Social Media Business Hour with Nile Nickel

Greg Smith is the Founder and CEO of Thinkific, a software platform that makes it easy to create, market and sell online courses. Greg practiced corporate law for one of the largest law firms in the country when he created his own online course and it took off, generating more revenue than being a lawyer.

He left his law career to start Thinkific and hasn’t looked back.

Greg and the Thinkific team have helped thousands of experts create and sell courses while building their brands and growing passive revenue.

Clients include everyone from the yoga instructor who wants to teach online, to companies like Hootsuite taking their training to millions of students worldwide.

Direct download: SMBH_134.mp3
Category:SMBH Weekly Episodes -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Kevin Kruse is a New York Times bestselling author, Forbes contributor and Inc. 500 entrepreneur. For his newest book, 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management, Kevin interviewed over 200 billionaires, millionaires, and entrepreneurs...including Mark Cuban!

Direct download: SMBH_129.mp3
Category:SMBH Weekly Episodes -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

If You Are Ready To See Massive Results On LinkedIn, Then Listen To Expert Level Tips And Tricks On This Terrific Interview Between TWO LinkedIn Gurus.  Just A Few Short Minutes Into This Great Conversation About How To Use LinkedIn, You’ll Get:

The Single Most Important Networking Philosophy To Use In Combination With LinkedIn

The “Real” Way To Maximize Your LinkedIn Profile

How To Protect Yourself While Using LinkedIn

Which LinkedIn Connections To Have That Will Boost Your Network (Not Just Any LinkedIn Contact)

Plus Much, Much More!

1.smbh-Mike Shelah NOW TO LISTEN In 2011, Mike began sharing his insights and perspectives on LinkedIn with audiences throughout Maryland. In 2015, He founded Mike Shelah Consulting to work directly with companies and sales professionals across the United States to find more customers and find them fast, leveraging the power of LinkedIn. Mike also uses his experience to evangelize the value of LinkedIn and assist those in the job market wanting to find their dream job and get to the front of the applicant list. A resident of Westminster Maryland since 2005, Mike is a dedicated: husband, father and community advocate.

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What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a very powerful, crucial online tool for professionals. When used correctly, LinkedIn can help you build a great network, find and get introduced to your ideal prospects and showcase your true value and worth to them. All you need is basic networking skills to make it happen. If you have networking skills and understand the golden networking philosophy. It’s a philosophy best described as one where “You to give before you get”. That is you should give value and not just look for an immediate return. When you give true value to somebody, most of the time, they will try to give back to you. LinkedIn is a great place to apply this networking philosophy.

How To Power-up Your LinkedIn Profile

What Makes Mike Shella Unique and Successful? Mike is a well-known LinkedIn Expert, but thinks of himself not as an expert or guru but just a successful salesperson who’s figured out LinkedIn. He suggests, a lot of people think that including words like “expert”, “guru” or “ninja” will make their LinkedIn profile more attractive and will outshine others…but those people have got it all wrong. A LinkedIn profile doesn’t have to be extravagant and boastful. By making it realistic, a profile with value and strong content will easily give you an edge from other professionals in your industry.

LinkedIn Guru With The Answers

Mike started out in sales in 1995 and got into technology sales in 1999. He was one of those traditional sales people making calls and setting appointments. It was a repetitive job. Sadly, Mike noticed he was becoming less effective at it…that is, until a good friend sent him a connection request on LinkedIn. It was a request that started him down a new road in life. That new direction, led Mike from the telecom/communications industry, to starting a business teaching and consulting with professionals on how to properly leverage LinkedIn. Because of his one-on-one consulting, group presentations, and seminars, he was able to help many individuals take full advantage of LinkedIn. After listening to Mike, they were able to find customers, find a job, and succeed in their careers.

How To Properly Leverage Your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn was still fairly new during the time he accepted that friend’s request. He did not waste time exploring and experimenting the ins and outs of it. He found a lot of good and bad things with LinkedIn and both helped paved the way to his success. LinkedIn has an extremely valuable section called advice for contact. Most people use this option in the wrong way. Based on Mike’s experience, most of the people contacting him, will just write a long paragraph or even a short one saying “send me an email” without including so much as their email address or phone number. Simple Power Tips For All LinkedIn Users Sending Contact Requests: • Keep it simple, make it easy for people to contact you • Include a phone number • Include an email address • Utilize the summary section to include your contact details Most of us are not comfortable giving out personal information over the internet. Check Out Two Solid Tricks For Protecting Yourself While Building Your Network: • Have A Dedicated LinkedIn Email Address – Create an email address mainly to be used for LinkedIn. This will let you completely control your inbox. • Sign Up For A Google Voice Number – If you are not comfortable giving out your mobile or landline number, go to Google Voice and sign up for a free Google Voice number. You can then pair the Google Number to your mobile number without anyone seeing your “real” phone number. You then, don’t have to worry about people knowing your mobile number. You can also get an application that can be downloaded directly on your smartphone for this.

Are You Committing The Single Biggest Pet Peeve On LinkedIn?

How would you feel if somebody sent you a message or you sent someone a message and received a response with a huge delay (like a week or so later) – only to apologize for the late response. The most common excuse? People say they are not checking their LinkedIn mailbox regularly. Avoid this embarrassing and unprofessional situation, by using LinkedIn often and spend time checking the 3 most important sections regularly: 1) Inbox 2) Wall 3) Notifications. It will only take you around 5-10 minutes per day to check everything. LinkedIn is a great tool to engage others with, even more so, if you are using it for your business. Take the time to answer questions from your notifications, celebrate with your connections (who got a new job, who are celebrating their work anniversary, etc.) and go through your invitations on a regular basis.

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3 “Expert Level” Ways To Spot A Good Connection on LinkedIn

Since LinkedIn is open to networking, you will always get invitations from people you don’t know. Make sure to use this list when considering a new connection request:
  • Always ask yourself the following before accepting an invite:
    • Is this person a legitimate customer for me?
    • Can I do business with this person if I accept his invitation?
    • Is it a personalized invitation to connect? (Only few people personalize their request to connect with a personal message)
Great example to filter your invitations: Try this one fantastic trick to filter invitations, especially from people you don’t or you’re not really connected with in any degree. Don’t ignore invites, but send them all of these “unknown” people an email with the same message -- “Hello Name, Thank you for reaching out to me, I don’t believe we have me. What are your thoughts about helping one another? I will wait 3 days for your response before I accept your connection request” By sending this response email, you’ll find that 90% of those people will not bother to respond. “Don’t bother sending out connection requests if you don’t know what you can do or if you’re not yet ready to start networking with the big boys” Mike Shelah The key is message customization and profile research. If you are trying to connect with somebody and looking at them as a prospective client, be prepared because you need to let them know your value and the level of engagement you can provide. Everyone needs to learn the fact that we have to reach out as a person and try to develop a personal connection because that can and will make a difference.

3 Tips using LinkedIn To Manage, Develop and Nurture Contacts

  • Engaged – LinkedIn will always give you the opportunity to post an update (like Facebook). However, your update shouldn’t be like the regular Facebook posts about your breakfast, kid’s rehearsals, etc. but it should be on more of a business level. Post an update and invite people to engage and join the conversation.
  • Join Groups – LinkedIn now allows you to join max of 100 groups. Joining groups will help increase your audience and engagement.
  • Share your posts – LinkedIn has made it possible for you to share your posts with other social media channels like Twitter.

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Connect With Mike And Get The Following

Anybody that goes to Mike’s website will get:
  • FREE 3 page personalized LinkedIn profile report
  • He will also share with you his top 5 tips and tricks
  • Recommendations based on what he sees on your LinkedIn profile
  • After Reviewing his free report, if you have a specific goal you want to achieve, Mike will offer you one on one coaching!

