The Small Business Safari
Have you ever sat there and wondered "What am I doing here stuck in the concrete zoo of the corporate world?" Are you itching to get out? Chris Lalomia and his co-host Alan Wyatt traverse the jungle of entrepreneurship. Together they share their stories and help you explore the wild world of SCALING your business. With many years of owning their own small businesses, they love to give insight to the aspiring entrepreneur. So, are you ready to make the jump?
The Small Business Safari
The AI LinkedIn Advantage: Leveraging Technology for Professional Networking | Al Kushner
LinkedIn strategist Al Kushner shares essential strategies for cutting through the noise and leveraging AI to establish yourself as a thought leader on the world's largest professional network.
• Creating an optimized LinkedIn profile is essential before any outreach
• Establishing yourself as a thought leader requires providing value, not just selling
• LinkedIn newsletters bypass spam filters and deliver directly to subscribers' inboxes
• Using AI can help craft better responses and engage with influential content creators
• Sales Navigator provides valuable insights into who's viewing your profile and who's active
• Focus on connecting with referral partners rather than direct prospecting
• Recent recommendations significantly impact how prospects perceive your credibility
• Responding to others' content is more effective than just posting your own
• Follow influencers and thoughtfully comment on their posts to increase visibility
If you want to learn more about optimizing your LinkedIn profile and leveraging AI in your professional networking, visit linkvantage.com where you can access Al's free ebook and other resources.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-kushner/
linkvantage.com
For me, when I've accepted a lot of connections, I find nine of the 10 of them. I get pitch slapped and that's something. That's something you can't avoid.
Speaker 2:You just you stole that one, didn't you, chris?
Speaker 3:I am still that slapping Exactly. I am not going to sign up with you insurance guy because Al from Boca Raton hits me up and says, hey, can I take a look at your insurance and help and see if I can help you with your insurance. I'm like, oh, we just met dude on the podcast, but if I've never met you, you got zero chance of me giving you my insurance business right. So I mean, it makes zero. If you just come out of nowhere, it's left. There is no way. I'm oh my God, you got me at the right time. I really need a new web designer. Oh my God, you were right. I don't know, because I already know 30 of them. You're right, but you're number 31. I'm going to go with you.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in adventure team and let's take a ride through the safari and get you to the mountaintop. Hi, she's back, we're back, let's get going. Everybody, this is going to be your time, your time, and I said it to my team this morning If you don't learn something today, man, that's on you. We're going to have some fun. Today. We're going to talk about something that all of us need to be in. I don't care what industry you're in, what you think you do, what you don't do. You've got to use this vehicle to understand what's going on. So we have not talked about this in quite a while, and I know Alan is is really excited about it because it's very close to what your business is all about, isn't it? I am terrified of this conversation, terrified and excited all at once. Oh, is that? Yeah, that's you. That sounds like. Uh, it sounds like, eyes wide shut, terrified and excited, almost saying Brett. But yeah, man, we're having some good times.
Speaker 3:Uh, we are in the heat, uh, the Atlanta heat, and I, uh, I had to go out and do some estimates last week. I actually am working in the biz, uh, not getting to have a lot of fun, but, uh, but having a lot of fun, cause I love going out there and talking to people. But I go around, I'm looking at somebody's deck outside, it's 94 degrees, it's 155,000% humidity, and these people keep me right in the sun and go okay, well, what do you think? And so I'm trying to explain to him what's going on and I'm telling you, dude, I burst into flames. I had sweat dripping down my face. I was like this is not going well. I was like why would you buy from somebody who's just? I mean, when I got in my truck, I mean not only were the pits sweating, I mean the whole thing was.
Speaker 2:I mean, you can't go to your mailbox without just having to burn your clothes. We don't light on fire because they're too hot.
Speaker 3:How do you present a professional? Hey, I'm different than everybody else Handyman remodeling company when I'm just sitting there just bursting in flames. I've said that wasn't the most professional, so still in the balance. They haven't said no to me yet on the estimate because I was in my wheelhouse and talking about what I knew. But I will say, of all the sales stuff that we talk about here and I listen to another podcast, I would not say that if you had the video on me you'd go. Oh, he nailed it.
Speaker 2:He's like bless his heart.
Speaker 3:Bless your heart. Heart, you are dying, are you? I'm like? Yes, as a matter of fact, we am all right. So here we are. Al is our ai linkedin strategist, and that's who we're going to use him today. Al kushner is originally from brooklyn, new york, but he's escaped new york and lives in bocaon, where I just got done complaining about humidity. But, al, talk to me, buddy, that's horrible humidity, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I think probably Atlanta, as it's known as Hotlanta, is certainly probably even more humid, I imagine. But it's just how it is. You got to stay indoors, keep cool, drink plenty of cold liquids. You know you make it through you know it's only through.
Speaker 3:You know, let's have one now. How long shall we? A little bourbon, let's get going, Al so Al, just give us a brief history about how you got here, so you know what'd you do, come out of school, what were your jobs you did, and then how'd you get turned on to this whole LinkedIn thing in thing.
Speaker 1:I started, I would say, in school. I had worked part-time as a telephone solicitor for an insurance agent back when I was 20 years old and decided to get my license since that time. And I've always been self-employed since that point in my life and never looked back, never wanted to work for anybody else other than myself. So for me it was, you know, challenging times and but I found you know in my travels that I enjoyed sales. I enjoyed being considered a thought leader.
