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https://youtu.be/7yugccgcgs8 Justin Nassiri, Founder and CEO of Executive Presence, is driven by the power of human connection and a mission to harvest CEO stories that reveal authentic experiences and valuable insights. By serving as thought partners to C-suite executives, Justin and his team transform personal perspectives, mistakes, and lessons into compelling LinkedIn content that builds trust and distinguishes leaders from generic, AI-generated voices. In this conversation, Justin introduces The Content Strategy Framework—Use the 40:30:20:10 Content Formula, Harvest Stories, Borrow Thought Patterns, and Apply Curiosity. He explains why leaders should build visibility through personal profiles, how skilled interviewers uncover stories executives may overlook, and why Thought Leader Ads can extend the reach of proven content. Justin also discusses growing through referrals and warm relationships, using 10-week improvement cycles to revisit every business process, and developing autonomous team members who use AI to solve problems while preserving human connection. — Harvest CEO Stories with Justin Nassiri  Good day, listeners. Steve Preda here, and my guest today again is Justin Nassiri, the Founder and CEO of Executive Presence, a fully managed LinkedIn thought leadership service for C-suite executives at growth-stage B2B companies. Justin, welcome back to the show.  Great to be back. Thanks, Steve.  So we just reminisced that it was three years almost to the day that you came here, and I can’t believe it. It feels like yesterday. But your business has grown dramatically during that time, so I think you have some new insights that you’ll be able to share with us, I’m sure.  Thank you. It’s good to be back. We just made the Inc. 5000 list, which is a first for me. I’ve never been on that before, but we’re celebrating that.  Yeah. Congratulations. That’s a great milestone to hit. And you only started in 2022, right?  Yeah, yeah.  So, pretty freshly minted, fast-growing Inc. 5000. So my question to you is, what is your personal why, and how are you manifesting it in Executive Presence, in your business?  There’s a very potent macro or micro why for me, and then probably a broader why. I think that the biggest why for me right now, like many parents, is my kids. I’ve got a three- and a seven-year-old. And so when I think of my professional life, I certainly think about not just providing for them but also trying to set an example of someone who is trying to do their best and trying to stretch and trying to grow.Share on X  And so I think that’s probably the highest leverage that I have. But I think the through line in the companies that I’ve done is just the value of human connection. My first company was all about companies using Instagram in a way to be more authentic and more genuine with their community, and that’s very true to what we’re doing now at Executive Presence, just really helping people connect to other people.  In this case, it’s executives using LinkedIn to connect with a broader audience, but I really feel like that human connection is so important, and I think it’s becoming even more important in the era of AI. So that’s a little bit more specific why in what I do right now.  Yeah, it’s fascinating how human connection is evolving in the age of AI, and I agree. I mean, I see that because there’s so much more noise out there, human connection is perhaps more important than ever. People want to make sure that they are talking to authentic people and hearing from authentic people who have authentic lived experience. So how does that impact communication for executives on LinkedIn? How do they have to evolve their voice or how they approach things?  I think if you look at LinkedIn in particular right now, I think it still remains the place where the largest source of our professional network is. And so I think there’s still a lot of value there, and I think that LinkedIn is facing a lot of growing pains. Specifically, I think that there are three things driving it. One is more people are just showing up on the platform. The secret is out, and people realize that there’s value to LinkedIn.  So, all things else equal, more people are more active on LinkedIn, which generates a lot of noise. And then the second thing is AI is making it easier to create content, so I think it’s creating not just more content, but lower-quality content. And then the third thing is it does seem as if LinkedIn is following what Facebook did over a decade ago and saying, “Look, to get reach, you’ve got to put money into ads now.”  And we saw that transition with Facebook company pages a long time ago, but it really does feel like you cannot get as much visibility today as you could have two years ago unless there’s some sort of ad buy behind it. And so I think those are kind of the three problems. I think that the answer is still there’s value in showing up, but I think that you have to show up even more human. I think that the experiences that make you unique and the mistakes that make you who you are and the things that you know and the stories that you can tell, those still hold value, and that differentiates you from generic or AI-generated content.  I also think that there’s value to using LinkedIn ads, and we can talk about that, but I think that that has to be part of one’s strategy now if you’re trying to significantly use LinkedIn for what it’s good for, which is brand building.  Yeah, and maybe this is a slight question, then we’re going to talk to you about the framework. But as I understand, LinkedIn now allows individuals to also boost their posts as opposed to just companies, which used to be the case in the past. So how does it impact companies? Is there more emphasis now? Is emphasis shifting to individual posts because there’s no real reason to build up the company pages? How is that evolving?  Yeah, I mean, four years ago when I started the company, before these Thought Leader Ads, these individual people ads were a thing, I still would’ve said to you, “Look, there’s not much value in company pages. People connect with other people. They’re not going to connect with a faceless organization.” So even four years ago, I would’ve said, “Man, if you really want to raise visibility for your organization, you’ve got to do that through your key leaders.  You’ve got to do that through actual names and faces and voices and perspectives.” And I think that the ads make that even more pronounced now because I can now take my personal post as Justin Nassiri. If it does well on LinkedIn, I can put a $50 or $500 ad buy against it, and I can make sure that essentially specific people are going to see my post. If I’m selling to CEOs of tech companies in Cincinnati that have grown 10% last year and they’ve been at their company for five years, I can have an insane level of targeting, and I could put my personal content in front of them in a way that most people still don’t realize is an ad.  It will say, “Promoted by,” and then the company name, so “Promoted by Executive Presence.” Most people, when scrolling, don’t even notice that. Yeah. And so I think there’s a tremendous opportunity then to take very human and personal content and put it in front of exactly whoever you’re trying to get in front of.  Yeah, I love that. You also say on your LinkedIn page that it takes an executive only 90 minutes a month to actually work with you guys and have you amplify them. So how do you extract all those personal stories and experiences? What is your framework for that so that when you meet with an executive, you’re able to create those posts without them having to be involved? Yeah, I think the framework is pretty universal for anyone listening. We tend to start with the content strategy. And the way that we typically start is we’ll say, okay, 40% of the content we would call industry thought leadership. And that is great if you can talk about current events and relate them to your industry. It’s great if you can share things about your industry that no one knows or that you disagree with people.  But do that 40%, which is the biggest of any of the categories, as really the education, as the subject matter expert. You are showing up as an authority in cybersecurity, or you are showing up as an authority in leadership, or you’re showing up as an authority in B2B supply chain. And I think the key here is the more niche, the better. The more narrow, the better. We are not Joe Rogan. We’re not trying to get 300 million people to look at your content. We want to get in front of a very narrow group of people, typically prospects, customers, potential employees, potential investors.  We really want to narrow where your voice can be fairly large in a very finite realm. So that's the industry thought leadership piece.Share on X The second one, about 30% of the content, we call it leadership and career journey. And what we’re trying to do here is a blend of humanizing the executive while also giving them credibility. And so if we are working with someone who is a CEO at a company, well, they’ve done things prior to that. So what did they learn in college or a previous workplace? What was a mistake that they made? What was a mentor that said something to them?  So that’s a way of us imparting one of their values or something that they know, but wrapped in a story from their history, which humanizes them. And that would be generally 30% of the content. Twenty percent, obviously they’re doing this to promote their company, so 20% would be about their company, spotlighting an employee, recent events, things like that. Again, trying to do it through stories if possible. And then the last 10% is usually the highest-performing 10%, and we would call that work-adjacent content. So we want to, again, make them a three-dimensional person. What do they do outside of the office? Is that family?  And we usually use what we call the dinner party test for this. If you were with prospects and potential employees, what’s fair game to talk about over dinner and drinks? Some people would definitely talk about their kids. Some people would never talk about their kids. Some would talk about their hobbies. Some would never talk about that. So that's a good filter to figure out what they could talk about that's not just always talking shop. So that's kind of the framework that we use.Share on X  But I think that the way that we harvest this information is really the skill of the people that I hire on my team. It’s people who are really good at pulling insights out of someone and getting someone to open up and having that heat-seeking missile approach of, what is a story that they’re sitting on that they don’t even realize is a compelling story? And that’s one thing that has stood out. Some of the best-performing LinkedIn posts, the person didn’t even think that that would be interesting to anyone else.  We’re often not the best filter for ourselves of what’s going to land. And that’s one of the values of LinkedIn, is that you can actually put out ideas and stories and insights, and very quickly, in an 18-hour time period, get signal from the market if people value that from you or not, and then follow that trend.  Yeah. That’s fascinating, and it sounds a little bit like being a ghostwriter for someone, that you can really get those stories out and you can have them open up so that their brain is going to surface those things that maybe they don’t think about. Maybe they are not extroverted and they won’t be able to bring this up on their own. But if you catalyze it, then they come to life that way.  Yeah. I think of it as a thought partner. I kind of realized this because I hosted a podcast for a long time as well, and you kind of realize the power—exactly what you’re doing—the power of curiosity and the power of distance, right? You are showing up, you’re curious about my experience.  You have enough distance from it that you’re asking questions that might even seem intuitive to me, or it might be one of those things where I’m like, “Well, everyone knows this.” But then you bring an outsider in, and it’s like, “No, not everyone knows this,” or, “I think people would find this interesting.” So having that thought partner to be the outside observer of what others would benefit from.  Yeah. That’s amazing. That’s a real skill, and that also brings in that human skill that an AI is not going to be able to prompt those kinds of questions, that kind of curiosity, that there’s an emotional driver behind it. That’s a very journalistic trait, I suppose. That’s a new form of journalism that you’re practicing here, isn’t it?  Yeah, it is. And the type of person I hire to do that are ex-consultants because they’re really good. They’re really good at coming into a business and understanding the objective and understanding how to get very senior people—because we work with CEOs of publicly traded companies and CEOs of smaller companies—to really get very prominent people to open up. And being comfortable interrupting or redirecting or pushing back, it really is a unique skill set.  Yeah, I love that. So that brings me to my next question. What drives growth in your business? How did you get, in four years, on the Inc. 5000? What was the engine here, the fuel?  Well, it’s so funny because I ask this of every CEO I meet with as well, to learn from them. Everyone always says referrals, so I’ll be generic and say referrals do drive—it’s probably the single biggest source of revenue. When I first started the company, I actually used LinkedIn. And so this actually came out of another company that I was running, and they had the idea. And so I went to LinkedIn and I said, “I think that the type of person who would be interested in this is CEOs of companies with at least 50 employees.” And I put that into Sales Navigator, and it came up with a couple hundred first-degree connections.  And I just sent out a fairly generic message of, “Hey, Steve, just wanted to give you a quick update. I’m launching this new service, and this is what we do. Let me know if you know of anyone who would like to chat.” And I actually got probably 60 or 70K in monthly recurring revenue from that, of people I wasn’t really aware of what they were up to. One of the guys who’s still a client, I had met with him 10 years previously when he was an investor, and then now he was CEO and founder of a company that ultimately went public.  So I wouldn’t have thought of that person, but that’s a great thing about LinkedIn, of saying, “Here’s someone who might be interested in what I’m doing.” And so that sort of outbound of warm connections has played a role. Obviously, I’m active on LinkedIn. I get a lot of leads from that. I do a fairly good job of keeping in touch with my network and seeing when people might be needing us. I think, back to the human connection, I do think conferences are playing a bigger role.  I’m starting to go to more conferences and realizing the value of meeting people in person and how that kind of seems to accelerate the process of building trust and building relationships. We do cold email. We do AdWords. We do a newsletter. We do a lot of content marketing, and so I think each of them plays their own part. But referrals certainly are the biggest one. LinkedIn is probably number two. Yeah. That’s very interesting. And do you see a lot of competitors? Is this a crowded field?  It is. We have expanded beyond LinkedIn largely because of the competitive nature, where I think just as people have flocked to LinkedIn. I would say the biggest faction is a lot of solopreneurs. A lot of individuals will work with a few executives, and so that’s probably the lower-level competitors. There are a handful of companies that are doing something similar to us, and then more established PR companies that will say, “Yes, we do LinkedIn as well.” But I think at this point, we’ve got the deepest track record of executives.  We work with over 400 now, which, as far as I’m aware, is the largest set. We actually present our data to LinkedIn every year because it is the largest data set of just executives rather than influencers. And I think the play for most professionals and most executives is different than what an influencer would do on a platform like LinkedIn, and I think it’s important to do what’s appropriate for an executive.  So you mentioned on your LinkedIn page that you bootstrapped this company to three million ARR.  Yep.  So what do you expect to be different from going from 60,000 monthly recurring, 700 ARR, to three million, to going from three million to 10 million? How is it going to be different?  Yeah, that’s such a good question. And I balance this because I really like Paul Graham’s thought that you have to do things that are not scalable to be able to scale. And so oftentimes, I’m looking for things to do consistently, but it’s really helpful for me not to constrain myself in that way and to think of things that—it still feels like guerrilla warfare at times—what are little things that we can do to get an edge?  I think that the thing that I think about most right now in getting from three to 10 million is creating a machine for experimentation, and experimentation not just in our service, but also in our sales and marketing. And so how do we create a culture? Let’s just take the service side of things. I never want our service to plateau. I have run a company before where our product became stale and a competitor put us out of business. I never want that to happen again. And that the way that we minimize the probability that that happens is that we are always experimenting.  We are always listening to our clients and understanding what else we could do to make their life better.Share on X But then we’re also looking at the market and thinking, what else might our clients not even realize they need but would benefit from? And I love that phrase from Henry Ford, “If I had listened to my customers, I would have built a faster horse.” I think that there’s a value in listening to customers, but also a value in being one or two steps ahead of them. And so, for example, one of the things that we’re heavily looking at right now is the thought of AI visibility for executives.  And where GEO is getting more and more prominence for organizations, we see a world where it’s very important not just to cultivate a human audience and a human group of people who view and like your content and respect you, but also essentially cultivating an AI audience and making sure that your content is visible by LLMs and making sure that Claude and Perplexity see you as the authority and are referencing you. And so that’s something that our clients aren’t yet asking for, but we’re already developing a solution and a thesis because we think that that’s the way that the world is going.  But the central point is, how do we create an engine for experimentation so we are always testing out new things and seeing if they work, and reinvesting in the ones that work and letting go of the ones that don’t work? And I think that if we can do that for our clients and for ourselves, it always keeps us evolving. We’re always upping the game. We’re always improving, because I think the moment that we stop doing that, that’s when we stagnate or that’s when someone else comes along and puts us out of business.  So how do you maintain this alignment and this entrepreneurial energy? Because experimentation is innovation. It’s entrepreneurship in your business. How do you perpetuate it? So as you’re growing the business, you’ve got 40 people now, maybe you’re going to have more, you’re going to have AI agents running around. So how do you keep that experimentation and this entrepreneurial energy as you are getting further and further from the newest hires?  So the first thing that I love—and this is my VP of Ops, Shelby, who came up with this—but I really like it. She instituted a 10-week cycle composed of one- to two-week sprints. And she oversees all of our client work. So what she did is she broke everything we do for our clients into different sections. She instituted a system of saying, “Okay, these are all the different things we do. If you have an idea about how to do something better, or if you have a complaint about how something’s not working, or if a client mentions something, I want you to put it in this spreadsheet so we can keep track of how we can improve each thing.”  And what we’re going to do is, this week we’re doing a sprint on interview questions—how we prepare our interview questions for our clients. We are going to invest a week-long sprint in improving that process through technology, AI, and processes. And then we’re going to go through every other aspect. But guess what? Ten weeks later, we’re coming back to interview questions again. What that does, I think, in today’s landscape is not only does that keep us always thinking of improving something, but every 10 weeks we’re re-looking at specifically AI to see, what are its capabilities now? It’s changing so quickly.  From 10 weeks ago, it might be able to do something better or different. So let’s create a system so that we are periodically refreshing every aspect of our business from team feedback, client feedback, but also technological improvements. And it’s mind-boggling to think that that’s the pace now, and that 10 weeks might not even be sufficient in the future with the rate at which things are changing. That’s the best example I can think of how we’re trying to create that mindset of constant and incessant improvement.  And how do you build your team? Are you remote, or do you have an office somewhere?  We are all remote. Yeah, we are 100% remote. So we’re in seven different states, all still in the United States. It does pose challenges as you grow of how do you get in person and create connection. And so we’ll do things like happy hours online and different ways to get to know each other. But I also think, for those others listening who create a remote-first culture, you filter for people who thrive in that environment and do their best work when they have a fair amount of autonomy. And I think that autonomy for us has been helpful because we want people who are individual problem solvers, and I think that overlaps well with people who prefer a remote-first workplace.  Yeah, that’s fascinating. So if you had a magic wand and you could fix one thing in your business in the next 12 months, what would you do?  That is a really good question. I mean, it almost feels like the world is moving towards more entrepreneurs, not fewer ones, which I, for one, like. I’m a huge fan of both entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. But if I could wave a magic wand, it would be making everyone on the team think like an entrepreneur, which would have probably been a liability 12 months ago. But the way I approach everything now is—I literally, right before this, was using Claude for my personal finances.  On the business side, it is now connected to QuickBooks, and on the personal side, I have a system of creating a report exactly the way I want it, which I, for one, love—the capability of AI to personalize things. I don’t have to use Mint or QuickBooks anymore. I can build it exactly in the way that works for my crazy brain. But I was updating and realizing that the tools have changed, and so, like, upgrading the way that I track my personal finances. And that’s just kind of very natural for me, and I do that for my kids’ menus, and I do that for everything. I kind of have a project or an approach on AI.  And I think that that’s a similar mindset that I need for my team, is thinking like an entrepreneur. How do you get better at everything? How do you get more efficient at everything? How do you look for new ways of solving things? I think it used to be that the entrepreneur was the visionary and setting the vision for the company, and everyone was more or less following orders or a system.  I still see a role for the visionary, but it's almost as if everyone on the team has to be their own visionary of envisioning how to improve their workflowShare on X and how to make themselves more productive and how to utilize tools and realize where that can make them more effective. And I don’t know that it’s going to be top-down anymore. I think that the advantage of the tools we have today is, like, the way that I use AI, Steve, might be completely different than the way that you use it. And that’s the beauty of it, is that our brains are different, our worldviews are different, our skill sets are different, but we can almost bolt this technology on us to make ourselves superhuman.  But the way that it works for you is going to be different than me, and that will be true in a team. So, very long answer, but if I could wave that magic wand, it would be imparting that entrepreneur mindset of finding problems and the best way to solve them, and never stop solving problems.Share on X  Yeah. So it’s just a feeling, and maybe I won’t articulate it well, but I’m just looking at your business. You’re building this remote team, and then you’re making everyone more autonomous so that they are working with AI to improve their productivity. In a way, it is supercharging everyone individually, but what about the team cohesion? So how do you make sure that people don’t get isolated?  Isaac Asimov has a novel which is in the distant future, on a distant planet, and basically everyone has 1,000 robots, and everyone is in their own world, and they just communicate on video screen because personal contact is no longer even appropriate. And everyone gets super rich and super efficient, but something gets lost.  So I wonder, how do you see the tension between empowering people, having AI help everyone be super productive in their individual way, in a remote culture? How do you keep this constellation together going forward?  Yeah. It still comes back to human connection for me. I think that, let’s just say on a client level, if my company’s doing our job well with our clients, if we are having them become thought leaders, having them grow influence and audience, I want that to lead to more human connection for them. And the way that I have seen that showing up is they go to a conference and people know them and people come up.  Like, people are literally—they might not have created connection before, but they recognize them, they know who they are, and that draws them to in-person interactions. That’s human connection coming out of what we do. For our team, I hope it leads to more human connection, that as we become more efficient, as we become better at what we do, as the company grows, we will get together in person more often. We'll be able to be in the room together and brainstorm because that becomes more valuable, and we're all craving that.Share on X  So, sci-fi is my favorite genre of literature and cinema, and I don’t think that we will ultimately end up with VR goggles on our head and not talking to each other. I think that in the same way that we have seen with social media, that it has a purpose, but we still want to be around each other and benefit from being in person. I think that we will become more and more like that. I don’t think it will drive us apart. I think it will lead to more connection. That’s my optimist view on it.  Yeah. Love it. Well, I hope you’re right.  Yeah.  Okay, so if someone who is a founder of a business, a growing business, or maybe a C-level in an enterprise, and they don’t have time to manage their LinkedIn, but they realize that they’re missing out with their thought leadership and they need help or they want to explore, where should they go and how can they connect with you and your colleagues?  Yeah, I appreciate that. I would just say, in general, every leader needs to know that their personal brand is going to impact both their career as well as their company, and them being able to articulate their viewpoints and what they think and believe is going to be a vital skill. And that could be on stage at a conference, it could be on YouTube, it could be on LinkedIn, it could be in a book, it could be in articles, but they have to have a way to know what they believe, to know what knowledge they have that is valuable, and find a way to add value to others.  I think that that’s just more and more the direction things are going. And it can be really hard because you are probably growing an empire, you are probably doing so many different things. And just know that there are people like Executive Presence, where our skill set is figuring out where your zone of genius is and figuring out what stories you have that are really good assets, and figuring out who you are and how you want to present online, and then helping you do that consistently across different channels.  And so if that’s of interest, I obviously love talking about this stuff, but I’m happy to talk with anyone who listens to the show. If you go to executivepresence.io and fill out our contact form, it gets to me. You can find me on LinkedIn, Justin Nassiri, or my email is justin@executivepresence.io. Any of those three work. But I just believe that this is going to be more and more valuable for leaders to develop that skill, and would love to help anyone listening do that.  Well, if you’re out there listening, you see that something is working because Justin propelled his company from a standing start to the Inc. 5000 in three or four years, and he is pushing the envelope on generative AI and reinvention every 10 weeks of his company. So if you’d like to be part of that and you have to take advantage of promoting yourself on LinkedIn with a cutting-edge approach, then reach out to Justin Nassiri on LinkedIn or executivepresence.io. And if you enjoyed this conversation, stay tuned because every week I bring a couple of successful entrepreneurs who are sharing their frameworks of how they’re being successful. So thanks for coming, Justin, and thanks for listening. Important Links: Justin's LinkedIn Justin's website Justin's Email: justin@executivepresence.io