SHOW [content_toggle style="1" label="Click%20Here%20To%20View%20The%20Full%20Transcript%20Of%20The%20Show" hide_label="Hide"] Mike: Hi, this is Mike Shelah with the social media business hour with Nile Nickel and today we’re going to empower your Linked In profile. Woman: Are you in business or thinking about starting a new business and could do with a bit of help and guidance when it comes to social media? Then you’re in the right place. Social media can seem daunting and even frustrating but it doesn’t have to be. That is why we offer insights and experience from social media experts from around the world. Discover tips, tricks and information that will help you leverage the power of social media so you can start growing your business today. Welcome to social media business hour with your host Nile Nickel. Nile: Hey, welcome back to our first segment and you heard in the tease that tonight we’ve got Mike Shelah and Mike Shelah is a Linked In expert and I really like talking to Linked In experts. We’ve had probably -- what would you say Jordan? About a half dozen on the show? Jordan: Yeah, sounds about right. Nile: And I really like those experts. Don’t die on me Jordan. Don’t die on me. I really like the Linked In experts because that’s sort of what I do so we always have fun. We tend to learn a lot from each other and we all become better so just to give you some background on Mike. In 2011 Mike began sharing his insights and perspectives on Linked In with audiences throughout Maryland. In 2015 he founded Mike Shelah Coaching to work directly with companies and sales professionals across the United States to find more customers and find them fast leveraging the power of Linked In. mike also uses his experience to evangelize the value of Linked In and those in the job market wanting to find their dream job and get in front of the applicant list. And so Mike welcome to the show. Mike: Thank you Nile. Excited to be here today. Nile: Well, I’m excited. You wanted to -- you talked about helping people out with their profile and I look at profiles as where people really can shine and most of the time they don’t. They just fall flat on their face. In fact I do a product why your Linked In profile sucks and exactly what to do about it so I’m really interested in what you’ve got to talk about tonight. But if I look at all of the Linked In consultants that are out there and you and I both know there are thousands. In fact maybe even tens of thousands. What makes you unique out of all of us Linked In people out here? Mike: The first thing that makes me unique Nile -- and that’s a great question. I get asked it a lot. Is I don’t think of myself as an expert or a guru or a black belt or a ninja or any of those other foolish words that people like to put in their profiles because they think it’s going to somehow attract people to their profile. What I am is a successful salesperson. I started out in sales in 1995. I got into technology sales in 1999 and like many salespeople I come from that tradition of you get a list, you make a 100 phone calls, you set 10 appointments, you get three sales out of that, you move on to the next month. Then you repeat. And what I started to notice about eight years ago was that was becoming less and less effective and a good friend of mine sent me a connection request on Linked In and at that time Linked In was still fairly new. People had it but it certainly was not the platform that it is today and I began experimenting with it and I found lots of bad things to do that I stopped doing and I found a lot of good things to do that really helped me be successful as a salesperson and I’ve been able to modify that to also help people that are in the job hunting process because a lot of the skills that it takes to use Linked In for selling also apply to people that are in the job market looking to find a job. Nile: Sure, absolutely. Absolutely. Of all things that you found with Linked In what would you say is your biggest pet peeve on Linked In? Mike: There is an extremely valuable section to Linked In that says advice for contact and it amazes me how many people in that section don’t actually put a way for me to contact you. They’ll write a big long paragraph or they’ll say shoot me an email but I don’t have your email address. I say keep it simple. Put a phone number in there, put an email address in there and I recommend to people create an email address just for your Linked In account. With Yahoo and Gmail and all the other email platforms out there create an email. Keep it just for your profile and for the phone number -- some people are uncomfortable giving out their personal cellphone number which I can understand. Go to Google Voice, sign up for a free Google Voice number, put that in your profile and that way you can check any messages that come directly from Linked In and you’ll know because it’s a separate app on your smartphone that you just pair with the smartphone number and people never have to know your smartphone number. Nile: Both -- a couple of golden nuggets in there. One of the things that I always recommend is you make it easy for people to contact you and like you said there’s the advice for contact section, there’s information but I also even recommend putting it in the summary section. Make it super easy. And you’re right. So many people don’t do that and after all, if they find you on Linked In which is one of the goals that you likely have if you’re really optimizing your Linked In profile and you’re using it for business or to find a job, you want people to contact you. Mike: Absolutely. Let’s make this simple. Let’s take the confusion out of it. How do I get a hold of you? Nile: In fact, not only taking the confusion out of it. Make it super easy. Mike: Yeah. Nile: If they’re used to looking in a place where it’s not at make sure that it’s in the place that they’re going to look so I love it. I appreciate that advice. Of all the things that you’ve done and the people that you’ve worked with what would you say your favorite Linked In success story is? Mike: Probably my favorite one comes from about six years ago. I was actually at a networking event in Baltimore and I met a gentleman who was the owner of a small business and he was one of the distinguished guests at that event. It was very obvious he didn’t want to talk to any salespeople that day but he was nice enough to give me his business card and after the event I sent him a connection request on Linked In. simply Wayne, thank you for your time. It was a pleasure meeting you this evening. And then a couple of weeks later I see in the Baltimore Business Journal that he’s going to be a keynote speaker at an event. Send Wayne another quick message. Wayne, best of luck with the speaking event. I hope it’s a great success for you. Couple of weeks after that a friend of mine is looking for a job and he’s got a perfect background for this gentleman Wayne. I sent Wayne a message. Wayne, I’d love to introduce you to my friend Dereck. He just got back into the job market and I think he’d be an ideal candidate for your company. Wayne immediately calls me. We spent 15, 20 minutes talking about Dereck and at the end of the conversation Wayne says to me by the way Mike, what do you do? And within 10 minutes of that I’m talking to his office manager. Shortly after that Wayne becomes a customer. But even more important, three years later there was another article in the Baltimore Business Journal about a bank and how they’re going through this explosive growth and they’re interviewing the CEO of the bank. I look her up on Linked In and who does she know? My friend Wayne. Reach out to Wayne. Wayne, would you mind introducing me to Mary? And he says, I’m not going to introduce you to Mary. I’m going to introduce you to the person that I do all my work for her bank through. And within 60 days of that Linked In message I landed the largest account of my professional career and today they spend a quarter of a million dollars a year with my daytime job company. Nile: As you go through that story it reminds me of so many things. One of the things that I talk about and I’m really interested on your thoughts on this as well is Linked In is a tool and it’s a networking tool but it’s just that. It’s a tool. So, when you’ve got good, basic networking skills and networking skills is about give before you get, giving value, not always looking for a return. It’s sort of a natural thing that happens. When you give true value to somebody they look to give back. And so I take that networking philosophy that I have and I’ve shared and I just heard you describe that philosophy perfectly but you used Linked In to implement that strategy. You used the tool of Linked In. Mike: That is correct. And I think you alluded to this earlier. So many people really don’t take the time to develop their Linked In profile and most of the time when I meet someone at a networking event now and they say oh, what do you do? And I tell them I do Linked In consulting, I’m a sales strategist. They look down their feet as if they’re ashamed. As if they’re being addressed by their third grade teacher and the answer’s almost always the same. Well, I have a profile but I don’t really do anything with it and oh, please don’t look at mine because it needs to be updated. And my first thought is well, if you know that why haven’t you done it? Nile: Exactly how long does it take to do that? Mike: In my opinion it takes an hour of hard work to really set up a great profile and then depending on what you do for a living it’s 15 to 20 minutes of maintenance a day. Nile: Well, I’m going to give you my thought and it’s one of the things that I teach. In fact, I teach to really develop your profile and I go through -- there’s currently 13 sections and I talk about going through each of those sections in detail. Spend a week on it but spending a week, you’re probably going to spend anywhere between 15 to maybe 20 minutes a week. Not a day. A week. And then go back over each one of those 13 sections after you’ve went through it the first time which takes you about a quarter so first quarter just build your profile. Second quarter is you start to go back through each section just one section a week which will take you another quarter but that means that you’re touching your profile each and every week and you’re making sure that all of the sections are updated and most sections aren’t going to change that frequently. If at all. But the bottom line is you’ve at least looked at it and you could do that in five to 10, maybe 15 minutes a week. And so you could really have a top of the line profile with very, very little time invested. Mike: Agreed. Nile: Now I suspect that when you’re talking about maybe 15 minutes a day you’re doing the other maintenance things like people send you messages. It might be a good idea to answer those messages. People have connection requests and depending on what your personal policies are and I’d be interested in hearing you’re either going to accept or reject them, whatever. But the flipside is -- and there’s other minor maintenance things you do and then strategically how are you using it for your business. So, I know that I gave you a lot about what I’ve done but I’m interested; and I know you followed all of that too but I’m interested in what you think and what you recommend people to do through those processes as well. Mike: Yeah, you’re hitting a lot of similar ideas that I like to reinforce to people and I apologize. You asked me what my pet peeve earlier was and I think I gave you the wrong one because nothing drives me crazy more than when I send somebody a message on Linked In and then a week later they respond and they say sorry Mike. I don’t check Linked In very often. Again, take 15 minutes a day. You’ve got that little banner right on top of your profile. You’ve got an inbox that shows messages. You have the flag for to dos and then you have invitations. It’s really that simple. Those three things, that’s the 15 minutes I was referring to. You’re right. Those three things should not take you more than 15, 20 minutes a day. Answer the questions that come through, check out the notifications. Who wrote a good blog, who’s got a new job, who’s celebrating an anniversary? Engage on those things and then go through your invitations. And I am not _____30:58 Linked In open networker but I’m not a lock down Linked In user either. What I generally recommend to people is -- because you’re going to get recommendations from people that you don’t know. It always happens. My first thought