Speaker 1:So I wrote some books, decided to engage online and see about opportunities available for networking beyond my geography range, which was in New York, and of course it is quite a sizable city. But I wanted to go a little bit beyond that. So that's why I decided to check out LinkedIn and see what it offered, and I was impressed that the offerings were quite numerous. I mean, right now there's over what 900 million members, I believe, on the platform, so that's pretty impressive statistics. So it was suddenly a platform I needed to master and I wrote the book the AI LinkedIn Advantage to educate people about the things that I've learned and help them become better at that platform.
Speaker 3:So go back. Let's go back. You were in insurance and you had to hustle it. You had to do the calls, you had to do the cold calling, you had to do the little stuff. What of those principles did you take to LinkedIn?
Speaker 1:I believe it was perseverance. For me, it was all about seeing through the end, and procrastination was something that I had to overcome, which I do on occasions to come to but for the most part it's about not being afraid of making mistakes, because sometimes that's how you have to grow that's how you have to grow.
Speaker 2:Would you start your career cold calling on the phone for an insurance company? The rest of the world is easy, I would say. I mean that's about as hard of a start as you can get.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was different times, of course. You know, back in the day there was no internet and when you can call somebody they usually pick up, which is great. No voicemail existed. So those were really the great times, and for me it was more like a game. I mean, I enjoyed it. You know, it was something that a lot of the agents didn't want to do and they paid me money to do it for them. So I said, okay, I'll take your money, and that one.
Speaker 3:I would do, man, I would tell you Alan is speaking from my heart on that one too, because you know we use the phrase uh, us old timers, we dial for dollars. Uh, nobody ever dials anymore. But you literally were dialing for dollars and doing those cold calls and just and hammering them out and you get no, no, no, you're just looking for a one. Yes, give me a yes, give me a yes, come on, come on, give me one. So, Come on, give me one. So, were there ever? Every time you weren't having fun with it? Because I've heard so many people who did it and said, yes, I've learned a lot, I'm never doing that again.
Speaker 1:You got to look at it as a game and that's how I looked at it. For me, it was about you know what I can do. If I could beat my average from yesterday, I'll do it, and that was that I developed over time.
Speaker 2:That's that is the thickest of thick skin. If you ask me, I just yeah. I mean, I think it's one out of a thousand people can survive in that. Maybe one out of the thousand can survive in it and enjoy it.
Speaker 3:There are some people that are wired to enjoy it. So, uh, let's talk about LinkedIn, because we were all around when it first started. When did you first adopt LinkedIn? When did you first get your first LinkedIn profile and start using it?
Speaker 1:About 2006,. I would say it was since the inception of LinkedIn and I followed all the way through until Microsoft took over, I believe about 10 years ago. So it really expanded their possibilities compared to before. I mean, microsoft is huge and they invested a lot of money in the platform and it's paid off, I believe.
Speaker 3:You know, we've actually I've been in a couple of seminars where they actually use LinkedIn as a corporate entity that has it right. They have their mission, they have their value system down as a company. They do a really good job of leadership from the top. But the thing for me at LinkedIn that I found interesting is you said the same thing. It's just a lot of people. How do you separate yourself?
Speaker 1:from the noise Very simple. You establish yourself as a thought leader and you write a book.
Speaker 3:Aha, alan, guess what? I'll be right back. I have a book, aha alan, I think, guess what?
Speaker 2:I'll be right back I have a book.
Speaker 3:Yes, you do. From the zoo to the wild, go out there, everybody don't? Uh, I have to be a thought leader. I was a follower. I told he said that first. Oh well, but in chapter seven I said the well-placed at the police works and I will tell you right now there's been a lot of that thought it's not always well placed this last couple weeks in my biz but so you had to be a thought leader. So let's talk about that a little bit more. So you didn't say one of the things we just talked about was that you were a solicitor. You didn't say solicitation, you said I got to be a thought leader, I got to be. I got to write a book, I got to be an authority.
Speaker 1:Talk about how. Come listen to me. Well, of course, back in the day, uh, publishing was more challenging than the fact was. Is that they didn't have what it has right now with ebooks and digital printing, where you print one book at a time, usually had to print a lot more than that. So, uh, it was something that I needed to develop, and I did.
Speaker 1:As technology improved, I developed and wrote several books and I found I found that this is the only way that's going to separate me from the competition, because the competition really doesn't have what I have, even nowadays. My book is the only one out there currently that addresses both AI and LinkedIn together, and the other LinkedIn trainers are sweating because they can't really compete with that. And the fact is is that I used information as of today or as of recent to gather the latest resources that people can access to learn about the technology and be able to use it to their advantage, because it makes time much easier on the platform, and if you can save time and time is money this is definitely the way to go to use their technology to your advantage. So give us an example of when Of the technology.
Speaker 3:Yeah, how do I use AI in LinkedIn?
Speaker 1:Give me a simple one, very simple. Let's take a look at your profile, all right, so you would use something, for example, of using, let's say, the graphics and background of your profile Instead of using an image. Maybe you want to use some bullet points to kind of share certain things that are of value that somebody is looking at. You can use AI to focus in, because LinkedIn is also a search engine. So, for example, if someone wants to be a guest on your program, they would be able to find you. You'd have to look at. Well, there's nothing indicating that you know, maybe you're accepting guests and they would be. They'd be able to find you. You'd have to look at. Well, there's nothing indicating that you know, maybe you're accepting guests and that would be something you do. That the AI could create a way that, if you want to track guests on your program, they could put in keywords that are searchable on LinkedIn, for that example. That's a great way to gather more interest of people, especially if you're doing any kind of outreach. You want to have a profile that's optimized because you want to be able to connect with someone, so you want to create things of value, for example, recommendations. You know who has used your services or who's been happy with your services. You should focus in on it.
