LinkedIn Lead Generation and Building a Sellable Business | Muriel Touati - EP48

Steven Weinstock (00:00) Hi and welcome back to another episode of the Wealth Glock Podcast. I'm Steven Weinstock. Today I have Muriel Touati She built a LinkedIn training program with over 120 success stories. She now runs Muriel Touati Digital Marketing. used to run Exit 3D Studio. maybe it's the same company, maybe it's a rebrand. She will tell us. she helps founders build businesses that are sellable. she also helps with other types of digital marketing. lots of the people I deal with know nothing about digital marketing, and the ones that do find extreme success with it. she also recently released a book called The Valuation Gap. Muriel, welcome to the show. Muriel Touati (00:44) Thank you, Steven. Nice to be here. Steven Weinstock (00:46) Nope. Okay, before before I get into it, tell us where are you based out of? Where are you right now? Where are you based out of? Muriel Touati (00:53) Yes, I am based in New York City, Manhattan. Yes. Steven Weinstock (00:56) Okay. Okay, so we're not too far. I'm here in Brooklyn. I've been born and raised here in Brooklyn. never left, except for some much needed vacation. you do sound like you are not born and raised in Manhattan, so maybe tell us where you originated from. Muriel Touati (01:14) I am from Nice, France. Steven Weinstock (01:16) F that's the French Riviera. Okay, Muriel Touati (01:18) Yes it is. Steven Weinstock (01:19) and for all you out there who don't know what Nice France is, it's spelled Nice N-I-C. And I've been there myself. I had a roommate in my gap year of college who was from there, and it's it's a pretty nice place. not as great as Manhattan, that Muriel will tell us, but Muriel Touati (01:36) It's completely different. Steven Weinstock (01:39) tell us how you got into the business of digital marketing. it's been about ten years, if I'm not correct, if I'm not mistaken. Muriel Touati (01:45) yeah, would say even longer. Actually, it brought me back to New York in 2005, a long time ago. I think I was at a point in my life where I didn't know where, like which parts. I was doing different jobs, I didn't know. And I went to NYU and they made me do some tests, know, Marie Briggs and something else. And I had a coach that was helping me, you know, there was different occupation, including advertising. They said, wow, that looks so interesting. Then I took that path then. it has been, you know, back in France there were not many job, unless you want to be an intern forever, you just don't get a job. So I had to do some other occupation and at some point I studied, did a master's degree in marketing, strategy marketing actually. And it's in 2017 that I went all in when my son was two years old and I really didn't want to go back in the workplace. Steven Weinstock (03:02) I I hear that. I yeah, here I thought everyone in France all they did was either own or work in a cafe or make wine, but I guess that's just the American in me who thinks that. Muriel Touati (03:16) No, I was doing good jobs, you know, like working in the project management and in sales and different things, but never marketing because there were no jobs. Steven Weinstock (03:26) So you c so you came to the US as a student? Did I get that correct? Muriel Touati (03:31) I came many different time actually, but this time I came back in 2021 and not as a student, I was an entrepreneur already. You know, yeah. Steven Weinstock (03:43) well. Okay, so tell us about tell us about digital marketing. Tell us what you do. Tell my audience how you your company could help them grow. Muriel Touati (03:54) Yes, sure. So I have built like a digital studio that cover everything from website creation or to recreate it, branding, positioning, social media. It's a full digital marketing agency. And because I have a specialty with LinkedIn, I also build a LinkedIn system that work with LinkedIn. and email and this is like the acquisition engine that I talk about in my book how when the companies as this they reduce founder dependency on sales they diversify their client portfolio so there is less customer concentration they have more revenue predictability and all this contribute to a higher valuation for the business. So one part that is prospecting tool and on the other part everything that when we search for you online that I cover with my team. Steven Weinstock (05:08) Got it. So I did some research on you. I see you built something called now maybe I'm pronouncing this correctly or not, because it has a lot of extra vowels and extra tildes in there. But it sounds like la accelerator LinkedIn. But I'm sure Muriel Touati (05:24) Yeah. Steven Weinstock (05:24) with the French accent it sounds a little different. definitely spelled a little different. you built La Accelerator LinkedIn. you have over a hundred and twenty success stories. among the French speaking clientele. Muriel Touati (05:38) Yes. Steven Weinstock (05:38) what was the gap in the market that you saw that made this program work? What what were these clients seeking, what were they lacking that you were able to overcome? Muriel Touati (05:50) Yeah. Yeah, so it's called L'Accelerateur LinkedIn. It's a LinkedIn training and coaching program only built in France. That's why I did not mention it before. I still offer it, but in the French market. the gap was, actually it was what I went through. When I started my business in 2017, I had no network, no