Social Selling and Commerce

I warmed up a prospect for 3 months on LinkedIn before our first call. They signed a £75K deal in 3 days. Modern selling demands a new approach: cold outreach fails, warm relationships win. Think about it... That prospect had consumed 47 of my posts. Watched my videos. Read my articles. Engaged with my content. By the time we jumped on that first call? They already trusted me. They already knew my approach. They already understood the value. I didn't have to sell them. They'd already sold themselves. Here's my framework for turning content into closed deals: 👇 1. Build trust at scale BEFORE the pitch Stop spraying and praying with cold messages. Start building relationships through value. Each post builds trust. Your insights mark credibility. Stories create connection. Your content is doing the heavy lifting while you sleep. 2. Let buyers self-educate on THEIR timeline Modern buyers don't want to be sold to. They want to discover solutions themselves. ↳ 70% of the buying journey happens before they talk to sales ↳ They're researching you before you even know they exist ↳ Your content is either attracting or repelling them Give them what they need to make informed decisions. 3. Recognize the REAL buying signals Forget MQLs and SQLs. Think about PQLs (product qualified leads) Here's what actually matters: - Multiple engagements across different posts - Bringing colleagues into the conversation - Asking specific, detailed questions - Moving from public comments to private messages These aren't leads. These are pre-qualified buyers. 4. Keep momentum BETWEEN meetings Here's where most deals die: The 167 hours between your calls. While you're chasing other prospects, your buyer is: ↳ Getting cold feet ↳ Talking to competitors ↳ Forgetting why they were excited Smart sellers stay present even when they're not there. This is where tools like Consensus come in. They let buyers explore demos on their own time. Answer their questions at 10 PM. Share materials with their team. Stay engaged between touchpoints. It's how you keep social selling momentum right through the demo stage. https://lnkd.in/ePVWw-Bi 5. Close with confidence, not pressure When trust is already built? When value is already proven? When buyers are already educated? Closing feels natural, not like a battle. The best deals I've ever closed felt inevitable. Because the relationship started months before the opportunity. Here's what this approach delivers (in my experience): ✓ Significantly faster sales cycles ✓ Much higher close rates ✓ Bigger deal sizes (pre-sold = less negotiation) ✓ Happier customers (they chose you, not the other way around) Stop thinking of social selling as "nice to have." Start treating it as your primary sales strategy. Your next big deal isn't in your CRM. They're scrolling LinkedIn right now. What content are you creating to catch them? #ConsensusPartner

I hit quota 30 months straight as a SDR. Here’s the blueprint. Most SDRs miss quota at some point. I refused to let that happen. Here are the 7 things that made the difference: 𝟭. 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆: Reps who don’t call don’t book meetings. I made calls every day, no excuses. 𝟮. 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: The best SDRs don’t wait for the perfect message. More touchpoints = more meetings. Quantity fuels quality. 𝟯. 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁: 80% of my meetings were booked after the 5th follow-up. If you give up after 1-2 attempts, you're leaving opportunities on the table. 𝟰. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵: Nobody cares about your product. They care about their pain. Start with what’s hurting them, then guide them to the solution. 𝟱. 𝗕𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: Your tone sells as much as your words. Sound like a pro, and they’ll treat you like one. Your voice = your credibility. 𝟲. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: I measured calls made, emails sent, meetings booked, and conversion rates. What gets tracked gets improved. 𝟳. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗘:   This might be the most underrated key to success. Your AE technically OWNS your quota. The better your relationship, the more they’ll have your back. My AEs saw how hard I fought to bring them good opportunities, so when I was falling short, they helped, passing me leads or even crediting me on deals they sourced themselves. It made all the difference. #sdr #coldcalling #sales  