is is this person a legitimate customer for me? Is this somebody that I could do business with and if so then I accept the connection request and I follow that up with hey, thanks for reaching out? How can I help you today? And I want to get the conversation going and I want to start it just as easy as what can I do to help you. Now, for people that don’t fall into that category -- maybe we don’t have a mutual contact, maybe they’re in Switzerland. The list could be extensive. My first thought is did they customize the Linked In introduction? Did they write something in there because if they wrote something in there there’s a very good chance they’ve described why they wanted to connect with me? Very few people do that. I would say one out of about a 100 invitations I get actually have a personalized introduction. So, I recommend to everybody that that’s what they do when they reach out to people. Particularly if you don’t know them. Linked In doesn’t like you doing that but if you’re going to take that risk, customize it and maximize your opportunity to get connected. When people don’t customize instead of ignoring or accepting I reply to the message and my message is consistent. I say to that person hi Nile. Thank you for reaching out to me. I don’t believe we have met. What are your thoughts on helping one another? I’ll wait three days for your response before I accept your connection request. And then I wait to see what happens because what I found is 90 percent of those people don’t bother to respond to my follow through and I think well, if you can't do that you’re probably not ready to start networking with the big boys. Nile: Yeah, that’s probably true. Well, listen, I know that I want to continue this but we’re going to take a short break. We’ll be right back after this message. Hey, welcome back. You’re listening to the social media business hour with Nile and Jordan and our special guest tonight Mike Shelah and we’re talking about Linked In. you know it’s one of my favorite subjects. And in the last segment we were talking about how people -- or better yet, how you personally respond to the connection requests you get in messages Mike and I liked what you were saying and one of the things that I think we agree on but I want you to continue with where you were but one of the things that we both agree on here is that you don’t want to just use the default messages because why do you just want to be run of the mill? Stand out and it doesn’t take long. In fact, I use a program -- I’m Mac based. It’s called text expander. On PC it’s called Brevity. But literally all it does is -- it’s a short key. I type in three keys and it fills in the message for me and I just fill in the blanks if there are any and it doesn’t take any length of time to sort of put my standard message out. Some people could just save it and cut and paste it but because I do different ones depending on the situation I like having that customization there. But you give a unique response and I liked where you were going in the last segment. So, let me hear more about how you respond to some of those requests that you get. Mike: Sure. The key is customization and even more important delivering some value. If you’re going -- if you’re trying to connect with somebody and they’re a prospective client let them know what was the level of engagement. One of my favorite things about Linked In is that you can research a person before you try to touch them. I went to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County also known as UMBC and in this part of the country UMBC is now very well renowned as a top technology school and if I see on somebody’s profile that they’re an UMBC graduate I’m writing go retrievers because that’s our mascot. Our mascot’s a Labrador retriever. Go retrievers. And because that’s something that’s going to really create that common bond. That’s going to -- it’s going to ground us. And for the sales audience listening today it enhances your prospecting tool. You come up with that target list of 20 accounts that you want to engage and you’re going to reach out to someone what better way than your mutual connections. The people that you know that they know. Looking through their mutual contacts. I got a call back from a client one day because the message I left on his voicemail was hey Bob. Calling you today. We’re both members of the Baltimore County Chamber. I saw that you are friends with George and with Brad. How do you know George and Brad? And he called me back and he said well Mike, how do you know George and Brad? And we got the conversation going. I didn’t say anything about my company or my product or any of that. I started as a person and I started deeply, personally and it just so happened the two names that I mentioned that we had as mutual contacts -- one was a business partner of his that he rents space from and the other one was his childhood best friend. Oh, and I could say that the one man was my former boss that I have a good relationship with and the other one’s my fraternity brother. He was more than happy to set a meeting and have a conversation with me because I wasn’t just another salesperson. I was a person. Nile: And he approached you on a completely different level and I always like to say people buy from people. They don’t buy from companies or businesses. Mike: Amen brother. Nile: And so the fact that you’re reaching out as a person and you’re developing the personal connection just makes all the difference in the world. Great golden nugget there. I’m curious, you’ve been using Linked In for a while. Have you ever used Linked In to find a job? Mike: I have actually and what normally happens is jobs normally find me and what I mean by that is because I’ve optimized my profile, because I’m engaging on a regular basis on there I have people reach out to me all the time saying they’re having trouble finding a job and I say well, I get contacted by one new recruiter on average once a week and they say well, how do you do that? I’m like my profile’s optimized for the industry that I’m in. they naturally find me. and I’ve been happy to say that I’ve been able to just reject most of those job opportunities because they weren’t better than the one I have and the company I’m with right now; I’m with them now because I saw an old friend of mine had gotten a new job there as a sales director so he was above a manager and I just reached out and I again, I had no attention -- I said Rob, congratulations on the new job. I wish you nothing but success. And Rob immediately pinged me back and said Mike I’m desperate for good sales people. Will you come and interview with us. And at the time I was open to hearing about new opportunities. I came in. I met with my now sales manager of three and a half years and I’ve had ridiculous success at that company. And that’s how you find the opportunities. By optimizing your profile and doing that daily engagement. I wasn’t looking for a job when I reached out to Rob to congratulate them. I genuinely wanted to say hey, best of luck with your new job. Nile: Again, it’s on a person basis. Not a company basis. Makes all the difference in the world. We’ve talked about some strategies and I’m curious and obviously want to relate this to Linked In but what do you think has made you successful with Linked In from a personal level? Mike: I think it starts with the personal component. I certainly do. When I think about my big wins, like my big successes that I’ve had as a salesperson almost every single one of them has started with a personal referral that I’d leveraged through Linked In to get the opportunity to speak to that client. Almost every single one. I have some close relationship to someone who knew to get me in the door and they got me in the right door and that person had to be ignoring me before and the plates just shifted into place. I had this one company, huge law firm in Baltimore and I had been calling on them and calling on them and calling on them and they never returned my phone calls. And a friend of mine went to work for that firm and I said Joe would you mind introducing me to Brent. I’ve been trying to get a hold of him. He has not been returning my calls. Joe sends one email to Brent introducing me. Brent gets -- sends me a follow up email and says I would be happy to work with you -- meet with you Mike but I don’t think there’s much you’re going to be able to help us with right now. That was the second largest sale of my professional career. It again happened in less than 60 days and I actually got the customer so excited about what I was offering that they broke their contract with their current vendor to come and work with my company. Nile: Wow. That’s actually saying something. Mike: And it really was leveraging that other relationship. He had no desire to talk to me but because I knew someone that he respected he said all right. I’ll hear what you have to say. Nile: Excellent strategy there and thanks for giving us insights into your success as well. One of the other things that I’d like to ask is that I know that you teach people, you have a strategy to average a new connection every day to get the right introductions. So, it’s not just the connection but it’s the connection to get the right introductions. How do you do that? Mike: It’s the value of the second degree connection. That’s what I try to impart on people. I connect with my clients all the time but I -- I say I connect with everyone. I connect with everyone that I meet. Great example, I was at a business expo last week in Baltimore and it’s a big semiannual event. They do one in the fall, they do one in the spring. There’s usually 60 vendors and about 500 people and typically when I go to an event like that I’m going to see 20 or 30 people I already know and I’m going to meet 15 to 20 people that I don’t know. And with each one of those people I follow up right after the event. Nile, great meeting you at the Bizz Expo this week. I hope we have the opportunity to work together very soon. And that’s all the introduction is. I’ll tell you, I have a coworker right now who is doing some great volunteer work with a nonprofit here in Baltimore and that nonprofit has got this big event coming up in June and they’re looking for ways to market and promote the event and so my coworker said well, you’ve got to talk to my friend Mike because he does all this stuff with Linked In and you’re just going to love him. And I have a phone call with my liaison there. Her name is Karin. And it turns out that Karin’s not connected to my friend on Linked In. now, I know that they know each other but neither one of them has taken that step and my first thought was why aren’t you taking that step? Because I found out that another friend of mine in the marketing company is also doing a project for them and in fact I’m helping her behind the scenes to prepare for that presentation. And I said to her why aren’t you connected to Karin? If you’re working with her why haven’t you taken that step? Why wouldn’t you? Because once you’ve done a good job, once you’ve delivered on what they’ve asked for I’m going to ask for a recommendation because I want that on my profile. I want people to see that I have customers that are happy, that love me and that I’ve done great work for. Nile: That makes absolute sense there and again, I think there’s a number of golden nuggets there. As we’re going through this and I’m listening to what you’re talking about there and the way that you’re talking about connecting people -- again, I’m back to old fashioned networking and it’s sometimes good to connect the virtual world to the real world and when we’ve got these real world connections it does amaze me as well how many people aren’t sharing those connections that they have. Not only -- I look at Linked In I guess and I’m going to take a sort of different angle here. I look at Linked In as my best resource for my online rolodex and if -- now, we’re talking rolodex so we’re dating ourselves a bit because most people today have no clue what that is if they’re new to the business world but it was basically on the corner of your desk and you kept notes on there about anniversaries and spouses and children and events and whatever it may be you kept on that little card. I like to keep all of those notes on those little cards in my Linked In section but -- Mike: Absolutely. Nile: But if I’m not connected to those folks I can't do that. And so I like the recommendation you just made. Why aren’t you and why wouldn’t you? Because I think sometimes we could help the folks that are