February 20, 2025 • 18 mins
Welcome to the Guy Who Knows a Guy Podcast with your host, Michael Whitehouse—recorded live at Podapalooza 15. In this episode, Michael sits down with Brenda Marie Sheldrake, a dynamic lead generation strategist who helps entrepreneurs build relationships that matter. Brenda reveals her secret to unlocking business opportunities by listening deeply, identifying challenges, and connecting people with the right solutions. Whether you’re tired of generic leads or just looking to foster genuine connections, Brenda’s insights will help you cut through the noise and focus on what truly drives business growth.
Key Topics Include:
- The art of listening to uncover client challenges
- How to turn introductions into qualified leads
- The value of relationship-building over cold outreach
- Free tools and strategies to boost your networking game (including a spotlight on “My Most Trusted”)
Host Contact Information:
- Connect with Michael Whitehouse: guywhoknowsaguy.com
- Discover Inspiring Summits: summits.fun
Tune in and learn how to transform your approach to lead generation and business relationships!
Mentioned in this episode:
JV Connect, December 12-13, 2023
Join us for JV Connect, the dedicated networking event December 12th and 13th, 2023 https://www.jv-connect.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the guy whoknows the guy podcast.
I'm your host, Michael Whitehouse,the guy who knows the guy himself.
And we are recording live to tapeat Potapalooza number 15 over
the past five years, I've had theprivilege of meeting and learning
from thousands of entrepreneurs,experts, and awesome people.
And now I lever that leverage thatknowledge to help my clients cut
through the junk and focus on justwhat they need to achieve their goals.
(00:23):
And I'm excited to introduce ournext guest, Brenda Marie Sheldrake.
So I had a gap in my schedule.
I thought I had a guest and Ididn't mostly because my last
one ran long and I got back inand I said, I don't have a guest.
And Brenda's like me,me, me, get me in there.
So I am excited to have her here andI think she's excited to be here.
So this is going to be exciting.
(00:44):
Brenda tells me she's a lead generationstrategist who helps entrepreneurs
build relationships for business.
I do like the wordrelationships in business.
So Brenda, tell us a bit aboutyourself and what makes you awesome.
Thank you so much.
So I. I, I believe that my, my key to myawesomeness is in my ability to listen to
(01:04):
people, to detect what is awesome aboutthem, to point them to other people, that
they can help with their awesomeness.
But second to that, I also have.
The secret ability to get people to feelconfident enough to share what their
biggest challenge is with me so that Ican also share with them the people who
(01:28):
can help them solve that problem, savingthem endless hours and days and sometimes
money searching for the right person.
Fantastic.
Yeah, that, that is key getting peopleto admit what their challenge is and
then listening to it, listening to it.
I ran a summit recently where I hadsomeone who was, um, a bit of a one
(01:49):
trick pony, and for every question,he had the same set of answers.
And whether it was a mindset questionor is the delivery question, you
know, he was just in the, in the salesspace and it was just sales answers.
All he had was sales answersand not everything, you know,
not everything's a nail.
So, um, yeah, and so I like, you know,you pay attention to what they need
(02:11):
and help them find that solution andthen be able to share what they do.
Um, so I, so when you talkabout, you know, lead generation
strategist, what does that include?
What do you help people do?
So it's, for me, it'sabout qualified leads.
There are lots of people, you know,those messages that you get on
LinkedIn, Michael, where somebodymessages you and says, I can get you
(02:33):
200 leads by the end of the year.
I can get you a thousandleads by the end of the month.
Sometimes they're that backwards, athousand leads by the end of the month.
And you're going, I don't think so.
Here's a phone book.
And that's the thing.
That's what they give you.
They give you just anybody and everybody.
(02:55):
It's like, I love the concept of BNI.
I love the idea of connectingpeople with people.
My challenge is when you show up atBNI and you don't have anybody to
introduce anybody to, and the hostgoes around the room and says, okay,
who are your introductions this week?