When someone says, “I’ve been posting but not getting leads.” They don’t have a LinkedIn strategy. They have a posting habit. There’s a difference. And it costs you deals. Here’s the system that turns content into pipeline 👇 1️⃣ Build Your Content Foundation Your strategy starts before you write a single post. ⤷ Define your offer with clarity, one problem, one audience ⤷ Create 3–4 content pillars that reinforce what you sell ⤷ Establish a voice that attracts your ICP, not everyone ⤷ Study 10–15 creators who share your audience, different solution, same buyer Direction beats volume every time. 2️⃣ Create Content That Converts Write for skimmers, not readers. ⤷ Use your ICP’s language, not yours ⤷ Add clean visuals, screenshots, carousels, simple graphics ⤷ Keep your format and cadence consistent ⤷ Optimize for mobile with short lines and clear breaks You’re not building a portfolio. You’re building a brand. 3️⃣ Engage Like You Mean It Posting without engaging is shouting into the void. ⤷ Comment where your ICP hangs out ⤷ Add real value, not “great post 🔥” ⤷ Show up consistently on peer content ⤷ Build recognition before you ever pitch Visibility comes from showing up, not showing off. 4️⃣ Track Who’s Paying Attention Content without data is just noise. ⤷ Monitor who engages repeatedly ⤷ Enrich profiles to confirm fit, role, company, pain ⤷ Separate real prospects from casual scrollers ⤷ Maintain a living list for warm outreach If you don’t track it, you can’t act on it. 5️⃣ Amplify Through Associations Your network is your distribution engine. ⤷ Connect with engaged ICPs so your content stays in their feed ⤷ Engage with complementary creators, same audience, different offer ⤷ When they interact with you, their network sees you too ⤷ That’s how reach compounds Social selling isn’t cold outreach with a DM. It’s becoming the obvious choice before the conversation starts. Follow this system for 90 days. LinkedIn stops being a time sink. It becomes your strongest sales channel.

I spoke with 25 EMEA SDR leaders last week in Amsterdam. These 3 tactics are the difference between missing quota and hitting it. (Share this in your Slack channel) 1. The 100-to-1000 Rule SDRs need to do 100 of ANYTHING (cold call connections, LinkedIn video DMs, etc) before saying "it doesn't work." If someone tells me: "My rep sent 5 videos and got nothing." My response is: "Cool. Michael Jordan missed 5 shots once too. Then he took 20,000 more. The 5 videos you made are just the warmup. Come back at 100. Here's the math: • 1 SDR = 100 attempts minimum • 10 SDRs x 100 = 1,000 data points • Now you know what actually works The reason for the 1,000 data points is to collect overall data for the team to adopt this across the board. It also builds belief on the team that these tactics that you want your team to do ACTUALLY can work. Stop accepting "it doesn't work" from reps who tried it twice. 2. Test Your Messaging With Actual Buyers Most LinkedIn advice comes from sellers selling to sellers. Again, guilty as charged. So let's get messaging straight from your actual buyers. The play that's booking meetings: • Message your internal champion that is your potential buyer (CTO, CMO, etc.) • Ask: "What's the best outreach you've received?" • Use AI to decode why it worked • Test that approach with similar buyers • Scale what gets responses We did this with our CMO when I worked at Terminus and we booked a ton of meetings from it. 3. Find Your Team's Unique Strength Every SDR has a superpower waiting to be unleashed. Map it out: • Sarah is nailing it on cold calls? Document her opener • Mike gets 30% email reply rates? Emulate his templates • Lisa owns LinkedIn? Make her teach everyone I tried to be the email guy when I realized I am more of a cold call / social guy. Know your lane and maximize it. Then you can build multi-channel plays using each person's strength. I did this with my SDR team and we hit above our quota for 6 straight months. The real talk here is start demanding mastery from your teams instead of going through the motions. This is the way. P.S. Which takeaway are you testing with your team this week?

The best way to become an excellent social seller is by not selling. If you’re connected to folks with an enviable social presence, you’ll notice that they rarely use their platform to sell. Instead 👇 They talk about the problem their product or solution solves. They talk about their passions that are unrelated to what they sell. They share expertise and inspiration. They invite their followers to attend free webinars or download free resources they’ve created. They create a community that trusts them and their opinion. I understand that many of you have social selling metrics to hit in the form of InMail’s sent or connections made. 👉 How can you hit your sales metrics without selling? Making deposits in DMs, engaging with content or commenting. For sellers in frontline roles, I encourage you to post at least once a week consistently. ❌ Post does *not* mean resharing content from your company. ✅ It does mean, at least once a week, sharing a thought, a story, or a bit of advice. If you’re reading this and thinking, “no, absolutely not Leslie”. Posting is not in the cards. Set a target for engaging with other posts relevant to your ICP. ❌ Engaging is *not* hitting the like button or voting in a poll. ✅ Engaging is leaving a funny, educational, or thoughtful comment. If you are not ready for posting or commenting, use LinkedIn DMs & InMails. ❌ Direct outreach is *not* connecting with as many prospects as possible in order to spam their inbox. ✅ #SocialSelling in the DMs does mean you need to lead with deposits before making asks. Deposits [or gives] should always be valuable & relevant. Deposits can look like offering to make an introduction, sharing a free ungated resource, delivering a non-obvious insight or sending a link to an article that you thought they’d appreciate. To get the attention of the modern B2B buyer, you need to #EarnTheRight to their inbox. TL:DR Stop selling. Replace those selling activities with a focus on creating content, engaging with the community, and keeping the buyer at the center of what you do by leading with valuable deposits before asks. What can you do tomorrow to become an excellent social seller? -- Enjoyed this post? Click here 👉https://lnkd.in/gJSJkUq3 to hit follow & ring my 🔔 for more