clients. No offer, nothing like that. And it's by trying a bunch of things, including LinkedIn, that I ended up finding my first, second, third, and all my other clients. and when I was looking to build an online course, it was during COVID, I ran some interviews with different businesses, know, like my client, there were businesses and independent people and I found out that consultants, independent trainer, coach, they were all trying to get clients on LinkedIn with no success because they were just starting out or they've been using the platform for a long time and And so they needed my help. So I invited a few into the first version. I ran it live one time, two times, three times. And after I launched it, and it has brought great results. And actually my LinkedIn system is based exactly on that LinkedIn Accelerator program, except that I do it for you from rebuilding the LinkedIn program. file, defining the content strategy, posting, and all the lead generation. Steven Weinstock (07:44) So so you're bilingual, you work across the French and English speaking markets. Has building a business across two different languages and not really just languages but cultures changed how you think about growth or how you deal and what services you offer to clients? you know, I know there's founders in every country. There's people who wanna get more business in every country. But do things really change based on what zip code you're in or what language you speak? Talk talk to me about that because you're dealing with, you know, multiple Muriel Touati (08:17) Yeah, yeah, sure. Steven Weinstock (08:19) cultures here. Muriel Touati (08:20) Yeah, first of all, I exported my business from France to the US and something that I have noticed is for example my existing client that was an American company the fact I was not no longer in Nice nearby is stuck the contract that was I was too far that was not working for him anymore. Okay, and For my French client the fact that I was in New York somewhere else. I don't know maybe was a bit inspiring or something but they were all for it you know like great she's over there I will work with her And here in the US, penetrating a new market, think it's, again, I had to learn it all. And I feel being in New York for where I got the most success to start with was around the people that I know. Because they trust me more than someone on LinkedIn to start with. to start with that approach, meeting people, building trust. And I will bring it, know, once I have, would say like testimonial in English. I have a bunch in French, but I think once I have this testimonial in English, I can prove certain things and I can show could be easier. Also the fact that I did a webinar for the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, you probably know since I did the webinar about my sister. and my LinkedIn system, then that was also a way of building trust. Yeah, I got some good opportunity there. Steven Weinstock (10:06) Okay, so my, you know, somebody's listening in the audience, listening to this interview, that are subscribing to my channel, they're sharing it to their friends. Thank you very much, they're commenting, helping the algorithm, to both of us. what type of business or what type of founder would be the ideal client? You know, do you work across many industries? Are you dealing with, you know, Real estate, you know, that's my business. I'm in the real estate business. I speak to investors, I speak to property owners all the time. but I speak to a lot of founders, a lot of people who have, you know, high income jobs. What your service that you're offering, who is this for? Muriel Touati (10:45) Yeah, well, I have different offers, I think, for different ones. But my idea for the US was to target at first service business owners that wanted maybe to sell some day. Well, this is one thing could be 1 % because 99 % whether want to grow their business and they can be from, you know, working by themselves like artist, CPA, financial advisor, and so on. to having the team already and they start to have like a real service business there. And when I mentioned often service, I happen to get demands also from B2B wall sell or B2B products as well for LinkedIn and this work as well. As long as they take a call before closing a client, this work. Just don't do e-commerce because it's a different thing. Steven Weinstock (11:51) Got it. so let me ask you this question, and maybe this is a little buff, but if somebody wants to get involved in social media or social media marketing, they have a small business, it's a service business, they don't feel that they could afford to hire an outside firm. that either they don't believe in it, they can't afford it, they're not big enough for it, or they think they could do it themselves. What do you suggest? what do you suggest one of the first, you know, one or two steps that somebody does, even on their own, if they're not gonna hire somebody, if they're not ready to hire somebody, what is something that they should implement on their end just so they could dip their, you know, feet in the water and maybe see a little action and maybe from there they will say, Hey, I could 10x this by hiring somebody out. Muriel Touati (12:41) Well, first they should define their strategy. like their marketing, digital marketing strategy, where do they want to be and why, and who do they want to reach, and what problem do they solve. If they can figure this out