a full time marketer on staff or somebody with depth of how to use social media and how to use it effectively, I can come in and help your organization. And I have some organizations that work with me on a part time, almost like an hourly basis. I come in and provide them coaching and consulting. And other organizations where I do complete social media management. But as you know, Mario, LinkedIn is my passion. It’s the network that I have the greatest level of expertise. And it’s really been the platform that’s helped me to launch my career. 

Mario Fachini [3:00]

Very good. So with all your expertise and years of knowledge with it, I know some people go to Facebook, some people go to LinkedIn, some people go to whatever. One of my favorites is YouTube because I’ve been known to maybe or maybe not do things on video. But I love LinkedIn also. And LinkedIn, I’ve noticed, has been doing more stuff with video. I want you to share with the audience what is the biggest transformation you’ve been able to provide someone. 

Brenda Meller [3:26]

The biggest transformation in terms of profile you’re saying, Mario? 

Mario Fachini [3:29]

Let’s say they were stuck with where they were and they were just spinning their wheels, whether it was one week, one month, one year. And then you came in. And then because of the help and advice and coaching you gave them, there’s at least new point. 

Brenda Meller [3:41]

Okay. And I don’t know if there’s one client or one success story that I can speak to. Often, the individuals that I work with are at an executive level. And what I like to say is, these are individuals who are experienced rich. You know, they have been working in their industry, in their profession, and their job title for sometimes 15, 20, 30 years. But they did not come up in their career with social media. So sometimes there are some apprehension with how to use sites like LinkedIn. And what I like to refer to this category as experienced rich and maybe tech-averse or tech-apprehensive. They are a bit hesitant on how to use LinkedIn effectively and fully because they don’t want to do the wrong thing and look like they don’t know how to use social media properly. So instead, what they do is little or nothing at all or they’re not using it effectively as a social selling platform. They’re really using it as a one way channel to try only to sell to their network and they’re getting zero results. They’re not getting a lot of good connections. They’re not getting conversation started. And then they come and they find me and they say, “Okay. On LinkedIn, it’s not working. I can’t figure out why it’s not working effectively for me.” So there’s a client I’m working with right now. He’s a lawyer and he’s in Florida. And I’ve just been having a lot of fun working with him because he’s got a huge network already. And he’s very successful. He’s very well-known in his area. And I’ve been helping basically to crack LinkedIn open for him. And figure out how to use it more successfully for himself as a professional and then for his business as well. So it’s been a lot of fun. 

Mario Fachini [5:24]

Well, that’s great. So what I’m hearing is that’s how you’re providing the transformation for people. Because I can understand – you know, my first business I got started when I was 12. There was no social media back then. It might be dating me a little bit. But there’s no social media back then. But you still have those relationships. You still have those connections. And that’s a huge transformation to be able to bridge that gap. So why don’t we speak about that a little bit more. When someone is coming to you they might not be 14 year old that’s super sharp. But maybe they’ve been in business for 30, 40,50 years. What is the best thing you could say about someone to bridge that gap that might be tech-averse, that doesn’t have that background, or didn’t grow up with it? 

Brenda Meller [6:08]

Yeah. So I usually start the conversation with, you know, communication is an ever evolving process. And there’s a variety of different communication platforms that exist. And back in our day, we had a phone that was attached to the wall with a cord. And it was the greatest thing ever when we got call waiting or we had a second line that you could click back and forth to. And I don’t know about you, Mario, but in my house, we still have like the plugs for the landlines. But we don’t have a landline anymore. I mean, we were paying $40 or $50 a month for a year or two. And then we said, “Why do we even have this anymore?” And it seems that social media is this next evolution of communication. And it’s really that blend of communication and technology and this broader reach into community and into communities we’ve never had access to before. So what I do tell them is, it’s an evolution. It’s just like, you know, when we were communicating with memos and making photocopies and sending those around the office before. And then one day, this thing called the fax machine was created. And we were faxing information. And then we had email addresses and the internet. So we had to learn all these different technologies along the way. And now we’re in this phase where we have social media. And it can be both a personal tool and it can be a business tool. So we have to kind of figure out how to make the blend of that work successfully for each of us as business professionals. 

Mario Fachini [7:35]

I love that you’re touching upon that. And yeah, the landlines. I still have a rotary phone. 