Speaker 1:Because a third point endorsement is really crucial and a lot of people really don't look at that as a big deal, but it is. I mean, you have to take a look at, well, you know, how long ago did you have your last recommendation? Two years ago, I mean. You got to be current. Every opportunity you should do is get a recommendation. You know someone can say a couple of kind words and that can make a difference of you getting the job or getting the opportunity to connect with someone, because maybe they know that person. You know that could be an influencer. These are just just some of the tips off the top that I share in my book.
Speaker 3:Man, he nailed it. Obviously Al's not a politician because he didn't dodge that question. Man, he nailed it and put it right there and said here you want some easy stuff. That's so easy. Even I think I can implement some of those things, but that's good stuff. Right there, the recommendation what's the last recommendation you got? It's been a while.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and you're a commercial real estate agent, I'm in commercial real estate and I don't think I have a recommendation on commercial real estate. And the funny thing is, once upon a time I felt like I actually went to some classes you know I've got lots of connections, I was but then it just seemed like, uh, I don't know, it changed and I felt like, in order for me to put out a post, I had to I don't know, it's something I got, to be honest with you. So I'm really struggling with this. So maybe you can talk about it a little bit, cause I know you need to post regularly.
Speaker 2:And then you've got some people who are treating it like Facebook. You know some people who are just in your face with promotion. And then you have people and I'm going to. They're just douchey and it's like, you know, when I was out volunteering with special needs kids, it made me reflect back to the time. You know my mentor, blah blah, blah, and I can't figure out what my voice needs to be in this world. Now, was there a question? It was a. It was a statement that I thought he might be able to jump onto.
Speaker 3:So let me let me put that statement in the form of a question is it is as somebody who I, I would say and this is not a question, well, I'm just like you out, I cause I felt the same thing. I've I've used the term. I think LinkedIn got noisy. Um, I feel like I I get solicitations. I actually tried to reach out to somebody I personally know on LinkedIn and he never responded. I finally had to text him and say hey, dude, I want to bug you. He goes oh, I don't look at that stuff. So how do you start dipping your toe in there? I mean, if you're like, hey, this is probably something you should do. But you talked about optimizing. But now let's talk about what. Should we, you said, be a thought leader? What should we be posting? Or should we be interacting with other posts? What should we be doing?
Speaker 1:All right Again, once you've optimized your profile, because I don't recommend doing any outreach until you do that, because that's the first thing people are going to look at. So once you've done that, then you can look at ideas to become a leader and you start with a newsletter. So if you have followers and I believe you have several thousand followers, I think, um, about 2,800 followers do you have a newsletter at all?
Speaker 3:I do, Uh and and not on LinkedIn, though you know what I need to post out there. But I do hit everybody that comes on this podcast, which you're going to be on now, Well, and I send out a monthly newsletter talking about the podcast coming up and some of the thoughts that I picked up from the pods or what's going on in my biz. But you're right, I don't put it on LinkedIn. That's a good point.
Speaker 1:All right, and you can use AI technology to create content for that newsletter or ideas for the newsletter. So, instead of doing once a month, how about once a week? All right, you want to get traction. That's four times the amount of impressions you can reach people. And what's interesting about newsletters on LinkedIn? It has such a high authority. So when someone signs up for your newsletter, not only do they receive a notification on LinkedIn, but they receive it outside of LinkedIn, directly into their inbox on their email. Okay, it bypasses spam filters. Just think about that power that it gets in because of the high authority of LinkedIn. It just, you know, spanfield will say come on in you know, share your information.
Speaker 1:You know, and people are really shocked in how impressive the newsletters work on LinkedIn and you can do, I believe, up to five different types of newsletters on the platform so you can specialize. I work with a lot of referral partners. I have financial planners, I have attorneys, I've got CPAs. I have separate newsletters for each of those individuals and by specializing that, it really gets the attention of people who are subscribing and they look forward every week to what uh next article that could be of value to them how about that, alan?
Speaker 3:are you doing that now? No, I'm not doing any of this. I'm listening, all right, I'm. You know what I'm really blowing in mind right now, guys.
Speaker 3:Admittedly, this is a blind spot for me, because that's why Alan and I were so excited about this. We're both afraid, and I think a lot of people probably are afraid or don't see the value short term in it, you know, depending on your business model. So I go, do I really? People ask me, do I get business off LinkedIn? That's B2B. I'm like, yeah, well, but you know what, when I was posting and I put some stuff out there about the podcast, um, we actually went and did an estimate for somebody who got my LinkedIn, saw my LinkedIn impression, and says, hey, I remember Chris and yeah, he's a guy that I used to know when I was at the bank. So I need to get some work done. So let's do it. So that's a direct one that worked.
Speaker 3:So don't ignore LinkedIn is what Al's telling you, and if you're going to do it, you got to do it the right way. So, number one optimize that profile. Al sits you with that. Number two thought leader Think about doing a newsletter, doing stuff like that Third thing and I'd heard about this, al, and we didn't touch on this interacting with other people's posts. What do you think of that?
Speaker 1:Yes, the key thing, of course, once your profile is optimized, is, when you do any kind of outreach, look for people who are influencers on LinkedIn and you can actually program in a way that you can follow these individuals.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't necessarily reach out to them to connect, because most of the time they're not going to accept your connection, but you can follow them.