And you go, um, um, Michael,you got to meet my neighbor.
(03:22):
And even worse.
When we hand them that littlepiece of paper that's got their
neighbor's name and telephonenumber on it and says, it's okay.
You can tell them that I sent you becausefor me, that's not an introduction that
that's not even keen to an introductionbecause can't I just open up your LinkedIn
(03:46):
and look at the people you're connectedto and say, Michael told me to call.
But what's the next thing that the persondoes if they're the least bit smart?
They're gonna reach out to you,Michael, and say, Michael, this
girl is on my LinkedIn and shesays you told me to call her.
Did you really tell me to call her?
(04:10):
And when you say, no, I didn'tconnect you to, they're never
going to take my call ever again.
Yep.
So how do you help peopleget qualified leads?
So qualified leads, I believe, comefrom introductions and referrals
as one of the strongest sources.
(04:30):
So I have, I have courses,I have coaching and I have a
community and I have free tips.
I have lots of thingsthat you can do for free.
I have, I have one of them.
If we have time, I'll share ithere, but I have, I have lots of
ways that you connect with people.
One of the most important things that Iadvise everyone is, no matter how good
(04:54):
your solution is, No matter how goodyour courses, how good your coaching
program is, that's not what you want tolead with on that 1st introduction call.
Anyway, I think that's 1 ofthe most important things
because people want to know.
I want to know that you're interestedin me before you hammer me with
(05:16):
a solution because I'm wondering.
What makes you think I need that solution?
Yeah, that's definitely,that's, that's a powerful thing.
If you can identify someone's problem,they'll believe you have the solution.
If you leave the solutions,they don't, they're like, I
don't know if that's for me.
Um, and I, you know, as a, as amarketer observing the, the 2024
(05:40):
election, I saw that, um, because oneof the things I noticed was that Trump
was talking about people's problemsand Harris talking about solutions.
And so he's talking about like, don'tyou feel the prices are too high?
Don't you feel, you know,inflation's too high?
Aren't you worried about this?
Aren't you worried about that?
And people are like,yeah, yeah, he gets me.
He knows my problems.
And meanwhile, you know, Harris was like,well, here's a solution for housing.
(06:03):
And here's a solution for inflation.
Here's a solution.
And they're like, I don't know whatshe's talking about with these grants.
And I don't get it because she wasspeaking three steps down the road.
On these solutions but wasn't actuallytalking to them where they were right
now And I I think that was certainlythat's obviously a lot goes into
(06:24):
politics and elections and whatnot ButI think that was certainly part of what
we're seeing is that he was speakingpeople's language He's like you have
this problem And then even later hewith some of the problems, he said, Oh
yeah, that's a very complicated problem.
I don't have a solution for it.
I have some ideas, but youknow, I don't have a solution.
It's a very complicated problem, but noone actually asked, What's your solution?
They just said, Yeah,yeah, that's my problem.
(06:45):
Yeah, I get it.
So we're seeing
that I, I 100 percent agree.
We're seeing that in Canada too right now.
Um, and it's the same thing.
Like, I'm, I'm, I stay away frompolitics as much as possible as far
as I can get, but it's the same thing.
We got one party that's saying, Ifyou have a problem, the big problem,
(07:07):
you can't get into Toronto, intodowntown Toronto right now, because
it takes you four and a half hoursbecause the highway infrastructure.
So, I've identified your pain point.
Everybody who has to go to workin downtown Toronto feels that
pain and they're doing it witha lot of other issues as well.
If you, if you, if you can't, ifyou have to drive for 2 hours before
(07:29):
you can get to a park or see anygreen space, we know your problem.
We know that they're, they're Buildingcondos on all the green space.
Okay.
So, you know what my pain is, but they'renot, those people are the ones that
people are doing, Oh, I gotta, I gottaelect that person because they know
what my pain is, but you're so right.
(07:51):
A lot of times they don't have a solution.
Yeah, but and so, you know, but this,which is not to say that you should
talk to talk about people's problemswithout having a solution and just pitch.
