04 - Want More Leads? Then Stop Ignoring LinkedIn! | Mandy McEwen

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Selling in the Dwelling, the podcast for the in-home selling and remodeling world. I'm your host, Alan Langer, and I'm really excited today to bring in another great guest. We've got one great guest after another, and I'm going to bring in Mandy McEwen in a second. But before I get to that, just two quick notes. My title sponsor, don't forget to visit them, my friends at Paradigm Vendo, the best in-home selling software you're going to find. It's ParadigmVendo.com forward slash dwelling. Check them out. And also the podcast website is sellinginthedwelling.com. So let's get into today. I'm very excited because I've got Mandy McEwen joining me today. And Mandy, people are probably in the in-home world may not have heard of her. But if you're in the LinkedIn world, you have definitely heard of Mandy. And I brought her on because I think LinkedIn is so important. And I think the in-home selling world is missing the boat a little bit. So Mandy, before we get into it, how are you? It's great to see you and welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for having me, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

You're welcome. So Mandy and I met on LinkedIn, I don't know how many years ago. Over the years that we chatted, she was actually on my first podcast, marketing and sales over cocktails. We had a great time doing that. But at some point, Mandy told me she sold for renewal by Anderson. And I was like, what? Because you guys know that I sold for renewal for almost a dozen years, a little over a dozen years. And it turns out that Mandy was there for a couple years in Kansas City back in like 2008, 2009. So now, before we get into her RBA days, she is the owner and the founder of Mod Girl Marketing and Luminetics. And what Mandy does now is she helps people build their personal brand on LinkedIn and really teaches people how to get customers and sell on LinkedIn. So Mandy, first of all, tell us about the LinkedIn stuff because I I've just been fascinated and really it's been awesome to watch your your growth and what you help people do on LinkedIn with Luminetics and Mod Girl.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Yeah, for sure. Also, don't forget I sold Sherwin Williams Paint before I sold Anderson Windows.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Ah, even better.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

So Sherwin Williams and RBA.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

Sherman Williams than Renewal Field Anderson. The premium home improvement sales. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

So yeah, my technically have a sales background, but then I fall in love with marketing and now I kind of blend the both. So the reason that I love LinkedIn is because it is very relationship-based. And as a home improvement seller, it was very relationship-based, as you know, Alan, right? Yes. And so unlike other social media channels, which is when I started my first agency, Mod Girl Marketing, this was before, you know, this was 2010 when I first started. So LinkedIn wasn't really used much as a social channel or social selling. It was used just to get a job.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

You know, it was really like more of a job board, really.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

It was more like a resume recruiting, that type of thing. I was using Facebook. I actually started my company before Instagram was even a thing. It's how long I've been doing this. It was before Instagram existed. I started Mod Girl Marketing while I was selling Windows. Basically, the reason I fell in love with LinkedIn is I realized like this is the easiest way to get in front of people that you want to get in front of. So I started using it pretty early on when I realized, hey, I can easily send a connection request to someone and they will likely accept and I can have a conversation with them. Versus Facebook at the time where it's like you go to someone's profile and send a random message and you're like, who is this creep trying to reach out to me? You know? Where it's way less creepy on LinkedIn because it's a business platform. You know, so I was in Kansas City at the time when I started my company and I was literally going and finding all the Kansas City business owners. And I was literally just saying, and this was circa probably like 2014 when I started doing this on LinkedIn. Obviously, starting agency in 2010. And then I it took a few years, four-ish years before I realized like, hey, look, there's people on LinkedIn that's my exact target audience. Instead of looking like a creep on Facebook, I'm gonna go to LinkedIn, you know, which I still did the Facebook thing too, by the way. I did both. I was a hustler. So I did the Facebook and I did LinkedIn, but I literally was just like, hey, man, DBQ in here, fellow Kansas City business owner would be more than happy to connect with you here. And then I just started building relationships that way. And I ended up getting business that way, right? So it really is into this day, Alan, as you know, it's the easiest way to get in front of your people. And by your people I mean who you're trying to sell to or who you're trying to build referral partners with, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Right.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

And that's why I decided to focus on it.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

So the last stat I saw, you you follow LinkedIn trends and and statistics much more than I do these days, but what, 900 million people on LinkedIn now? And some somewhere around there as far as the the size of the platform? Like we're almost we're almost at a B. We're almost at a billion people. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

And it's funny because it's more and more B2C professionals, like we're talking to here, are using it and crushing it because it's very undertapped right now for certain markets, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yes, and that's why I wanted to have you on because I talk to B2C in home sellers every single day. And more often than not, why do I need to be on LinkedIn? I'm in home. LinkedIn is a B2B platform, it's not B2C. And I try to tell people, yeah, but all of these B2B people have homes that need windows or need roofs or need siding. You should be getting out there as the person that can do that in your market. So, how would you answer that question if someone says, Why should I be on LinkedIn? I sell, I sell siding to homeowners.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