Brenda Meller [7:42]

Do you? 

Mario Fachini [7:43]

We don’t use it a ton. 

Brenda Meller [7:45]

Does it work? 

Mario Fachini [7:45]

I can’t go online with it. But it’s pretty trendy or vintage or, whatever the word is. 

Brenda Meller [7:50]

It’s coming back. It’s like the vinyl record players. You see them at the —

Mario Fachini [7:53]

Those too. 

Brenda Meller [7:58]

Yeah. They’re coming back. 

Mario Fachini [7:58]

I actually have Chipmunk Punk from Alvin and the Chipmunks. One of the only albums they released. 

Brenda Meller [8:04]

Nice. 

Mario Fachini [8:04]

A lot of fun. So blending the old school with the new school, what would you say to someone who doesn’t want to get on it? Or what about the privacy issues? 

Brenda Meller [8:15]

Yeah. So there’s varying levels of what you’re going to be comfortable with on social media. And some of the clients I work with are anti-Facebook or really not wanting to share any information about themselves anywhere. Those people usually aren’t talking to me. Because the people that are approaching the are, “How do I understand how to use this?” But I do have some people that are almost in a lukewarm category. Meaning they know that it’s a tool that they need to use. They’re apprehensive about how much information to share about themselves, personally and professionally. How much of their information they want to put out there. And there’s really – sometimes there’s a segment within this group. Women, we tend to be a little bit more private on amount of information we want to share about ourselves. And even myself. On Facebook, I don’t accept friend requests from everyone because I do share pictures of my family. Now, my husband, he’s more open. He might share some pictures of the family as well. But I am a little bit more protective about that. So there’s not really a one size fits all that works for everybody. I think each one of us has to figure out how much information we’re going to be comfortable sharing, why we’re sharing that information, which networks we want to participate in or not participate in, and then figure out how to make it work for you. I don’t know about you. I’m not on social media 24 hours a day. Sometimes it feels like that. But that’s part of what I do for my job and it’s part of what I do for my clients. But I still have to set boundaries on what I share, my privacy settings. And use each of the networks for the way that they are intended to be used. And I think the real cool thing about LinkedIn is, it’s a purely professional networking site. So I always – you know, a tough line. It’s not a social site. So you’re not sharing family pictures. You’re not sharing personal information. You’re not sharing your marital status. All of that is, you know, more in the social settings and Facebook. And LinkedIn is purely professional. So we’re sharing information about ourselves, our career, our network, and our organization and our industry. So we have some kind of guide rule that we can work off with LinkedIn. 

Mario Fachini [10:25]

Yeah. And I think that’s an important thing to realize because some people go on to LinkedIn. And I don’t see a ton of people just sharing random stuff. But I’ll see a few people put some comedy stuff. I’m thinking of someone right now that, you know, he’s always putting out funny stuff no matter where he’s at. And I kind of do the same thing. It depends on my mood. Sometimes I’m like, “There’s a live event going, you should go. It’s educational. It’s informative.” And other times, I’m like, “What can I get away with today?” But it’s absolutely important to realize that everything has its place. If you’re trying to upload an hour video on LinkedIn, it won’t work. That’s what YouTube is for. I’ve tried it with a lot of these episodes. And I’m on it enough to utilize it. But there’s some times I just walk away from it. I mean, when I’m shooting the episodes, there’s days I don’t even check the email or social because it’s like, you know, “We have our shoot today. I have other stuff lined up later or tomorrow.” I’m not getting bogged down with it. But then other times, it’s nice to go, “Hey. What’s everyone doing?” and connect with it. So it really depends how you use it personally and professionally. So I want to dive in a little bit deeper, you talked about the social selling aspect and a lot of people might not know about this. I’ve looked into it myself. But I want to know your thoughts on the social selling index with LinkedIn. 