Speaker 1:And what's interesting to note is that they post at certain times during the week, so you can be notified as soon as they post. And when they do post, that's the time to strike. You take their information that you got from their post, put it into ChatGPT and ask ChatGPT to respond to this post in a favorable light and maybe ask a question or two, and then take that and post it underneath their particular thing, asking that influencer a question that could be relevant to their particular post and, guess what? They're forced to respond to it because if they don't, they don't look good. So guess what, you're getting an influencer responding to your post and they could have hundreds, if not thousands, of followers reading that information that you posted, and that's how you get traction on LinkedIn. All of a sudden, you become, you know, someone of influence because you're responding to an influencer and they may decide to check out your profile. You know, guess, what I'm buying in.
Speaker 3:I'm buying into what you're saying because, uh guys, this is, uh, I cause that's the one big thing. I think AI was kind of like SEO back in the day when it first became out. Oh, it's SEO. Oh, you don't understand it. I understand it. You pay me millions of dollars or thousands of dollars and I'll get it all figured out. Ooh, here comes AI and Alan's scared and I'm going to hold his hand. Don't worry, little buddy, you're with me, we'll take care of it. That. But I've started to figure out. It actually has helped me. I would say how it's helped me.
Speaker 3:I took two estimates that my guys had done two years ago for a lady on three different projects that she asked for. She's now ready to do it. I went out there, I took the estimates, I uploaded them to chat. I did have the $20 paid subscription. I said, based on my feedback here and the other two estimates, prepare an estimate for me in an editable Word doc that I can put back in my CRM system. Bang, done over, I was done with that estimate. Probably would have taken me about two hours, took me about 20 minutes. I didn't shortcut the words. I didn't, because again, there's some things in there that are always right, guys, but it is always easier to edit than create. It gets you out of writer's block, it gets you off the snide, it gets you moving and start. You start making steps forward. And that's what al is saying. I like that idea is. There's nothing wrong with having chat. Uh, give you an app, an idea to get going again it just seems so wrong to me I know, I know you're against it.
Speaker 2:Get off my lawn, you kids that's al I know, but it's amazing that you can do it. I know, yeah, read this article and give you know, make me look good with an idea and a questioner to you.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's amazing but but it definitely gets you off. Like I said, gets you off that writer's clock, you know, and it gets you moving. I can't say it's 100 right right off the bat. You just don't cut and paste and go hey, look at me, I'm mr uh transparent. I don't know what I want talking about chat gpt guy, but I think he gets you moving unbelievable. Yeah, wow, that's. That's powerful stuff what's, what's?
Speaker 2:uh, I will actually phrase this in the form of a question, chris, so you don't have to thank you and I'll use me.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'm writing right now.
Speaker 2:I'm putting it through chat I'll is your recommendation on accepting connection requests. My philosophy has always been to I only accept requests from people I have met, know or they're just immediately connected in a circle that I'm in. And I actually read your blog about responding with IDK for people that you don't know. Do you know about IDK? No, that you don't know, Did you. Do you know about ID? No, yeah, Tell me about that. Yeah, so what do you? What? What is the the the best approach? These?
Speaker 1:days. Well, again, you may experience a lot of people interested in connecting with you and I ask them simply, you know, just to follow me. I don't have to accept a connection. If you're interested in, you know connecting with me. If I don't know you from a hole in the wall, I'm not going to accept your connection period. But you're allowed to follow and I have a lot of people that are following me that I'm not connected directly with and that's fine. And if they give me a reason to connect with them, like something. But for me, when I've accepted a lot of connections, I find nine of the 10 of them I get pitch slapped.
Speaker 2:And that's something that's something you can't avoid. You just you stole that one, didn't you, chris?
Speaker 3:I am so still that slap it Exactly. I am not going to sign up with you insurance guy because Al from Boca Raton hits me up and says, hey, can I take a look at your insurance and help and see if I can help you with your insurance? I'm like Al uh, we just met dude on the podcast, but if I've never met you, you got zero chance of me giving you my insurance business Right. So I mean, if a zero, if you just come out of nowhere, it's left. There is no way. I'm oh my God, you got me at the right time. I really need a new web designer. Oh my God, you were. You were right. I don't know, because I already know 30 of them. You're right, but you're number 31. I'm going to go with you. No, you've got to be that thought leader. You've got to be authority.
Speaker 1:It goes back to looking at the profile. So whoever wants to connect with you, I look at their profile. I mean, if the profile is focusing on SEO and optimization, all that stuff, I know I'm going to get pitch slapped, Okay. But if it's someone who's an attorney or maybe they're an accountant and such, you know, I'll give them some slack and accept the connection, because you never know the opportunity. So always look at you know the profile to see whether or not it's something that it's a value to you and then you can judge whether or not to do that.
Speaker 3:All right. So go back again, optimize your profile, start engaging using chat to help you engage and be more witty than you probably are, alan, and then we can continue on and start working through things. Now, one of the things that I'm afraid of is and one thing I shouldn't say I just wish LinkedIn would give me an intermediate step, like I bought into chat for 20 bucks a month. It's a Microsoft product. Come on Right. So LinkedIn, you're Microsoft. Why do I have to spend so much to get the higher profile, the higher uh accessibility, and tell us why it's worth it.