in our community deal with the value that sometimes they overlook or quite frankly they don’t value. And I want to get into some other strategies as well as talking to about how people could find you and all of that but we’re going to do that in the next segment. So, we’re going to take just a short break and we’ll be right back after this message. Hey, welcome back to the social media business hour. We’re here talking to Mike Shelah and we’re talking about Linked In and Mike I personally think we’re into some advanced strategies but before we get into some -- Mike: Love it. Nile: Some of the other questions and all of that good stuff, one of the things that really strikes me in the face and I think of this the same way. I think anybody listening to this is going to say there’s nothing real detailed or real fancy. I could do all of this. Sounds pretty simple. And I would agree that they could. But they don’t do it. like you said, the most common thing that I hear people say is yeah, I’ve got a Linked In profile but I really haven’t touched it. It’s out of date. Don’t look at it. And we’re talking about some tremendous power they could get and it’s pretty simple if you just do a few simple things. Would you agree? Mike: I completely agree, yeah. And that’s why I use the word evangelize, I use the word catalyst because that really is my goal. I want to turn on as many people as I can to this platform. And not just make them aware because as you’ve stated plenty of people are aware of Linked In. they’re not aware of what it could do for them. And by me getting their awareness cranked up to 11 it’s just going to benefit me. I mean, ultimately it’s very selfish. The more people use Linked In, the better off I am. Nile: Well, and the more people you help you become valuable to those folks. They’re more interested in helping you at that point in time. Mike: Very true. Nile: So, do you have any tips on how you use Linked In to manage and develop and nurture contacts along the way? Now, I know you’ve shared a few things but I’m interested if you’ve got any more details there, any more nuggets? Mike: Yeah, I -- my favorite thing is the engagement piece and you may have seen -- you may have talked about this on previous podcasts but Linked In now has that social selling index tab. You can click on it and it will highlight your profile and put it into four buckets and show you where you need to do a better job and it gives you a ranked score of one out of 100. And the one thing that I think most people don’t really take advantage of is the engagement. You have an opportunity to post an update like you do on Facebook although we’re not talking about what you had for breakfast or your kid’s rehearsal or anything like that. We’re talking about things that matter to business. Do an update and invite conversation. A more detailed update, Linked In Pulse -- once a week put your thought together or for people that don’t like to write what I recommend is they take their daily updates from Monday through Friday and they lump those into a pulse blog post on Saturday. So, take the five articles or relevant stories that you connected throughout the week and just do a two, three sentence paragraph on each one and make that your pulse bog post for the week to increase engagement. And not only to increase engagement but to position yourself as a thought leader and an industry expert. That’s really what those two tools do for you. And then you can further leverage that blog post by engaging it in groups. Linked In now let’s you join up to 100 groups and those groups can be everything from your favorite football team to your college alumni to something based in your community. It can be faith based. It can -- the spectrum for groups that you can join is almost infinite. Get yourself north of 50 groups and then once you’ve written that blog post on Saturday the following Monday share it in five groups and it’s as simple as I wrote this blog post about -- what are some of the things you’ve done in this situation that have benefited you? And get the conversation going. And now you’re being positioned as a thought leader. You’re increasing your audience. You’re increasing engagement and that’s really how you get yourself to adding one new connection a day. By going through those steps. You start with the daily posts. You summarize them in a weekly pule blog and then you push them out to your groups to further engage your audience. Nile: Well, groups have changed dramatically just in the last six months on Linked In that for people that think they know about groups and maybe some of the things that they used to do that don’t work anymore -- it’s worthwhile taking a new look at groups and we don’t have that much time. We can't get into that much detail there but I agree with the group power. It’s just people leveraging that power. And developing that power. Having that said, what you just talked about was an excellent social media strategy and when you do those shares -- we haven’t talked about this but a lot of people don’t know this. I know you do. You’ve got this nice little box down in the bottom right hand corner of your post where you could share on Twitter. Mike: Oh, yes. One of my favorites. Nile: And most of those posts that you’re doing make sense to be shared on Twitter as well. People will engage with you on the platforms that are their platforms. It’s where they work and play. That may or may not be Linked In. may not include Linked In. so, if you’re doing something there why not leverage the power and be able to put it out to Twitter at the same time and if you happen to think about how you’re doing those things it works perfectly when you could do that and just check that little tiny box. Mike: Yeah, very -- and you make a good point that it doesn’t have to be automatic. When Linked In first rolled out Twitter there was a feature that you could select to make it automatic and I learned very quickly that was a bad idea because I was getting these random post updates on my Linked In profile for when I would tweet something. So, I quickly learned to make it a toggle that when I post something on linked it then pushes it over to Twitter and not the other way around. Nile: Yeah, absolutely. Because a lot of things that you put on Twitter may not work very well on Linked In. virtually everything you do on Linked In would work on Twitter so use it accordingly. Mike: Flip the phone. Absolutely. Nile: But I love the way that you talked about doing that because that same strategy works with a lot of the different social media platforms and engage with people where they are. They may or may not be on Linked In as I mentioned but certainly the fact that you could pick up one or two over the course of a year -- new contacts that are valuable contacts just by sharing out the same information may not sound like much but if you look at it 10 years later and it was only two per year that’s 20 good, solid contacts. That could make a business all by itself. Sometimes we -- Mike: That -- believed in -- yeah. They’ve believed in what you said and it resonated with them and they wanted to get engaged. Nile: Exactly. Sometimes we think about the big numbers and I’d rather have 10 followers that are actively engaged than a thousand that aren’t. And it’s just so important to make sure that we don’t get caught up in big numbers. We get caught up in good numbers. Mike: Quality. Nile: Quality over quantity so great stuff. Mike: Nothing wrong with quantity but quality and quantity, much nicer combination. Nile: A much nicer combination and sometimes you have to have quantity just to sort of validate that you’re in the game and you probably have some strategies related to that but we’re running close to being out of time. We’ve got about three or four minutes left and before we run out of time I want to ask about what you do with your clients and to the extent that we’ve got people that are interested in learning more and talking to you, how would they do that? So, let’s talk first about what you do for your clients. Mike: Sure. Three phases to that really. First is anybody that goes to my website can get a free three page report where I review their profile and I believe you said you have 13 points. I have 12 points and then my five tips and tricks. So, we’re basically talking about the same things. And I go through there, I make my recommendations based on what I see. Then the next phase is they’ve gone through that report, they’ve done the things I’ve suggested but they’re looking for more the strategic -- they have a specific goal that they want to attack; I’ll do one on one coaching. The nonprofit that I mentioned. I’m going to be doing that for them. I’m going to be working with them starting in December through June on a biweekly basis to promote this event that they have. It’s one of their biggest fundraisers of the year. That’s what I’m going to be doing with them. And then the last one is I do a 10 week program that is sale centric for the business owner that has a sales force of five or more people. I do a snapshot before this program begins where I do an overview of each participant and I present that to management. And then through the 10 week course we’re going through 30 minutes of Linked In and then 30 minutes of sales strategy. Once a week. At the end of the 10 weeks I do another snapshot for management and it generally falls into four categories. You’ve got your DIY people at the top mister manager. They’re doing great. They don’t need any more help. You’ve got your people that are picking it up. They probably could use some more help. You’ve got these people bellow. They really need a lot of help. And then you’ve got that unfortunate group at the bottom that I can hit them over the head with a hammer and they won't know that it hurts. Nile: Well, I just re-categorized your list there. I like it. The DIY, great. They’re ready to fly. Need some help. Needs a lot of help and helpless. Mike: It can't be helped. Yes. Nile: So, yeah. Beyond any help. So, that’s absolutely awesome. So, if people are interested in learning more, give us that information again. Mike: Certainly. I’m on Linked In. you can find me at www.mikeshelah.com. M-I-K-E-S-H-E-L-A-H. Nile: I was going to say make sure we spell Shelah because you know people will be getting that wrong. Mike: Yes, it is not like the girl’s name. Just pronounced that way. And I’m also on Twitter @mikeshelah. I have a Facebook page, Mike Shelah Consulting and I have an Instagram @mikeshelah. Nile: You just mentioned Instagram there. That’s powerful stuff but most people seem to ignore that. Mike: Great for pictures. Nile: Well, great. Great for a lot of things actually. We might talk about that in the future. Well, listen, we’re basically out of time. I want to thank you so much for joining us and us just having this great Linked In discussion. I always like it when I can have other Linked In -- I know you don’t like the term expert. You say you’re not but I like when other Linked In experts are out there and experts are the people that are sort of at the top of it, of the Linked In platform as you are that are really helping pull other people up to the top because it is a great platform. Most people just aren’t using it. So, Mike, thanks so much for joining us. Mike: Nile, this has been a blast. Thank you for your time. Nile: I appreciate it. And to our listeners, I want to thank you for joining us on the social media business hour. Hopefully you learned at least a few new ideas or concepts. Maybe you were just reminded of a few things that you already know but you haven’t been doing to improve or grow your life or business. Our desire is that you take just one of the things that you learned or were reminded of today and you apply it to your business or your life this week. I know that a small change will make a big difference and I’m committed to bringing you at least one new idea each week that you could implement. So, identify just one small change that you could make to your business or your life this week and see what a big difference it will make for you. So, until next week, this is Nile Nickel. Now, go make it happen. Woman: Thanks for listening. Social media business hour is sponsored by linkedinfocus.com. Be sure to get the latest social media business tips and tricks plus free tips on how you can use Linked In to help your business today. Visit socialmediabusinesshour.com. [/content_toggle] weblinksFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikeshelahconsulting Twitter: @mikeshelah Website: www.mikeshelah.com