Brenda Meller [11:43]

So what you’re referring to for anyone who’s listening and who may not know what this means, LinkedIn has this tool that will create a social selling index for you. And basically, it is a score that they give you on a scale of zero to 100. And your level of proficiency with the concept of social selling. So my way of explaining what social selling is – and it’s blending a little bit of LinkedIn’s definition as well – it’s your ability to connect with the right people on LinkedIn where you’re sharing information that is seen as having some level of value and worth. So you’re getting engagement for the information that you’re sharing. You’re sharing with your – rather connecting with the right types of connections that you might be doing business with on LinkedIn. You’re active. You’re growing your network. So there’s a lot of factors that they have that go into your score of what your social selling index is. And I have heard some people say that you can’t get a score over 90 unless you upgrade to LinkedIn Sales Navigator. And in fact, the social selling index score is on the social selling – or rather on the LinkedIn Sales Navigator area of their website. So it really is a tool for people who are using LinkedIn for business development. Sales Navigator helps to increase your score a little bit higher. So I know you and I talked about our scores. So just frame of reference, you know, when you’re just setting up your LinkedIn profile, you’ll have a score of zero. Very quickly after you start populating things, you’ll get up to 17. So it’s kind of in-step approaches. And I’ve even work with clients going from zero to 50. And it’s, you know, exciting to see. I’ve been monitoring my score for the past couple years. And I’ve always stayed around the 80s. The highest I’ve gotten to is 84. That’s where I’m at right now. I’m at 84. It was at 83 for the longest time. And one thing I shifted was, the people that I’m connected to on LinkedIn – and I’m pretty active on LinkedIn – so I do get a steady stream of inquiries that are always coming in. And I always screen them, trying to build dialogue with them. But in addition to doing that, I shifted and I now start to every week go out and target the people that I want to send invitations to as well. So in addition to the regular stream of people that are coming to me, I’m not going out and targeting those people that are good sales prospects for me. And my index went up by one point by doing that. So having said that, recently I do this where I think I’ve sent out 10 to 20 invitations to my target audience. And one of those inquiries – you know, we had a few messages back and forth. I didn’t go right away into the sales pitch. But a few messages back and forth, planted the seed. And this gentleman replied back and said, “Actually, I may be in the market for your services. Let’s set up a time to talk.” So that does prove to me that the social selling index in some aspects, I think, it’s a number. It’s a tool that LinkedIn provides you. I don’t live and die by it. But it does help to assess your effectiveness of using LinkedIn. What is your score? Is it 84? Where are you at? 

Mario Fachini [14:47]

So when I first saw it maybe a year ago, I popped in and it was 80 or 81. And I hadn’t really been doing anything. And then – well, it’s a score. And of course, I’m going to get 100%. I was like, “Okay.” And I start researching it and diving in. And the more I looked, it’s like, “Okay. Do this. Reach out to people.” Because I hadn’t been on in a few weeks. I was traveling and speaking. I looked and it’s like, “You haven’t talked to anyone this week.” I’m like, “Well, of course, I was doing real business. I wasn’t sitting online.” So I go, “Okay. I’ll send some messages out.” And it bumped it up. And then it went to like, 81,82, 83. And then it kept going, like, 84,83, maybe 85,82, 81,78. And I’m like, this is like homework to me. And I never did that in high school. But I was always on Sales Navigator. So I’m curious why it didn’t bump it up more. But I think it’s the engagement with it. But I will say this, I think it’s great. But you said the key. We exchanged a few emails. We saw there was a value add. We knew we could help each other. But here’s the thing, the second you get on the phone, where did the relationship go? Text, email, phone, offline. So I think part of it, personally, is I jump into that and I do the same thing. Talk to people on the phone and actually give them value and stuff exchanging 101 messages. So I think part of it is they want people to stay on LinkedIn longer in the natural course of business that’s best for actually profiting and helping people is you have to take it offline at some point. Would you agree? 

Brenda Meller [16:25]

Absolutely. I mean, you can transact to a certain extent. But even the clients that I’m working with only online. At some point, we move off of LinkedIn. And we’re either on email or on the phone or in person. And that’s where the contract is really made or the partnership is [inaudible [00:16:43]. Could you do everything online without ever communicating with another form of technology? Sure. But I don’t think that’s realistic. I think most of us are using LinkedIn as a tool to help us to get to that business. 

Mario Fachini [16:57]

Yeah. I don’t think anything will ever replace face-to-face. But I do believe too many people are under using everything that’s at our fingertips, I mean, for reaching people globally 24/7 if you wanted to. It will never replace face-to-face. But I still think there’s people that their mindset is stuck 30 years ago thinking every last action has to be face-to-face. I think there’s a happy medium in there. Speaking of the face-to-face, what do you do when you’re speaking to audiences? What tips do you give them for best practices? 