Speaker 1:Well, I guess you're referring to the premium services of LinkedIn. I believe so. There's a premium and a sales navigator of LinkedIn. I believe so there's a premium and a sales navigator. I use sales navigator and one of the features I like about sales navigator it allows you to find out who is looking at your profile, which is great. So if someone doesn't want to connect with you but maybe they could be a value, you can reach out to that individual and either ask to connect or, you know, just send them a message and say you know, we checked on my profile, was there something I can help you with? So that's something that you don't really get on the free version of LinkedIn. But also on the sales navigator, you can find if you're prospecting. It gives you an opportunity to find out who's active on LinkedIn, because most part, a lot of people aren't active on that platform. You know the more active in other areas. So you can find out who's active on LinkedIn. If they are, within the past 30 days they posted. Then you have an opportunity to reach out to that individual and connect with them and really give them a reason why you want to connect is to craft something which AI technology can help you craft a way to give them a reason to connect with you.
Speaker 1:For example, I connect with someone. I offer them, like a free ebook, you know, something of value. I don't really offer any services, I just try to. You know, keep it simple and if they accept, then that's great. And then what's also interesting is that whoever your existing connections, you should also, you know, find out when they're posting and then reply to their posts, because most of the time when they post, nobody really posts after them, unless they're an influencer. Nobody really cares. Most of the posts are pretty narcissistic on LinkedIn and it's just really got out of hand. So, but you know, I'll respond to a post. You know just to be kind to the person, and sometimes they're very happy and a lot of times it helps me to gain business as a result of that, because I've given them some kindness. You know like posting or you know responding to their posts, and a lot of times that helps. So that can make a difference in getting more engagement.
Speaker 3:All right, you, you actually hit on something that maybe you can help pull back the curtain on this one. What is active in LinkedIn? What is the percentage of people who are on it every day? How long should I be on? I got tons of questions on this, but let's start with is AI able to with the sales navigator? Can you use AI to go out there and figure out who's on it and who's most active?
Speaker 1:Well, the sales navigator allows you to find out who's active. There's a button in there. So when you're doing a search, let's say, for people in a certain geographic range that are active on LinkedIn, you can do that. They'll tell you who's posted in the past 30 days.
Speaker 2:So back to the IDK. I want to know the answer to this. Yeah, you took off. So I get requests from people who I don't know, and that's what it stands for. I don't know, and so basically you're responding to them when I don't know. Is that the and LinkedIn eventually will lease this person if they're just sending a lot of connection requests blindly? Is that how?
Speaker 1:it works. I think it all depends on the message that comes along with it. I don't usually try to use I don't know, because no LinkedIn deems that individual as a possible spammer and that could hurt their account. But if someone is going to pitch, slap me with their thing and you know I'll certainly give them I don't know and them and they'll usually follow you. But if you're on the other receiving end of it, if you're connecting with someone you don't really know they're not a first or second connection you should really approach them with a message that usually would be not salesy. For the most part it's just I want to connect, we know such and such and thought we have a good idea to reach out and connect with you.
Speaker 3:All right. How often should we spend time on LinkedIn? So this is the. I know this is a it depends question, but in general, or give us some parameters.
Speaker 1:I don't know at least maybe once a day, depending if you're active on if you're posting. I mean, if you're posting, you know, two, three times a week, you know you should at least respond to the post. A lot of people just post and ghost, you know they think that's a way to engage with people but that's not. You should be able to respond to someone who's posting, or after your post and asking a question or whatever. Just you know, respond to them. And as far as if you're not doing any posts at all, you should be active and do at least once or twice a week and it could be in your newsletter. If you do it once a week, lose the newsletter, that's fine, but at least as a minimum to show some, some activity and um that you have to find out what is your strategy. You know what is your, what are you trying to accomplish? Um, so if you're, do you have an example of an industry that um, you guys are working with right now that uses LinkedIn?
Speaker 3:Well, it would have to be you, al, because you know I'm in the home services business, so I'm here in Atlanta. You know I work on people's houses. I will tell you, having looked at this a lot. I'll just tell everybody again. I think this is where you're at.
Speaker 3:If you're not doing a monthly newsletter and you're in home services, you're missing your captive audience, which is people who've done work with you, and that's what I do. Number two you should be looking at Facebook as the groups and the experience and putting out pictures and experiences within groups of people who are going to be your influencers so in my case it's mothers and if you're on Instagram, you'd be putting out interesting posts and pictures that show the foreign appers and give people ideas of what they can do on their own. Now on LinkedIn, I'm interested in that because we have our podcast. We want to help people with small business. Eventually, when I'm done with the Trusted Toolbox, I want to help people in business and do some coaching mastermind groups but I just haven't pushed that button yet. But if I'm in commercial real estate, isn't LinkedIn more B2B, alan?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. I mean we just Chad and I are a hundred percent referral and so we kind of stay a little bit under the radar because we don't necessarily want tighter figures. And I mean, once you open, it really is a Pandora's box of all kinds of little Ponzi schemes and things, you know real estate investing cults that are out there. And so I just try to figure out, like how do I, how do I navigate this world and put myself out there as an expert without attracting the leg humpers?
Speaker 3:Al, that's a question. While I hold Al's hand, he's worried. He does not want the leg humpers, he doesn't want to be pit slapped. He's afraid to dip his toe in linkedin what does he need to do?
Speaker 2:you know, ignore him and hopefully they follow me, I guess first thing to do is who are your referral partners, right?
Speaker 1:I mean, uh, would a realtor be a referral partner for you, for example?
Speaker 2:oh, okay, I would say, you know, a commercial banker would be top of mind.