Direct download: SMBH_133.mp3
Category:SMBH Weekly Episodes -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT

Sales doesn’t have to be hard.  It can be easy, but only if you know the secrets of building profitable relationships.

Join us for this incredible interview and discover the time-tested strategies and tactics for how to handle people in a way that excites them and leaves them asking for more.

smbh_bobburg_headshot NOW TO LISTEN Bob Burg is a sought-after speaker at company leadership and sales conferences sharing the platform with everyone from today’s business leaders and broadcast personalities to even a former U.S. President. Bob is the author of a number of books on sales, marketing and influence, with total book sales of well over a million copies. His book, The Go-Giver, coauthored with John David Mann has sold over half a million copies and it has been translated into 21 languages. It is now being released in a new, expanded edition, with a foreword by Huffington Post founder and publisher, Arianna Huffington. Bob is an advocate, supporter and defender of the Free Enterprise system, believing that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve. He is also an unapologetic animal fanatic, and serves on the Board of Trustees of Furry Friends Adoption & Clinic in his town of Jupiter, Florida.

How To Say No When You Just Don’t Want To Do Something?

Do you want to always please others? Are you afraid of hurting other people’s feelings? Are you afraid to say “NO”? What is it really about saying no that we try to avoid? As human beings, we always seem to have that instinct to please others. We often think that by saying “No” we are going to offend some one…and that it’s not appropriate or nice. It is not congruent in today’s society and our value system, to treat people with disrespect. We’re afraid of losing an important person in our life or even miss out on an opportunity. We don’t want to say “No” because others might think that we’re being unproductive. Believe it or not, we are taught to say No, and the word “No” is already a complete sentence. We are more happy and productive when we do the things that we want to do and not the things we are compelled to do.

“Unless you want to do something or there is a compelling reason for you to do it, then you shouldn’t” -Bob Burg

Bob Burg shares with us the secrets of being polite in this extremely valuable interview. For instance, if you don’t want to do something for whatever reason, maybe it’s due to lack of time, lack of knowledge or inclination, then just say “no” politely and thank whoever it is for asking. The reasons for saying no are your reasons and yours alone.

The Results Of Saying No Politely

You can say “No” and still feel good after saying it. Better yet, you can also leave the person you’re talking to with a good feeling, too – even though you’re declining their offer or request. If you don’t want to do something, you can just simply say no politely. Make sure to thank them for asking you and say how honored and humbled you are by being asked. Unless the person you’re talking to is the kind of person who gets angry for any reason, they probably can’t afford to get mad at you. If you do it right, they might even thank you for the way you turned them down.

The 5 Undisputable Laws Of Business Success

  1. The Law Of Value – Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value that you take in payment. Most people will think that this is a recipe for bankruptcy, but it’s not. To really get the concept, you might first need to understand the difference between price and value.
    1. Price - It is a dollar figure, an amount. It is finite.
    2. Value - It is the relative worth or desirability of something from the end user’s point of view. It is how you might desire a product, service, concept or idea that brings so much worth or value that you are willing to exchange your money, your time and your energy.
  1. The Law Of Compensation – Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
    1. Your income is determined not just by the value you provide but how many lives you impact with value.
  1. The Law Of Influence – Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interest first. The greatest leaders, top influencers, and the most profitable sales people run their lives and their business through the power of influence. It is all about you looking for ways to place the interest of others first.
When you place other people’s interest first, it doesn’t mean that you will become a doormat, martyr or that you even have to sacrifice yourself for them…but it is seeing all things as equal. It is moving from an “I Focus” to “An Other’s Focus”. “Golden rule of business is to see all things and people as being equal, it is moving from an “I Focus” to “An Other’s Focus” Bob Burg “Be the Protégé, making your win all about the other person’s win” Bob Burg

Automated profits

Building A Bigger, Stronger More Responsive List Of Subscribers Is The Fastest And Easiest Way To Add More Profits To Your Bottom Line.

 

  1. The Law Of Authenticity – The most valuable gift you offer is yourself. Bob mentioned one of his mentors, Debra Davenport. She explained that all the skills in the world like sales, technical and people skills, as important as they are, they are all for naught if you don’t come at it from your true, authentic core.

When you show up as yourself, day in and day out, week after week, month after month, you can expect that people will feel good about you. They will feel comfortable with you because they know, either in a personal or business relationship, they can like and trust you.

  1. The Law Of Reciprocity – The key to effective giving, is to be open to receiving. All the giving in the world won’t benefit you if you are not willing and able to allow yourself to receive as well. You want a sustainable life? You’ve got to breathe in and breathe out. Life is all about giving and receiving.

“The key to effective giving is to be open to receiving” -Bob Burg

Being A Go-Giver

  • The common misconception about being a go-giver, especially to those who haven’t read the book yet, is that Go-Givers are just always giving themselves away. As if those people don’t care about making a profit. This is just not true.

A Go-Giver type of person, gives value constantly and not just gives themselves away. In fact, Go-Givers tend to make a much larger profit that others because they sell high value rather than low price. They know that when you sell “Low price”, you become a commodity. When you sell on value, you become a resource. “A Go-Giver knows that when you sell “Low price”, you become a commodity but when you “Sell value”, you become a resource”

  • Another misconception is that Go-Givers don’t know how to say “No”. Go-givers actually say “No” a lot. Most go-givers are very successful. Typically, they are very busy and they don’t have much time say “yes” to everyone and everything. One great thing about being a Go-giver is, they know how to say “no” in a way that honors the other person.

Influencers

Increase Your Income by Building Relationships with Influencers, VIPs, and Top Performers, Even If You Hate Networking

4 Master Level Lessons To live by

      • If you want to make a lot of money in business or make a lot of money in sales, then do not use “making money” as your sole goal. Your goal should be serving others. When you achieve your goal, you’ll receive a reward. That reward can be money or an opportunity that leads to money. Of course, you can use that money in whatever way that you want - but never forget, money is NOT only the reward for hitting your target. It’s not the goal itself. The goal should be in serving others.
      • Selling is not about you, it is always about the customer.
      • Selling is discovering what somebody wants, what they need or desires and helping them to get it.
      • Great leadership is never about the leader, great influence is never about the influencer and great salesmanship is never about the sales person. It is always about the other person. It is about everyone whose lives you chose to touch and lives you chose to add value to.