So, speaking of the stats, I think they have a stat too that's like the average LinkedIn user makes $100,000 a year, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

So if you are targeting these people to sell to, don't you want the ones that can afford whatever the heck you're selling, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Like that's who you want. You want the people that have careers that allow them to invest in whatever you're selling for their home to make their home better. So they're there, they're on LinkedIn. The professionals are on LinkedIn. And it's not hard when you get in the swing of things, even if you only spent two hours a week on LinkedIn, you could do quite a bit as a seller when it comes to just connecting with local professionals in your area, right? It's really easy to do these things on LinkedIn. You don't even have to pay LinkedIn, you don't even need a premium account. You can literally just go and use the search bar and type in a job profession and then filter it by location. And then you could remove the the job if you want, but start with something in the search bar and then hit enter, and then you'll see a tab that says people and then click that, and then you'll see like search parameters that pop up, and then you can just start selecting certain things and seeing what pops up. Obviously, do your local area, and then you can do a bunch of different job titles, you could do industries, whatever you want, and just see what happens, and then you can go connect with people. That's one way, the easiest way to do it. But obviously, you need to have your profile optimized, which says what you do. And ideally, you need to be posting content even if it's just once a week. Like this stuff, it doesn't take long. But instead of relying on your marketing team to give you leads, you're doing something about it. You're being proactive at the same time and you're building relationships. And this isn't just about, oh, these people can be a direct client of mine. You also need to think outside the box a little bit where you're just getting visibility. People can refer business to you, right? Especially in these local areas. It's all about who you know. And if you build relationships with people and they like you as a human, which you will showcase that on your LinkedIn, they're going to think of you when they're talking to their next door neighbor or their friends that talk about needing a new bathroom or a new kitchen remodel or new windows. They're going to think of you because you built that relationship.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

And it's amazing. You you said something that's so like near and dear to my heart. It's the concept of treating your in-home selling career like it's your own business. There's so many reps out there. They're the term is lead babies. They sit on the couch, they wait for the leads to come in from the company, they bitch when they don't come in, or like, oh, the leads suck because and all they're doing is sitting around playing Call of Duty and then complaining about the leads. Whereas, you know what? When I sold RBA Windows, I led the country seven years in a row in referral and self-gen sales.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

And I did it because when I didn't have a lead on Wednesday, I went out and got a lead. I went to my jobs. And this is exactly where you're talking about. Get off your ass and say, like, okay, I'm gonna go on social media and I'm gonna find the work. And doing this on LinkedIn is such an untapped area for this for this industry. So I I'm listening to this podcast right now. I'm Joe Smith. I just got my job at ABC Windows. I want to do this. What's the first thing I should do? Give me like the top three things I should do on LinkedIn tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

The first thing is go look credible, look legit, which is your profile. So that's it.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

I can't put a picture of me like on the beach, like catching a football or anything like that?

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Probably not. So if you have your whatever outfit they require you to wear, put that on. Like we had our RBA shirts, which were hilarious, by the way. My giant, like baggy, button-up RBA shirt. Real hot, real hot. So wear your logoed whatever you wear, polo, and be smiling pretty with a decent background. Like that's it. Like you could literally do this with your phone. It's it's not hard, but have a professional photo of you. And I don't mean like hire a professional photographer, I just mean make it look nice, right? And then you can put a background, so that's called your cover photo on your LinkedIn profile. This can be a picture of a home. It could be a picture of a bathroom. If you sell, you know, whatever, whatever it is you sell, you could do that, or you could just do something that's like pretty, like mountains or landscape, it doesn't matter. Not a huge deal. Just put something up there that looks nice, okay? And then the very first thing I want you to do after you do that is fill out your headline, which basically tells people what you do.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

So instead of putting sales rep at renewal by Anderson, you would say something like I help you save $300 a month on your energy bills.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

Perfect. A value statement. And then after that, you would say something like renewal by Anderson, blah, blah, blah. Right. Whatever you want to say, windows, whatever. Like put more keywords in after that. But the first thing they see should be some sort of value statement instead of sales rep at company.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Couldn't agree more.

SPEAKER_03 11:16

Yeah. So that's the first thing. And then go through everything else on your profile. So your about section is like your summary. So that's where you tell your story. But instead of making it all about you, make it about you and the company. So the first sentence should be again what you do at the company. So how you help people, whatever you sell, right? And the value statement. And then kind of just paint the picture of like, okay, if I were my customer, this is the pain point they're facing right now. And here's how I help. And so paint that picture and then weave in your own story, you know, and why you do what you do. So it's kind of a combination of you and the company. And think of it, I'm gonna throw out marketing speak here, but think of it as a landing page, which is essentially like your own website. So think of your LinkedIn profile like your own website that does the selling for you.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

So if you're not trying to get a job, you're not you're selling yourself, yes, but you're also selling yourself as a representative of the company that you work for. You need to be talking about those things. And then obviously just keep going down the list, right? Your experience section, just fill everything out. It makes it really easy to just go through and fill out everything to where you look legit. Because if you don't have hardly anything filled out, no one's gonna want to be fr be friends with you on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Connect with you, right?