No, but it does tell you aboutthe power of just having speaking
to people's problems before youstart talking about a smart you
and how great your solutions are.
So,
and when it comes to referrals.
(08:12):
You don't so I don't necessarilypersonally have the solution to every
person's pain, but I've heard peopleshare with me a lot of different pains.
And so when they asked me,well, what's the solution?
I don't always say, well, youneed to do this, but I am.
I'm not afraid to say, you know what?
(08:34):
It's outside the scope of what I can do,but you need to talk to Michael Whitehouse
because he can solve that problem.
You need to talk to this personbecause they've already, I've
heard them share options for that.
So you can help peoplein that way as well.
(08:55):
Because one of the things that I do whenI'm looking for people on LinkedIn that
I want to connect with, I'm not lookingdirectly for people who want help with
their LinkedIn for relationship building.
But what I'm looking for is otherpeople who help people with LinkedIn.
Now, are you a LinkedIn coach?
(09:16):
Are you, are you a business coach?
Because if you're a business coach,you probably want your clients
to have a LinkedIn presence.
I believe all entrepreneursshould have a LinkedIn presence.
So if I then build, if you'rea marketing person, a LinkedIn
presence is a good idea.
So I build relationships with themarketing people, with the coaches.
(09:39):
And then when I'm asking forintroductions, because I believe
in, in a world of abundance, so.
There's lots of people.
When I say to you, Michael, haveyou met anybody as you've been
going through your travels thatwhen you looked at their LinkedIn,
they had that LinkedIn gray banner?
(10:00):
And I'm pretty sure that you couldtell me, yes, that you've met a couple
people who had the LinkedIn gray banner.
My memory tends to block them out becausethey're so But yes, I do encounter them.
So then I would say, well, if there's anyof them that you can still think of or
as you're going through your next set ofcalls, I would love to meet them because.
(10:24):
I think that before you can helpthem with their marketing, I need
to spruce up their LinkedIn a littlebit for relationship building.
Yeah, that's, that's a great, uh,great, and actually the ones that
jump out at me more get to slightlysidetracking the LinkedIn for a second.
Is it like the great banner I can dealwith if they've got, you know, proper
profile picture and they got some contentand it looks like a real account, but
(10:46):
the ones that, that really turned me off.
Are there ones where they arepitching from the top of the page?
So where it's like join my webinar and sixweeks to six figures and blah blah blah
Are they I had some way I get all kindsof cold friend requests on facebook and I
accept half of them I'm looking for one.
Are they a real live human being?
(11:07):
Um, or are they like a scammer or abot which is half the friend requests?
um, but also do I think this isactually someone who's like a
real person or is this a Is thisFacebook account a pitch machine?
Um, and if there's a like join my webinarlink in their 20 word bio i'm usually
(11:28):
going to reject it because okay, you'rejust here to pitch me So either you're
trying to pitch me here or i'm goingto accept this you're going to send me
a message You're going to pitch me Idon't want to deal with that and And
so, you know if it's all about likebuy my stuff buy my stuff buy my stuff
I don't want to introduce that person.
I don't want to talk to that person.
I don't want to know that personIt's a it's a huge turnoff.
I don't know for years.
(11:48):
They're the Expertswe're telling everyone.
Oh, yeah, have your offer there.
Let people know you're in business,you know, put up the open sign and
We're getting you know getting awayfrom that and that thing And so
if you're watching and that's yourLinkedIn, you should change it.
What are your thoughts?
I agree with you 100 percent thatone of the things I was saying on my
(12:09):
last interview that I had just a fewminutes ago was about the idea of,
of artificial intelligence, right?
Everybody's using artificialintelligence to make their profiles
better, to improve their profiles.
I think artificial intelligenceis a wonderful thing and there
are great ways to use it.
Talk to somebody who's a pro atit and they're going to be able
(12:29):
to help you with how to use it.