Brenda Meller [17:30]

So with regards to using LinkedIn, you know, there’s a couple things I cover in every session that I do. Regardless, if they say there’s an advanced audience or these are beginners. There’s a few things that everybody has to do on LinkedIn. And starting with filling out your profile. And I kind of call it optimizing your profile. So making sure that you have every field filled out. But little things along the way, there’s a field that’s called headline. And by default, LinkedIn puts it as job title at company. And I was doing some research for a client today and it’s a person in a sales role. And if you look up VP of sales and other profiles on LinkedIn, the search results you get, every person has VP of sales at ABC Company, VP of sales at XYZ company. And there’s no differentiation in the search results. And then you come across that one profile that says, “I make business happen. VP of sales at XYZ,” whatever. Then that person is kind of standing out. So I think filling out every area of your LinkedIn profile is a good practice. But beyond that it’s not just filling it in, it’s thinking like – you know, think like a human being that’s reading your profile. And then also think about the algorithm that’s running and how it’s pulling up certain things from your profile to have you come up in search results. So that’s one thing optimizing your profile. Another tip would be personalizing every invitation you send to people on LinkedIn. And keeping in mind that your invitation – the goal of your invitation on LinkedIn is to get that invitation accepted. It’s not to get business from that. And what I recommend that you do is visit the person’s profile, look for one or two things that you either have in common or that are interesting to you about their profile, and then send them the invitation. So in my case, it might be, “Hi, Mario. We haven’t met but I see we’re both fellow members of Motor City Connect. And we both have many common connections including Terry Bean. Let’s connect on LinkedIn.” And that’s all about you. Nowhere in there have I said, “My businesses Meller Marketing. Your LinkedIn profile needs some help. Let’s talk.” I’m not selling there. My goal is to get that accepted, right? And then after that, we continue on with the dialogue. So if you were to accept it, you have a message back to me, great. But if not, then I would say, “Hey, Mario. Thanks for accepting my invitation.” Then I do – this is a very soft sales pitch. This is the only place I do it. I would say, “My businesses Meller Marketing. I help people in businesses with marketing and social media, specializing in LinkedIn. Let me know if I can ever be a resource in those areas. And tell me a bit about you and how you’re using LinkedIn. If I can ever leverage my network to help you, I’d be happy to do.” So right away, I’m going back from – I’m kind of putting it off. Is this what I’m using LinkedIn for? How are you using LinkedIn? And I’m trying to keep some engagement and dialogue. So that’s another – those are – I mean, the profile optimization, the personalizing invitation. And the third element is community engagement and keeping presence on LinkedIn and keeping a lot of dialogue going with your connections. 

Mario Fachini [20:40]

That is so valuable. Because so many people – I have three of them sitting in the box right now. And it seems – I give people credit when they’re starting a business. But it’s like, you have to remember you’re dealing with people and humans and relationships and connections. And I’m glad you brought that up. Because I will never forget the times when people are like, “I just started business. It’s like, you should have this weight loss thing.” And I’m just like, “You’re saying I’m fat?” You’re not even making a conscious connection of what you’re saying. Not,” Do you want to feel better and have more energy?” “Oh, you look like you need this. Good luck.” Online or offline, good luck. So thank you for telling everyone to be human. And think about what you’re doing. Those are great tips. I always make sure it’s a personalized message and ask them. I more taken approach of like, “What’s your goal for this quarter? What are you looking to achieve?” I got to keep it interesting for my own benefit. I can’t do normal, which is fine. But you got to do what works for you. And it sounds like your approach is working for you. 

Brenda Meller [21:50]

Yeah. And I tweaked and modify it over the years too. You know, asking different questions. And the other flip side of that is, the invitations you get from people that you don’t know on LinkedIn. Most people will look at those invitations at face value and they decide right away if it’s going to be a good connection or not. I look at every invitation I receive that’s a good connection for me. But first, I’m going to screen them and create some dialogue. And you never know, sometimes those conversations lead to business partner partnerships or relationships. Other times, they just become a connection. But I’m now breaking myself out from the clutter of all the other invitations I have on LinkedIn, because I have some conversation going back and forth with them. And even in my screening with them, I have a short version, which is, “Hi, Mario. Thanks for the invitation. Have we met?” You know we haven’t met. I know, we haven’t met. But it’s more polite than saying, “Who the heck are you? And why do you want to connect with me on LinkedIn?” I also have a longer version and I tweaked and modified that a little bit over the years. But I agree, you have to figure out what approach works with you, what is the natural language that you use, and even the techniques of figuring out what is scaring people away. You know, they’re not responding at all to what is engaging. And they’re always responding back with this message. You got to kind of test things out a lot. 