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Connect with you, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

That's the basic stuff. And I remember following you and some other LinkedIn people and learning things as I went along. And what you said about the headline, I think that's where I think a lot of people make the mistake because you see so many people treat LinkedIn like a like a resume. So it says John Smith, you know, account executive, Renewal by Anderson. That's not going to make me click on your profile, but John Smith, I help you put new windows in your house, whatever it is, make oh, and here's what's really important interesting, and when I learned how important this is, when you start to comment, that first line, yes, of that value statement shows up in the comment, and that's all it shows. So when people are reading comments, they see you and what you do, not just account account executive. So really put some thought into your name and then what that that subheadline is because that's what everybody sees almost immediately.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

Exactly. They see it when you reach out, they see it when you comment, they see it when you post content. Before they even click on your profile, they see like the first, they keep changing how many words. Now I think it's like six or seven words they show. I mean, LinkedIn's changing stuff all the time. It used to be like less, but now they show a little bit more. So that first, those first handful of keywords are the most important. So you want to make it really clear so people instantly know what you do.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

And keep in mind that you, you know, now you're now you've got your profile and you're reaching out to people in your area. Obviously, you're selling, let's say you're selling in Kansas City, you're not going, you you know, you can be connected to anyone, but if you want to get clients, you want to be connecting to people in Kansas City and they're gonna be business owners. And who knows, maybe the business owner needs something for the building.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

Exactly. It's actually so much easier to leverage LinkedIn when it's local like this. It's so much easier because it's a concentrated pool of people, and people in general, psychologically, are more apt to connect with other people in their local area than they are someone across the nation, right? Right. So you guys actually have an advantage of being localized in a specific area because you increase your chances of people actually wanting to connect with you.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Yeah. And even when you go to there's a the at the top, it has the button my network. When you go to my network, it shows you people, people you may know in, and it shows you your area. I'm in Rhode Island, but it always says people, people in Providence or people in Boston. It always shows me that's always in my network area. And I always look at it. I'm like, oh, that person owns a home improvement company. I'm gonna connect with that person, I'm gonna say hello. So just to do that, you'll be way ahead of so many other home improvement reps that are out there because they're not doing this. But you it starts with the mindset of, okay, I'm not gonna be reliant on the company giving me every single lead I have. If the company's gonna give me seven a week, I'm gonna get three a week myself, and then it builds from there. And that's what I'm exactly.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

And let's get real like who's to say you're not gonna be at that company three to five years from now. But guess what? You have your network that you built up. It doesn't matter what company you're at, you're building relationships that follow you for the life of your entire career. It doesn't matter how many companies you end up working for or whatever you end up selling, you have that network of people. So this isn't just a temporary, I need leads for this specific company. This is literally helping you build a network of people that can help you achieve your goals regardless of what role you're in.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Right. And and again, LinkedIn, it can be free, but you can pay for the premium thing where you get more features. But when I say run it like your own company, you're not there out there purchasing ads on Facebook. You're just out there uh connecting with people. The other thing I say is like, let's say you want to call on a business, let's say you drive by a building and you say, Man, that building needs new windows. I guarantee you probably find that person on LinkedIn and then you can connect with them, and now it's no longer a cold call. So tell me, I'm I'm really curious because I know we talked about you being at RBA, but how was you how did you get into in-home selling back then? Because we're talking 16, 17 years ago now.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

So long time ago. Out of college, I went to the University of Kansas and I wanted to be a bilingual school psychologist.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Bilingual school psychologist.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

Very specific.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

That is that is a niche.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Very much studied abroad in Spain, come from a family of teachers, but didn't necessarily want to be a teacher, but similar, majored in psychology and Spanish. Long story short, I was pretty smart, but I was also like way ego more than smart. So I thought as a 19-year-old, I could take the GRE and not study. And the GRE is what gets you into graduate school.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

So I didn't study because I was like, I'm so smart. I can totally ace this. And I didn't. I failed miserably. And I cried and I was a little baby. And instead of being like, I'm gonna study next time and take it again, I was like, screw this, I don't want to do graduate school, I'm gonna go get a job at six. So the reason I got into home improvement was actually my grandma. My grandma was a big big wig, one of the only female sales reps for Sherwin Williams that sold commercial airplane paint and whatnot.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Okay for years. Wow, who thought that was a thing?