LinkedIn is the one platform almost every recruiter already uses. That is a good instinct. The catch is that most recruitment and search business owners lean on it for one job, sourcing candidates, and leave the more valuable job, winning clients and building a brand, largely untouched. So let me give you an honest breakdown of what LinkedIn does well, what it does not, and how to make it work for both winning clients and finding candidates. LinkedIn Does Two Jobs, Using Two Different Parts of the Platform One idea runs through everything below. Instagram and Facebook, which we covered in the previous two episodes, are candidate attraction and employer brand channels. LinkedIn is different. Most recruiters already use it every day, and for the most part they use it as a sourcing tool, finding candidates by role, skill and sector. That is a fair way to see it, because it is a brilliant sourcing tool. But sourcing is only half of what LinkedIn can do for your business. The other half, and the one many recruiters underuse, is the client side. LinkedIn is also your strongest channel for winning clients and for building a personal brand that brings clients to you. It is where the people who hire you spend their working lives. So for most owners, the opportunity is not to source more; it is to start using the client, business development and personal branding half they have been leaving untouched. Two jobs, one platform, and they do not happen in the same place. The client and brand side lives in the feed, in what you post and how consistently you show up. The sourcing side lives in outbound search and messaging. Treat LinkedIn as one undifferentiated thing, and you dilute both. Understand the split, and you get far more from it. How Big It Is, and Who Is On There LinkedIn passed 1.3 billion members worldwide this year, with around 310 million active every month. More useful than the global figure is how far it reaches into the working population of the markets most of you serve. In the UK, LinkedIn reaches around 71% of the population. In the US, around 83%. In Australia, around 61%. Those are high figures, drawn from LinkedIn's own advertising reach data, so they include some duplicate and inactive accounts. Treat them as a sign of very high penetration rather than a literal count of individuals. Either way, the conclusion is the same. Almost every hiring decision-maker you would want as a client is reachable here. LinkedIn reports more than 65 million decision-makers and 10 million people at C-level among its members. That is your ideal client list, gathered on a single channel. The Lurker Economy, and Why It Matters So Much Now the single most important thing to understand about LinkedIn. Only around one percent of active users post content. Everyone else reads. They scroll, they notice, they form a view, and they rarely like, comment or share. These are the lurkers, and they make up the vast majority of the platform. Think about who they are. Your clients. Hiring managers, business owners and department heads do not spend their working day reacting to posts. But they see them. And when a vacancy appears, they contact the recruiter who has been showing up in their feed. Brand Building and Client Acquisition Are the Same Activity This is why, on LinkedIn, building your brand and winning clients are not two separate tasks. They are the same task. Here is a real example from one of our members. She had been posting consistently on LinkedIn for some time. Nothing elaborate, just useful content in her specialist area, published week after week. Then a client she had not worked with in over a year came to her out of the blue with a senior technical role, a CTO position, and handed it to her exclusively. When she asked what had prompted the call, the answer was revealing. He told her he could not miss her, she was all over LinkedIn, and when the role came up hers was the first name that came to mind. He had never once liked or commented on a single thing she posted. That is the whole point. You are not posting to collect reactions. You are posting to stay in the mind of a buyer who will never engage in public, but who will call you the moment they have a need. Every useful post is a small deposit into that future phone call. Same anonymised member story as the script, the real Rachel / Ice Recruitment example. Say the word and I will name her, since it is already published with permission. What the 2026 Algorithm Now Rewards LinkedIn changed how its feed works this year, and the change favours exactly the kind of person reading this. The platform has moved towards relevance-based distribution. In plain terms, it now works to put each post in front of the people most likely to find it genuinely useful, weighing the author's demonstrated expertise and topic consistency rather than raw reactions. It pushes down engagement bait, the “comment YES if you agree” style of post, along with generic content that reads as machine-made and posted without thought, and posts where the video has nothing to do with the words. What it rewards is teaching something useful, in a clear niche, from someone who obviously knows their field. Read that again. It describes you. You are a real expert in your sector, which means you do not need to chase viral reach. You need to be consistently useful to a specific group of people, which is what the platform now favours. On format, documents, carousels and native video currently outperform plain text and link posts, so if you are unsure what to create, start there. Using LinkedIn to Source Candidates So far we have talked about the feed, which is where clients and brand live. The other job, sourcing, happens through LinkedIn's paid tools, and it is worth knowing LinkedIn splits the two jobs across two different products. Sales Navigator is the business development tool, built to find companies that are hiring and reach the decision-makers behind them, which is what most recruitment owners use it for. A Recruiter licence is the sourcing tool, and that is the one that matters here. A Recruiter licence, whether full Recruiter or the lighter Recruiter Lite, lets you search and reach candidates by job title, seniority, industry, skills and experience with a precision no other platform offers. You can organise candidates into talent pools and use InMail to reach passive people who are not in your network. And the outbound approach delivers. Industry data this year shows a candidate you source and approach directly is around five times more likely to be hired than one who applies to a job advert. It is little wonder many recruiters use LinkedIn every day for sourcing. Where LinkedIn Is Not the Answer An honest series means honest limits. LinkedIn is outstanding for sourcing professional, technical and executive candidates. For high-volume, hourly, trades it is a weaker candidate channel, and that is where Facebook and the other platforms we have covered earn their place. So match the channel to the roles you fill. If you place specialists and professionals, LinkedIn is close to essential on both sides. If you place high volumes of hourly workers, use LinkedIn for the client relationship and source your candidates where they gather. The Mistakes That Hold Recruiters Back A handful of habits hold recruiters back on LinkedIn. Posting only jobs, which turns your profile into a job board and builds no authority. Posting rarely and in bursts, when consistency is the entire game. Chasing engagement tricks that the algorithm now works against and that clients see straight through. Publishing generic, machine-made content with none of your own thinking in it. What aspect of LinkedIn is Right for Your Business? No channel suits everyone, so decide deliberately. Ask three questions. Is my priority winning clients or sourcing candidates? If clients, LinkedIn is close to essential whatever your sector. If candidates, what kind of roles do I fill: professional and technical, and LinkedIn is your best tool; high-volume and hourly, and you should source elsewhere while still using LinkedIn for clients. And can I commit to showing up consistently with useful, niche content rather than the occasional job advert? That consistency is what turns a dormant profile into a channel that brings in business. Answer those honestly and you will know how much of your time LinkedIn deserves. How We Can Help You This Year Knowing what to do is one thing. Doing it consistently, while running a business, is another. That is what we help with inside Superfast Circle. Members get a personalised marketing plan, done-for-you content and campaigns, monthly coaching and a clear system that makes showing up on LinkedIn and the other channels straightforward rather than one more job on the list. If you have been meaning to get LinkedIn working properly for your business, book a call and we will show you how it works. www.superfastrecruitment.co.uk/call Thanks Denise The post Marketing Channels for Recruiters: What Recruiters Need to Know About LinkedIn This Year appeared first on Superfast Recruitment.