SHOW    

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Bob: Hi, I’m Bob Burg, coauthor of the Go-Giver and tonight we’ll look at how a small shift in focus can have significant results for your business. Woman: Are you in business or thinking about starting a new business and could do with a bit of help and guidance when it comes to social media? Then you’re in the right place. Social media can seem daunting and even frustrating but it doesn’t have to be. That is why we offer insights and experience from social media experts from around the world. Discover tips, tricks and information that will help you leverage the power of social media so you can start growing your business today. Welcome to social media business hour with your host Nile Nickel. Jordan: Hello and thank you again for joining us. This is Nile’s trusty sidekick and cohost Jordan and I’d like to take a moment to share with you how you could benefit from Nile’s incredible experience using social media for real business success. If you’re an entrepreneur or thinking about starting your own business then using social media might be the most cost effective and time effective way to get your business real results. That’s not to mention much of what you could do to get those terrific results on social media is even free. Take Linked In for example. Nile always says it’s the best social media platform for business today. And that’s why I recommend you go to linkedinfocus.com and start your social media education today. Sign up for Nile’s free tips, tricks and strategies. Once again, it’s free and it only takes a few seconds. Go to linkedinfocus.com today. You’ll be glad you did. Nile: Hey, welcome back and we are so excited tonight. We have a return guest Bob Burg. He was with us in episode 33. Jordan: Yes, the infamous episode 33. Nile: The infamous. As a matter of fact, we get more questions about that episode than any other episode. Jordan: That’s right. And accusation. Nile: Because everybody thinks we baited them. Jordan: That’s right. That’s right. Nile: We didn’t do that, didn’t we Bob? Bob: No, not at all. Nile: Yeah, we just haven’t got back together to sort of complete that interview but just to give everybody a little bit of recall Bob is really a very sought after speaker at company leadership and sales conferences sharing the platform with everyone from today’s business leaders, broadcast personalities even to a former US president. He’s the author of a number of books on sales, marketing and influence with the total book sales of well over a million copies. His book the Go-Giver coauthored with John David Mann has sold over a half million copies and has been translated into 21 languages. It’s now being released in a new expanded edition with a foreword by Huffington Post founder and publisher Arianna Huffington. Bob is an advocate, supported and defender of the free enterprise system believing that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve. He’s also an unapologetic animal fanatic and serves on the board of trustees of Furry Friends, Adoption and Clinic in his home town of Jupiter, Florida. We make fun of Florida a lot Jordan but we’re there and so -- Jordan: Well, that gives us license. Nile: That gives us license I guess. So, Bob welcome back. Bob: Well, thanks. Great being back with you guys. Nile: It is awesome to have you back. It’s always a pleasure. You just always have so many great insights and really valuable information but we’re going to go back to the end of episode 33 now and we were talking about how people don’t have time and some of the answers that they give and you were giving an answer and last time technology wasn’t our friend and it cut off in the middle of the answer and people think that we did that intentionally. So, let me take you back to that and let’s just sort of replay that a bit. So, if you don’t have time and you really want to give an honest answer. You were starting to give some recommendations so let’s jump back into that and then we’ll jump into today’s interview. Bob: Sure. Well, it was really about how to say no when you just don’t want to do something. Whether you have time or not it may not be the question. It’s typically we have time to do those things we want to do or feel drawn to do. we never have time to do something we don’t really want to do so it really comes down to is it something you want to do or not and unless there is a compelling reason for you to do it in your mind’s eye then if you really don’t want to then you shouldn’t. Now, the problem is with telling people no, I don’t want to do it. Why? Because as human beings we want to please others. We want to come through for people assuming it’s not a -- assuming that it’s something that’s worthy or something that’s not inappropriate but let’s say for example and I think we used the example of being asked to serve on a committee. Nile: Exactly. Bob: And it’s -- yeah. And it’s something you don’t want to do for whatever reason. You may not feel like you have the time or the knowledge or the inclination, whatever. That’s your business. One way people are taught to kind of say no is to well, just say no. no is a complete sentence and so forth. And people fell often empowered when they hear that but very rarely is someone going to do that. Is someone going to say no, I don’t want to? Because it’s not nice, it’s not congruent with your value system of treating people with respect and you’re probably going to lose a friend or a potential friend or other opportunities when you do it that way so it’s really -- saying no that way isn’t necessarily appropriate and it’s not particularly productive. So, the other way people do it is to say they don’t have time. Oh, I’d really like to but I’m sorry. I just don’t have time. Well, again, the challenge with doing that is you do have the time if you want to do it. You probably don’t want to do it which again is fine. That’s okay. But the challenge with saying I don’t have time is that the other person comes across this all the time and they know how to answer that objection if you will. And when they do so compellingly then you’re in a position where you either have to admit that really I just don’t want to and so you’re kind of saying I lied which doesn’t make them feel good about you and you don’t feel good about yourself or in order to save face you need to take on the assignment or accept the -- their request which you really don’t want to do and then that’s a losing situation for you. So, rather than doing either of those we can say no in way that respects the other person and honors the other person while also respecting our boundaries. And so the way I would suggest is this and that’s very simple. When -- and again, let’s say you’re being asked to serve on a committee you don’t want to serve on. You simply say to the person thank you so much for asking. While it’s not something I’d like to do please know how honored I am to be asked. And that’s it. Okay. And what you’ve done is you’ve answered the question in a way that’s not only polite. It’s very respectful. You’ve honored this other person. You’ve thanked them for asking. You’ve let them know it’s not something you’d like to do or something you choose to do but that you’re honored to have been asked. And unless this person is really someone who is going to be mad at someone for whatever reason they can't be mad at you. In fact, they’re going to feel good about you and they’re going to -- they may even thank you for the way you turned them down. I’ve had that happen to me and others have said the same. So, again, it’s simply thank you so much for asking. While it’s not something I’d like to do please know how honored I am to be asked. Nile: And now we’ve got that great answer to close out episode 33 so adversity to allies. Go back to episode 33 and listen to that. It’s really great stuff. Bob: Thank you. Nile: But tonight you’re touching my heart a bit here. I don’t know how long ago it was that I actually started listening to the Go-Giver on Audible and I enjoyed it so much I actually then got the book sort of backwards of what a lot of people do. But you and John David Mann published that back in 2007. That’s for all practical purposes nine years ago. What has motivated you to take that book which is a great book? If people haven’t read it we’re going to have a link up on the website and of course the expanded edition as well of course. But for the people that haven’t read that what was really the inspiration for that? Bob: Well, years ago, many years ago I had a book out called Endless referrals, network your everyday contacts into sales which was really for people in sales who didn’t necessarily feel comfortable with the selling process or with meeting people and developing the relationships that it took to really have a steady stream of qualified prospects and referrals and the premise of the book was that all things being equal people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like and trust. The way you develop these relationships is to really take the focus off of yourself. Move from what we call an eye focus or me focus and move to an other focus always looking for ways to add value to their lives. You could even say placing their interests first. And so I through the years -- and it was a how to book and through the years I’ve read a lot of business parables, short books that had an impactful message and were entertaining and fun to read. Books such as Ken _____23:30 Spencer Johnson’s One minute series, the One minute manager, the One minute sales person, the One minute apology. Spencer Johnson had -- and Ken _____23:41 had a number of other books through the years and there were many other people who wrote parables and I always enjoyed them. I thought what a great way to learn an important message. Nile: Sure. Bob: And to do it in a short period of time. And I thought wouldn’t it be neat if we could take the general underlying message, the premise if you will from endless referrals and put it into a parable. And so I had the basic idea in the title the Go-Giver but that was pretty much it. and so I asked John David Mann who was the editor and chief of a magazine I was writing for at the time or I had written for in the past and I knew John to have an amazing reputation as a writer and at that time -- now John is in demand everywhere. At that time only people within a certain niche market really knew of his genius and I knew that I wanted him to be the lead writer and major storyteller of the book because I knew I couldn’t do it justice myself. I’m a how to author. I’m not really a parable writer. And so John and I got together and collaborated on it and thanks to his expert writing the book really turned out to have an emotional appeal with people and it’s something that we both believe very strongly in the message and we continue to promote it and it’s been sort of like the ever ready the energizer bunny, whatever it was. That just keeps on going and we’re very grateful for that. Nile: Well, and it is such a beautiful story. It’s easy to get into the story and you’re weaving just invaluable business messages and life lessons into the story. In fact, one of the things that I like as you get into the story, you had a gentleman that just really wasn’t happy with his life. We’re not talking about business. We’re just talking about his life. And with the changes that he learned over time not only did his life change but his business changed dramatically as well. It’s really just a fantastic parable as you said. Bob: Oh, thank you. Nile: And I love the -- and it’s a short read. I think it’s 127 pages and those are small pages. And you end up with the five laws of stratospheric success. That was hard to say. Bob: It is hard to say. Nile: But just valuable lessons. One of the things you do is you talk about the entrepreneurial spirit. But what about those people who aren’t entrepreneurs? Does that message in the Go-Giver still apply to them? Bob: It really does because even if someone is not an entrepreneur in terms of starting their own business they still need to think entrepreneurially even when they are simply an employee within a small or major corporation because remember, in this case you still have your own business and that business is you and you’re selling your time, you’re selling your knowledge, your wisdom, you’re selling your services, you are selling your value to your employer and the only reason that they are going to have you in their company is because they feel they’re receiving more in use value from you than what they’re paying and that only makes sense. Otherwise why would they shell out money, right, to have you working in their organization? By the same token it works the other way too. The employer can add great value to their employees over and above their -- the paycheck by creating an environment where people feel valued, where they look forward to coming to work, where they feel as though they’re making a difference, where they’re learning things that can help them progress in their life after that particular job, what have you. So, it’s really a two way street. Everyone can be entrepreneurial in terms of looking for ways to focus on the other person, on adding value to others and that’s why that shift in focus makes all the difference in the world. When you’re an employee