SPEAKER_03 17:38

Yeah, and this was a long time ago, obviously, right? So she worked her way up the ladder at Sherwin Williams on the commercial side as a sales rep, one of the only females, and she was like, It's a great company, you should co-work for Sherwin Williams. You can do what I did. Keep in mind at this time I was so frustrated because my dreams were shattered. Like I had this whole vision, and I was like, I'm not studying again, whatever. I'm just gonna get a job like everyone else. I'm not going to graduate school. And so I literally went and applied for Sherwin Williams, and I was I got it, you know, they sent me through training, and I was an assistant manager in Kansas City, Kansas, at a paint store. Sherwin Williams. Yeah. It was pretty decent pay too as a 20, you know, I graduated uh university early too. So I had like, I think I started right before I turned 21, you know, had my first big bill job.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

So you're so you're an assistant manager at a Sherwin Sherwin Williams store.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

Yep. And that's that was my first like home improvement situation, if you will. So I learned like the ins and outs there and sales. You know, I never done never done sales before. So I learned sales train and everything from there. And then I was like, I didn't see a vision of me becoming an actual like commercial sales rep because that path, it just wasn't there. I would have had it was like a completely different division. And I was like, I don't want to be stuck in a paint store wearing khakis and a freaking button-up and Williams shirt.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

A red vest with paint.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

No, it was blue. It was a blue.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Oh, it's a blue vest. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

No vest. No, no vest, no vest.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Oh, no vest. Okay. I thought it was a vest.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

Just a button-up little denim shirt with paint everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

You know.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

Had a great time. Loved, loved the men that I worked with. Like it was fun. Like I had a good time. But I was like, I don't really see my future. Mm-mm. And I didn't really want like want to be a manager. I was like, I don't really want to do this anymore. So because I was in home improvement, I started looking at like other home improvement sales rep jobs, and renewal by Anderson was there, you know? And I was like, sure, let's go do that. And then I applied and got it. And I was one of I was like the first female on the team. And then they hired another female. There's only two of us. The rest were all different.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

That's I mean, female reps back then, almost unheard of.

SPEAKER_03 19:45

I mean, yeah, very unheard of. And we were young. Everyone else was way older than us too, right? So, like me and and we were the same age, and we were like 20s, like babies, like early 20s, like fresh, you know. And so they threw us to the wolves as I'm carrying these giant windows around, this little 5'4 girl going around. I could barely freaking get the thing in my car. I was like, oh, okay, this is a good workout.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah, it kept you in shape.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

So that's how like Sherwin Williams actually led me to because I was like, I'll just stay in the niche, the industry of home improvement. I'm already here. Let's see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

And how did you do it? Did you do okay? I did, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

I did okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

Not too bad. Not too bad. Wasn't my favorite. I I actually started out working in the office before I worked up to like I was like the the showroom girl.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Oh, I got you. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Before they put me into the field, I was like the showroom girl. And I would bring my little puppy at the time, Juno, and I would sit her on the desk, and she's like the was uh R I P Juno. A Yorkie Shih Tzu mix, and everyone thought she was a stuffed animal until she moved. And she was the like the highlight of the showroom. Like of course, she was like the mascot. And I love that they let me bring her. People would come in and like I mean, she helped sell the windows, of course, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

So then they put me into the you then were there for a couple years, and then many times people need one door to close for another to open, and you got laid off.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

Mm-hmm. I did. But before that, I was I was starting online marketing. So once again, didn't see a future selling windows forever, right? So like I get I got these jobs and I was like, I don't want to sell paint forever. I don't want to sell windows forever. And so I literally started Googling like how to make money online. I typed in how to make money online, and then I taught myself like everything that you could possibly imagine. And I I actually started this journey when I was selling uh paint too. So it wasn't so I was like researching and experimenting with affiliate marketing and making blogs and doing all these things. And then I started more seriously doing it when I was at Renewal by Anderson, and obviously that was my priority, not selling windows. So that I was kind of slapped. On that side. So I got laid off, which was amazing because it allowed me to focus on my passion, which was not selling windows. My passion was online marketing. I was obsessed with it. Like I was literally obsessed. I freaking loved it. I would do it day and night, you know, just constantly.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 22:16

And I was like, I love this. This is what I want to do for a living. And so I poured everything into that. And because of my job selling windows, I was talking to home improvement people a lot. And so my first clients were like roofers.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Really?

SPEAKER_03 22:31

I was reaching out to one chiropractor in there too. Just because I was like, there's lots of chiropractors, let's do that. So I would literally go to the first, I would go to Google and I would type in like Kansas City chiropractor, Kansas City Roofers, and I would email all of the people on the second and third page of Google, manually cold email them. And I'd be like, hey Alan, Mandy here, you know, Kansas City resident. I was looking for roofing companies and I noticed that you don't show up on the first page of Google, which means no one is finding you. So what I can do for you is for free, I will get you in the top five results. You don't pay me anything until I get you there, and then you pay me 500 bucks.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

That's how I started my business. What a great who's gonna say no to that?