Speaker 1:Anybody else other than commercial bankers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, attorneys, I mean there's all kinds of things.
Speaker 1:Well, guess what? These are the areas that you focus in on and create newsletters for those types of referral partners. You got bankers, for example. All right, no reason why you can't create a newsletter just for bankers. And focusing on the home industry. What are their pain points? What are they trying to deal with? I mean, that's something that's of interest to them. You focus on the referral partners. You'll have more business than you can handle. All right, because what's the best form of advertising Referrals? All right, simply put. And where are they are? They're on LinkedIn. So you focus on those individuals.
Speaker 1:Okay, you can use Sales Navigator to find all the realtors or all the bankers within your zip code easily. Who's active on LinkedIn and find out when they're posting, you know, and reply to one of their posts. Get on their radar, okay, and guess what. Give them value, you know. Give them an article that may be helpful. Talk about a pain point. Give a case study that you worked with a banker and how it helped their client, you know, achieve the results they're looking for. This is just, alan, you do hate stories on that you do.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, when you tell the stories, I mean I'm compelled. Every time you tell this one I was like, wow, you're right, because everything's well. Nobody thinks commercial real estate's easy, anybody who's lived that?
Speaker 3:If they do, they're an idiot. Yeah, but I mean it's hard. Uh, but, but you think yeah, but when you start telling the stories on why it gets complicated in Harry and how you can undo stuff and you've asked me questions before and you you claim things I'm like, wow, it's. I mean that's really, it's difficult and you're right, you need to have an expert. But what's an expert? Look like I don't know. I like it, but every time I go to say I'm going to go do it, I go nah, I'm not going to do it, it's just too much. You do the month, I'll do it, but do this, I'm not doing that.
Speaker 1:It all depends on how you're trained to do it, and such have you ever used the premium service at all?
Speaker 3:No, because even though I've stopped pulling Alan's hand, everybody. So now little buddy over here is nervous because I'm afraid to pay that money. Well, here's an idea you never remount.
Speaker 1:Well, actually there's a way I can do it for you, since I'm part of Sales Navigator and I might be able to get you two free months available. If you've never used it before, you know, which you give you a chance to try it out, which I think is a great thing, because that's usually it's an $80 value per month. Navigator for yourself and learn about how powerful that tool is, because if you want to connect with, let's say, bankers, uh, you'll find them easily using sales navigator when they're active on LinkedIn and also reach out in a way that uh is going to be of interest to them to connect with you, which could be something as a case study, like an example that you helped a particular banker in a situation. That's something that they're looking for, and there are a lot of people switching jobs and they're looking for other referral partners that they can work with, so it's a win-win.
Speaker 3:You know everybody, I love it. I'm going to do it after we're done with the podcast. I know Alan's going to do it. Right, Alan? Yes, you are the little buddy, let's hand it to you Give me a bug laying down.
Speaker 2:Maybe I'll just say it. Oh, my hand, let's keep going, let's say Elizabeth Al, how do your clients work with you? I mean, what is it specifically that they ask you to do for them?
Speaker 1:Well, it depends on the situation. I do a lot of speaking engagements through associations, so I'll talk to them about topics of interest for their members. I do group training as well for corporations and helping them optimize their profile. Working on strategies help them become thought leaders. So it all depends. I also work on one-on-one individuals as well. It just depends on the circumstance. If they're looking for a job, help them develop a profile that makes them attractive to employers. If they're looking for work as an entrepreneur, how to connect with people who want to do business with them, maybe a potential referral partner. So these things I can help them work on and develop a strategy that will be effective.
Speaker 3:All right. So the book doesn't. It's not your big, it's not your moneymaker, right? The book, it's a. It's the lead generator, it helps. So let's, Alan started down that path. It's the lead generator, it helps. So, Alan started down that path. Let's go so for you today. Who are you looking for? Who is your ultimate avatar? Who do you like working with right now?
Speaker 1:Well, I love working with referral partners. I mean, I love working with. It could be bankers, it could be financial planners or accountants, attorneys. These are all dealing with clients who have thousands of businesses and that's an opportunity which is tremendous because I don't have to advertise. I get word of mouth advertising. So if I do, would you?
Speaker 3:rather do your one-on-one coaching. Do you like doing the uh speaking engagements or the group trainings?
Speaker 1:Um, well, I like one-on-one because it's convenient. I can do it from the home, you know, which is great If it's a speak engagement, if it's some you know exotic location, they pay for me to go out, like Hawaii or Caribbean. I'm happy to go there for a week and uh, you know, we've seen, actually, michigan. No, uh, it depends on the time of year, you know no, jackson, not exotic.
Speaker 3:That's where I grew up, so I could uh, I got it All right.
Speaker 1:No, that makes some sense, and so you are finding most of your clients through your referral base. Then, yeah, that's pretty much it. I mean it's been really helpful. The book has been tremendous in getting me opportunities in front of people which never I could have done before without it. So I think that's important, because I'm also in a crowded field of dealing with people who are so-called LinkedIn experts. Okay, but you know, most of them don't have a book and most of them don't even have what I can offer. You know, not the experience, but the ability to combine AI and LinkedIn together to make an effective strategy on the platform, to save you time and to make quality connections. That are what it's all about.
Speaker 3:All right, now I'm going to give you my favorite chat AI question. What question did I not ask you? That I should have asked you to get a better answer.