But I think before you decidewhich pro, because there's lots of
people, what's, what's one of thebiggest things out there right now?
People who are artificialintelligence experts.
So before you decide which expert towork with, what Michael was saying
right now is really, really key.
Go look at their LinkedIn.
Go see if their bannersays, join my group, take my
(12:52):
course, do buy this, buy that.
If they're, if that's what's top of theirprofile, then you probably don't want to
learn from them unless you want to learnto be like that, because what you see them
doing is probably what they're teaching.
Another thing that I don't reallylike, and you just mentioned
it in passing there, but it'sreally strong pet peeve to me.
(13:16):
If, if you install a bot and thebot is crawling people's profiles,
looking for keywords and then sendingconnection requests and messages.
Mm hmm.
I'm going to figure out I'mtalking to a bot pretty quick.
Yeah, maybe you programmed a few keythings into it that it's going to
answer properly a few times, but atsome point I'm going to ask something
(13:39):
or I'm going to say something.
It's going to say something back thattotally doesn't make sense, and I'm going
to go, yep, this is a bot, and that's theend of our relationship building for me.
Yep, and that applies to VAs also,which VAs are just the bot of 2022.
Uh, yeah, so if, uh, If it's notyou, it shouldn't be speaking
(14:00):
from your messenger account.
Yeah.
Yeah.
When, when VA has tried to sell me on theidea that they can book my appointments
and that they can respond to my messages,you cannot exactly what you just said.
You can't a stranger.
I mean, like me saying,Michael, can you respond to my,
my LinkedIn messages for me?
(14:21):
Well, you're going to do asgood a job as the VA can do.
And if you're using an AI tool, Idon't believe that it matters how good
you make your custom instructions,
they're
still not going to be you.
Absolutely.
And I'm going to ask a question thatthey're not going to be able to answer.
Yeah, and I've had, you know, networkingrelationships ruined because I couldn't
(14:45):
communicate with them because I'd try tomessage them and I'd get their VA. And,
uh, I haven't gotten that too much withbots, but, you know, I'd get their VA
and I'd be like, Okay, who am I It's likedealing with a crazy person, you know.
Okay, who am I speaking to now?
Am I speaking to Brendaor am I speaking to Susan?
Yep.
(15:05):
I know
it looks like Brenda, but am Ireally speaking to Brenda right
now?
Absolutely.
Do we have a minute for me to shareabout a free tool that will help you
build relationships though, Michael?
We
absolutely do, because everyone'sbeen waiting, and if we don't do it,
they'll be like, dude, what the heck?
Okay.
Promise free tools.
Let's give the free tool.
Give the people what they want.
(15:25):
The free tool is called My Most Trusted.
Now, I want to be fully transparent.
You can find My Most Trusted bygoing on LinkedIn and just putting
in a search for My Most Trusted.
I know the founder andcreator personally myself.
We have met in person.
He lives in Australia, but he'sbeen here to Canada and we've met
(15:47):
together and sat together and talked.
We know each other.
I've been using the toolsince it was created.
Now, when it was originally created,the plan was to have a basic level
that you could use for free forever.
Unfortunately, that's notthe case at this point.
Because he's continued to make itbetter and better, and it costs
(16:08):
him more and more to run it.
So he eventually starts to charge you.
But what he has done that is remarkablygenerous is he's created a number of
white label versions, and I happento be able to share with you links
to several of those white labelversions that are free forever.
(16:29):
Not just temporarily, but forever.
So you're welcome to go aheadand install MyMouseTrusted.
You can go on YouTube and getvideos to teach you how to use
it, or you can reach out to me.
I'll give you information on how toget one of the free versions, and then
I'll also help you with how to use it.
(16:50):
And that's all under the realm of free.
And how do they reach out to you?
Please connect with me onLinkedIn, my favorite platform.
Send me a message, Brenda Marie Sheldrake.
Say that you heard about this onMichael's Guy Who Knows A Guy podcast,
and I will be happy to help you.
Fantastic.