who’s focused truly on providing exceptional value to your employer when the layoffs come you’re still going to have your job. Nile: It’s so, so right and so valuable. Well, we’re going to talk about the five laws and all of that right after we take this short break. Jordan: All right. It’s time for another social media marketing moment. Nile, do me a favor. Talk to me about headshots in Linked In. yeah, I hear you talking to people about that all the time. Nile: Well, one thing that’s so funny is so many people don’t take that headshot seriously. They’ve got their arm around somebody that’s not in the picture or they’re deep in the background you could barely see who they are. Want to know an interesting fact? People that look at your Linked In profile spend 80 percent of their time looking at your profile, looking at your headshot. Why is that? It’s because people like to look into your eye. They feel if they look into your eye that they could see what you’re about. They get an understanding of who you are and that’s important before they move anywhere else. Jordan: Another great pearl of wisdom. Thanks Nile. For more just like that join us at linkedinfocus.com, sign up. You’ll be glad you did. Nile: Hey, welcome back to the social media business hour where we’re talking with Bob Burg, the author of the Go-Giver and there’s a new expanded edition that Bob’s just put out. We talked a little bit about that in the first segment but one of the things that we talked about is the five laws and can you maybe give us a quick review of the five laws that you and John share in the book? Bob: Sure. The five laws themselves are the laws of value, compensation, influence, authenticity and receptivity. The law of value says your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment. Now, this sounds like a recipe for bankruptcy when you first hear it but it’s not because we need to simply understand the difference between price and value. Price is a dollar figure, a dollar amount. It’s finite. It is what it is. Value on the other hand is the relative worth or desirability of a thing of something to the end user or the holder. In other words what is it about this thing, this product, service, concept, idea that brings so much worth or value to it that someone will willingly exchange their money for it or their time or their energy, what have you, in order to obtain this value and feel great about it while you make a very healthy profit? And this can be anything from someone selling accounting services to someone owning a pizza restaurant. When someone buys a pizza for 15 dollars and the pizza is absolutely delicious; they’re really hungry so that pizza has even more value to them; they’re eating it with their family and they have a great family experience; your pizza restaurant -- everyone there makes them feel just fantastic for being there, valued and appreciated and you do this consistently with excellence. You’ve give this person well over 15 dollars in value. Okay, so they feel fantastic about it. They receive much more in value than what they paid but because the pizza and your employees and everything else probably cost you about three dollars per pizza you also made a very, very healthy profit. So, both parties come out ahead and that’s why understanding the difference between price and value is so very important but it all starts with that focus on providing value to that other person which is why John and I both say that money is simply an echo of value. It’s the funder if you will to values lightning which means the value must come first and the money is simply a very natural and direct result of the value you’ve provided. That’s the law of value. The law of compensation says your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them. So, where law number one says to give more in value than you take in payment law number two tells us that the more people whose lives you touch with the exceptional value you provide, the more money with which you’ll be rewarded. The pizza restaurant owner -- I’m not sure how we got into that but that’s how -- who we used it for so let’s continue with that. Nile: Sure. Bob: The pizza restaurant owner, it’s not enough just to provide value to one person. They have a lot of guests in every single night and so the income is determined not just by the value they provide but how many lives they impact with that value. So, law number one represents your potential income. Law number two, the number of lives you impact with that value. That equals your actual income. Now, law number three is the law of influence. This says your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first. Again, this sounds counter intuitive but it’s really -- it makes a lot of sense because when you think about it the greatest leaders, the top influencers, the most profitable sales people, this is how they run their lives and conduct their businesses. They’re always looking for ways to place the interest of others first. Now, when we say this and let me qualify this. When we say place other people’s interests first we certainly don’t mean you should be anyone’s doormat or a martyr or self-sacrificial in any way. Not at all. It’s just that as we mentioned earlier in the show, the golden rule of business is that all things being equal people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like and trust and there’s no faster, more powerful or more effective way to elicit those feelings toward you from others than by -- again, moving from an I focus to an other focus as Sam, one of the mentors in the story told Joe, the protégé, making your win about the other person’s win. And then you have number four. Law number four is the law of authenticity which says the most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself. One of the mentors, Debra Davenport explained that all the skills in the world, the sales skills, technical skills, people skills, as important as they are and they all are very, very important, they’re all for naught if you don’t come at it from your true authentic core. When you do however, when you show up as yourself day after day, week after week, months after month, people feel good about you, they feel comfortable with you, they know, like and trust you. They want to be in a relationship with you. They want to do business with you and refer you to others. And law number five, the law of receptivity says the key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving. All the giving in the world is all for naught if you’re not willing and able to allow yourself to receive as well. In the story we use the example of breathing out and breathing in. it’s not just the matter of doing one or the other. In order to sustain life you’ve got to breathe out and breathe in. we breathe out, we breathe in, we give, we receive. Giving and receiving, contrary to popular belief and popular culture; giving and receiving are -- they’re not opposite concepts. They’re simply to sides of the very same coin and they work best in tandem. Nile: As you go through your description there; sort of distancing myself from the story because I can do this now this sounds very spiritual. In fact, I feel almost like I’m being churched. But one of the things that I noticed in the book was the way that you weave it into the story and into the lives in the story. As I said earlier on it really becomes more than a business story. I mean, it sounds like we’re talking about business here because we’re relating it to business but it was really all about life in general and business just became a natural part of it. Is that a fair assessment? Bob: Yeah, I think that life and business -- all the aspects, all the areas of life are intertwined. People talk about balance, work and life balance or work life and personal life. I’m not sure balance -- and I’m certainly not the first one to say this but I’m not sure balance is the right word as much as harmony is maybe more -- Nile: I like that. Bob: Yeah. Again, I didn’t make that up. That’s something I’ve heard. I’m not that smart. I don’t have a whole lot of original thoughts. John does. I don’t. Nile: Well, I know that you listen well and you collect those thoughts and you repeat them well so there’s value that you’re giving there so I appreciate it. Bob: Thank you. And so I’ve never believed in that story about the person who could be one way at work and another way at home. I’m all nasty, so and so at work but oh, when I get home I’m kind and I’m gentle and -- people pretty much are what they are. I remember reading a great book by _____37:07 called secrets of the millionaire mind and the theme that went through his book -- I just love this -- was that how you do anything is how you do everything. Nile: Exactly. Bob: And I think that’s basically true and I think because of that universal laws and principles, work across the board, _____37:25 anything that works in life is pretty much going to work right across the way in business and vice versa. Nile: Absolutely. Well, again, knowing how you received the messages that are sent to you there -- I’m curious and we’ve got about three minutes or so before the break. If there’s a piece, one piece of advice that maybe you received before you knew anything about what being a Go-Giver entailed that really was a difference maker for you. Bob: When I was just starting to get my legs in sales, just starting to produce a little bit, I remember coming back to the office after what I will call a non-selling appointment. In other words, the sale did not happen and -- Nile: So, that’s what we call those now? Non selling appointments? Bob: Right. Nile: I like that. Bob: That’s like misremembering something, right? And I remember one of the older -- I guess he was a guy who was about to retire and he kind of took me aside. I think he saw me as sort of like Joe in the story and saw me as a guy with good potential but who really needed to adjust his focus and he said to me something like Burg if you want to make a lot of money in business, if you want to make a lot of money in sales, do not have making money as your target. Your target is serving others. Now, when you hit the target, he continued, you’ll receive a reward and that reward will be money and you can do with that money whatever you want but never forget that the money is only the reward for hitting the target. It’s not the target itself. The target is serving others. And I just was hit right in the heart by that advice and for me it was really a difference maker. What it told me is that selling is not about me. It’s always about the customer. And I personally define selling as -- simply as discovering what somebody wants, needs or desires and helping them to get it. And I think in all sorts of instances -- I think great leadership is never about the leader. Great influence is never about the influencer and great salesmanship is never about the sales person. It’s always about the other person. It’s about everyone whose lives you choose to touch. It’s about everyone whose lives you choose to add value to. Nile: Well, I know we don’t have a great deal of time in the segment but what you just said really resonated with me because I’ve been in sales for quite a number of years as well and I’ve always considered myself a consultive seller meaning that I really want to listen and I want to consult with the clients and if there’s something that I have to offer them that offers them value then certainly I’d like to have them consider that but my big question is do you really need what I’m selling. There may be a better solution for you. And I remember going through that a number of times in the past and sometimes my recommendation was you don’t need my product. You may want it and somewhere down the line I hope that you use my product but this is what you need today. And I remember with some associates some time they’d say what are you doing? And I’m saying don’t worry. That always comes back. They either find somebody that needs exactly what I have and they refer me to them because I wasn’t trying to sell them. I was trying to help them. I was trying to give them value and what you said really just struck me so I think there’s just such a powerful message there and sometimes we miss it and I know that that’s the part of the message of the Go-giver as well. There’s so much more to talk about. We’ve got one more segment to share but what we’re going to do is we’re going to take a short break, do a couple of the commercials that pay for things and we’ll be right back after this short break. Jordan: All right Nile. I think it’s time for another social media marketing moment. Do me a favor. Talk to me about key words in Linked In. Nile: Linked In is a very high authority site. In fact, most people say it’s the fourth highest site for authority that you could go to. Well, you’ve got your own personal web page on that and as everybody knows in web page strategies you want key words so that when people search those key words anywhere on the internet you’re found. Linked In, because of its high authority transfers all of that authority to you so if you take your profile, you key work optimize it, making sure you use key words that users are using to search for you. Not the ones you like. You’re going to get tremendous results. Jordan: Thanks Nile. For more tips just like that