Speaker 1:Well where people can find me on my website link vantagecom, and I also have a free ebook available on how to optimize your profile on my website. So go to link vantagecom, check it out as well, as look for my book available on Amazon and other fine retailers. And if you listen to audiobooks, check out Spotify it's available on that, as well as a look for my book available on Amazon and other fine retailers. And if you listen to audio books, check out Spotify it's available on that as well.
Speaker 2:And we'll say, on his website he's got a lot of great blog articles, so you can actually be a little bit of a stalker and and get some good nuggets, Just uh, just looking at that, you know.
Speaker 3:I think, uh, you've got a great call funnel system because you're right, Al can come optimize your LinkedIn rice. But you know you're afraid. I mean I'm holding a little buddy's hand over here right now and Alan and I are going to go off into the sunset and make beautiful music in LinkedIn. But you can, you can do your optimization. Read his ebook and I agree with you, I think that's the easy one. Then you start to see the value there, Then you start to see what he could really unlock and what he could do If you've got a big enough team, and what you could do with that.
Speaker 3:I've seen other guys, uh, who I know in the industries that I left, that are doing a great job. There are huge companies and I won't name them, Um, but their software and they rhyme with, uh, Teradata and they rhyme with IBM, but they are thought leaders in their thing. And I I I reached out to these guys. I'm like so IBM and Teraday are cool with this? And they're like, oh, yeah, they actually are telling me to keep doing it because they have taglines for being data guys. Now they're thought leaders in their industry, Um, and it's also bringing in other people into their world, and they're not even entrepreneurs. These guys are still in the big, big world doing it?
Speaker 2:Do you have your sales guys? I mean, do you ever focus on their LinkedIn profile?
Speaker 3:You know, we did it, uh, we did it, uh, moons ago and I need to do it again. In fact, that's exactly what I was going to take away from this is that, uh, I'm going to go sit down with everyone and say, guys, we have the trusted toolbox out there. We are your premium home services company Atlanta. You should have that. Add your tagline in your estimated profile and you should be engaging with people, because, you never know, people will see it. And then, yeah, I need to do better and I need to get my newsletter. So now I'm going to get that out there with them this is an opportunity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I got a lot of work to do. Dang it, guys. I hope he's driving around your car. You know what I'm gonna have a I'm gonna have ai start leaving my meetings. I think those guys would it better. It would be a lot less epitome.
Speaker 3:Does AI swear as much as you do? There's no way. I just heard a great quote going through football. A football player just switched out of Georgia and he says so. Who has a better swear game? Your current coach or Kirby Smart? He goes, oh, there's no question, he goes. Kirby Hanson.
Speaker 3:I was like, yeah, you know what I feel? I feel like I'm gonna link in with kirby and go. I bet you I have a better swear game, brother, because, as we uh we may have heard this on one of the past episodes I said, as I said, I was yelling at one of the guys because it came to that point. It was just so bad I don't do this that often and I lost it and I uh let him have it and uh, my general manager looked at me in the room and he said I don't know exactly what you said, but you definitely got your point across.
Speaker 3:That's not LinkedIn, al. That's not why you're here. So go check it out LinkedIn, linked advantage, linked advantagecom. You got a lot of freebies. That's a great step up. Get a little taste of it man, try it out a little bit and then, if that was a good fit for you, I think he'd be a great fit to talk to for a minute, because this podcast has been dynamite man, figuring out all this little stuff, all the little things you can do. Let me ask you one question before we go into our final four questions the future of AI. And I'm not talking like 10 years, just give me the next six months. This thing is moving so flipping fast.
Speaker 1:Well, I think there's a lot of new technology out there and it's always improving, and I think the idea, of course, is to try out Start Simple with you know whether it's a chat, gpt or other platforms that are using AI and it's really been helpful in many ways.
Speaker 1:I've known examples of people using it beyond businesses. I think one example was I read about a father was looking for a doll for his daughter which was out of stock, and he did something with ChatGBT or some other platform that uh contacted various retailers, um, within a 500 mile radius, to see if the doll was in stock, and it did it automatically. He wasn't doing it himself. The AI technology was calling on his behalf and reaching out and asking do you have this doll in stock? And uh, it must've went through, I don't know, over a hundred different retailers. We found somebody who was uh able to uh say yes, we do have it available, and uh, sure enough, it saved him a lot of time and effort and the? Uh, the child is um forever grateful for finding this unique doll that is in demand and um, that's just the future right there. I think it's a great technology to help you.
Speaker 3:After that, after that explanation, name one doll that's come to your mind. Right now.
Speaker 2:All I'm thinking about is I'm going to go hide in my closet and suck my thumb with it.
Speaker 3:You're thinking Chucky, I know you are You're thinking that doll's going to come out and kill me. No, he said, he bound the doll.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it wasn't a Barbie, it was some Japanese doll, I believe, which is real popular on Netflix or something I don't recall, but apparently it's just taking off. It was kind of like, you know, when Beanie Babies were back in the day, you know, real popular. This is the new Beanie Baby. I'll probably remember this after the program, but it just shows you that the AI technology is so advanced that it can actually do calls on your behalf to reach out to people and, you know, find out answers that you don't have time to do it out to people and, um, you know, find out answers that you don't have time to do it. So that's really great. So I see the future as a as a great tool.
Speaker 2:Speaking of Beanie Babies, you know that guy made so much money. He owns Cousin Brad's Country Club.
Speaker 3:No way, yeah, oh my God, hey, you know we had not brought Cousin Brad back up in a long time. I know we're going to LinkedIn AI and just stalk him.