Robert Brill, CEO of Brill Media, explains how businesses can implant a complete growth engine that attracts ideal customers, converts more leads, and scales sustainable growth through a proven marketing framework. Under his leadership, Brill Media has been recognized 11 times by the Inc. 5000 and the Financial Times 500 for helping businesses grow through precision advertising, strategic messaging, and performance marketing. In this conversation, Robert introduces The Growth Engine Framework—Setup, Awareness, Conversion, Closing, and KPIs. He explains why businesses must first define their Super Consumer, build a compelling proprietary system, and deliver messaging that differentiates them in crowded markets. Robert also shares how overcoming the “81% Gap” through nurture marketing, leveraging AI-powered tools, and documenting repeatable systems enable organizations to scale more efficiently while helping founders transition from operator to owner. — Implant a Complete Growth Engine with Robert Brill  Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint, and my guest is Robert Brill, the CEO of Brill Media, a leading media buying agency specializing in precision advertising for business growth. Under his leadership, Brill Media has been recognized 11 times by the Inc. 5000 and the Financial Times 500. Robert, welcome back to the show.  Steve, thanks for having me. It’s great to be back. Good to see you again.  Yeah, good to see you after two and a half years. Lots of things happened. So we’re going to dive into all of those things, but let’s start with your personal ‘Why’ and how you’re manifesting it in your business, Brill Media?  I mean, my personal 'Why' is I'm focusing on becoming an owner, not an operator. Spend more time with family, less stress, more happiness.Share on X Because if I think about the last five years, the most cherished times that I think about are the times that I’ve spent on vacation, going to Disneyland, or going to baseball games with my family—all the fun stuff. And it’s not about the fun stuff necessarily. It’s about the fun stuff with family. So, more of that.  Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Those times with the kids don’t come back. The business is going to be around for a while longer, much, much longer. So prioritizing this is a really good idea. So tell me what happened over the last two and a half years since we talked together. What has changed in your business?  You know, we’ve really focused on evolving our solutions. For many years, we’ve been focused on agencies, and we continue to be focused on agencies. If you search for white-label media buying on Google, we’re one of the top one or two results. That’s because we’ve carved out a really strong position helping agencies do media buying, earn revenue, create stickier client relationships as a result of the work we do, and complement their work.  What we've learned over the years is that no amount of good media buying can overcome the wrong messaging.Share on X Even if you look at search engine optimization or social media, at the end of the day, it’s just an amplification of an existing message. If you’re spending lots of time, energy, and, notably, money delivering the wrong message, worst-case scenario, you’re confusing the marketplace. Best-case scenario, you’re only losing money. But obviously, neither of those is the desired outcome.  So before we help clients buy advertising space, post on social media, do SEO, or Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), we really want to dial in the types of messages that are most interesting to them. The next part is this: even if you have the right message and you have the best media buying in the world through Brill Media, none of that matters if you have a leaky bucket. The leaky bucket is when you pay a lot of money to run a Google Search ad, someone clicks, and then they never hear from you again.  At the end of the day, it takes more than one touch—or even a few touches—to get someone to buy from you. So our responsibility has evolved into building this growth engine of understanding the motivation behind why people buy from your company, then delivering the message, then getting people to convert, overcoming what we’re calling the 81% Gap—we can talk about that—and then getting people to see you everywhere so that you become the inevitable choice. The fifth step is understanding the KPIs—the success metrics—for every step of the process. So it’s not just media buying anymore.  Yeah. No, I definitely noticed that it’s not just media buying. It’s not just precision advertising. It sounds like you help them strategize what the right message should be and then convert those leads into customers. So essentially, it’s the whole growth engine that you’re building for companies. Is that right? That is exactly right. It’s the growth engine.  So what is the framework? Because, remember, this is a framework podcast. So describe to me. You actually mentioned step four and step five. I don’t know what the first three steps are. So can you go through the five steps and share with the listeners what that looks like?  So, step one: Setup. Who are you talking to? What’s unique about your audience? What’s unique about your business, and how do you help them achieve transformation? When we talk about setup, there are a few subsections. There’s the Super Consumer. We talk about the Super Consumer as someone who will evangelize for your company. They will pay you what you’re asking, and, in my opinion, most importantly, you like working with them.  So basically, you want to find the Super Consumer, you want to articulate who the Super Consumer is, and then target your growth engine to the Super Consumer?  The first step of the Growth Engine is simply defining who your Super Consumer actually is. So step one is Setup. Inside Setup, there is your Super Consumer, your Unique Advantage Point, and your Proprietary System. The reason we talk about the Super Consumer is that a lot of companies, especially big corporations, talk about the Total Addressable Market—everyone who can possibly buy from you. It’s too broad.  They also talk about small and mid-sized businesses, and commonly people talk about the Ideal Customer Profile, which is anyone who can extract value from your company. In our opinion, that’s too broad as well because if you dial in to the Super Consumer—if you understand the people you want to work with, who will evangelize for you, and who will pay you what you’re asking—you have a subset of people.  When you define them, there's a clear, describable transformation that you can provide that helps you become the inevitable solution for that group of people.Share on X When you know what those people want, what their desires are, what keeps them up at night, what they’re experiencing on a day-to-day basis, what they’re saying to themselves, what they’re saying to other people, and what they’re searching for—when you understand the psychology behind the person—you can actually carve out a position that is highly valuable.  The key part for us is that this is about commoditization and decommoditization. When you talk about lawyers, doctors, dentists, accounting firms, or any retail location, most of these businesses are commoditized. What commoditization means for us is that if you’re an accountant or CPA, your website says something that every other CPA in the area says. If you’re a dentist doing Invisalign, you’re saying something that every other dentist in the area says. That means you can swap out the logo and swap out the photos of the people, and it’s exactly the same.  The consumer can’t tell the difference between one dentist and another, or one accountant and another, because they’re all saying the same things. So the way you decommoditize is by talking about your Super Consumer—who you actually want to serve—and then carving out a unique position for those people.Share on X An example would be an accounting firm we spoke with that really focuses on the trucking industry because they happen to have a large degree of experience in that space. So don’t say you’re a generic accountant who does bookkeeping, taxes, and everything else. Say, “We’re the number one accounting firm for truckers in America.”  Love it.  That’s unique.  Yeah. Love it. Okay, so step one is Setup. Who you’re serving, who your Super Consumer is, what your Unique Advantage is, your Proprietary System, and decommoditization. What’s step two?  Step two is Awareness—driving awareness with your message. Our idea is that now you know exactly who you’re talking to and how they can achieve transformation with you. When you have the ability to really define how they’ll engage with you and what they’ll get from you that’s different from anyone else in the area or the country, that’s when you deliver the message. That’s when you run ads, post on social media, and say things that are going to attract people.  There’s a whole subset of activity behind that related to levels of awareness. The number one mistake businesses make on social media is posting content that’s irrelevant to the audience. That irrelevance comes from how aware the audience is. When people are unaware they have a problem, it doesn’t mean they don’t have a problem. It just means they don’t realize they have one. Your responsibility, when speaking to people who are unaware, is simply to help them understand that they have a problem.  You’re not trying to get them to start now, book a call, or get your free diagnostic. You want to trigger something in their head so they say, “Oh, I’m dealing with this type of experience. I’m a trucking company, and I really don’t have good accounting. I didn’t realize I had a problem.” The success of your marketing is simply when that person says, “Oh, I actually have a problem now.” You’re not going to see that in HubSpot.  You’re not going to see that in any meaningful metric. But when you consistently post content on social media that highlights the problem you solve, three, four, or six months from now, you’ll start to see that wave of marketing activity result in activity inside your HubSpot or CRM. So step two is Awareness—simply delivering the message. Okay.  Step three is Conversion. Conversion is simply, “Hey, click on this ad or see my post and download the guide, take the diagnostic, take the interactive quiz, watch a video,” whatever it is, in exchange for an email address, name, phone number—that type of thing. Now, here’s a key insight. People are not ready to buy after they submit their contact information. That’s another meaningful point that businesses overlook.  They think, “Whoa, a lead just came into HubSpot. Well, clearly they’re ready to spend $50,000 with me.” But think about the experience. Maybe I spend two and a half seconds on an ad. I spend 20 seconds on a landing page. No one’s going to spend any meaningful amount of money after 22 and a half seconds of engagement.  Yeah.  All they’re saying is, “Hey, for a moment in time, what you said to me was relevant.” And that’s it. This is where a lot of companies stop. They say, “Well, I’m getting bad leads. They’re not converting into business.” Or they say, “I got a click, and they visited my website.” It’s not turning into business because you’re not warming people up. And then the solution to that is you’ve got to overcome this 81% Gap, right?  So after someone converts—and for e-commerce it’s slightly different. People maybe visit your site, or they add something to the cart and they don’t purchase yet. But going back to B2B and professional services, you’ve got to overcome this 81% Gap. There’s a study by 6sense, the account-based marketing firm, that says 81% of buyers will only talk to a vendor after they’ve decided to work with the vendor. The implication of that is staggering. The number is going to increase by 2030 to, like, 95% or 98%.  What that means is companies are not going to get a chance to sell people anything. There’s no sales conversation. There’s no credibility. There’s no case studies. There’s no testimonials. There’s no, “Hey, here’s why you should work with us.” Which means all the information that would’ve been supplied by the salesperson now needs to be supplied by marketing. All the case studies, the testimonials, the credibility markers, you’re a member of the Chamber of Commerce—all of that needs to be delivered in marketing. It’s no longer going to be delivered in a sales conversation.  Interesting. Yeah.  So step four is Close.  After conversion, don’t we have a nurture step?  Well, we’re calling Close the nurture. Close is effectively the nurture step.  Okay. Got it.  So it’s the activity to achieve the close, which is the nurture. What we’re saying is: retargeting ads. Again, here’s another common mistake businesses make. Many businesses will pummel people with the same ads that got them into the funnel. That’s worthless because you’ve already delivered that message.  The user’s beyond that. What the user needs to see are the case studies, the testimonials, the credibility markers—all the reasons why your company should be the company they choose. The user needs to see the email marketing—up to 45 emails over the course of 100 days, somewhere around there.  Forty-five emails?  Yeah. Twenty-five to 45, but we recommend 45. The reason is, first of all, the user’s not going to read all of them. Secondly, the user’s only going to pay attention to the things they’re actually interested in. So: retargeting ads, email marketing, and professional services. The last component is LinkedIn Social Preheating. LinkedIn Social Preheating is the simplest thing that anyone listening to this can take action on this today.  Go to Sales Navigator. Create a list of all the people who are in your CRM. Find them on LinkedIn. When they post something, like their post. That’s it. Spend 20 minutes a day in the morning liking posts from people who’ve expressed interest in your business. Or, alternatively, do the same thing for people you want to work with who don’t know you yet. The reason that’s valuable is because, number one, they get notifications and sometimes emails saying, “Steve Preda liked your post.” Steve Preda. Steve Preda. Steve Preda. Over the course of two weeks: “I’ve got to pay attention to Steve Preda. That name sounds familiar.”  Yeah.  Oh, and here’s the ad from Steve Preda, and here’s the email about the transformation he provides. So by the time you or your people call them: “Steve Preda… I’ve been meaning to talk to you.” Or they call you and say, “Steve, I see you everywhere.” The LinkedIn activity, combined with the email marketing and the retargeting ads, makes you the inevitable choice. To a small group of people.  Because you’re not trying to get millions of customers unless you’re in retail or e-commerce. You’re trying to get 20 customers who are going to pay you $10,000 to $50,000. To those 20 people—and the hundred people who maybe don’t convert—you’re everywhere. You’re the inevitable choice. The fifth step in this process is setting KPIs at the beginning. How many sales-qualified calls do you need? How much revenue per month do you need? There are clients who are members of ProVisors.  I’m a member of ProVisors. How does your marketing impact your ProVisors relationships? The core idea is that we see a lot of companies going into the marketplace with point solutions. “Hey, I’m going to try Facebook ads.” “Ah, it didn’t work.” “I’m going to try Google Ads.” “Ah.” “I’m posting on LinkedIn.” “Ah.” They try all these different things and wonder, “They should work. Why don’t they work for my business?” The answer is because you don’t have a unifying strategy. They all serve different roles in the marketing process.  When you know the difference between an unaware consumer and what they need to hear versus a solution-aware consumer who’s on Google, you know you need different metrics and KPIs. We want to prevent companies from going from one point solution to another for years, spending lots of money and getting very frustrated. Instead, have one unifying strategy and then deploy activities that are actually going to benefit the growth…Share on X  Love it. So the five-step framework is: Setup—Super Consumer, Unique Advantage, Proprietary System. Number two, Awareness—ads and social. Then Conversion, which is basically email capture, a diagnostic, a video, a white paper, whatever. Then Close, which is the nurture: retargeting, email sequence, LinkedIn Social Preheating. Interesting. And then KPIs. How do you measure? What are your targets? And how do you get there? That’s  Yeah. That’s the Growth Engine.  So one thing that you mentioned: Proprietary System. What do you mean by that?  The only truly unique things that exist in the world are technological innovations. The iPhone—when Apple created the iPhone—that was unique. When Ozempic came out, that was unique. I’m not talking about that. What I’m talking about is this. I’ll give you an example. If you’re a lawyer, a dentist, or an accountant— If you’re a lawyer, you cannot deviate. You’re literally dealing with the law.  What you have to do as a lawyer has been dictated in legal documents for a long time, depending on the field of law that you study. You cannot deviate from that. You have a process that you have to follow. But what is unique is the way you think about it, the processes inside your organization that ensure you’re successful, and the way you steward clients. Look at marketing. We’re a highly commoditized industry. There are a million people on Upwork who do some sort of marketing work.  There are 40,000 or 50,000 agencies in the United States that all do some type of marketing work. If I go to the marketplace and say, “Hey, I do Facebook ads,” guess what? There are 10,000 people who also do Facebook ads. That’s not unique. What is unique is the systems and processes we’ve developed around how we do Facebook ads and how we think about marketing. The first step we take with our clients is developing a Proprietary System—the thing that's unique about the way they approach the world.Share on X  I was just doing some thinking about roofing. I have some notes here. The Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System. What is that? I don’t know. But you know what? A roofing company needs to have something called the Seven-Point Storm Shield Inspection or the Precision Roof Blueprint. The idea is that you have something no one else has, such as this Precision Roof Blueprint, that you can point to and say, “Look, you can get roofing from anyone, but only we have the Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System.”  Yeah. Yeah, got it. So it’s not a marketing system. It’s more about productizing and branding your services.  Exactly. You need a three-, five-, or seven-step system that you can point to. When we have sales conversations, we have a visual for the Growth Engine. The reason that’s important is because you need to be able to hook into the buyer’s mind. One of the ways you hook into the buyer’s mind is by the buyer saying, “Look, they have this thing called the Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System. I don’t know—that sounds real.  Here are the seven things you get when you get the Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System.” It’s a way for people to not just get excited about your business, because that lasts a very short period of time. They need to go to their husband or wife, or they need to remember a very pithy, short summary of what the conversation was about. “Oh yeah, they have the Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System. Here’s what it is. Here’s a visual of it.”  Okay. That makes sense. So, switching gears here a little bit. Things are changing very fast in this business, and you want to make sure you put your family first. What is one thing that you’re actively trying to figure out in this business going forward?  I mean, the most fascinating and exciting thing I’m doing right now is something I’ve always wanted to do but never had the skills for—and now I suddenly do—which is building actual software that’s valuable for us and our clients. For example, we have a framework for LinkedIn. In very simple terms, you like the posts of the people you want to sell to. From the perspective of the LinkedIn algorithm, that’s very low value.  It’s good from a sales perspective, but from the algorithm’s perspective, it’s not that interesting. You post content on LinkedIn that has to have a unique perspective—an opinion. A lot of people can write with AI. You don’t write with AI. You say something that’s unique to your perspective. Maybe AI helps you write it more eloquently in little bits and pieces. But even that by itself, it’s hard to get traction. The way you get traction on LinkedIn right now is through comments. I’ll get 80 to 100 views on a post.  I’ll get 400 to 800 views on a comment. The comment is the engine behind more visibility on LinkedIn. This goes back to the question you asked. The key point on LinkedIn is you’re not just saying, “Hey, great job.” “I like that.” “I totally agree with you.” Or posting the raised-hands emoji and saying, “This is amazing.” That’s not the kind of comment I’m talking about because that’s low value. It’s also not AI-written content because that’s low value. It’ll deprioritize your content.  When you comment on LinkedIn, you have three sections: Compliment. Expand. Ask. Compliment: “You’re right. Marketing is highly commoditized. I fully agree with you there.” Expand: “When we work with clients, especially highly commoditized businesses like doctors, lawyers, and accountants, the first thing we do is help them decommoditize their business.” That’s the second section. That’s Expand. The third section is Ask. “What’s the first step you choose when you come across a highly commoditized business?” Compliment. Expand. Ask. Now guess what? We built an app that I’m using. All you need is five to eight posts a day. It’s AI-powered. I put in a link for Opus 4.8. It gives me a perspective on what I could say. I get three options. I copy one, write my own commentary around it so it’s not fully AI-written—because I want it customized to me—and then I post it. After that, I go back to the app and put the content I wrote back into the app.  A few things are happening. Number one, any of our clients can now use this app to write highly engaging commentary on LinkedIn. It starts to learn your voice and how you write so that the AI becomes better at writing in your style. I don’t know what it’s called—a micro app, a business app. This isn’t something I’m going to take to the marketplace and say, “Here, spend $10 a month to buy this service.” It’s simply an added value for our clients.  Love it.  Those types of apps are super powerful. I get on sales conversations. I understand the business problems that businesses have.Share on X I build apps. Like right now, I’m in the process of building a media planning app that actually becomes a replacement for how we develop proposals. One component of that app is going to have a diagnostic section, which means you give me some information, and it’ll spit out information about what you should do for your marketing that, number one, follows our framework, the Growth Engine, and, number two, is based on the historical knowledge we have across all of our clients—but generalized by industry, not specific client names.  It takes the best of what we do and makes it so easy that someone who doesn’t have a great deal of knowledge in digital advertising can get a highly pertinent proposal and diagnostic ready for them with the click of a button after talking to someone for 15 minutes.  Very impressive. So you’re building these apps, and essentially you’re empowering your business with these apps so some of the things you’ve done in the past can be automated. So, Robert, if you had a magic wand and you could fix one thing in your business in the next 12 months, what would that be?  I mean, look, just to be completely honest, I understand the difference between an owner and an operator. The short answer to that question is I want to be an owner, not an operator. I’m looking at an operator as someone who’s in the day-to-day. They’re the practitioner. I mean, I’m 23 years into the advertising business. I’m 13 years into my business. I love this business. You’re not going to see me become a real estate agent, and I’m not going to be hawking…  I think I probably said this last time. I’m not going to be hawking crypto or whatever the case is. This is my life, and this is my passion. For so many years of my life, I’ve dedicated my interests, my hobbies, and my professional time to becoming a better practitioner. My goal now is to become an owner, which means the business operates without me. I get to focus on the projects that I want to focus on, which I’m already doing to a degree.  I have a phenomenal Director of Accounts. Her name is Linda Flores. She is k*ller. She scares me sometimes. We’re on calls, and I’m like, “Holy cow, if I was not the owner of the business, I’d be scared. In fact, you’re scaring me, Linda.” You’re getting things going. People should be scared of you. That’s what a good Director of Accounts—an operations person—does. She’s phenomenal. But at the end of the day, if I choose to be on an island for six months out of the year, the business operates fine. We’re not there yet. That’s what I’m focusing on.  So what’s missing? You said you’re already spending some of your time developing these apps—the stuff you love. What would you have to let go of in the next 12 months to get there?  I recently read the book The E-Myth about a year, year and a half ago. One of the most insightful perspectives I got from The E-Myth is this—and people are going to hate this. People who are not entrepreneurs will look at me like I’m the devil. Okay? But this is not my idea. This is from The E-Myth. The idea is that processes, systems, and standard operating procedures are effectively the safety net for the success of a company.  Which means instead of hiring incredibly expensive people inside your business, you can hire, for many roles, people with the minimum level of qualification. The standard operating procedure becomes the safety net that helps them succeed. I was like, “Holy cow, that’s fascinating.” Because as a business owner, I’m looking at myself. I’m hiring highly qualified, very expensive people to do the work. The sign of a good business, in my opinion—or at least from what I understand—is a business that has such phenomenal standard operating procedures that it can hire people with the minimum level of qualification, and they can still be effective.  Frankly, I think we have good standard operating procedures, but we need better ones. And frankly, the AI tools that I'm building help us get there.Share on X The media planning tool that I’m building means I could hire someone with two, three, or five years of experience in marketing and advertising. Through the AI system, they get the benefit of all of our clients’ knowledge and insights that we’ve talked about over the years. They get the benefit of what I know about marketing.  They get the benefit of all the data that’s flowed through the pipelines of our business. All of that information becomes the baseline from which someone with two, three, or four years of experience in marketing develops a phenomenal strategy. Because they’re not relying on two, three, four, or five years of experience. They’re relying on my 23 years of experience delivered through an AI pipeline.  So essentially, what you’ve accumulated over the years—institutional knowledge—maybe it’s in your head, but you can download it. You’ve written things. You’ve produced a bunch of videos. You can put that into an AI database or knowledge base, and that can power some of the systems you’re developing. Other people can come in, run it, and follow your process.  Yeah. And it’s not just ours. I mean, look, it’s any system that I believe is valuable that should be piped into that AI knowledge base. But the value there is me as the curator. That’s when you get to the point where the business is still an authentic reflection or extension of the owner. One of the most important things, especially for professional services businesses, is that the business will be successful if it’s an authentic representation—or extension—of the owner, and you like the people you’re working with.  Love that.  Which goes back to the Super Consumer. The most important part of our whole process is: Who are the people you love working with? Just as an aside, what’s funny is there are two paths. There’s the path of people you love working with who don’t pay you as much, but it really fills your soul. You like them. You’re helping them. They’re very grateful for it.  Then there are the people you like working with less, and they pay you a ton of money. You need both. I think every professional services client we have who starts paying attention to this discovers that same dichotomy of clients.  Well, if you can have them be the same people, that’s the ultimate, isn’t it? That’s the ultimate.  Yeah. By the way, I really love this E-Myth reference. I had Michael Gerber on this podcast about 10 months ago, and he might actually like to hear how you’re refining his system in The E-Myth. So it’s pretty cool. Robert, if people are hearing this and they want this Growth Engine to be developed in their business, and they want access to the other software components you’re developing that could amplify their business—maybe the LinkedIn warm-up system and things like that—where should they go, and how can they learn more and connect with you?  Yeah. So the site that’s most relevant right now is: strategy.brillmedia.co. Again, that’s strategy.brillmedia.co. That breaks down what we do for businesses and what we do for agencies. You have pricing on there. To get a blueprint for your business—the diagnostic and strategy—we spend an hour on the phone interviewing the business owner. What are the economics? What’s been working? Why is now the time?  Tell me about your best clients and your worst clients. Just tell me stories about your business. It’s $497, and you get a complete blueprint—a complete marketing strategy synthesized through our systems and processes—so you can get off the marketing treadmill. You’re not spending months, years, and lots of money grasping at straws: Facebook. Google. LinkedIn. “Why doesn’t any of it work?” We’ll solve  All right. Definitely check out strategy.brillmedia.co. See for yourself what you can get there and how you can get started with Robert and his team. Definitely connect with Robert on LinkedIn. And if you enjoyed this episode, st81% ay tuned because every week we bring you one or two exciting entrepreneurs who share their frameworks with you. Thanks for coming, Robert, and sharing your experience. And thanks for listening. Important Links: Robert's LinkedIn Robert's  website