SPEAKER_03 23:14

Exactly. And I got lucky because one of the roofing companies, he was amazing. He had another roofing company friend, and they were like besties, even though they're competitors, they were besties. And so he told him about me. That guy hired me, and he also happened to own a recording studio. So I got two two for one special here that I got. And he also needed a website for his recording studio. The other guy needed a website for his roofing company, and I knew WordPress at the time. I was I was really, really good at at doing this at this point because I'd been doing it for years, like on my own. So it wasn't just like I was like, oh, let me see if I can get you. Like I knew I could get them on the first page of Google. I was really good at it. And I knew WordPress. So I was like, by the way, give me an extra $500, cheapest freaking website ever.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

And I'll make you on it.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

I'll make you a WordPress website. And they were like, really? Score. So I did, and I got them a badass website. I got them leads, and I was like, shit, I have a business. I think I think this is a business. And that's literally how it started. But the I the roofing companies, the two roofing company guys who were amazing humans, by the way, just amazing, believed in me, referred me to business. Like I owe a lot to them for starting, helping me start Mod Girl. And they were the reason literally that like I was able to have the confidence to be like, shit, I can do this. Yeah. And then I got it, and then I got another window company. I got a competitor of I kept the check too. I still have the $500 check. All weather windows, all weather windows and doors, who was my competition when I sold Anderson Windows because they sell Anderson Windows, but not renewable by Anderson.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

Just Anderson Windows. Yeah. And I got them as a client next. And I was like, this is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

That's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

And then I got them to pay me $500 a month, which was huge. I was like, score, they're gonna pay me monthly to do their SEO and their, you know, their website. So home improvement as a sales rep got me to be a home improvement marketer, basically, with for my own company.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Wow. And that turned into Mod Girl Marketing.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

And that turned into Mod Girl Marketing, which was at the time very local, very local business in Kansas City. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

And then I met a couple of guys in Kin City at a networking event that told me about white label online marketing. And I was like, what the hell is that? And they were like, well, we do white label mobile marketing. Basically, people hire you to do the marketing for their clients and they don't even know you exist.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

I was like, really?

SPEAKER_03 25:35

They're like, Yeah, you should do that. And you could go global with this. And I was like, okay, cool. So I ended up putting a page on my ModGirl site for white label online marketing. I was number one in Google for years for that term.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

No kidding.

unknown 25:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Yep. And so that is how I started a global agency was from doing white label SEO, which means basically these other big agencies would hire little, little little Mandy in Kansas to do their clients' SEO, and their clients would have no idea I existed.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

They just thought it was them doing it.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

They just thought it was them. And that's literally how I started a global digital marketing agency was from that.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

That's a great, that's a great story. It really is. And it just, you know, it goes back to being in charge of yourself. I don't think you would ever go back to working for someone. I know I would never go back to working for someone. You know, uh, trust me, the entrepreneurial journey is not for the faint of heart, is there's ups and downs and roller coaster ride. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. And it's because you have to have that type of energy, you have to have that type of of moxie to get out there and put yourself out there and and take these risks. And so congrats for you on your success. It's really been it's been fun to watch from my end. So I wasn't even part of all that beginning stuff.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

So I know. We just found out about each other's RBA days recently.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yeah, recently. I know. I'm like, I gotta have her on my podcast. Hey dwellers, you know what term is becoming very popular today in the in-home selling world? Well, it is called tech stack overload. Another word for it, shiny object syndrome by all the business owners out there. They get so overwhelmed, they get a call from a salesperson for selling software and they buy it. Then they next week they buy another software and then they try the CRM. They're trying too many things at once, and they're creating what they're calling tech stack overload to their reps. Well, our title sponsor, Paradigm Vendo, takes care of all of that. It is a one-stop shop, one computer, all the software you need in one spot for your rep to give the customer an amazing experience in the home. Paradigmvendo.com forward slash dwelling. Check them out. You will not be sorry that you did. I want to touch on this a little bit because it's obviously the it's the topic on, you know, everybody talks about, which is AI. And you just started something on LinkedIn where you basically have your own uh, what's it called? I have it written down here. Next Wave, right? Yep. Which is your own kind of AI platform that helps people write posts and stuff on LinkedIn. Since you've been in the business, how do you see AI affecting the home improvement industry from a company standpoint and even from a rep standpoint if you could comment on that?