The answer to your outbound problems isn't: ⛔️ AI ⛔️ More volume ⛔️ SDR agents ⛔️ More relevance ⛔️ Dialers It's your OFFER. Let me explain... Most reps reach out with something like: “Just want to introduce myself and our company…” “Let’s do a quick call so you know your options when budgeting season comes around...” The problem? You have NOTHING to offer. If there’s no immediate need, there's zero reason to take a meeting with you. So you need a way to entice buyers to meet when they have a problem, but are not actively shopping. Here are three types of offers you can use to entice buyers to meet with you: ✅ Offer #1: Good - Pitch The Blind Date Position who the buyer will be meeting with. Hype up the AE, sales engineer, or yourself. Show them that meeting with you will be worth their while. Example: A client of ours sells an automated welding solution. The manufacturing industry is facing a massive shortage of welding talent. Their SDRs pitched it like this: “I’d love to introduce you to Eric. He’s worked with a dozen manufacturers like Caterpillar, Karavan, and more, who are all facing similar challenges. He’ll walk you through how they’re automating the most difficult welds and dealing with the labor shortage. Even if nothing comes of it, you’ll walk away with a better understanding of how the industry is solving this.” Even if the buyer isn’t shopping, they gain value from the conversation itself. ✅ Offer #2: Better - 1:Many Offers These are high-quality, reusable insights that still feel tailored. Think: competitive benchmarks, industry research, or best practice guides. Example: We have a client that sells to ecomm brands. They conducted a mystery shop of 400 competitors to analyze response times, customer service channels, etc. Their reps used those insights to open cold calls with: “Hey Katie, I submitted a ticket on your site, and it took about 48 hours to get a response. It was about 3x longer than folks like Patagonia and the North Face. Again, it’s Jason. Mind if I share more about why I’m calling?” That’s an offer that feels immediately relevant and valuable. It gets a conversation started immediately. ✅ Offer #3: Best - 1:1 Offers These are custom-tailored experiences or resources created specifically for the prospect. It’s you and your organization putting in serious effort to customize the offer. This works best at the enterprise & strategic levels. Examples: - A cyber risk analysis - A benchmarking analysis - A workshop - A personalized audit of a website checkout flow. - Visiting and experiencing the brand firsthand, then sharing insights. - Offering free data, licenses, or pilots. These take more work, but they convert like crazy. ~~~ Which one's most applicable for you?

Most social sellers treat LinkedIn like an all you can eat buffet. They pick a few tactics. Skip the rest. Wonder why nothing converts. But you know what? Forget tips. Social selling is a system. Miss a step, and deals get delayed – or disappear. I've spent years refining this with our clients. 10 points. All connected. All non-negotiable. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟭𝟬-𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: 𝟭) 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 Rewrite your profile around their problems, not your job history. 𝟮) 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 = 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 + 𝗜𝗖𝗣 If it doesn't say who you help and what you improve, it's wasted space. 𝟯) 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁 𝗮 𝟯+𝟭 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺 Three teachable insights + one credibility moment every week. 𝟰) 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 Add a single line of why now when sending a request. 𝟱) 𝗔𝗱𝗱 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲-𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗯𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 Replace "Great post!" with one insight or one example buyers can use today. 𝟲) 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 Reference the pressure, priority, or metric their title owns. 𝟳) 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 Write posts that make the right people think: "We should talk." 𝟴) 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗗𝗠𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝟯 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 Start with context, offer an insight, then ask a question. Nothing more. 𝟵) 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼-𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 Offer 10 minutes. Zero pressure. High acceptance. 𝟭𝟬) 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀 Weekly: 50 smart comments, 5 conversations opened, 3 micro-calls booked. This isn't just theory. This is the exact framework we use with clients who close deals on LinkedIn. Miss one, and the chain breaks. Nail all ten, and you build a pipeline that compounds. Save this post. Then audit yourself honestly. Which of these 10 are you skipping?