LinkedIn has become one of the most powerful business development tools for recruiters—but only when it's used with intention.Kortney Harmon sits down with Clark Willcox, Founder of Digital Recruiter, to discuss how recruiters can build a revenue-driving brand on LinkedIn without relying on generic AI messaging or chasing viral content. Clark shares practical strategies for creating meaningful conversations, attracting the right clients, and using automation to support—not replace—human connection.Key takeaways include:Building a LinkedIn profile that attracts ideal clientsCreating content that drives conversations instead of likesUsing automation and AI without losing authenticityTurning LinkedIn into a consistent source of new businessDiscover how to build a recruiter brand that earns trust, generates revenue, and creates long-term business growth.________________Follow Clark Willcox on LinkedIn: LinkedIn | Clark WillcoxCheck out Clarks website: https://digitalrecruiter.io/Follow Crelate on LinkedIn: CrelateWant to learn more about Crelate? Book a demo hereSubscribe to our newsletter: The Full Desk Experience

How do you sell software to an industry where Google Maps and Sales Navigator don't even work?Freddy Galindo built Sprint Suite, a SaaS platform for mining contractors, after watching his family's mining services business get buried in spreadsheets and manila folders. Today he breaks down how to scale a SaaS business in a vertical that doesn't operate like tech at all — including why his team drives around taking photos of companies just to find them.What you'll learn:→ Why Freddy's team prospects by driving around taking photos of companies (no websites, no digital footprint)→ The discovery process that works when your buyer has never used SaaS before→ Why flying SDRs to mine sites changed their entire sales motion→ How AI made development a commodity — and where Freddy is reinvesting instead→ Why "stop managing the process, start managing the business" is the real value proposition→ The hard lesson about saying yes to every opportunity in the early days→ Why being coachable is the one trait Freddy looks for above all else→ What expanding into the Canadian market taught him about adapting a sales motionIf you sell into an industry that doesn't operate like tech — this conversation will change how you think about your go-to-market.

In dieser Folge spreche ich mit Dr. Marc Lucas Weber über ein Thema, das viele virtuelle Assistent:innen beschäftigt: LinkedIn als Kundengewinnungskanal.Marc unterstützt Selbstständige, Dienstleister:innen und Unternehmen dabei, LinkedIn strategisch für Sichtbarkeit, Netzwerkaufbau und Leadgenerierung einzusetzen. Dabei wird schnell klar: Sichtbar zu sein ist nur der erste Schritt. Die eigentliche Frage lautet:

A lot of creators don't realize how much wasting money on podcast tools adds up until they finally stop and look at every subscription tied to their show. The morning show cast and crew talk about how easy it is to collect editing apps, AI platforms, analytics tools, and software you barely touch anymore while convincing yourself you still need all of it. There's a second layer too. Profit, not revenue. A $15 app feels different when it's $180 a year. A $5 tool times twelve months times five tools is money that wasn't actually generating anything back. Then comes the renewal email from something you forgot you had, and suddenly you're staring at the charge wondering when you last opened it. That's the moment it stops feeling like a collection and starts feeling like a real decision.Episode Highlights:[04:28] Software Stack Profit Leaks[05:49] How Many Subscriptions Is Too Many?[10:10] Overspending Categories[14:48] Forgotten Subscription Traps[18:36] The LinkedIn Premium Debate[22:35] Marketing Beyond Social Media[24:51] Sales Navigator as a CRM[26:37] Centralize and Audit Your Tools[27:41] Essential vs. Nice-to-Have Software[34:24] Spreadsheets, Not Apps[39:02] Monthly Money Review[46:07] Final TakeawaysLinks & Resources:Your Software Stack is Quietly Killing Your Profit Margins:https://www.contentcreatorsaccountant.com/blog/software-stack-killing-profit/Feature Your Podcast on the Podcasting Morning Show:https://PodcastingMorningShow.com/spotlightThe Podcasting Morning Show:⁠⁠www.podcastingmorningshow.com⁠⁠Ways to Watch or Listen:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.podcastingmorningshow.com/joinus/Meet the PMS Cast and Crew:⁠⁠https://podcastingmorningshow.com/people⁠⁠Join The Empowered Podcasting Facebook Group:⁠⁠www.facebook.com/groups/empoweredpodcasting⁠⁠⁠Book A Free Call With Marc:https://calendly.com/ironickmedia/freestrategycallApplication To Submit Your Show For Evaluation:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcastingmorningshow.com/eval⁠⁠Join us every other Monday at 8 AM ET for the Obsession Worthy Podcasts:⁠⁠⁠http://podcastingmorningshow.com/owp/⁠⁠Join us LIVE every weekday morning at 8 am ET (US) on ⁠Clubhouse⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcastingmorningshow.com/clubhouse⁠⁠EPC3 Speaker Application:⁠⁠ ⁠https://empoweredpodcasting.com/speakersPowered by⁠⁠⁠ ⁠iRonickMedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠ ⁠ContentCreatorsAccountant.com⁠⁠Send in your mailbag questions:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.podcastingmorningshow.com/contact/⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠marc@ironickmedia.com⁠Want to be a guest on The Podcasting Morning Show? Send me a message on PodMatch, here:https://podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1729879899384520035bad21b

Why you should listenDonald runs one of the top B2B sales podcasts in the world, heard in over 155 countries, and breaks down the exact LinkedIn-first sequence he uses to turn cold prospects into booked calls without paid ads or cold spam.Learn the three-step system Donald uses to move a prospect from stranger to conversation: engage on their content, send a personalised connection request tied to something specific about them, then bridge to a short email that speaks to real pain, not surface pain.Get Donald's follow-up sequence that replaces the lazy "bumping this up" email with relevance-based touches your prospect actually wants to reply to, plus the exact tools (Hunter.io, Sales Navigator, Apollo) he uses to find verified business emails.Tired of sending LinkedIn messages into a black hole and wondering why your outbound never converts? In this episode, I talk with Donald C. Kelly, founder of The Sales Evangelists and one of the most recognised B2B sales voices in the world. Most tech business owners default to pitching before earning attention, and it is the reason their pipeline stays empty. Donald walks through the exact sequence he uses to break through the noise, earn engagement, and turn it into a real conversation, without faking friendship or copying the spray-and-pray playbook every SDR is running. If you sell on LinkedIn and the results are not matching the effort, this one shows you where the gap is.About Donald KellyDonald C. Kelly is the founder of The Sales Evangelist and host of one of the longest-running B2B sales podcasts in the world, with nearly 2,000 episodes heard across 155+ countries. A LinkedIn Top Voice in Sales and three-time Salesforce Top Influencer, he helps SMB and mid-market sales teams build LinkedIn-led outbound systems that turn cold prospects into booked calls. He is the author of Sell It Like a Mango and based in West Palm Beach, Florida.Resources and Linksthesalesevangelist.comDonald's LinkedIn profileDonald's free prospecting toolHunter.io Apollo.io SNOV.ioZoomInfoGemini Nano BananaBase44Previous episode: 678 - 81% of Partners Will Grow Below the Industry RateCheck out more episodes of the Paul Higgins PodcastSubscribe to our YouTube channel: @PaulHigginsMentoringJoin our newsletterSuggested resources