(17:11):
All right.
Well, that is a great tip.
And any other final thoughts you wouldlike to share in our last few minutes?
I think my most important final thoughtis be willing to listen more than you
talk when you book your one to ones.
You can't find the solutionif you don't hear the problem.
Absolutely.
That is a great tip.
(17:33):
Love that.
So thank you so muchfor being on the show.
I'm glad you leaped in and belike, I'm coming in this room.
Great to have the chance to talk to you.
And, um, thanks for being a fan.
Cause he said, you've been in some ofmy summits and been in my universe.
So great to have you on the show.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Welcome to the guy whoknows the guy podcast.
I'm your host, Michael Whitehouse,the guy who knows the guy himself.
And we are recording live to tapeat Potapalooza number 15 over
the past five years, I've had theprivilege of meeting and learning
from thousands of entrepreneurs,experts, and awesome people.
And now I lever that leverage thatknowledge to help my clients cut
through the junk and focus on justwhat they need to achieve their goals.
(00:23):
And I'm excited to introduce ournext guest, Brenda Marie Sheldrake.
So I had a gap in my schedule.
I thought I had a guest and Ididn't mostly because my last
one ran long and I got back inand I said, I don't have a guest.
And Brenda's like me,me, me, get me in there.
So I am excited to have her here andI think she's excited to be here.
So this is going to be exciting.
(00:44):
Brenda tells me she's a lead generationstrategist who helps entrepreneurs
build relationships for business.
I do like the wordrelationships in business.
So Brenda, tell us a bit aboutyourself and what makes you awesome.
Thank you so much.
So I. I, I believe that my, my key to myawesomeness is in my ability to listen to
(01:04):
people, to detect what is awesome aboutthem, to point them to other people, that
they can help with their awesomeness.
But second to that, I also have.
The secret ability to get people to feelconfident enough to share what their
biggest challenge is with me so that Ican also share with them the people who
(01:28):
can help them solve that problem, savingthem endless hours and days and sometimes
money searching for the right person.
Fantastic.
Yeah, that, that is key getting peopleto admit what their challenge is and
then listening to it, listening to it.
I ran a summit recently where I hadsomeone who was, um, a bit of a one
(01:49):
trick pony, and for every question,he had the same set of answers.
And whether it was a mindset questionor is the delivery question, you
know, he was just in the, in the salesspace and it was just sales answers.
All he had was sales answersand not everything, you know,
not everything's a nail.
So, um, yeah, and so I like, you know,you pay attention to what they need
(02:11):
and help them find that solution andthen be able to share what they do.
Um, so I, so when you talkabout, you know, lead generation
strategist, what does that include?
What do you help people do?
So it's, for me, it'sabout qualified leads.
There are lots of people, you know,those messages that you get on
LinkedIn, Michael, where somebodymessages you and says, I can get you
(02:33):
200 leads by the end of the year.
I can get you a thousandleads by the end of the month.
Sometimes they're that backwards, athousand leads by the end of the month.
And you're going, I don't think so.
Here's a phone book.
And that's the thing.
That's what they give you.
They give you just anybody and everybody.
(02:55):
It's like, I love the concept of BNI.
I love the idea of connectingpeople with people.
My challenge is when you show up atBNI and you don't have anybody to
introduce anybody to, and the hostgoes around the room and says, okay,
who are your introductions this week?
And you go, um, um, Michael,you got to meet my neighbor.
(03:22):
And even worse.
When we hand them that littlepiece of paper that's got their
neighbor's name and telephonenumber on it and says, it's okay.
You can tell them that I sent you becausefor me, that's not an introduction that
that's not even keen to an introductionbecause can't I just open up your LinkedIn
(03:46):
and look at the people you're connectedto and say, Michael told me to call.
But what's the next thing that the persondoes if they're the least bit smart?
They're gonna reach out to you,Michael, and say, Michael, this
girl is on my LinkedIn and shesays you told me to call her.
Did you really tell me to call her?