Mario Fachini [23:03]

Yeah. I would encourage anyone who’s doing – I’ve noticed a lot of people don’t do a lot of stuff on LinkedIn. Even some real prominent business people, they’re on Facebook, YouTube, even Instagram. And I’m like, “What are you doing on LinkedIn?” Like,” Oh. I use it once or twice a week.” And I found out when I started producing this show, everyone I know in real life we’re not connected on LinkedIn. My theory is when we met the business card thing, we exchanged numbers, I think we just jumped to the phone call and email. Where LinkedIn – when I get people’s business cards, I look them up on LinkedIn, Facebook, everywhere I can and connect. Just to see it’s like, “You may have been nice to me last night or yesterday or the morning event, whatever the case is. What do you like over seven days?” So I find that real interesting,. Because sometimes it’s like, “Maybe I want to talk to you. Maybe I don’t.” But it’s interesting because almost every single one of the guests for this show that I’ve handpicked, we were not connected on LinkedIn. But I have their personal cell numbers and personal email numbers. It’s the craziest thing in the world. So one of the things, also, is you touched on the keywords and the title. The second I put “host of podcast,” I started getting people that were talking about, “Hey, you have a podcast? So do I. This and that.” I was like, “That’s weird.” I wasn’t doing a lot of keywords. Can you touch upon that? What are your thoughts on keywords on the LinkedIn versus Instagram? 

Brenda Meller [24:33]

I’m not going to go into the Instagram because it’s really more focused on hashtags. And you know, there’s different things that are working out there. But LinkedIn, if you’re trying to be found for certain types of words and phrases, you have to use them throughout your profile and in multiple places throughout your profile. So if you want to be found for podcast hosts, having that in your headline field, having it in your summary description, having it in your experience section, and then maybe even having it as a skill on your profile. All of those things are going to help you. And in fact, what I would tell people is redundancy works in your favor in LinkedIn. So if you want to be found by other people for the words podcast hosts, you actually have to be using those words and phrases multiple times throughout your profile. And you even may have it multiple times in your summary and multiple times of your experience section. That’s okay. The other thing is – and I think you’re probably similar to me. I’m out of the abundance mentality. There’s more than enough work for all of us to go around. So why not connect with people who are doing the same thing that we are doing because we will learn from them. We will learn different techniques and possibly provide referrals back and forth. So I will often connect with fellow LinkedIn coaches and experts from across the world. And I learned techniques from them. And I also learn LinkedIn strategies and LinkedIn updates. I’ll hear things about LinkedIn from my LinkedIn coach community before I hear them on LinkedIn. So that certainly helps out 

Mario Fachini [26:05]

It absolutely does. And I have similar groups for video. And people reach out to me and I reach out to them for publishing books and publishing videos, for launching different types of marketing. But it’s absolutely vital to be around a group in a mastermind where you have basically insider info. And LinkedIn is very powerful. I’m thinking of one of my future guests I’ll have on the show. She built a multi-million dollar company using LinkedIn only. And she’s the one who encouraged me to reach out to people in my field, like you just did. Because so many people, I think they’re looking to branch out, and how can I get leads? How can I get leads? How can I get leads? They never stopped to realize how do I strengthen the relationships and collaboration with, like you said, within my case, book publishing and video marketing. How do we strengthen these partnerships where we can all grow together instead of looking at it as competition. And that’s one of the reasons I started doing this because I know great people like you and I literally want to connect the world. And there’s plenty of great people in it. And everyone seems to be, you know, you’re in your corner, I’m in my corner, they’re in their corner. There’s no synergies being created with it when we have the entire world at our fingertips. So I love the fact that you’re talking about LinkedIn in online. But I also knew you did offline. So if you could, elaborate on how speaking has helped your business. 