Episode SummaryIn this episode of Million Dollar Flip Flops, Rodric sits down with Colin Herdman — lifelong entrepreneur, co-founder of Monkey Island Ventures, and founder of Rainmaker, a company helping business owners grow their network, leads, and sales using LinkedIn.Colin shares how he went from launching his first business a week after college to building multiple companies across digital marketing, software development, and LinkedIn growth strategy. Along the way, he's learned that real business growth still comes down to the same fundamentals: understanding your audience, teaching what you know, and building genuine relationships.Rodric and Colin also dig into AI, the future of marketing, community building, and why LinkedIn live streams may be one of the most underrated tools available for founders, coaches, and sales leaders today.This is a conversation about growth, yes — but even more, it's about authenticity, education, thought leadership, and how to stand out online without becoming just more noise.In this episode, you'll hear:Colin's journey from college graduate to lifelong entrepreneurThe story behind Monkey Island VenturesWhat his three companies are focused on todayWhy AI is changing marketing — and what it cannot replaceWhy community may become even more valuable in an AI-heavy worldColin's philosophy for using LinkedIn the right wayThe difference between creating noise and creating trustWhy educational content beats salesy content on LinkedInHow Colin uses LinkedIn live streams to generate leads and referralsA step-by-step breakdown of his LinkedIn live stream strategyWhy repetition and thought leadership matter more than constant content churnHighlights & Timestamps[00:00] Colin's core LinkedIn philosophy Colin explains the big idea behind his approach to LinkedIn: authenticity, education, experimentation, and understanding what your audience can learn from you.[01:00] Meet Colin Herdman Colin introduces himself as a lifelong entrepreneur who launched his first business one week after college.[01:00] From criminal justice degree to entrepreneurship He shares how he never used his degree and instead learned business through experience and the school of hard knocks.[02:00] The businesses Colin is building today Colin breaks down the three companies under Monkey Island Ventures: Aurion, Cloudburst, and Rainmaker.[03:00] What's changing fastest in marketing right now Rodric asks Colin about the biggest shifts in marketing, and Colin points straight to AI, automation, and the need for authenticity.[04:00] Why community matters more than ever Rodric and Colin talk about how AI may make entrepreneurship even lonelier — and why real community will become even more valuable.[05:00] What's next for Colin Colin shares why he is focused on growing the current businesses while staying open to future opportunities.[05:00] What Rainmaker actually does Colin explains how Rainmaker helps founders, coaches, and sales leaders use LinkedIn to grow relationships, leads, and sales.[06:00] Colin's philosophy for LinkedIn growth He outlines the three layers of his strategy: authenticity, educational mindset, and understanding what your audience wants to learn from you.[08:00] How he identifies the right audience Colin explains how he uses Sales Navigator and ICP-based targeting to define who to connect with.[09:00] Why first connections matter He shares why his team reaches out to around 100 people a week and why growing a first-degree network is foundational.[10:00] The three campaign types he uses Colin walks through the main campaign formats he uses: drip messaging, LinkedIn polls, and live streams.[11:00] Why LinkedIn live streams are the biggest opportunity He explains why live streams are powerful, why LinkedIn is leaning into them, and why they cut through AI-driven sameness.[12:00] How Colin structures live streams Colin shares how he chooses a specific audience and a repeatable 101-level topic that can be taught over and over again.[14:00] Why repetition works better than constant reinvention He explains why repeating great content to the right audience is smarter than always creating something new.[14:00] How LinkedIn event invites do the heavy lifting Colin shares how LinkedIn's event system helps drive awareness, reminders, and attendance without feeling spammy.[16:00] The real power of the follow-up After each live stream, Colin follows up with attendees in a thoughtful way that opens the door for natural next-step conversations.[18:00] How live streams build long-term trust Colin explains how repeated educational live streams create awareness, thought leadership, and referral momentum over time.[20:00] Where to find Colin He shares where people can connect with him, download his live stream resource, and learn more.[21:00] Colin's question for the next guest Colin asks the next guest what book most helped them implement growth and strategy in their business.[21:00] The question Colin was asked Colin reflects on the importance of turning inward and trying to stay true to who he is.Notable Quotes“Nobody wants to be sold on LinkedIn.” – Colin Herdman“What is it that they can learn from me? What can I teach?” – Colin Herdman“The real opportunity is on LinkedIn when you know what your audience can learn from you.” – Colin Herdman“It's all about authenticity. It's all about education. It's all about you.” – Colin Herdman“You don't have to keep creating new content all the time.” – Colin Herdman“What happens over time is you become top of mind for whatever topics you continually present on.” – Colin Herdman“It's all about sending the elevator back down.” – Rodric LenhartConnect with Colin

Most reps treat every account in their territory the same. Same sequence, same effort, same time. That's why most reps run out of time before they run out of accounts.Brian LaManna, 7x President's Club winner and founder of Closed Won, built a three-tier system that protects his time and focuses his energy where it actually moves the needle.In this show, Brian walked through how he tiers his book, operationalizes research workflows using Google Alerts and Sales Navigator, and shows up to every Tier 1 account with a strong POV before the first touchpoint.If you're spending time on accounts that will never move, this is the session that fixes that.You'll Learn:A three-tier account model to help you research each account when signals appearHow to set up Google Alerts and Sales Navigator so account intelligence comes to youThe research framework Brian uses for Tier 1 accounts to build a POV before any outreachThe Speakers:Will Aitken, and Brian LaMannaIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Gong and Quotivity

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Everyone's automating their LinkedIn outreach. Everyone's using AI to personalize at scale. And almost everyone is getting ignored. Zivko Dodovski, CEO of DoneMaker, has built a thriving B2B lead generation firm by doing the exact opposite; zero automations, zero AI messages, and a manual outreach process that consistently books 8-10 qualified calls per month for his clients.Zivko started in radio broadcasting before pivoting into B2B sales, where he discovered that genuine human connection on LinkedIn outperformed every tool, shortcut, and automation he tested. He now runs DoneMaker, a LinkedIn organic outreach firm that has helped clients like J Baker Media land 5 clients in 2 months and Jones & Lamb LLC generate $14K in a single month — all without spending a dollar on ads.He explains:◼️ Why "over-personalization" is the new spam — and how savvy buyers spot it in seconds◼️ The exact connection message framework Zivko uses to start real conversations without pitch-slapping◼️ Why LinkedIn's API suppresses automation tools and what that means for your outreach results◼️ How to use Sales Navigator to build targeting so precise it turns outreach into a near 50/50 yes-or-no conversation◼️ The profile optimization mistake most small businesses make — and why the "billboard approach" backfires◼️ Why commenting on viral posts can generate more impressions than posting on your own feed◼️ The dot-space LinkedIn trick that instantly reveals who's using automation to reach you◼️ When LinkedIn simply won't work for your business — and what to do insteadTimestamps:02:00 – From radio broadcasting to B2B sales and founding DoneMaker05:00 – Is radio advertising still relevant in 2026?08:00 – How Zivko personally uses LinkedIn to grow his business09:20 – The hot take: no AI, no automations — everything manual and why12:00 – "Over-personalization" — the new red flag buyers can smell a mile away15:00 – The exact connection message framework that starts real conversations18:00 – Why Sales Navigator is the most underutilized LinkedIn tool21:30 – From connection request to booked call — the full outreach sequence 24:00 – Profile optimization: what to do (and what to ditch) depending on your company size26:00 – Where posting fits into the outreach strategy29:00 – The commenting strategy that beats posting your own content32:00 – Cadence, blog strategy, and the top/middle/bottom of funnel approach36:00 – LinkedIn articles and newsletters — worth it or not?38:00 – LinkedIn ads vs. Meta ads — why you should never test creative on LinkedIn40:00 – The dot-space automation detection trick and when LinkedIn won't work for youConnect with Zivko:Website: donemaker.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/zivkododovskiConnect with Jason: Website: https://jayhunt.socialLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/socialmediaspeaker/

LinkedIn makes outbound easier than most reps think, but most sellers scroll, like, and hope something happens.James Buckley and Darren McKee broke down a repeatable LinkedIn prospecting system that turns simple actions into real conversations. You will learn how to pick the right prospects, know what to look for before you message, and avoid lazy outreach that gets ignored.Darren walked through his step by step flow, from using your network and Sales Navigator filters to finding the right buyers, to getting warm intros through second degree connections, to sending a direct message that earns a meeting. You will also learn how to use comments, follows, and content as engagement that supports your outbound, not vanity activity.You will leave with a clear plan you can run weekly, plus Darren's 5x3x1 prospecting strategy and the math behind how consistency can turn into a serious pipeline.You'll Learn:Step by step LinkedIn prospecting flow to go from targeting to conversations to meetings.The 5x3x1 prospecting strategy, including how to stay consistent.How to use comments, DMs, and video or audio messages to build trust and move past “send me info”.The Speakers:James Buckley and Darren McKeeIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Mixmax and Gong

¿Estamos protegiendo realmente a nuestros hijos o solo retrasando lo inevitable? En este episodio, hablamos sobre la nueva ley que busca prohibir las redes sociales a menores de 16 años. Pero la charla no se queda ahí: entramos en el mundo corporativo para revelarte cómo LinkedIn se ha convertido en el nuevo campo de batalla de la IA y por qué tu marca personal corre peligro si sigues publicando contenido genérico.Hablamos de bots, de la "trampa" de Sales Navigator y de cómo recuperar la autenticidad en un mundo lleno de filtros... pero al final, surge una pregunta que lo cambia todo.

In this episode of the Inquisitor Podcast, host Marcus Cauchi  talks with LinkedIn expert Graeme Riley, a platform user since 2004 and business development consultant since 2012, to cut through the noise and get practical about what actually works on LinkedIn. Graeme shares why most people are using LinkedIn wrong, how the platform's algorithm has evolved, and what separates the salespeople who consistently hit their targets from those who burn out in 18 months. Topics covered include: building a LinkedIn strategy tied to revenue goals, curating your ideal client network, optimising your profile for today's audience, the right content mix for dwell time and reshares, the difference between free, premium and Sales Navigator accounts, and why most companies are wasting their investment in the platform. Whether you're a solo entrepreneur or leading a sales team, this episode will challenge your assumptions and give you actionable steps to stop being a well-kept secret. Find Graeme Riley on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamkeithriley/  

AI isn't here to replace salespeople, it's here to make them sharper, faster, and more effective.In this show, Veronica Rivero from LinkedIn showed how to unlock the full potential of Sales Navigator's newest AI features: Account IQ, Message Assist, and the brand-new Sales Assistant.You'll see how these tools can help you identify opportunities faster, tailor your outreach to what buyers actually care about, and remove time-consuming admin work from your day.Whether you're prospecting for new logos or growing existing accounts, you'll learn how to use AI to keep your pipeline full and your deals moving forward.You'll Learn:How to use AI inside Sales Navigator to uncover insights that guide smarter outreachWays to personalize your messaging with Message Assist for better response ratesProven workflows to boost productivity and accelerate deal cyclesThe Speakers:James Buckley and Veronica RiveroIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Gong and Aligned

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Episode SummaryIf LinkedIn still feels like “that place bankers go to hire people,” this episode will change how you see it.Rodric sits down with Al Kushner, author of The AI LinkedIn Advantage, to break down how to use AI + LinkedIn together to save time, show up strategically, and position yourself as a thought leader — without living on the platform 24/7.Al has been on LinkedIn for over 20 years. He's watched it shift from stiff online résumé storage to a powerful professional social network where content, video, and personal branding actually matter.They talk about how to optimize your profile, use AI to generate content ideas, newsletters, and video scripts, and how business owners, entrepreneurs, and job seekers can all use LinkedIn more intentionally to open doors and opportunities.

In this conversation, Chris Gittings shares insights on leveraging LinkedIn for relationship building and networking. He emphasizes the importance of adding value in professional interactions and discusses innovative approaches to hosting networking events. The discussion also covers the use of LinkedIn's Sales Navigator for effective outreach and the potential for future collaborations in various industries. Ultimate Show Notes: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Overview of the Episode 00:01:24 - Background on Chris Gittings and Cogent Connections 00:02:05 - Effective Use of LinkedIn for Relationship Building 00:03:54 - The Importance of Adding Value in Sales 00:07:05 - Chris's Unique Approach to Hosting Events 00:11:16 - Exploring New Industries for Future Events 00:13:23 - Practical Takeaway: Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator 00:19:24 - Closing Remarks and How to Connect with Chris Connect with Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-gittings/  Learn More About Accountable Equity:  Visit Us: http://www.accountableequity.com/   Access eBook: https://accountableequity.com/case-study/#register  Turn your unique talent into capital and achieve the life you were destined to live. Join our community!We believe that Capital is more than just Cash. In fact, Human Capital always comes first before the accumulation of Financial Capital. We explore the best, most efficient, high-integrity ways of raising capital (Human & Financial). We want our listeners to use their personal human capital to empower the growth of their financial capital. Together we are stronger. LinkedinFacebookInstagramApple PodcastSpotify

You can't just throw up AI slop and call it content. AI may be flooding your inbox, but does it still have a place in authentic sales outreach? Mandy McEwen, digital marketing expert and founder of Mod Girl Marketing, joins Mark Hunter to help sales professionals navigate the evolving landscape of LinkedIn and social media in the age of artificial intelligence. Mandy unpacks the biggest shifts happening in buyer behavior, offering fresh insights into how sales teams can leverage AI without losing the human touch. Listen in to discover why personalization alone isn't enough and how genuine relevance can help you stand out. Mark and Mandy probe the growing importance of building a visible, trustworthy personal brand on LinkedIn. They explore common pitfalls in sales prospecting, from lazy automation to the dangers of spammy messaging that threatens your reputation. Tune in for tips on optimizing your LinkedIn presence, using buyer intent signals, and why slowing down could be the smartest move for your team this year.  

Note: This is Episode 442, published January 6, 2026.You published a book, it hit #1, and the reviews were phenomenal. In the digital marketing world, that's usually where you take a victory lap. But then the AI revolution happened. Over the last year, the fundamental ways we build relationships and create content on LinkedIn have shifted so dramatically that I knew a simple "tweak" wouldn't cut it.I've spent the last several months obsessively updating Maximizing LinkedIn for Business Growth to reflect the 2026 landscape. This isn't just a minor update—it's a 70% expansion featuring five entirely new chapters. In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on the exact strategies I added to help you stay visible, professional, and profitable.Tune in to discover:The AI "Ask Neal" Framework: My exact process for creating AI content that actually resonates with humans.The CRM Solution: Why your LinkedIn inbox is a "black hole" and how to fix it with a personal CRM system.Paid vs. Free: A definitive breakdown of when you should pay for Premium and when you should save your money.Evergreen ROI: Real-world case studies of professionals who turned simple profile optimizations into five-figure income shifts.Key Highlights:[03:25] The Decision Tree: How to choose between LinkedIn Free, Premium, and Sales Navigator.[04:40] Content Formats: Why some "tried and true" posts are now being deprioritized by the algorithm.[05:55] Beyond Robotic AI: Using headshot generators and LLMs to enhance—not replace—your personal brand.[07:20] The DM Epiphany: Why your next big opportunity is likely already buried in your inbox.[13:10] Expert Endorsements: Why industry leaders like Joe Pulizzi and Jon Ferrara consider this a "Masterclass."Links:Order the New Expanded Edition: [https://nealschaffer.com/maximizinglinkedinamazon]Learn More: Buy Digital Threads: https://nealschaffer.com/digitalthreadsamazon Buy Maximizing LinkedIn for Business Growth: https://nealschaffer.com/maximizinglinkedinamazon Join My Digital First Mastermind: https://nealschaffer.com/membership/ Learn about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/cmo Download My Free Ebooks Here: https://nealschaffer.com/books/ Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/nealschaffer All My Podcast Show Notes: https://podcast.nealschaffer.com