(04:10):
And when you say, no, I didn'tconnect you to, they're never
going to take my call ever again.
Yep.
So how do you help peopleget qualified leads?
So qualified leads, I believe, comefrom introductions and referrals
as one of the strongest sources.
(04:30):
So I have, I have courses,I have coaching and I have a
community and I have free tips.
I have lots of thingsthat you can do for free.
I have, I have one of them.
If we have time, I'll share ithere, but I have, I have lots of
ways that you connect with people.
One of the most important things that Iadvise everyone is, no matter how good
(04:54):
your solution is, No matter how goodyour courses, how good your coaching
program is, that's not what you want tolead with on that 1st introduction call.
Anyway, I think that's 1 ofthe most important things
because people want to know.
I want to know that you're interestedin me before you hammer me with
(05:16):
a solution because I'm wondering.
What makes you think I need that solution?
Yeah, that's definitely,that's, that's a powerful thing.
If you can identify someone's problem,they'll believe you have the solution.
If you leave the solutions,they don't, they're like, I
don't know if that's for me.
Um, and I, you know, as a, as amarketer observing the, the 2024
(05:40):
election, I saw that, um, because oneof the things I noticed was that Trump
was talking about people's problemsand Harris talking about solutions.
And so he's talking about like, don'tyou feel the prices are too high?
Don't you feel, you know,inflation's too high?
Aren't you worried about this?
Aren't you worried about that?
And people are like,yeah, yeah, he gets me.
He knows my problems.
And meanwhile, you know, Harris was like,well, here's a solution for housing.
(06:03):
And here's a solution for inflation.
Here's a solution.
And they're like, I don't know whatshe's talking about with these grants.
And I don't get it because she wasspeaking three steps down the road.
On these solutions but wasn't actuallytalking to them where they were right
now And I I think that was certainlythat's obviously a lot goes into
(06:24):
politics and elections and whatnot ButI think that was certainly part of what
we're seeing is that he was speakingpeople's language He's like you have
this problem And then even later hewith some of the problems, he said, Oh
yeah, that's a very complicated problem.
I don't have a solution for it.
I have some ideas, but youknow, I don't have a solution.
It's a very complicated problem, but noone actually asked, What's your solution?
They just said, Yeah,yeah, that's my problem.
(06:45):
Yeah, I get it.
So we're seeing
that I, I 100 percent agree.
We're seeing that in Canada too right now.
Um, and it's the same thing.
Like, I'm, I'm, I stay away frompolitics as much as possible as far
as I can get, but it's the same thing.
We got one party that's saying, Ifyou have a problem, the big problem,
(07:07):
you can't get into Toronto, intodowntown Toronto right now, because
it takes you four and a half hoursbecause the highway infrastructure.
So, I've identified your pain point.
Everybody who has to go to workin downtown Toronto feels that
pain and they're doing it witha lot of other issues as well.
If you, if you, if you can't, ifyou have to drive for 2 hours before
(07:29):
you can get to a park or see anygreen space, we know your problem.
We know that they're, they're Buildingcondos on all the green space.
Okay.
So, you know what my pain is, but they'renot, those people are the ones that
people are doing, Oh, I gotta, I gottaelect that person because they know
what my pain is, but you're so right.
(07:51):
A lot of times they don't have a solution.
Yeah, but and so, you know, but this,which is not to say that you should
talk to talk about people's problemswithout having a solution and just pitch.
No, but it does tell you aboutthe power of just having speaking
to people's problems before youstart talking about a smart you
and how great your solutions are.
So,
and when it comes to referrals.
(08:12):
You don't so I don't necessarilypersonally have the solution to every
person's pain, but I've heard peopleshare with me a lot of different pains.
And so when they asked me,well, what's the solution?
I don't always say, well, youneed to do this, but I am.
I'm not afraid to say, you know what?
(08:34):
It's outside the scope of what I can do,but you need to talk to Michael Whitehouse
because he can solve that problem.