and then be consistent, sure, they can do it themselves. Does it take a lot of time? Yes, it does. Will it take time from time they could be with client? for sure. It's like learning a new job and just be doing that all the time. And this happens with a lot of new business owners. Instead of getting clients. They just do Instagram or LinkedIn profile for so long or the website for so long and they don't go get the client. This is a mistake but I think we've all done it so why not? Steven Weinstock (13:36) I'm Linked I I'm active on LinkedIn and I see a lot of value in it. sometimes I'm extremely active and sometimes I just take a break and you know life gets in the way and I'm not so active. Sometimes I prepare some posts that are scheduled. sometimes I use AI to help me with it. I try very hard to go through each post when it's text. And try to make it look a little more less AI, a little more honest. I I see a lot of people who on social media who they may have a service business, but a lot of their content is not necessarily about them flexing their business. They're not always posting, hey, I closed this deal, hey, if you need a mortgage, hey, if you need a plumber. I I see a lot of people who are really getting personal. And you know, they take interesting video. It could be just something as s as simple as, you know, a 30-second selfie video of them on vacation or a text post about something interesting that happened at a restaurant. And I actually enjoy some of that because when I see someone social media just flexing about business, it's okay, it's fine. But when I see something a little more personal. Even if you know it's written with AI, you know, it's it it to me it's just a little more interesting. what happened? how bad was this waiter at the restaurant? Or how great was the flight attendant on your last you know flight and and what's funny about it? And sometimes they're able to somehow link it to their business, for you know, whatever creative way they do that. Is that a strategy that you would say? Muriel Touati (15:17) Yes it is. Yeah, it's a content strategy. How you lead with storytelling and then you have your like segue in the middle and you get back to your offer. I'm glad you mentioned that because if it's plainly a story and it happens sometimes you see... a pose that are just storytelling or even about another subject completely. Like this, for example. An influencer that I see often, I don't even follow him, it just come into my feed many times. I think it's in neuroscience for sales and every time he's posting things about like the environment, how there have been a flooding somewhere with no link. It's like I don't get it. Like he can, I don't know how he links with his offer. at all. But he does know science, so maybe he knows better than me. why would I, you know, if I'm interested into the flooding, how does that link me to wanting to learn about cells or work with him for a cell thing? It just has nothing to do. But people are tasting stuff. Steven Weinstock (16:34) Yeah, I I see that all the time. I see a lot of people test posting items that don't necessarily have anything to do with their business. they're not promoting anything on the post. but to play devil's advocate, you may say, Hey, I'm getting to know this person. maybe I care about the Muriel Touati (16:50) Yeah. Steven Weinstock (16:50) environment also and I see he's very into Muriel Touati (16:53) Yeah. Steven Weinstock (16:53) it. And then the next time I need a mortgage broker and this guy happens to be a mortgage broker, maybe I'll reach out to him. I guess it sorta keeps them on top of mind, your Muriel Touati (17:03) like a human to bring some humanity I totally understand that it's it's yeah I know I don't do it enough maybe I should try it Steven Weinstock (17:13) I I'll tell you be because I have the podcast, I get to be I get to be lazy. And when I say lazy is I do the interviews, I have somebody who edits the video and they'll cut up you know, ten, twenty, sometimes even more short clips and you know, YouTube short type of videos or TikTok. And if I'm not in the mood to go on social media, sometimes I'll just post one of the clips that I have because it's all prepared. you know, this interview may be twenty, thirty, forty minutes or whatever it is, although I I know you told me you have to leave in about eight minutes. So I'll make sure we hang up real sh real soon. But, you know, hey, I might be lazy in a week from now and say, okay, let me just post three short clips on my social medias. hopefully I'll get Muriel or whoever the guest is to tag it so I'll you know, feed into her algorithm and to her audience. I I guess that's a strategy because I have all this video content. you know Muriel Touati (18:13) Yeah, this is your pillar content, like your main piece of content and the fact that you give it, you you get little piece everywhere, it's the good way. Those who have a blog, they can do that as well. They have the main piece of content, blog post, but they just post then a sentence or a little something and... and this is how you do social media. I think this is the best way to do it. It's not lazy. is, yeah. Steven Weinstock (18:46) I I know this interview is about you, but I'm gonna bring it to me for a second. When I started when I thought about doing a podcast, my original goal was, hey, I'm gonna put myself out there. People are gonna know me, they'll follow me, and now when I call