Ziv Raviv's Micro Niche Podcasts model combines coaching with a full marketing agency (logo design, copywriting, web dev), delivering tangible results and justifying higher fees.Micro-Niche Strategy: Focus on a highly specific niche (3k–20k people) for rapid market entry. The small size enables high-touch outreach, turning a low reply rate (e.g., 2%) into enough collaborators for a full year of content.Podcast as a "Free Party": A podcast is the core tool for building trust and authority. Interviewing niche experts leverages their networks for audience growth and provides a platform for "listening harder" to discover real client needs.The 3-Test Validation Framework: Before committing, validate a niche with three tests: Findability (can you easily find people?), Braggability (will interviewees share the episode?), and Sellability (can you monetize the audience?).Summary of PodcastThe "Super Coaching" ModelZiv Raviv's "Fully Booked Coach" model defines "fully booked" as a sustainable 15–18 retainer clients, a number that avoids burnout.This model evolved from a standard coaching practice to "super coaching," which includes a full marketing agency stack.Rationale: Clients often need execution support, not just advice. This model delivers tangible results (e.g., a new logo) between sessions, justifying higher fees and increasing client retention.Micro-Niche StrategyCore Principle: Serving everyone means serving no one. A micro-niche enables focused, high-impact outreach and rapid market entry.Size Sweet Spot: 3,000 (minimum) to 20,000 (ideal maximum).Rationale: This size provides enough people for outreach but is small enough for high-touch, personalized communication.Findability Test: A niche must be easy to find.High Findability (4.5/5): Dentists, plumbers (use Google Maps, Sales Navigator).Low Findability (1/5): Introverted business owners (no public identifier).Significance: High findability is critical for rapid results (within 100 days).Podcast as a "Free Party"A podcast is the core tool for establishing authority and building trust in a new micro-niche.Strategy: Interview well-known niche experts.Benefit: Leverages their networks for initial audience growth.Benefit: Provides a platform for "listening harder" to uncover the niche's true problems and pivot the service offering accordingly.Monetization: The goal is to sell coaching/services, not ad sponsorships.Rationale: Micro-niches have small audiences (e.g., 100–1,000 downloads/episode), which is insufficient for ad revenue but highly effective for converting a few listeners into high-value clients.Niche Validation FrameworkUse this three-test framework to validate a niche before committing.1. Findability: Can you easily find and contact people in the niche?Example: Women studio photographers (easy via directories).2. Braggability: Will interviewees be proud to be featured and share the episode?Example: Model railway enthusiasts (high).Example: "Ugly Skin Disease Podcast" (low).3. Sellability: Can

What does it really take to generate high-quality B2B leads on LinkedIn without falling into the trap of cold, salesy outreach or getting lost in the endless world of organic posting? In this episode of Predictable B2B Success, Vinay Koshy sits down with serial entrepreneur Colin Hirdman, founder of Rainmaker, to unpack the step-by-step process he's developed over years of experimentation, perseverance, and plenty of failures turned lessons. Colin Hirdman reveals why most people are thinking about LinkedIn all wrong and how ditching traditional tactics in favor of authentic, education-driven engagement can transform your sales pipeline. Learn how he leverages automation with care, sidesteps burnout, and uses live streams and polls to build meaningful connections, all without breaking LinkedIn's rules or coming off as just another spammy vendor. You'll find actionable strategies for defining your ideal audience, engaging them in ways that actually spark conversation, and creating content that compels, even if you're just starting. Whether you're a solopreneur or leading a sales team, this episode offers a fresh, highly practical perspective on LinkedIn lead generation you won't want to miss. Some topics we explore in this episode include: Why focus on LinkedIn for lead generation – Colin Hirdman explains his reasons for choosing LinkedIn as the main channel for building networks and leads.Authentic, educational outreach philosophy – The importance of focusing on education and authenticity over selling.Audience building techniques – Tips for building ideal prospect lists using tools like Sales Navigator, event lists, and industry connections.LinkedIn automation strategies – How to automate manual processes while staying within LinkedIn's limits and policies.Messaging and connection tactics – Effective practices for initial outreach and follow-up without being salesy.Using LinkedIn features for engagement – Leveraging live streams, events, and polls to increase touchpoints and value.Emphasis on relationship building – Why nurturing and educating connections drives better results than direct selling.Entrepreneurial resilience and lessons learned – Colin Hirdman shares experiences about perseverance and navigating setbacks.Five Fs business philosophy – How core values like freedom, finance, family, friendship, and fun guide business decisions.Tracking and improving success – Metrics, testing, and tweaking strategies to improve LinkedIn campaign performance.And much, much more...

Listen now: Spotify, Apple and YouTubeIf you've been hearing phrases like “taste is the only thing that will matter for PMs in the AI era” but aren't sure what that actually means—or more importantly, how to build it—this episode is for you.In this conversation, Marc and Ben sit down with Sachin Rekhi, founder, former LinkedIn product leader, and creator of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, to unpack the real mechanics of taste: where it comes from, how to sharpen it, and why it's already the defining skill of AI-native product teams.Sachin shares the frameworks he teaches inside companies and in his Reforge course—from Rick Rubin's “sensitivity & canon” model, to daily design-critique habits, to the patterns he saw across design-driven, metrics-driven, strategy-driven, and sales-driven org cultures.He also tells the untold story of how Sales Navigator went from a tiny skunkworks project to one of LinkedIn's biggest product lines—why social capital mattered, how he managed leadership skepticism, and how he used prototypes, real customer quotes, and narrative-building to secure executive conviction.Whether you're trying to level up your product intuition, navigate organizational taste cultures, or use AI without slipping into “AI slop,” you'll walk away with practical models you can apply immediately to your product work, leadership communication, and team workflows.All episodes of the podcast are also available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox

We are moving into the most dangerous time of year for sales professionals . . . the holidays.  From now until the first week of January, you're going to face a perfect storm of distractions, excuses, and temptations that can absolutely destroy your year end number and your first quarter production next year. Sadly, most salespeople don't even see it coming. It's not until the end of December that they realize they're in trouble, but by then, it's too late.  The Trouble With the Holidays The trouble typically starts Thanksgiving week in the United States and continues as we move into the first week of December. That's when distractions start flooding in. You've got company parties, family obligations, shopping to do. All of which knock you off of your routine causing your daily prospecting and follow up activities to drop. And let's be honest, you've been grinding hard for the entire year and you're ready to let your guard down and coast a bit before the end of the year.  By the second and third week of December many of the opportunities in your pipeline that you were counting on closing start to ghost you or tell you that their pushing decisions off to next year. And by now you're so mentally checked out that you're barely doing any prospecting at all.  Once we move into the Christmas and New Years weeks your office is a ghost town, the phones are silent, your pipeline is stalled, you've missed your forecast and you convince yourself there's no point in even trying.  And just like that, you've lost an entire month of selling.   My book The LinkedIn Edge gives you the master blueprint for turning LinkedIn into an optimized, revenue-generating sales engine—whether you're deploying Sales Navigator or not. Learn to work LinkedIn like a professional with step-by-step, immediately actionable tactics that supercharge your presence on the world's largest networking platform. Get it today wherever books are sold.       Holiday Sales Math But here's the brutal truth: You didn't just lose a month. You lost three months. Because all of those prospects that pushed off decisions until the new year are not coming back; and that empty pipeline you're staring at, as you move into January, is going to haunt you through March and potentially, through the entire year.  Your average sales cycle is probably 60-90 days. That means deals you put into the pipeline over the next two to three weeks are crucial for a good January. Likewise, the ones you add in December are the key to delivering a solid February and March.  But if you allow the Holidays to take you off of your game, you might not recover until April or May. Your entire first quarter is shot.  This is the killer and how so many promising sales careers end prematurely. I've witnessed far too many salespeople get fired in March for pipeline problems that started in November when they let their discipline slip during the holidays. Do Not Allow Active Deals Stall and Die The deals currently in your pipeline are more vulnerable right now than at any other time of year. Your prospects have the perfect excuse to push decisions.  When deals sit idle for a month, bad things happen. Stakeholders change. Budgets get reallocated. Priorities shift. Your champion gets distracted by seventeen other initiatives. Your competitors slip in while you're eating fruitcake and drinking eggnog. I've watched salespeople lose six-figure deals that they thought were "locked up" in November, simply because they took their foot off the gas during the holidays.  I've said this before and I'll say it again. Pipeline opportunities that push into the new year are not coming back. Do not count on them. Do not allow yourself to be delusional about them. If you don't get forecasted opportunities closed by the end of the year, consider them dead! For this reason, you must be vigilant with follow up, assertive with your communication and do whatever it t...

We are moving into the most dangerous time of year for sales professionals . . . the holidays.  From now until the first week of January, you're going to face a perfect storm of distractions, excuses, and temptations that can absolutely destroy your year end number and your first quarter production next year. Sadly, most salespeople don't even see it coming. It's not until the end of December that they realize they're in trouble, but by then, it's too late.  The Trouble With the Holidays The trouble typically starts Thanksgiving week in the United States and continues as we move into the first week of December. That's when distractions start flooding in. You've got company parties, family obligations, shopping to do. All of which knock you off of your routine causing your daily prospecting and follow up activities to drop. And let's be honest, you've been grinding hard for the entire year and you're ready to let your guard down and coast a bit before the end of the year.  By the second and third week of December many of the opportunities in your pipeline that you were counting on closing start to ghost you or tell you that their pushing decisions off to next year. And by now you're so mentally checked out that you're barely doing any prospecting at all.  Once we move into the Christmas and New Years weeks your office is a ghost town, the phones are silent, your pipeline is stalled, you've missed your forecast and you convince yourself there's no point in even trying.  And just like that, you've lost an entire month of selling. My book The LinkedIn Edge gives you the master blueprint for turning LinkedIn into an optimized, revenue-generating sales engine—whether you're deploying Sales Navigator or not. Learn to work LinkedIn like a professional with step-by-step, immediately actionable tactics that supercharge your presence on the world's largest networking platform. Get it today wherever books are sold. Holiday Sales Math But here's the brutal truth: You didn't just lose a month. You lost three months. Because all of those prospects that pushed off decisions until the new year are not coming back; and that empty pipeline you're staring at, as you move into January, is going to haunt you through March and potentially, through the entire year.  Your average sales cycle is probably 60-90 days. That means deals you put into the pipeline over the next two to three weeks are crucial for a good January. Likewise, the ones you add in December are the key to delivering a solid February and March.  But if you allow the Holidays to take you off of your game, you might not recover until April or May. Your entire first quarter is shot.  This is the killer and how so many promising sales careers end prematurely. I've witnessed far too many salespeople get fired in March for pipeline problems that started in November when they let their discipline slip during the holidays. Do Not Allow Active Deals Stall and Die The deals currently in your pipeline are more vulnerable right now than at any other time of year. Your prospects have the perfect excuse to push decisions.  When deals sit idle for a month, bad things happen. Stakeholders change. Budgets get reallocated. Priorities shift. Your champion gets distracted by seventeen other initiatives. Your competitors slip in while you're eating fruitcake and drinking eggnog. I've watched salespeople lose six-figure deals that they thought were "locked up" in November, simply because they took their foot off the gas during the holidays.  I've said this before and I'll say it again. Pipeline opportunities that push into the new year are not coming back. Do not count on them. Do not allow yourself to be delusional about them. If you don't get forecasted opportunities closed by the end of the year, consider them dead! For this reason, you must be vigilant with follow up, assertive with your communication and do whatever it takes to get those deals closed.  The Holiday Discipline Advantage When it comes to prospecting, the activity that keeps your pipeline healthy, the real reason you struggle during the holidays is because you give yourself permission to slack off. You tell yourself little lies to justify taking it easy. "Nobody's making decisions right now anyway." "Everyone's on vacation." "I'll ramp back up in January." Yes, some prospects are on vacation. But not all of them. Yes, some decisions get pushed. But not all of them. Yes, it's harder to get people on the phone. But not impossible. The salespeople who crush it during the holidays understand something that everyone else forgets: Outselling the holidays is all about disciplined. It is discipline that transforms holiday impulsiveness into intention and a higher income.  This is where mental toughness pays off and shows up in your bank account.During the holidays, more than ever, you need a concrete plan and the discipline to execute it. 5 Keys to Outselling the Holidays Here's what you need to do right now, and I mean this week: Step One: Conduct a Pipeline Audit Go through every deal in your pipeline. Assess the risk of each one stalling during the holidays. Then decide what needs to be done before year end to get them closed.  For your most important opportunities, create a specific action plan. Don't assume anything will "just keep moving forward" on its own. These deals will not close themselves. Nothing moves forward without your effort. Step Two: Block Your Calendar Pull up your calendar for the rest of this year. Block time for daily prospecting, deal advancement and follow-ups. Yes, I know you have holiday parties and family obligations. Put those in too. The key is planning everything in advance so you don't drop the ball. You may have to get creative. Maybe you prospect for an hour before the rest of your family wakes up or make follow-up calls during your lunch break. Maybe you work a few hours on the weekend. The point is, if it's not on your calendar, it won't happen. And if your calendar is blank for the next month, your pipeline will be blank in January. Step Three: Set Non-Negotiable Activity Targets This is critical. Decide right now what your daily minimums are going to be during the holiday season. Set the targets. Write them down. Commit to them. Then—and this is the important part—review your progress against these targets every single morning and every single afternoon to hold yourself accountable. Nobody else is going to do this for you. You have to be your own accountability partner. Step Four: Front-Load December We know that the last two weeks of the year are going to be a circus so double down and bank as much activity as possible at the end of November and into the early part of December. That way, by the time Santa comes down the chimney, you've already done the work to keep your pipeline healthy. Step Five: Plan Your January Don't wait until January 2nd to start thinking about your first quarter. Plan it now. What's your goal for Q1 revenue? How much pipeline do you need to hit that goal? What actions do you need to take now to start strong in January? Top performers don't "get back into it" in January. They hit January running because they planned for it in November. This isn't about working 80-hour weeks. It's about being strategic with your time so you can be productive AND enjoy time with your family. By maintaining discipline during the holidays, you actually feel less stressed and enjoy them more.  Take Action Now Now here's your assignment: Block two hours on your calendar this week. Use that time to conduct your pipeline audit, build your holiday schedule, and set your activity targets. Don't wait. Don't tell yourself you'll get to it next week. Do it now. The salespeople who take this seriously will end the year strong and start off next year even stronger. The salespeople who ignore this advice will spend the first quarter digging themselves out of a hole. The only question that remains is which one of these salespeople are you going to be? And remember, when it's time to go home, especially during the holidays when you're tempted to call it early, always stop and make one more call. That discipline is often the difference that will help you outsell the holidays. 

In this special episode, Gresham shares what he's been doing to generate leads: cold direct messages on LinkedIn using Sales Navigator, a few automation tools (Closely), and follow‑up emails to keep contacts warm. While he's begun to see “nibbles” — small bits of traction — he admits to frustration over the limited results. Through reflection he realizes he may have been targeting the wrong audience (B2B instead of the more receptive B2C segment of people facing layoffs or career dissatisfaction) and recognizes the importance of networking and leading with empathy. Gresh wraps up by acknowledging that success comes from consistently doing the right things over time, not just repeating ineffective tactics. He sees the current outreach as planting seeds that could later grow, and commits to experimenting, learning, and taking the journey one step at a time.  Blue Star Franchise: bluestarfranchise.com Browse the Franchise Inventory: bluestarfranchise.com/franchise Is franchising right for you? Check this out to see: bluestarfranchise.com/assessment Franchise CEO (A CBNation Site - coming soon) - franchiseceo.co Check out our CEO Hack Buzz Newsletter–our premium newsletter with hacks and nuggets to level up your organization. Sign up HERE.  I AM CEO Handbook Volume 3 is HERE and it's FREE. Get your copy here: cbnation.co/iamceo3. Get the 100+ things that you can learn from 1600 business podcasts we recorded. Hear Gresh's story, learn the 16 business pillars from the podcast, find out about CBNation Architects and why you might be one and so much more. Did we mention it was FREE? Download it today!