You need to talk to this personbecause they've already, I've
heard them share options for that.
So you can help peoplein that way as well.
(08:55):
Because one of the things that I do whenI'm looking for people on LinkedIn that
I want to connect with, I'm not lookingdirectly for people who want help with
their LinkedIn for relationship building.
But what I'm looking for is otherpeople who help people with LinkedIn.
Now, are you a LinkedIn coach?
(09:16):
Are you, are you a business coach?
Because if you're a business coach,you probably want your clients
to have a LinkedIn presence.
I believe all entrepreneursshould have a LinkedIn presence.
So if I then build, if you'rea marketing person, a LinkedIn
presence is a good idea.
So I build relationships with themarketing people, with the coaches.
(09:39):
And then when I'm asking forintroductions, because I believe
in, in a world of abundance, so.
There's lots of people.
When I say to you, Michael, haveyou met anybody as you've been
going through your travels thatwhen you looked at their LinkedIn,
they had that LinkedIn gray banner?
(10:00):
And I'm pretty sure that you couldtell me, yes, that you've met a couple
people who had the LinkedIn gray banner.
My memory tends to block them out becausethey're so But yes, I do encounter them.
So then I would say, well, if there's anyof them that you can still think of or
as you're going through your next set ofcalls, I would love to meet them because.
(10:24):
I think that before you can helpthem with their marketing, I need
to spruce up their LinkedIn a littlebit for relationship building.
Yeah, that's, that's a great, uh,great, and actually the ones that
jump out at me more get to slightlysidetracking the LinkedIn for a second.
Is it like the great banner I can dealwith if they've got, you know, proper
profile picture and they got some contentand it looks like a real account, but
(10:46):
the ones that, that really turned me off.
Are there ones where they arepitching from the top of the page?
So where it's like join my webinar and sixweeks to six figures and blah blah blah
Are they I had some way I get all kindsof cold friend requests on facebook and I
accept half of them I'm looking for one.
Are they a real live human being?
(11:07):
Um, or are they like a scammer or abot which is half the friend requests?
um, but also do I think this isactually someone who's like a
real person or is this a Is thisFacebook account a pitch machine?
Um, and if there's a like join my webinarlink in their 20 word bio i'm usually
(11:28):
going to reject it because okay, you'rejust here to pitch me So either you're
trying to pitch me here or i'm goingto accept this you're going to send me
a message You're going to pitch me Idon't want to deal with that and And
so, you know if it's all about likebuy my stuff buy my stuff buy my stuff
I don't want to introduce that person.
I don't want to talk to that person.
I don't want to know that personIt's a it's a huge turnoff.
I don't know for years.
(11:48):
They're the Expertswe're telling everyone.
Oh, yeah, have your offer there.
Let people know you're in business,you know, put up the open sign and
We're getting you know getting awayfrom that and that thing And so
if you're watching and that's yourLinkedIn, you should change it.
What are your thoughts?
I agree with you 100 percent thatone of the things I was saying on my
(12:09):
last interview that I had just a fewminutes ago was about the idea of,
of artificial intelligence, right?
Everybody's using artificialintelligence to make their profiles
better, to improve their profiles.
I think artificial intelligenceis a wonderful thing and there
are great ways to use it.
Talk to somebody who's a pro atit and they're going to be able
(12:29):
to help you with how to use it.
But I think before you decidewhich pro, because there's lots of
people, what's, what's one of thebiggest things out there right now?
People who are artificialintelligence experts.
So before you decide which expert towork with, what Michael was saying
right now is really, really key.
Go look at their LinkedIn.
Go see if their bannersays, join my group, take my
(12:52):
course, do buy this, buy that.
If they're, if that's what's top of theirprofile, then you probably don't want to
learn from them unless you want to learnto be like that, because what you see them
doing is probably what they're teaching.
Another thing that I don't reallylike, and you just mentioned
it in passing there, but it'sreally strong pet peeve to me.