SPEAKER_03 28:12

I mean, I feel like it's only going to help because in home improvement, it's not like you can get rid of of humans because as consumers, we still like doing business with humans. Like if I'm going to hire a company and I'm gonna spend fifty thousand dollars for a remodel or RBA windows, which could easily get to fifty thousand dollars. Easily, yeah. Easily. Easily. I want to talk to a human, period. I don't want to talk to a robot, right? So I don't think we have to like fear necessarily that they're gonna take away the reps' jobs. However, you need to be able to know how to use it to make your life easier. And so there there are certain things that companies are already doing in the home improvement space. Like they've been doing this for a while though, like chat bots on the website. Like that's AI. That's been happening for years now. We just don't call it AI, but it is, you know. So you land on a website and a little chat bot on the corner pops up and it asks, you know, how can I help you? And they they start talking, right? So when we think about like going into people's homes, you know, like you and I were selling way before all of this wasn't stuff, right? Anything of it. So we were I was gonna say we were literally writing out stuff. Like, yeah, now it makes it a lot easier. Like you can have AI do renderings like right there on the spot. Like, yeah, take a picture of the house and like boom, this is what it exactly it's gonna look like. This is what your bathroom looks like now. Take a picture, click some buttons on what they like, the countertops, the new shower, and it's like, this is what it will look like. We didn't have any of that when you and I saw, you know? So it's actually making reps jobs a hell of a lot easier when they leverage it the right way because then they have that information at their fingertips to be able to help them sell whatever it is that they're selling to give the consumer trust that, like, oh, that is what I want.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

You know? And the thing I'm seeing, there's so many AI and software platforms for in-home now. And I see I've seen companies give the reps too much stuff, and they're like, they're going back and forth with things. And I, you know, they gotta be careful with, for example, what you talked about, you know, the renderings that you can do. But if that's in a different platform and they have to go from their iPad to their laptop or whatever, you gotta make sure you're not giving your reps too much stuff because then it's gonna make the entire sales process way too clunky and they're not gonna sell anything. So well, and they're just gonna get overwhelmed.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

It's actually better to go back to the old school ways of not having it than it is giving them too much.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Right.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Because then they're not thinking of like being an actual human, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Exactly. Right.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

Or like, oh shit, how do I use this tool? Oh god, this isn't working, you know. Now I gotta hop hop into here and they're getting stressed, and like consumers can obviously pick up on that, the energy, you know. So yeah, I think that's honestly almost every industry right now. There's like it's like tool overload. Doesn't matter if it's home improvement or what, but I think businesses leaders are thinking that they have to just jump on everything that's like shiny, you know? They're like shiny new objects. It's everyone says we need to use it. So we're gonna buy five different software and throw it at our team and force them to use it. Like they're not slowing down and thinking, okay, like what is our process like now? And what is the one tool that can help us improve this process? Let's start with that, see how it goes, and then gradually, maybe if needed, add more. But yeah, they're they it could easily do more damage than good.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

I'll give a plug to my title sponsor, Paradigm Vendo. They actually have one platform that you can do almost everything in from the appointment to the presentation to the contract to everything. So that's as a rep, like this is it. Everything's right here on one screen and it's easy to navigate. So what is you got it behind your left ear there? What is Luminetics? Tell me tell me about you got Mod Girl marketing. Is Luminetics just Mod Girl that just evolved to the LinkedIn side?

SPEAKER_03 31:58

Yeah, Luminetics is is separate than Mod Girl because it's literally LinkedIn. It's specific to LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Just all LinkedIn, okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

So Mod Girl, since it started in 2010, we've literally done everything. So SEO, ads, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, PR, all of it, right? So it's just like a digital agency where Luminetics is specifically for LinkedIn and um personal brands. Personal brand.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 32:25

So right now, uh, we help professionals elevate their personal brand on LinkedIn through either a DIY slash um group coaching, and that's our next wave membership that you referenced earlier. So we have, if you guys have a Chat GPT account, um, we basically built our own AI tools inside of ChatGPT, and they're just custom GPTs. And so they help you optimize your profile super fast. So I was giving you guys all those tips earlier. I built a tool to do it for you, basically. So it'll write your headline, your about section, it'll tell you what you need to optimize your profile. And then same for writing posts. So we have a whole system leveraging Google Drive, basically, which is just like do this, this, and this, answer these questions, pop it into this GPT on your ChatGPT account, use our Loomy postwriter, and it will emulate your voice in a way that LinkedIn likes. So it's formatted in a way that LinkedIn prefers and humans on LinkedIn to read, but it sounds like you. So it doesn't sound like a guy, right? So and it helps you give you ideas, so it helps write content for you. We have one for outreach, one to help you nail your unique point of view, and then we have courses paired with that with the Slack community and then bi-weekly coaching calls. So that's kind of the DIY side.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

It's very cool. And I actually I I I think I sat on one of your uh when you were launching this, I sat on one of your um master classes. Yeah. And and just to see what it does, and it's really freaking cool because you're right. I love how it like you write in your own voice and it and it kind of okay, this is how this person writes and speaks, and that's how it does. Because right now, the biggest problem on LinkedIn, and everybody complains about it, is they get all these bot messages every single day. Hey, I love how you worked with, and they name a company that's like the fifth company down on your experience that you haven't worked with in 20 years, and uh you did this stuff and would love to connect, and and then they here's my calendar link, and everybody like they just they throw sales in your face. So that doesn't do that. But if you get on LinkedIn, please don't do that, or please don't use bots to message people because the opposite's gonna happen and you're not gonna get any connections.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