Brenda Meller [27:35]

Speaking is something – I never thought I would be a public speaker or presenter. I was always an introvert and I will always be an introvert at heart. But I remember early on – 

Mario Fachini [27:42]

Yeah. You seem pretty shy right now. 

Brenda Meller [27:45]

I’m okay if it’s one person and the camera. Actually I like public speaking now. But even when I do a speaking engagement now, beforehand I need quiet and not to talk to anybody for a while. And then afterwards, I’ll need like an hour of quiet just to not talk to and to reenergize myself. But earlier in my career, I realized that if I wanted to move up into management, I needed to get comfortable speaking in front of groups. And ask my manager at the time and he said, “Check out Toastmasters.” And I said, “What’s Toastmasters?” And he explained is this public speaking group, its international, you practice speeches and presentations, and people evaluate your speeches. And I said, “Why do I want to go to a group of people who know how to do public speaking and then tell me I’m terrible at it?” But it was actually a great program, I was involved with the group for about five years. And found my voice found what my speaking style was. And then when I had the opportunity to do so, I started doing presentations on social media and LinkedIn, you know, webinars, in person. And started really just practicing and getting comfortable to the point now I love public speaking. I love being in front of groups. And you know, that moment when the audiences they’re leaning in and they’re smiling and they’re getting it. It’s really rewarding. And I’ve mainly been speaking in Michigan. But I think, Mario, with the speaking engagement that I’m going to be announcing soon. It’s out of state. So I think I get to call myself a national speaker now, right? It’s outside of Michigan. 

Mario Fachini [29:13]

You can. Absolutely. 

Brenda Meller [29:15]

So soon I will be a national speaker .Right now, I’ve been focused in Metro Detroit. But soon I’ll be announcing something that’s coming up. So very exciting. 

Mario Fachini [29:23]

That is very exciting. Congratulations. All right. Last question before we go to the Imperfect Action Round. How is using video helped your business? 

Brenda Meller [29:31]

So video is interesting. I think a very powerful tool that can help to amplify the message that you’re doing. Both with the live speaking engagements, you know, sometimes we’ll videotape them. Sometimes – I know you and I both do this – we’ll do a Facebook Live stream of those events. And a lot of times when I’m doing a Facebook Live at an event, I’m not doing the Facebook Live for the audience that’s in the live session. You know, if I get a couple people in, that’s great. But really why I do the Facebook Live is so that I can have it archived, pull it down, play it back for future audiences. And oftentimes use that as a marketing communications tool sometimes to help provide messages to prospective clients who may not have heard me speak in person. I may have a tip and I’m like, “Well, I have a video on that. I’ll send that message over to you.” And I think, we’re now in this age where video is just really exploding. It’s a tool. It’s a feature that’s on just about every social platform. We have videos on our phones. We got videos on our computer screens. It’s much more accessible. You don’t have to have a camera big setup anymore. So it’s much more accessible there. But I think it’s creating greater dimension for each of us. You can read a person’s blog or website and assess their personality and maybe the expertise and what they have to offer. But when you see them on video, you really understand what are they passionate about, what’s their personality. And you can’t fake that on video. You see who the genuine person is. So I think, you know, as a marketer, I’ve always really appreciated looking at other tools. And I think videos is this huge area of growth opportunity right now. 

Mario Fachini [31:16]

I would have to agree. Video, if you’re not using it, maybe look into it. So thanks for sharing with us, Brenda. We’re going to go to the Imperfect Action Round. And we’ll be right back right after we thank our sponsor.

SPONSOR – BeLive [31:29]

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Mario Fachini [32:35]

All right. Everyone, we are back for the Imperfect Action Round. Brenda, are you ready to take imperfect action? 

Brenda Meller [32:42]

I have no idea what this is. I’m a little scared right now. Let’s go. 

Mario Fachini [32:46]

Awesome. I love the energy. So what I’m going to do, I got three rapid fire questions for you. Sixty-second answers. Keep it short and speak from the heart. What is the biggest problem you see your audience make and how can they fix it? 