Speaker 2:We just got a baby. Just talk to him. We don't even have to talk to him you don't?
Speaker 3:Oh God, that'd be so great. I'm kidding Brad, I'm kidding buddy. I can't wait to talk to you again. It's all good, it's a great, Al. This has been awesome, but I think it's time to go to our final four questions. Ellen, are you ready? I am ready. All right, brought to you by Qualified Applicants, your recruiting source for all your needs. They've helped me for so many different things. I got another ad in here, but I want to plug them again. Tina and Megan and their staff now has been doing a great job. They're doing it nationwide. They're helping all kinds of home service companies, professional services companies find the right talent, because what they're doing is they're marketing, not recruiting, to get you the right person to your job and the person you're looking for. And they put up with you and they do put up with me a lot. That's a big outdoors lie. All right back to my app times.
Speaker 1:Let's go to the number one question, Al, besides your book give us a book you'd recommend to our audience, Um Atomic Habits, I believe.
Speaker 3:James Cleary beautiful small stuff, little things. Just had Don Martell brought up again to me, and outside I was like holy crap, I'm, I'm exactly two chapters in on Don Martell. But, um, if you knew the way I would did Stephen Covey and his uh, uh, seven habits, I was two and a half habits in for at least two and a half years. So, um, don't worry, I'll get there. Um, but I do need a new. You know, can I get clip notes again? Uh, anyway, all right, al, great fun, that's a great one. All right, you ready. What's the favorite feature of your home? Favorite, what feature of your home?
Speaker 1:I am a favorite feature of my.
Speaker 3:I want to hear about your home.
Speaker 1:I would say it's the view. I mean, we have a water view and, overlooking that, there's kind of like a little island with birds on it. It's almost like a bird sanctuary. So we get to see that every day, which is awesome. You see the ducks and the local flowers I mean sometimes a pink flamingo. We get a chance to come across our view, which is awesome, so we just love the view.
Speaker 3:Dude, I'm not lying, this is the most I've seen. Al light up the entire podcast I know Was his view. It clearly was not talking to Al and Chris. So thank you, al, for sharing that and I'm glad we could bring a little joy to you over these last few minutes. Oh, happy he got fired up, dude, I know I want to see that view. In fact, after he's going to have to have to show us that view, so maybe you can see it on YouTube. We'll see later, guys, we'll check it out. All right, let's go to the third question, shall we? We talk a lot about customer service? We haven't much today, well, but we do. But we kind of our customer service freaks. Hello, let's go. Horse kid, you got to come on horse shultzy, I'm looking for you, baby. All right, what's a customer service? Pet peeve of yours when you're out and you're the customer?
Speaker 1:um, I think a lot of times that they don't really understand what I'm offering and they kind of lop me together with other salespeople and they'll really see the value that that I bring to the table. And a lot of it has to do with not really taking the time to really, you know, invest in their business, and a lot of times that's what they do. They don't have, they don't have a passion for it.
Speaker 3:If you don't have a passion for doing what you like to do, then it's you shouldn't have a passion for doing what you like to do, then it's, you shouldn't be in that profession. Yeah, man, all right, let's talk about the last one. I love working on homes. That's why I got in this business. I, uh, was a diy-er for all my life. Um, not because I wanted to is because my dad made me and next thing, you know, he, he did this to me. I'm in this business. It's his fault. I still blame dad. Um al, I don't know how much you've worked on houses, but we want a DIY nightmare story. A contractor, because we know we all suck contractors. Get better at what you're doing. We all got to get better at what we're doing, but give me a DIY nightmare story.
Speaker 1:Well, when I bought my home 10 years ago, it was pretty much had to be gutted out because it was really I mean, the house is from 1973, so you really had to do a lot of updating. So it was a matter of hiring contractors. It was really a trial and error for the most part, and getting quotes that were from outrageous to maybe conservative, but then you know, the work with Shdy or the individual wasn't really on time and, um, I've had a recent work done in the home. That was good, but it was a challenge to find someone who was affordable.
Speaker 1:And, uh, I was able to use, uh, the internet to reach and connect with people on a platform called next door, I'm sure if you're familiar with that on a platform called Nextdoor I'm not sure if you're familiar with that, but it's kind of an app that you use and it's kind of like a Facebook, but for local neighbors. Yeah, we are, yeah, we use it, and I was able to find people, what other people recommended and connected with these people. They left their phone number and I was able to text about I don't know 40 or 50 contractors to get some quotes and it works very effectively and connect with people and find somebody who is reasonable and was hungry for business, and I was able to get great work as a result.
Speaker 3:Good, Awesome, Al once again. How can everybody find?
Speaker 1:you Go to my website, linkvantagecom. Follow me on LinkedIn, of course, happy to accept new followers and connect with me. It's also good too. And check out my book. It's available on Amazon. It's available in Barnes, noble all the fine retailers Like audiobooks. Check out on Audible and Spotify.
Speaker 3:All right, everybody, if you don't learn something, that's on you. I started out with it. I'm going to end with it. Alan, we have got to learn something. Alan and I got work to do. We're going to connect with Al. We're going to go try that link bandage. We're going to go try out everything else in Sales Navigator. Keep going up that mountain. Go, make it happen. Man, life isn't easy. Business is easy. Pick your heart, choose your heart, make your. Choose your heart, make your heart and let's go win. Yeah, go, cheers everybody. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Small Business Safari. Remember, your positive attitude will help you achieve that higher altitude you're looking for in a wild world of small business ownership. And until next time.
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