Whether you're a job seeker trying to get noticed by recruiters, an executive positioning for a board seat, a consultant building authority, or a business owner looking for visibility—LinkedIn is your most powerful career asset. But most people are doing it completely wrong.In this video, I'm breaking down the exact 3-phase strategy to grow from 0 to 5,000+ LinkedIn followers—and why hitting that number means you'll never have to worry about your next opportunity again. No more cold applying. No more waiting for someone to discover you. This is how you make opportunities come to YOU.This isn't generic LinkedIn advice. This is the real system I use with my clients at Resume Assassin to help professionals at every level turn LinkedIn into their personal opportunity engine.Here's what we cover:✅ Why 5K followers is the credibility threshold that opens doors to consulting gigs, board seats, speaking opportunities, and executive roles  ✅ The 3-phase blueprint: 0-1K, 1K-5K, and scaling beyond with authority  ✅ Profile weaponization: How to position yourself as THE expert in your space  ✅ The Sales Navigator strategy for connecting with decision-makers (not just recruiters)  ✅ Why you should ENGAGE before you CREATE (this changes everything)  ✅ The 60/30/10 content framework that builds authority and trust at scale  ✅ How to stand out in a sea of AI-generated LinkedIn noise with YOUR voice and brand  ✅ Conversion mechanisms that turn followers into clients, speaking gigs, board invitations, and executive opportunities  ✅ Real client stories: From corporate exec to $150K consulting contracts, VP roles without applying, paid speaking gigs from LinkedIn reach The truth about LinkedIn in 2025: Everyone's pumping out AI-generated content that sounds exactly the same. The professionals who will dominate—whether you're climbing the corporate ladder or building your own brand—are the ones who show up authentically with their own voice, stories, and perspective. This strategy works if you want to: 

Here's a problem that'll tie you in knots: You've got a killer software solution that saves companies massive money on employee benefits. You know exactly who needs it. Fortune 1000 companies with self-insured health plans. But you can't get a single meeting with the people who matter. That's the situation Peter Kleinman from Provo, Utah, found himself in. As the sales and marketing guy for his dad's startup, he was tasked with landing enterprise clients while juggling full-time classes at BYU. He had LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and a burning desire to make it work. He also had virtually no chance of success using his current approach. If you're nodding your head right now, keep reading. Because Peter's problem is your problem if you're trying to sell into enterprise accounts without the business acumen, social proof, or strategy to break through. The 100-Foot Wall Problem Let me be brutally honest: Fortune 1000 CHROs and C-suite executives have built a wall around themselves that's about 100 feet high. Their entire job is keeping people like you from wasting their time. And if you're young, inexperienced, or new to enterprise sales? That wall might as well be 1,000 feet high. Peter was doing everything the sales books tell you to do. He was going straight to the top. He was messaging decision makers on LinkedIn. He was targeting the right titles. He was also getting absolutely nowhere. Here's why: It has nothing to do with age and everything to do with business acumen. You can't speak the language of enterprise buyers if you've never lived in their world. You don't understand their buying process, their risk aversion, or the organizational politics that determine whether your deal lives or dies. Most critically, you're trying to sell something they don't even know they need. And you have zero social proof to back up your claims. That's not a recipe for success. That's a recipe for frustration, burnout, and a pipeline full of nothing. The Bottom-Up, Top-Down Strategy If you can't get to the top, start at the bottom. I'm not talking about giving up on enterprise accounts. I'm talking about running a multi-threading strategy that builds your business acumen while creating pathways into those massive organizations. Here's how it works: Find the amplifiers. These are the people in the trenches who actually deal with the problem your solution solves every single day. They're not directors or VPs. They're managers, analysts, and coordinators who feel the pain but lack the authority to fix it. These people are 100 times easier to talk to than C-suite executives. They'll take your call. They'll teach you. They'll tell you exactly what's broken in their organization and how decisions actually get made. Compress your experience. When you talk to these amplifiers, you're not selling. You're learning. You're asking questions like, "Help me understand how you make these decisions," and "What problems are you running into?" Every conversation compresses years of experience into hours. You learn the language. You understand the pain points. You gather insights that become ammunition for conversations with decision makers. Surface the insights upward. Now when you finally get in front of that CHRO or VP of Benefits, you're not some kid with a PowerPoint. You're someone who understands their organization better than they do. You can tell them stories about what their own people are experiencing and how you can close the gap. That's how you get meetings. That's how you build credibility. That's how you win deals when you have no business acumen and no social proof. The Insurance Broker Shortcut Here's another path Peter needed to explore: Insurance brokers. If you can't talk to the self-insured companies directly, talk to the people who advise them. Insurance brokers work with these organizations every day. They understand the buying process. They know the pain points.

Here's a problem that'll tie you in knots: You've got a killer software solution that saves companies massive amounts of money on employee benefits. You know exactly who needs it: Fortune 1000 companies with self-insured health plans. But you can't get a single meeting with the people who matter. That's the situation Peter Kleinman from Provo, Utah, finds himself in. As the sales and marketing guy for his dad's startup, he's tasked with landing enterprise clients while juggling full-time classes at BYU. He has LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and a burning desire to make it work. He also has virtually no chance of success using his current approach. If you're nodding your head right now, keep reading. Because Peter's problem is your problem if you're trying to sell into enterprise accounts without the business acumen, social proof, or strategy to break through. The 100-Foot Wall Problem Here's the biggest issue: Fortune 1000 CHROs and C-suite executives have built a wall around themselves that's about 100 feet high. Their entire job is keeping people like you from wasting their time. And if you're young, inexperienced, or new to enterprise sales? That wall might as well be 1,000 feet high. Peter is doing everything the sales books tell you to do. He's going straight to the top. He's messaging decision makers on LinkedIn. He's targeting the right titles. He's also getting absolutely nowhere. Here's why: It has nothing to do with age and everything to do with business acumen. You can't speak the language of enterprise buyers if you've never lived in their world. You don't understand their buying process, their risk aversion, or the organizational politics that determine whether your deal lives or dies. Most critically, you're trying to sell something they don't even know they need. And you have zero social proof to back up your claims. That's not a recipe for success. That's a recipe for frustration, burnout, and a pipeline full of nothing. The Bottom-Up, Top-Down Strategy If you can't get to the top, start at the bottom. I'm not talking about giving up on enterprise accounts. I'm talking about running a multi-threading strategy that builds your business acumen while creating pathways into those massive organizations. Here's how it works: Find the amplifiers. These are the people in the trenches who actually deal with the problem your solution solves every single day. They're not directors or VPs. They're managers, analysts, and coordinators who feel the pain but lack the authority to fix it. These people are 100 times easier to talk to than C-suite executives. They'll take your call. They'll teach you. They'll tell you exactly what's broken in their organization and how decisions actually get made. Compress your experience. When you talk to these amplifiers, you're not selling. You're learning. You're asking questions like, "Help me understand how you make these decisions," and "What problems are you running into?" Every conversation compresses years of experience into hours. You learn the language. You understand the pain points. You gather insights that become ammunition for conversations with decision-makers. Surface the insights upward. Now when you finally get in front of that CHRO or VP of Benefits, you're not some kid with a PowerPoint. You're someone who understands their organization better than they do. You can tell them stories about what their own people are experiencing and how you can close the gap. That's how you get meetings. That's how you build credibility. That's how you win deals when you have no business acumen and no social proof. The Insurance Broker Shortcut Here's another path Peter needs to explore: Insurance brokers. If you can't talk to the self-insured companies directly, talk to the people who advise them. Insurance brokers work with these organizations every day. They understand the buying process. They know the pain points. They're infinitely more accessible than Fortune 1000 executives. Better yet, they can become your distribution channel. If your software helps them serve their clients better, they'll sell it for you. This is classic fanatical prospecting. When your ideal customer is hard to reach, find the people who already have relationships with them. Build those relationships first. Let them open doors you can't open on your own. Stop Playing in LinkedIn's Sandbox Peter spends a lot of time on LinkedIn. Posting to the company page. Messaging prospects. Running outreach campaigns. Here's the truth: C-suite executives aren't hanging out on LinkedIn waiting for your cold outreach. They're not there. And the few who are there ignore 99% of the messages they receive. LinkedIn is great for research and building your personal brand. But if that's your entire go-to-market strategy, you're dead in the water. You need real tools. A proper CRM like HubSpot to manage your pipeline and run marketing campaigns. A platform like ZoomInfo to identify the right people and get their actual contact information. An integrated stack that lets you execute across email, phone, and social simultaneously. Most importantly, you need to pick up the phone. Real conversations with real people will always beat automated LinkedIn messages. Always. The Real Investment Required Peter's dad hates sales. He wants to build a great product and have customers magically appear. The company is running its entire sales operation on an Excel spreadsheet. That's not going to cut it. If you want to win enterprise deals, you need to invest in the tools, training, and processes that make it possible. You're looking at $50,000 per year minimum for the tech stack alone. Plus conferences, trade shows, and face-to-face relationship building. That sounds expensive until you land your first six-figure deal. Then it looks like the smartest investment you ever made. Your Action Plan If you're in Peter's shoes, here's what you do right now: Stop going straight to the top. Identify the amplifiers at the bottom of your target organizations and start having conversations with them. Learn the language. Gather insights. Build your business acumen fast. Find adjacent markets. If decision-makers are too hard to reach, find the brokers, consultants, or advisors who already have relationships with them. Invest in real tools. Get off the Excel spreadsheet. Build a proper sales tech stack with a CRM, contact database, and marketing automation. Use AI to accelerate everything. Get face-to-face. Attend conferences. Work trade shows. Build relationships in person where trust forms faster than it ever will over LinkedIn. Enterprise sales doesn't require working harder. It requires working smarter with the right strategy, the right tools, and the relentless discipline to execute even when the path forward isn't clear. That's how you break through the wall. That's how you win deals you have no business winning. And that's how you turn yourself from a struggling startup intern into an enterprise sales machine. Ready to master LinkedIn and build a prospecting system that actually works? Grab a copy of The LinkedIn Edge for the complete handbook on leveraging LinkedIn, AI, and modern sales tools to win more deals.

In this episode of the Grow A Small Business Podcast, host Troy Trewin interviews Andy Gwynn, founder of Three Degrees Social, based in Málaga, Spain. Andy shares his inspiring journey from being a business coach to becoming a LinkedIn marketing expert, helping small business owners generate consistent leads and engagement through powerful digital strategies. He discusses how consistency, mindset, and leveraging technology have been key to his success, along with valuable lessons learned from franchising, scaling, and adapting to change. Andy's story is a great example of resilience, innovation, and the power of building meaningful connections online. Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? According to Andy Gwynn, the hardest thing in growing a small business is mastering sales and marketing. Many business owners struggle to effectively promote and sell their products or services, even when they offer great value. Andy believes that consistent marketing, clear systems, and the ability to adapt quickly are essential for sustainable growth. He also emphasizes that as a business scales, systemizing operations becomes one of the biggest challenges, requiring strong processes to support rapid expansion and maintain quality.  What's your favorite business book that has helped you the most? According to Andy Gwynn, the business book that has helped him the most is “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber. He explains that it taught him the importance of systemizing a business so it can run efficiently without relying solely on the owner. Andy also recommends “The Business Coach” by Brad Sugars, which aligns with his coaching background, and “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, for shifting the mindset from simply working in a business to building one that creates long-term wealth and investment opportunities. Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? According to Andy Gwynn, some of the best online learning resources for growing a small business include ChatGPT, YouTube, and the teachings of Russell Brunson, especially for improving webinars and sales strategies. He also values using platforms like LinkedIn for continuous learning and networking with experts in different industries. While Andy doesn't host his own dedicated podcast, he frequently shares insights through interviews and training content under his company, Three Degrees Social, helping business owners master LinkedIn marketing and digital growth strategies. What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? According to Andy Gwynn, one of the best tools to help grow a small business is LinkedIn, especially when used strategically for sales and relationship building. He recommends using advanced LinkedIn features like Sales Navigator to identify ideal clients, automate outreach, and maintain consistent engagement. Andy also highlights the value of tools such as ChatGPT, Xero for bookkeeping, Dashlane for password management, and GoHighLevel for CRM and marketing automation. Together, these tools help small business owners save time, stay organized, and build meaningful connections that drive sustainable growth. What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? According to Andy Gwynn, the advice he would give himself on day one of starting out in business is to follow the system and get out of his own way. He admits that in the early days, he often let overconfidence and complacency lead to missed sales opportunities or inconsistent results. Andy emphasizes the importance of learning proven systems, sticking to them, and maintaining focus instead of constantly trying to reinvent the process. His key message is that success comes from discipline, structure, and trusting the process rather than relying solely on natural talent or intuition. Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.     Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Massive action times the right stuff times consistency equals results — Andy Gwynn Be militant with your time because discipline creates success — Andy Gwynn If you're totally honest with yourself and truly happy, that's real success — Andy Gwynn      

Most advisors try a bunch of random LinkedIn marketing strategies, then get discouraged and quit when they get subpar results.  The problem? You're vastly overcomplicating LinkedIn. In fact, I can sum up the single most effective LinkedIn strategy in only 5 words. That's it. If your plan isn't that simple, you're wasting a bunch of your time for nada.  Here's the good news:  By simplifying your strategy with the one I recommend in today's show, you'll not only free up your time, but your results will “hockey stick” too.  Listen now if you want real results from LinkedIn.  Show highlights include: How to make LinkedIn one of your most successful marketing strategies you've ever run (6:30)  Why overcomplicating your LinkedIn marketing strategy is the #1 reason it'll fail (and the 5-word strategy that gets you almost more clients than you can handle) (7:35)  The “newsfeed” trick that's so obvious it's overlooked - and how it guarantees your DMs get seen (8:30)  Why having SalesNavigator send you LinkedIn prospects is a quick way to blow through your dough without landing a single appointment (9:22)  The weird way to “hire” LinkedIn as your personal (and free) marketing intern by getting a fewer number of responses (11:00)  Why treating LinkedIn like a numbers game is the single biggest mistake you can make on the platform (13:42) The “Digital Begging” mistake upwards of 90% of advisors using LinkedIn as a marketing strategy commit (19:06)  Since you listen to this podcast, I want to give you a gift: If you subscribe to the Inner Circle Newsletter, I'll send you a collection of seven “objection busting” and copyright free emails, personally written by me, that you can use right away to begin getting more clients. Sign up here: https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching. Then, let me know you subscribed, and I will reply back with a link where you can download them for free.