them, you know, for a business opportunity, you know, they may have known who I am, or maybe it will draw people into my orbit and now i it's easier instead of a cold call, it's almost like a warm call. what I found happening afterwards, after doing a bunch of episodes, I'm doing this for about a year, maybe a little more. we fill we've recorded over 50 episodes so far. I think we released about 45 or 47 of them. What I found was that the fact that I get to interview somebody and talk to them for 30 minutes straight without the phone interrupting, even though I saw you with your phone before, but Without the phone interrupting, I I really get to have a great conversation with so many different types of people where I'm getting such an education where I almost don't care if nobody's watching. It's something that I'm benefiting myself by speaking to all these people. They're giving me a different perspective on maybe things I knew about beforehand, but maybe the way they verbalize it, even with a French accent. maybe the way they verbalize it, just t it you know clicks something in my brain and you know now I'll change something up. It also helps with content. You know, I started a newsletter and sometimes I take you know content from what I speak about to other people and I put it out as a text, as a newsletter. And sometimes I don't care what the traffic is on the podcast. I care more about the value of the conversations that I'm having. am I wrong for that? Is that a strategy that you feel others Muriel Touati (20:36) No, not at all. No, I also know, I found out that some do it for, they have the conversation, but it's to sell their guess something. Those that don't like it. But I feel that the podcast can be used in different way and I'm so glad you benefit from all the conversation you're having. Steven Weinstock (20:58) Got it. Okay, Muriel, you said selling something, okay, well I have something if you click here for $9.99. No, I'm joking, I'm joking. Muriel Touati (21:03) Hahaha Steven Weinstock (21:05) speaking of the interview and being about you, you recently released a book called The Valuation Gap. Tell me about the book, what's it about, where could we buy it? where could we get it? tell me audience about it. Muriel Touati (21:17) Yeah, so it's right there. The valuation gap, what buyers see that sellers miss, it's a step-by-step guide to help founders. So not even sellers, but founders build a business that is worth keeping or selling, that is easier to run. because I've been in business for a long time and I can tell you it's because I spent that entire year evaluating businesses that I found out all the issues in mind. how everything was too dependent on me, for example, and the fluctuation and everything. And all these are structural issues you can identify, you can work on, and everything is explained in the book. If you go on Amazon, you search for it, you can read for free. the intro, the first two chapters, and if they resonate with you, you can grab a copy. But start there because there's already tons of value from the beginning of the book. It's available in Kindle version and in paperback. Steven Weinstock (22:35) Okay. Muriel, I know you gave me a hard stop over here, so tell my audience how they could reach out to you, different social media handles. I'll put it in the show notes, but tell them. Muriel Touati (22:45) Yeah, so you can connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm Muriel Touati You should be able to find me. And I have two websites. Remember muriel20.com. New version will come soon. I'm sure by the time that this podcast will be released, it will be live. And exit3dstudio.com as well, where I talk a bit more about the book. The other one is more for my services and speaking engagement as well. Steven Weinstock (23:15) Okay, Muriel, I'm gonna tell the audience your last name is Twedi, but I'm gonna spell it. It's T-O-U-A-T-I, is your last name, right? first name is Muriel, Muriel Touati (23:25) Yes, it is. Steven Weinstock (23:27) M-U-R-I-E-L, last name T-O-U-A-T-I. LinkedIn.com, do a search for Muriel, Muriel Touati and also at Instagram. Muriel Touati (23:35) Like my handle is muriel20 on LinkedIn. Steven Weinstock (23:39) On LinkedIn and I see on Instagram it's at Muriel dot touati Did I get that correct? Okay. Muriel Touati (23:44) Yes it is, yes. It's just everything is in French in the Instagram. But I do have a YouTube channel, even if you want to tag me when you do your shorts and everything. It's at exit3dinsights. This is the Steven Weinstock (24:00) I got it. Muriel Touati (24:00) YouTube channel in English. Steven Weinstock (24:03) Okay, so I think most of my audience are English speakers, but we will tag all the channels that you have. Muriel, thank you so much. Thank you for Muriel Touati (24:11) Thank you. Steven Weinstock (24:12) playing around with the schedule. I know I messed you over a little this morning. I appreciate you being accommodating. it's the you know, my audience appreciates it, I appreciate it. I had a great time. Thank you to everybody listening. If you made it to the end of the episode, comment the word awesome in the show notes. This way I know that you listened to the full episode. Let me know who else you feel I should interview. Please like, subscribe, and share my channel this episode. Muriel, have a great day. Muriel Touati (24:44) You too. Thank you, Steven, for having me. Bye. Steven Weinstock (24:47) My pleasure.