Advancing San Diego Company Spotlight: Meri Consulting Services

By Bree Burris,

The Advancing San Diego (ASD) Internship Program launched in Summer 2020 in a remote-capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to provide up to 100 San Diego-based employers with fully subsidized interns. This program targets small employers with 100 employees or less, which comprise 98 percent of all businesses in San Diego, employ nearly two thirds of San Diegans, and account for 70 percent of job growth. A key issue for these companies has been a lack of time and resources to recruit the skilled talent necessary to continue their growth.

As students are closing out their Spring business internship experiences, EDC has rolled out this blog series to highlight the innovative local companies that comprise the third cohort of the program, and the interns they hosted.

In this feature, we sat down with Meri Birhane, CEO at Meri Consulting Services. As part of the third cohort of host companies, Meri Consulting Services provides social media management services, LinkedIn coaching, and sales training for sales teams. The team helps businesses book more meetings and generate more revenue without cold calls.

Read on for more about ASD intern host Meri Consulting Services.

Why was your company founded, and what are your current points of focus?  

It all began with an idea. In 2017, Meri Consulting Services, a Black-owned and woman-led consulting firm was founded to help businesses book more sales meetings, increase revenue, and reduce sales rep churn and burn. We do this through social media management services, sales coaching, and LinkedIn training. Passionate about giving back, we also host monthly “Empowerment Mastermind” events to provide opportunities for minority founders who have been historically underfunded.

What does growth look like over the next few years?

Meri Consulting’s growth means expanding our social media management services to reach more businesses and creating digital courses to reach more clients.

How has your company pivoted as a result of COVID-19?

Meri Consulting Services focused on fractional VP of sales services but with COVID-19 clients needed new ways to connect with customers. This created more demand for our digital marketing services and LinkedIn coaching services.

Tell us about your experience building a small business/startup in San Diego. 

The CONNECT ALL @ the Jacobs Center was the most valuable accelerator program as I obtained mentoring and a $5,000 grant. This led to a lot of exposure for my business and access to mentors. Furthermore, Advancing San Diego, in partnership with Manpower, helped me get two superstar marketing interns (Chinnery and Michelle) helping me take my business to the next level.

 

Learn more about Advancing San Diego and our internship program.

Company contact info and additional information:

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