Cold Calling beginnt weit vor dem ersten Kontakt. Gero Decker zeigt, wie gezieltes Targeting, echtes Research und persönliches Messaging Kaltakquise vom reinen Zahlen-Spiel zur klugen Begegnung machen. Wer den Buying Cycle versteht und erkennt, ob Angst, Neugier oder echter Bedarf den Handlungsimpuls prägen, schafft Verbindungen, die über Standardprozesse hinausgehen. Eine Episode für alle, die Kaltakquise nicht als Routine, sondern als echtes Handwerk erleben. Du erfährst... …wie du erfolgreich Cold Calling vorbereitest und die richtigen Kontakte findest. …welche Strategien Gero Decker für effektives Targeting und Messaging nutzt. …wie du durch Multi-Touch-Kampagnen und kreative Ansprache deine Sales-Quote steigerst. __________________________ ||||| PERSONEN |||||

In this FDE+ episode, Kortney Harmon is joined by Benjamin Mena, Managing Partner at Select Source Solutions and host of The Elite Recruiter Podcast, to explore how AI is transforming the recruiting industry.They discuss how top performers are using AI to automate sourcing, streamline outreach, and clean up CRMs — while doubling down on the human skills that build trust, strengthen relationships, and drive revenue. Benjamin also shares real-world examples of how combining technology with a personal touch is helping recruiters stay competitive and deliver stronger results.Tune in to learn how to leverage AI without losing what makes recruiters indispensable — and position yourself to thrive in 2025 and beyond.__________________________Follow Benjamin Mean on LinkedIn at: LinkedIn | Benjamin MenaLink to the Tool List mentioned at: hereFollow Crelate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/crelate/Want to learn more about Crelate? Book a demo hereSubscribe to our newsletter: https://www.crelate.com/blog/full-desk-experience

Discovery Calls, LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and the Future of Sales w/ Brad Pearse. By focusing on curiosity and problem-solving, salespeople can streamline their approach and improve effectiveness. Listen as guest Brad, and Mark, break down the complex world of sales into three essential components: identifying the client's problem, understanding your audience, and determining how you can help them achieve their goals.  They emphasize the importance of asking "why" during discovery calls to gain a deeper understanding of your clients' needs and position yourself as a problem-solver rather than just a seller. Transform your LinkedIn profile from a static resume into a dynamic personal brand that resonates with informed buyers. Brad explores the potential of LinkedIn Sales Navigator and how strategic use of this tool can enhance your sales approach by providing vital buying signals and triggers.   

Welcome to this special reproduced episode of The Positive Polarity Podcast! We're taking you back to where it all began — our very first episode, featuring LinkedIn expert Wayne Breitbarth. In this conversation with Dave Molenda, Wayne shares how LinkedIn can be a powerful tool to grow your organization, boost profitability, attract ideal prospects, and connect with key decision-makers. Whether you missed it the first time or are revisiting it with fresh ears, this episode is packed with insights that are just as relevant today as they were when we first released it.

LinkedIn expert Brynne Tillman joins us to talk strategies for transforming LinkedIn into a powerful sales tool. Mark and Brynne dive into the cutting-edge advancements in AI and the capabilities of Sales Navigator, all while discussing LinkedIn's ethical stance on AI integration, which equips sales professionals with critical data for pre-call planning.  The conversation also tackles LinkedIn's controversial crackdown on bots and automation to ensure a superior user experience. Brynne outlines seven essential searches that tap into the potential of Sales Navigator, revealing how targeted prospecting can drive meaningful connections. The importance of detecting buyer intent on LinkedIn, specifically through job changes, is highlighted, offering a glimpse into more sophisticated signals.  

Ready to land bigger, better deals with ease? You're probably overlooking the most powerful sales tool hiding in plain sight: LinkedIn Sales Navigator. In this episode of The Influence Economy Podcast, I sit down with digital sales strategist and LinkedIn expert Tamika Brunetti to pull back the curtain on how to use Sales Navigator to book high-level clients, access decision-makers, and position yourself for six and seven-figure deals. Tamika—founder of Ascent Social Capital and a certified LinkedIn Sales Navigator community expert—breaks down exactly how to make LinkedIn work for you, not just sit pretty on your to-do list. She's trained thousands of professionals across Fortune 500 companies, and today she's spilling insider tips you won't get from a YouTube tutorial. This is not your average “optimize your LinkedIn profile” talk. We're talking real strategy to attract serious income. Here's the truth: you don't need more followers—you need better filters, smarter targeting, and a system that builds relationships with power players on autopilot. Let's fix that. What You'll Learn: The key difference between regular LinkedIn and Sales Navigator (and why it matters for high-ticket deals) How to use Sales Navigator to find decision-makers, bypass gatekeepers, and multithread your outreach The #1 mistake most users make that's keeping them broke Tamika's favorite under-the-radar Sales Navigator feature that tracks buyer intent (and how to use it for bigger conversions) How to use job postings as your strategy shortcut to land fractional roles and consulting contracts How to manage your time on the platform for maximum results in just 30 minutes a day Mentioned Resources: Connect with Tamika on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamikabrunetti/ Want to go deeper? Book a session or find training info via her LinkedIn profile. Your Next Steps: Access the Deal-Attracting Makeover to upgrade your messaging, authority signals, and brand presence so it speaks to the decision-makers who cut the checks. https://dealreadyplatform.com Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/shaynarattlerdavis Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/shaynarattlerdavis

show notes

From the archive - This episode was originally recorded and published in 2022. Our interviews on Entrepreneurs On Fire are meant to be evergreen, and we do our best to confirm that all offers and URL's in these archive episodes are still relevant. Julbert Abraham is widely known as “The LinkedIn Guy”. He is the author of the book “7 Steps to 7 Figures Using LinkedIn”. His firm has worked with over 600 plus companies in 4 continents. Top 3 Value Bombs 1. LinkedIn information is verified so that the platform can help people. 2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is worth the investment because of the type of information you are getting from your potential clients. 3. Before you do anything, develop a plan first because it will simplify the whole process. Connect with Julbert on LinkedIn - Julbert's LinkedIn Sponsors HighLevel - The ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies. Learn more at HighLevelFire.com. OddsJam - Ready to launch your own sports betting platform? OddsJam's real-time API is trusted by companies big and small. Visit OddsJam.com/odds-api to learn more and talk with their team today. Mention promo FIRENATION to receive an exclusive discount. Franocity - Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and create legacy income for their families through franchising. Get started today by downloading Franocity's Franchise Funding Guide at Franocity.com.

In this episode of Making Sales Social, Brynne Tillman welcomes Kevin Schmitz, a decade-long veteran of LinkedIn's Sales Navigator team, to share insights on how the platform has evolved from a tech-focused prospecting tool to a powerhouse for B2B engagement across industries. Discover what “making sales social” truly means, why mapping social proximity is a game-changer for outreach, and how human connection online drives measurable business growth.

This week, Leighann Lovely from Love Your Sales joins us to dive into what it takes to build a successful sales strategy. She and Dave explore actionable insights for sales professionals at every stage of their career—from rookies to seasoned pros. Together, they break down key topics like time management, effective scheduling, smart prospecting, and how to consistently deliver value to your prospects.

Think LinkedIn is just for job hunting? Think again. In this episode, Carly flips the script and interviews Joe about one of the most underrated lead gen tools for solopreneurs: LinkedIn Sales Navigator. They pull back the curtain on exactly how they use it to fill their events, build real relationships, and grow their network—without ever sounding salesy. If you've been hesitant about spending money on a tool like this, Joe's breakdown might just change your mind.Being a solopreneur is awesome but it's not easy. It's hard to get noticed. Most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone...until now. LifeStarr Intro gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one-person business.  So, if you are lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, or are having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even just lonely running a company of one, be sure to check out LifeStarr Intro!Access Lifestarr Intro

What if your next major donor or corporate partner is already in your LinkedIn inbox, and all you need is the right message to start the conversation? Carson Heady is someone who's truly mastered the art of showing up online with purpose. He's a five times best selling author, podcast host, and one of the most insightful voices on social leadership. As the Managing Director at Microsoft Tech for Social Impact, Carson is here to share how nonprofit professionals can borrow proven strategies from the sales world to build genuine relationships, increase visibility, and spark fundraising opportunities - ALL through LinkedIn.Thoughtful DMs are outperforming long emails! You'll learn how to send better connection requests, strategies for leveraging Sales Navigator for donor prospecting, and how to use the platform as a relationship engine rather than just a digital resume.You'll also hear how Carson personally raised $80,000 for a nonprofit through a targeted LinkedIn campaign and why he believes nonprofit leaders should embrace the title of "social fundraiser."Resources & LinksConnect with Carson on LinkedIn and check out his podcast, Mastering Modern Selling. He also published a great article on LinkedIn, How I Became the #1 Social Seller in Tech - and How You Can Too.Carson recommends Opus as his favorite AI video clipping tool. This show is presented by LinkedIn for Nonprofits. We're so grateful for their partnership. Explore their incredible suite of resources and discounts for nonprofit teams here, including up to 50% off LinkedIn hiring tools. Are you still dreaming about building your monthly giving program or refreshing your current one? Applications are now open for my “done with you” Monthly Giving Mastermind. Limited spots are left and we start in July. Click here to apply. My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab a copy here and learn my framework to build, grow, and sustain subscriptions for good.Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show! Head to YouTube for digital marketing how-to videos and podcast teasers Want to book Dana as a speaker for your event? Click here!

In this episode of Making Sales Social, host Stan Robinson Jr. takes the reins to explore five powerful Sales Navigator features that can supercharge your B2B outreach. From targeted search filters and intent signals to customizable alerts and curated lists, discover how this premium LinkedIn tool helps sales pros stay laser-focused, uncover new opportunities, and start better conversations. Whether you're a Sales Nav novice or a seasoned user, this episode delivers actionable insights you won't want to miss.

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Colin Hirdman, the antidote to automated mediocrity. As a lifelong entrepreneur and co-founder of Monkey Island Ventures, he has spent two decades scaling SaaS tools, digital agencies, and now Rainmaker – a ‘white-glove’ service that ethically automates LinkedIn outreach to turn connections into revenue. Colin discusses Rainmaker’s ‘Authentic Engine’ framework: 10-30% connection rates, campaigns tailored to micro-audiences, and why human-driven strategies still dominate AI in B2B growth. As well as why he targets 25 people/day — and how even solo founders can replicate this, the ‘criminal justice grad’ who turned entrepreneur, accidently and sold his first startup days after college, and LinkedIn’s automation guardrails: What’s ‘ethical’ vs. what gets you banned. KEY TAKEAWAYS I’ve done a lot of growth hacking through email and LinkedIn, but I got better results through LinkedIn and ended up building out a software and process for myself. Rainmaker was born through me making it available to other businesses. But, you don’t need me or rainmaker to do any of the things we discuss on this podcast, you can do it manually. You have to be authentic on LinkedIn, both as yourself as well as the brands you represent. You should also have an educational mindset – no one wants to be sold to on LinkedIn, but almost everyone is willing to be educated – and an experimentation mindset, trying different features and functions of LinkedIn, stack the things that work and set aside the things that don’t. Understand the pains an barriers that you prospects are trying to overcome and know what it is that you can teach them. Growth hacks: LinkedIn Events – if you have a direct competitor, industry or organisation putting on a LinkedIn Event that your business solves for, if you attend that event you can see everyone else who attended that event and create a prospects list. Use people who are big in your area as proxies – use people’s open connections to see all first connections to her, second connections to you and is in your area, and begin connecting to them Building out your first connections is critical. I reach out to 15 people per day Monday-Friday during normal working hours. That gives you 500 people per month, which is below LinkedIn’s limits. Typically, you’ll get a 20% connection rate. Within 30 days of sending an invite, and they haven’t connected, withdraw the invite. It’s good hygiene, but after 3 weeks you can reach out to them again. Everything you do after that only gets better and has bigger possibilities as your audience grows. BEST MOMENTS ‘There’s lots of opportunity to engage with you prospects on LinkedIn in ways that are valuable for relationship building and set you up as a thought leader.’‘People undervalue the value of being a first connection, when you’re a first connection you can see all kids of information about them, direct message them, and use other features and functions to engage with them.’‘I typically build my audience through Sales Navigator – a tool within LinkedIn that allows you to hone in on audiences..’‘If you’re using automation that is in any way inauthentic it won’t work, you wouldn’t immediately set up a meeting with someone you just met, I wish people would stop, it’s lazy.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Colin Hirdman is a lifelong entrepreneur, startup advocate, and visionary behind Rainmaker, a platform revolutionizing LinkedIn’s growth strategies through its "Authentic Engine." As co-founder of Monkey Island Ventures, a venture studio launched in 2007 with childhood friends, Colin has spent nearly two decades fostering tech innovation and scaling ventures like SaaS tools, digital marketing agencies, and software development firms. His passion lies in unlocking the power of authentic relationship-building—evidenced by Rainmaker’s mission to help founders, coaches, and sales teams expand their networks, generate leads, and close deals ethically on LinkedIn. A Minnesota native, Colin’s journey began with selling his first startup (launched just days after college) and evolved into mentoring entrepreneurs through actionable strategies like LinkedIn automation, audience targeting via Sales Navigator, and educational outreach. His philosophy blends authenticity, experimentation, and a focus on solving audience pain points—principles he shares as a board member of MNblockchain and a sought-after voice in B2B growth. When not advising startups or hosting LinkedIn livestreams, Colin champions the entrepreneurial spirit, proving that even a criminal justice graduate-turned-accidental-founder can redefine 21st-century scaling. Catch his insights on turning connections into revenue—no bots or spam required. LinkedIn ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers, accelerated over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner. Twitter LinkedIn Instagram Facebook TikTok Email Website This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Welcome to the Ed Parcaut Show! In this episode, Ed sits down with Colin Hirdman, a seasoned entrepreneur with a keen expertise in leveraging LinkedIn for business growth. They dive into Colin's unexpected journey into entrepreneurship that started at a birthday party, and his early days in the data processing business during the mid-90s. Colin shares his insights on transitioning from direct mail to digital marketing, selling his first business in 2006, and co-founding Monkey Island Ventures. Listen in as they explore the art of building authentic connections on LinkedIn, Colin's philosophy on audience building, and the detailed process of using LinkedIn Live Streams to engage with potential clients. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a business professional looking to sharpen your LinkedIn game, this episode is packed with valuable tips and strategies to help you succeed. Tune in now to learn how to create meaningful interactions and establish thought leadership on the platform.  **Contact Ed Parcaut:** -

Join the 30MPC Discovery Course waitlist TODAY and get first dibs + $25 off your first TWO months of Club Pass: https://clubpass.30mpc.com/discovery-course. FOUR ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS Establish a Clear Reference Policy: Without a structured reference policy, reference calls become chaotic, frustrating customers and reps alike. Set clear guidelines to manage them effectively. Optimize the Time Between Meetings: Sales doesn't just happen in meetings. Define clear steps for reps to take between meetings to maintain momentum and advance deals. Leverage Your Network for Referrals: Take a list of active discovery calls, cross-reference with Sales Navigator, and identify referral opportunities from leadership, investors, and past customers. Strategically Introduce Connections: If a referral is strong, facilitate an immediate intro. If weaker, have the AE use it as a warm door opener to build rapport before making the ask. KELVIN'S PATH TO PRESIDENT'S CLUB Sr Sales Manager @ Vitally.io Sales Manager @ Vitally.io Sales Manager @ Drift Manager, Renewals & Account Management @ Drift RESOURCES DISCUSSED Read: Join our weekly newsletter Steal: Templates, drips, scripts