Brenda Meller [33:00]

The biggest problem that my audience makes is not embracing social media to its fullest extent. And really not focusing enough on their community. Focusing too much on themselves. One technique that can use to fix that is shifting from selling to telling It’s really easy to do. So rather than saying, “Hi. This is what I offer. Buy, buy, buy from me.” Turn it into more storytelling. You know, “Here’s tips and techniques that you can use in your business. Here’s a case study. Here’s success stories.” Talking more about your community and people that you engage with and you do about yourself. The whole social media karma concept at play there. 

Mario Fachini [33:36]

Very good. All right. The second one, we’re talking about business and profits and entrepreneurship, what is the fastest path to the cash in your experience? 

Brenda Meller [33:46]

So I think it’s asking the question, you know, I’m going to use the speaking engagement just as an example. We’re frequently asked to speak for organizations. And I’ve learned now to ask every organization, even if I don’t think they’re going to pay me, I will ask the question, “Do you have a speaker budget?” And sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised. And they’ll say yes. And then approaching it the same way you do negotiation, the first person to offer up the number loses. So the second question I would ask is, “What is the typical fee that you might pay?” And they give me a ballpark and then I plug it into my program and figure out what would my fee be for that. Second would be chasing after your proposals and being assertive and aggressive until you get an answer. Because sometimes it’s just – if it’s at the bottom of their email and they’re not giving you a no, they just haven’t moved it high enough up the list to make any guests yet. 

Mario Fachini [34:36]

I love it. All right. So the last question I have for you, Brenda, is, what is the best way to maximize the customer lifetime value? It takes a lot of time and energy to get your first client, get your second, get your 50th, get your 100th. How would you say is the best way to maximize that once you have them for you and them? 

Brenda Meller [34:56]

So I would say as a consultant, it’s asking questions, it’s having conversation with them, really understanding what their needs are. And it’s not always about what can I sell them to meet that need. It’s looking at the bigger picture. And it’s really building upon that relationship and partnership, earning their trust, and helping them to think of other solutions to help support their business. Because I think that in turn – again, back to the whole social media karma. That business will come back to you. And sometimes it’s by those clients. And sometimes it’s through referrals. But certainly asking questions and really listening and being open to feedback, good, bad or indifferent. Being open to coaching as well. 

Mario Fachini [35:37]

Very good. So the last question I have for you is, what is one book that has made the biggest difference in your life? 

Brenda Meller [35:45]

Gosh, there’s so many. But the one that’s really coming top of mind for me, I started reading Mike Michalowicz series. And it’s really almost like a MBA for entrepreneurs. The book that’s made the biggest impact for me, it’s called Profit First. And it’s really helped me to think differently about how I manage the cost structure of my business and build profitability into the equation. So it was a book that was referred to me by, I think, it was Tammy Pereira. And I keep telling everybody I meet about this book. I think it’s just the greatest thing if you’re an entrepreneur or consultant to read. 

Mario Fachini [36:18]

Very good. Well, I appreciate you for being here and sharing with us. Why don’t you let the audience know where they can find you, Brenda? 

Brenda Meller [36:23]

Well, I work in social media so I would say look me up on all the major social networks Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube. You can go to MellerMarketing.com. If you’re hiring somebody to help you with your social media, make sure you check them on those networks and see how strong they are there. Because that’s going to be a good way to assess how effective they’re going to be for your business. 

Mario Fachini [36:43]

Very good. Well, it’s been an absolute pleasure. Thanks again, Brenda. And we’ll see you soon. 

God bless. 

Brenda Meller [36:48]

Thanks, Mario. Thank you. 

SPONSOR – Expert Authority Checklist [36:50]

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SPONSOR – BeLive [38:05]

BeLive offers entrepreneurs and small business owners around the world the opportunity to broadcast live video on your Facebook page profile, group, or event. The platform is fully web based. There’s nothing to download. BeLive has made the dashboard super easy and intuitive to use. You can be up and running with your own TV style talk show, interviewing guests, interacting with your community, and offering your products and services to a wider audience in 20 minutes. To learn more go to MarioFachini.com/BeLive. Once again, MarioFachini.com/BeLive. 

www.ExpertAuthorityWorld.com [38:41]

Thanks for listening to the episode. I hope you got a lot of value out of it. Let’s continue the conversation over in the community, ExpertAuthorityWorld com. We can have discussions, talk about the episodes, and I’d love to get your thoughts on it. Once again ExpertAuthorityWorld.com.