(13:16):
If, if you install a bot and thebot is crawling people's profiles,
looking for keywords and then sendingconnection requests and messages.
Mm hmm.
I'm going to figure out I'mtalking to a bot pretty quick.
Yeah, maybe you programmed a few keythings into it that it's going to
answer properly a few times, but atsome point I'm going to ask something
(13:39):
or I'm going to say something.
It's going to say something back thattotally doesn't make sense, and I'm going
to go, yep, this is a bot, and that's theend of our relationship building for me.
Yep, and that applies to VAs also,which VAs are just the bot of 2022.
Uh, yeah, so if, uh, If it's notyou, it shouldn't be speaking
(14:00):
from your messenger account.
Yeah.
Yeah.
When, when VA has tried to sell me on theidea that they can book my appointments
and that they can respond to my messages,you cannot exactly what you just said.
You can't a stranger.
I mean, like me saying,Michael, can you respond to my,
my LinkedIn messages for me?
(14:21):
Well, you're going to do asgood a job as the VA can do.
And if you're using an AI tool, Idon't believe that it matters how good
you make your custom instructions,
they're
still not going to be you.
Absolutely.
And I'm going to ask a question thatthey're not going to be able to answer.
Yeah, and I've had, you know, networkingrelationships ruined because I couldn't
(14:45):
communicate with them because I'd try tomessage them and I'd get their VA. And,
uh, I haven't gotten that too much withbots, but, you know, I'd get their VA
and I'd be like, Okay, who am I It's likedealing with a crazy person, you know.
Okay, who am I speaking to now?
Am I speaking to Brendaor am I speaking to Susan?
Yep.
(15:05):
I know
it looks like Brenda, but am Ireally speaking to Brenda right
now?
Absolutely.
Do we have a minute for me to shareabout a free tool that will help you
build relationships though, Michael?
We
absolutely do, because everyone'sbeen waiting, and if we don't do it,
they'll be like, dude, what the heck?
Okay.
Promise free tools.
Let's give the free tool.
Give the people what they want.
(15:25):
The free tool is called My Most Trusted.
Now, I want to be fully transparent.
You can find My Most Trusted bygoing on LinkedIn and just putting
in a search for My Most Trusted.
I know the founder andcreator personally myself.
We have met in person.
He lives in Australia, but he'sbeen here to Canada and we've met
(15:47):
together and sat together and talked.
We know each other.
I've been using the toolsince it was created.
Now, when it was originally created,the plan was to have a basic level
that you could use for free forever.
Unfortunately, that's notthe case at this point.
Because he's continued to make itbetter and better, and it costs
(16:08):
him more and more to run it.
So he eventually starts to charge you.
But what he has done that is remarkablygenerous is he's created a number of
white label versions, and I happento be able to share with you links
to several of those white labelversions that are free forever.
(16:29):
Not just temporarily, but forever.
So you're welcome to go aheadand install MyMouseTrusted.
You can go on YouTube and getvideos to teach you how to use
it, or you can reach out to me.
I'll give you information on how toget one of the free versions, and then
I'll also help you with how to use it.
(16:50):
And that's all under the realm of free.
And how do they reach out to you?
Please connect with me onLinkedIn, my favorite platform.
Send me a message, Brenda Marie Sheldrake.
Say that you heard about this onMichael's Guy Who Knows A Guy podcast,
and I will be happy to help you.
Fantastic.
(17:11):
All right.
Well, that is a great tip.
And any other final thoughts you wouldlike to share in our last few minutes?
I think my most important final thoughtis be willing to listen more than you
talk when you book your one to ones.
You can't find the solutionif you don't hear the problem.
Absolutely.
That is a great tip.
(17:33):
Love that.
So thank you so muchfor being on the show.
I'm glad you leaped in and belike, I'm coming in this room.
Great to have the chance to talk to you.
And, um, thanks for being a fan.
Cause he said, you've been in some ofmy summits and been in my universe.
So great to have you on the show.
Thank you.
Thank you.
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