Exactly. Yeah, and that's what we we train on too. So we have a lot of training. I have courses in there too, and then the flip side is we do this for people as well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

So you DI DIY and then you do it yourself.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

Yeah, and then we have done for you for founders and CEOs primarily, where we're doing all of this for them.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

I'm gonna change subjects now because I normally talk to people and say, Mandy is from, and I name the city or whatever, and you're obviously from Kansas City, but you're a nomad. Every time I turn on LinkedIn, you're in a different state or a different country. So you just love traveling around. You're all over the place. Tell me a little bit about how that happened and how you like obviously you manage everything online, you were remote remote, but what's your cadence with that? Like, do you do it specifically or you just go where the wind takes you?

SPEAKER_03 35:07

Well, it's a little a little word called divorce, which put me which put me into this nomad world. So by choice, by choice.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

So I was in California for a decade. I'm actually from Wichita, Kansas, which is where I'm physically at at this very moment. And then in a week I go back to California for speaking gigs and to see my my dog and my old life and all the things. But I was in California for a decade and I was married, and then I wasn't married anymore and decided and decided that I didn't want to stay in California. I didn't want to stay in Kansas, but I legally moved everything back to Kansas because it's obviously tax purposes, it's a hell of a lot cheaper to have a business here than it is California. And then I decided I just want to travel with the world. And so I there is no rhyme or reason for where I go. I just, it's like bucket list things. I'm like, this is where I want to go. I'm just gonna do it. So I've spent I spent a lot of time in Europe. I would spend like four months at a time in Europe. Recently I was in Brazil for five and a half weeks. I'm doing a lot of US travel right now this year, but it's really just random, but it it's it's because of of divorce. But it's always been a I love travel too, right? But it's not like I woke up one day and I was like, I think I'm gonna travel the world. It was like, now I'm single and divorced.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

And this is the time to do it.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

Now is the time to freaking do it. Why not?

SPEAKER_00 36:27

So that's why well, you need to get your butt to Rhode Island, which is a beautiful little state.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

I've never been to Rhode Island. I would love to.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

I love oysters. We'll have a great time. So it is time for the Ask Alan segment of the podcast. So this is a segment where people write in on the website, sellinginthedwelling.com. Send me a question. If I choose the question, you will get a free Selling in the Dwelling t-shirt. So today's question comes from, speaking of California, Maria from San Diego. And this is uh it's like as soon as I saw the question is like this is perfect for Mandy because I got her coming up. And so I just started selling kitchen remodeling and have relied exclusively on leads given to me by the company, which sometimes are sparse. Any advice on how I can start generating my own appointments and business? I'll let you go first and then I'll add my two cents.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Okay. Yeah, I love this kitchen remodeling. Okay. Well, kitchen remodels are not cheap. So obviously, I would say build a personal brand, and I would probably leverage LinkedIn, but possibly also Instagram. And if you're good with video, I would say add TikTok to that as well. If you like videos, right? Because you could do a lot of different uh cool things with videos. Um, but uh don't do this if you hate editing videos or making videos. Like, don't don't do it. So then I would say focus on LinkedIn, but I would say build a personal brand on social media and start connecting with people in your local area and start sharing like before and after pictures. That's why I said Instagram, because before and after kitchen remodels are super impressive. So Instagram is very aesthetic. So I would say I would be be leveraging Instagram and LinkedIn at a minimum and then be connecting with people and sharing all the before and after photos that you possibly can, and then sharing tips too to give people advice on what to think about for their kitchen remodel and maybe comparing different options, different countertop options, why you would choose quartz over granite, et cetera, et cetera, and educating people. And if you're good on camera, I would be making videos about these things and educating people.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

And what you just said, you stole my before and after answer, but that's okay because you because you're the guest and you can steal the answer. So, but the but the the the concept of become the expert, like people want to hear from from people who know what they're talking about. And if you all of a sudden just post twice a week on Instagram and you're the expert about kitchen remodeling in your area, people are gonna keep going. And if they're thinking, you know, in a few years, I want to, I think I want to do my kitchen, they're gonna keep going to your site, whether it's on Instagram or LinkedIn or you know, TikTok or whatever. But here's the thing that most home improvement companies miss. So you're you're getting leads from your company, you're doing that. Go visit your job sites. So many sales reps don't visit their job sites when it's being installed. They go later or the the the customer sends them pictures. Here's what's gonna happen: you're gonna get really good pictures, you'll get before pictures, during pictures, which are equally as important, then after pictures, and then you'd be able to post them, but then you can walk around and knock on three or four or five doors around the the houses that are doing the work and say, hey, we're doing a kitchen next door. If you need one, here's my card. That's how you build your business. Oh, and the other thing, how about networking functions? It's amazing how many sales reps in Ian Homeworld don't go to networking functions. Become the kitchen remodeler that goes to the chamber event once a month. All of a sudden, everybody, I guarantee you, everybody at that vent has a kitchen. And at some point they're gonna need to change it. So what Mandy said is is amazing. Some some advice there for you, Maria. Treat your job like it's your own business, and you'll quickly shoot to the top of the pack at that company, I guarantee you.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