join us at linkedinfocus.com, sign up for more tips and tricks. You’ll be glad you did. Nile: Welcome back. And as you know I’m so excited that we have Bob Burg here, the coauthor of the Go-Giver and Bob, I’ve been waiting for this interview for so long because the book has meant so much to me and I know that you’ve got an expanded edition. Before we get too far into our last segment, what was the motivation about that expanded edition and what’s the expansion, what’s the impact? Bob: Sure. Once the book hit the 500000 mark in sales the publisher asked John and me if there was something that we wanted to do in order to celebrate that and to -- if there was any additional value we could put into the book and so forth and we thought about it and obviously with the story being a parable you can't change that. But we could add something at the end of the book that we felt would be of significant value to our readers. We had always heard and well, we had discovered that people were -- we knew businesses were using the book in their sales meetings, their leadership meetings and so forth and discussing certain ideas from the book. We certainly knew schools were doing this from colleges to high schools to -- and churches and other religious institutions. Book clubs were using it and discussing it so we thought well, why don’t we give them a discussion guide. So, at the end of the book we have a discussion guide at the back where they can utilize those discussion points in order to lead study on the book. We also have been asked so many questions throughout the years. Good questions. Just a lot of times the same questions that we figured if one person or if many people are asking probably a whole lot of people who read the book ask and so we put a question and answer section in there as well. We also have a new foreword by -- well, it’s not a new foreword. It’s the only foreword by Arianna Huffington who’s the great entrepreneur and very nice person and the founder and publisher of the Huffington Post so all in all it -- we feel very happy, very excited about this expanded edition. Nile: I can't wait to get my hands on it. And when is that available by the way? Is it on shelves now? Bob: Yeah, yeah. It’s out. Nile: Oh, well, I’m slipping. That’s something I got to get the latest, greatest copy of. Bob: Thank you. I hope you enjoy it. Nile: I absolutely will. I know that there’s one line in the book that’s raised quite a few eyebrows and it’s where you and John wrote does it make money. It’s not a bad question. It’s a great question. It’s just a bad first question. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs especially when in the startup phase might disagree with you just a bit. They might say it’s the only question when it comes to business. Otherwise you’re just naïve. So, what do you two mean? Bob: Well, actually we would say that if you -- and I think history has born this out that if the first question you ask is will it make money you’re focused in the wrong direction and it’s less likely to make money because if it doesn’t provide value to others, if there’s not a market for this either an already made market or one that you can create and that’s always created by providing value, then the second part, the money part is moot. So, we sort of mean that in a -- on a couple of levels. One is just as we mentioned. First ask does it serve. And when we say does it serve that simply means is there a market for it or could there be. Do people want it? You can create the best widget in the world and you might be thinking oh, man this is fantastic. We’re going to make a lot of money with this. But if there’s no market for it you’re not making money from it. You basically are just investing in something fantastic that’s a hobby. On the other hand if you determine first if there is a market in other words does it serve, now you can say will it make money. Is there a way we can take this product or service that really does serve and market in such a way that there’s a lot of money to be earned from it. On a bit deeper level we say well, first ask if it serves because we always want to add value to people’s lives by the very nature of what we do. We want to find a way to add value to others. Back in the -- I think it was the 1950s a young MIT student by the name of Amar _____47:11 went into a radio shack store and bought a pair of headphones and -- or speakers. Excuse me. Not headphones. Speakers. And he was very, very disappointed by the sound quality and he felt this is something that consumers should not have to have. And so he basically devoted his life to making great speakers, right, and creating great sound quality. We all are familiar with _____47:41 speakers. And he became a billionaire because he first asked does it serve, will it serve, how will it serve others. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure he deposited every single one of those checks and he should. He earned them. But his focus was not on the money. His focus was on providing value. His focus was on does it serve. Then it was will it make money. Nile: Yeah, and I love that story. It’s a great one because obviously he didn’t like it and he knew if he didn’t a lot of other people didn’t either and it starts out. Throughout the book -- in fact, I’d say the book is really about mentorship so what do you think is the best way to find a mentor and perhaps most importantly what should an up and comer not do when trying to find one? Bob: Oh, that’s a great question. Both questions are excellent. What I would suggest not doing is approaching someone and simply asking them to be your mentor. I mean, you could admire someone and you can study that person and then you approach that person and say hey, will you be my mentor. And basically, when there’s no relationship there what you’re basically asking this person is hey, would you share your 40 or 50 years of experience with me and just let me know everything it’s taken for you to be successful even though we don’t even know each other. And so typically that’s not going to work. What I would suggest is when there’s someone whose work you admire is to contact that person and first study their stuff. If they’re an author or whatever they do, read their books. What have you. Watch their videos. Or read the articles they’ve written. Just learn about what they’ve done first so you’re not asking questions that you should know the answer to already because you don’t want to waste their time. But you can ask. You can let them know that you admire their work, that you’re studying to or that you’re looking to so and so and if it wouldn’t be inappropriate may I ask you one or two very specific questions. Boom. So, now what you’ve done is you’ve communicated in a way that says to them hey, I honor your time, I respect you and your time, I’m not just looking to waste your time and want something for nothing, that sort of thing. Now, once they do and if they do answer your questions whether it’s letting you take them to lunch or just a cup of coffee or answering a couple of questions on email or over the phone, make sure you send them a hand written note afterwards thanking them. Just a short note thanking them, letting them know you’ll take action on their ideas and so forth. You can report back to them. You can determine or discover what their favorite charity is and make a small donation in their name. that will get back to them and basically again what you’re letting them know is even though I certainly am not in the position to add the kind of value to your life as you are to mine I want to let you know I’m not taking it for granted and I’m looking to add value to you in some way. You can add -- if you’re close enough geographically you can ask to drive them around, be their chauffer and so forth. That way you can be around them and maybe ask them some questions. I mean, there are all sorts of ways that may not apply to some people and will apply to others but the point is this. A mentor/protégé relationship is just that. It’s a relationship. And it usually takes time to develop. It’s much less likely to happen when you come right out and ask a person who doesn’t know you will you be my mentor. It’s more likely to happen when you build a relationship always looking for ways to express gratitude and add value to that person’s life. Nile: I love that answer because it reminded me of what you said as you went through the laws. Breathing is an in and out thing and so you get somebody that’s giving you value as a mentor, as a protégé you’re able to give value back to them. It might be at a different level but they’re recognizing the value that you’re giving. And I know we’ve got just a couple of minutes left and before I get through the final interview I’m going to ask one question but I also want to be able to ask and save some time if people want to know more, how they could get in touch and some other things you’re doing because I know you do a whole lot more than just write books so here’s the question. Are there misconceptions about being a Go-Giver? I mean, the name itself almost implies that you give constantly. Can you be taken advantage of that way? For example, does a Go-Giver tell people no, I don’t want to do that? Bob: Well, okay. So, these are great questions and it -- and there are misconception, misperceptions about what being a Go-Giver means and I think that happens when people see the tittle of the book or they hear about the title from someone and they haven’t read the book. Naturally the mind goes to oh, the Go-Giver. They’re just giving themselves away, right? Or they’re -- they don’t care about making a profit or -- and of course none of that is true. As a Go-Giver you don’t -- you give value constantly, certainly. But you don’t give yourself away. In fact, Go-Givers tend to make a much larger profit than most others because a Go-Giver sells on high value rather than low price. They know that when you sell on low price you’re a commodity. When you sell on value, you’re a resource. So, typically a Go-Giver makes more money and they have a higher profit. Of course, their focus is on the other person. Do they say no? Yeah. Go-Givers need to say no a lot. Just like we talked about at the beginning of this -- at the -- of the show. Go-Givers are typically very successful so they’re typically very busy and if you were to say yes to everyone and everything you wouldn’t -- you really wouldn’t have the time to say yes to those and to that which you should say yes to. But what a Go-Giver would do is they would say no in such a way that honors the other person. Nile: Again, I appreciate that and I appreciate you being a giver that decided to give so much value to all of our listeners tonight. Bob: Oh, thank you. Nile: But one of the things that I’d really like to ask though -- you do a whole lot more. Can you tell the listeners a little bit about what you do and if they’re interested in finding more how do they get in touch? Bob: Well, the easiest way to get in touch is just to visit burg B-U-R-G.com and as you know I speak at a lot of corporate and organizational sales and leadership conferences. We also have a Go-Giver certified speaker program where we actually train people how to become a professional speaker and deliver the Go-Giver message as well as my other intellectual properties that I’ve developed over the last 27, 28 years or so and how to actually market themselves as a speaker and they can get all that information as well as information on the book, the Go-Giver by visiting www.burg B-U-R-G.com. Nile: And we’ll make sure that all of those links are one the Social Media Business Hour page so as always we encourage you to download our episodes on iTunes. Subscribe there. That way you get all the episodes delivered right to you. But we have show notes and links and all of that on the socialmediabusinesshour.com. This is episode 132 just to make it real easy. If we were one more episode in we would be exactly a 100 episodes from our first interview that we did Bob. That’s sort of amazing. Bob: Wow. Nile: Yeah, I agree. Well, listen, to all of you and especially you Bob, I want to thank you for joining us on the Social Media Business Hour. To our listeners I hope you learned a few new ideas or concepts. Maybe you were just reminded of a few things you already know but you haven’t been doing to improve or grow your business. You know that my desire is that you take just one of the things that you learned or were reminded of today and you apply it to your life or business this week. We know that a small change will make a big difference and I’m committed to bringing you at least one new idea each week that you can implement. So, go back and identify just one small change that you could make to your life or business and see what a big difference it will make for you. So, until next week, this is Nile Nickel. Now, go make it happen. Woman: Thanks for listening. Social Media Business Hour is sponsored by linkedinfocus.com. Be sure to get the latest social media business tips and tricks plus free tips on how you can use Linked In to help your business today. Visit socialmediabusinesshour.com. [/content_toggle] weblinks       Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/burgbob Twitter: @bobburg Website: www.burg.com

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