Absolutely. Yeah, networking events are key. That's literally how I how I started Mod Girl too. And even at Renewal, I was thrown into networking. B and I.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Oh my god, B and I.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

Remember B and I? Oh God.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Yes, I uh I have PTSD from B and I.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

I know, same, same. Apps of freaking Lutley.

SPEAKER_00 40:23

Yeah, but you know what? It sharpened your chops on networking, and um you're not gonna get business unless you get out there and try to get business. If you sit around waiting for the leads to come in, you're gonna need to find another job, and it's not gonna be one that you probably enjoy.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

So exactly. And if you could get your customers on video talking about how happy they are, that's gold.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

Absolutely gold.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

You can make a quick clip. It's not hard with AI to make videos these days. You don't even have to be in the damn video if your camera's at. You don't even have to be in it. You could do like show like before video and after video and then splice in what the customer thought, like the day it's done and how happy they are. Boom, you have a video.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

What you can do today versus even five years ago.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

It's amazing. Like when I started this, when I started the Seven Secret Sales Academy, which was six and a half years ago now, none of this existed. And I I would sit here and spend two hours trying to film myself to make a 60-second TikTok video. And then a year later, you know, InShot comes out. And then one of the best advice I ever got from a friend of mine on LinkedIn said, What are you doing? Just progress over perfection. Every video doesn't have to be perfect, just do it. So then I wound up doing it and it turned in from an hour to 30 minutes. All of a sudden now I just do a video. I don't even edit anymore. I just post it because people like authenticity. They don't, it doesn't matter, right?

SPEAKER_03 41:42

If it's too polished, you're gonna look fake.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

So you need to look real because that's what people resonate with, especially in the world of robots that we live in now.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

So exactly the more real you could be, the better. And that's another thing I would say too is like, don't be afraid to share your personality online. For those of you that are listening, like the quirkier you are and the more unique you are, the better you're gonna do. Because if you don't have some sort of personality that makes you stand out, or like for me as a nomad, like on LinkedIn, I share my travels. So Alan has seen a ton of me traveling around the world, and that's what makes me unique. And so find something too, a hobby or something that makes you unique and share about that too, across all your socials. And so, what we're talking about Instagram, it's like I don't just want you guys to have before and after pictures and videos only. Like, you need to share your life as well. Same with LinkedIn. So it's like people resonate with humans. That's how you're gonna build relationships. It's not from just being businessy all the time.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

Yeah, and and even the be the behind-the-scenes stuff, your travel. But you know, I remember I did a video where I usually do my work in a coffee shop, and one day I filmed myself walking into the coffee shop and setting up my laptop. It got like 5,000 views, and it was like, what the hell? Amazing. So I was like, this is like this is all I have to do?

SPEAKER_03 42:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

And the the video previous, I spent an hour working on it. It's crazy. So uh huh. Yeah, it's just all authenticity, is what people are are are really craving. So absolutely anyway, Mandy, this has been amazing. We we were running out of time, but I love that you joined me and I love we're friends and I love watching your journey. So, how can people find you uh on LinkedIn if they need help or if they just want to connect with you, where do they go?

SPEAKER_03 43:18

Mandy McEwen on LinkedIn. I am active on literally every social media channel that exists in the world, including YouTube. So at Mandy Modgirl on all the other channels. Yeah, social media is the fastest way to find me. And then I'm I'm happy to help them with whatever you guys need.

SPEAKER_00 43:33

Awesome. McEwen is M-C-E-W-E-N, just in case you didn't know how to spell that. So it's Mandy with a Y. Andy, Mandy, thank you for joining me. And I want to thank everyone out there for joining me on this episode of Selling in the Dwelling. Don't forget paradigmvendo.com slash forward slash dwelling. That is the title sponsor. Check them out. You won't be sorry you did. They are an amazing platform that puts everything you need in the home on one space on your laptop or on your iPhone. Pit again, thanks everyone for joining, and we'll see you again next time on Selling in the Dwelling. Take care.

SPEAKER_04 44:06

Selling in the Dwelling. Let's get it warm.

unknown 44:10

This is where the pros come to play.

SPEAKER_05 44:13

Selling in the dwelling every day. Top experts, real time, straight from the trail.