I’ve built and led sales teams from scratch. And there’s ONE channel I see revenue leak over and over again... (and it’s not that £50k event you spent scanning badges at a stand…) It's here.. Yep.. surprise surprise it's LinkedIn. Every team I look at, it’s the same pattern. Strong outbound. Decent process. But then you open the team on LinkedIn… and there’s no surface area. The problem is your outbound is a single touchpoint. Your LinkedIn presence is the environment that touchpoint lands in. And most teams optimise the first and ignore the second. If you want this to actually move pipeline, it needs to be treated like part of sales execution: 1. Stop thinking “posting”. Start thinking “account exposure” Your reps shouldn’t just post into the void, they should be visible around the accounts they’re targeting. That means: • commenting on ICP posts consistently • engaging before outreach (not after) • showing up in the same feed as their prospects You’re building recognition before you ever send a message. 2. Tie content directly to live deals Most content is generic because it’s disconnected from reality. Your best content is already in your pipeline: • objections that keep coming up • questions prospects ask on calls • where deals get stuck f it’s happening 5+ times in conversations, it should exist on LinkedIn. 3. Build “minimum viable profiles” across the team You don’t need creators, you need profiles that answer, fast: • what do you understand? • who do you help? • how do you think? Recent activity matters more than old experience. If someone lands on the profile and sees nothing recent, you’re back to zero. 4. Align posting with outbound waves Most teams treat these separately. Better approach: • rep warms up a segment (engagement + content) • then outreach starts • then content reinforces during follow-ups You’re not relying on a single moment anymore. 5. Don’t isolate this to SDRs Here is the BIG mistake. Your AE gets checked before the call, your manager gets checked mid-deal, if visibility drops at any stage, trust drops with it. This needs to be across the WHOLE sales chain. 6. Measure leading indicators differently You won’t see this purely in “likes”. Look at: • connection acceptance rates • reply rates by rep • speed to first response • profile views from target accounts • conversion rate • and of course inbounds (yes DO add UTM links on each sales rep profile) 7. Prioritise comments over posts early on Everyone focuses on posting. But comments: • get you in front of the right people faster • attach you to existing conversations • build recognition without needing distribution Most teams are still trying to win inside the sequence. The edge right now sits outside of it. If your team has no presence on LinkedIn, every outbound starts from zero. If they’re visible in the right places, outbound becomes a conversion layer, not just an entry point. That’s where the difference is 👌🏼

A healthcare company recently asked me an interesting question: "how would you teach sellers to social sell with LinkedIn?" Here's a summary of my thinking: 1) Get into the habit of posting. Share your perspectives from conversations with buyers. Share what you're seeing. Mistakes being made. Cool things you're seeing teams do. ... this will feed into point 3 2) Be a "reply guy" Who are the big names in your space? (With a bajillion followers posting insightful stuff) Comment on their posts. They have the visibility - use it. Who are folks posting about topics connected to what you do? They don't need to be big names. Comment on their posts too! This will be more natural because the connection to "your thing" will be easier. Thoughtfully respond to their posts with your own perspective. Not AI generated summaries. Not "agree" slop. Like actually sit and have a POV. Disagree even! You job is to add to the conversation with either humor... or helpfulness. 3) As you do outbound to your prospects via other channels, connect with them on LinkedIn. Send a thoughtful note w the connect that connects back to why you reached out to them via other channels. Note that you're reaching out via other channels. When they connect - the social feeds will prioritize your content as a new connection. This adds surround sound to your outreach by putting your thinking in their feed > their inbox. 4) Once they've connected... don't aggressively pitch. Yes... if your thing is just sooo relevant and the timing is just perfect... sure. But remember. Social media isn't a direct response engine. It's a place for making connection. Your sales job will extend beyond your current role. You want to build network > being another seller annoying them in another channel. Seek to learn, and help them learn as well (and no... they don't want to check out your post/webinar/etc.... this is weird behavior) 5) Don't overdo it If they're not responding.. that's ok. Last thing you want is to have your connection removed. Keep posting content. These 5 steps do something simple: 1) They show you're a real person with something to bring to the table 2) It creates an opportunity to nurture 3) It gives a lower pressure way to engage with you 4) It amplifies your other outreach to say "I really am a person and I wanna talk to you" I'm certainly not the "expert" here... I look to people like Darren McKee who are phenomenal about nurturing the folks that engage and humanizing outreach with 1:1 techniques like selfie videos. But, thought this could be helpful as you consider leaning into LinkedIn beyond another place to spam people.

I just watched a sales rep spend 3 hours crafting the "perfect" LinkedIn message to a prospect who bought from his competitor yesterday The prospect had been posting about their challenges for 6 weeks. Sharing articles about the exact problem this rep's solution solves. Commenting on industry discussions about implementation timelines. But this rep never engaged with any of it. Instead, he was busy perfecting his cold outreach template while his competitor was building relationships in plain sight. This is social selling backwards. Most sales teams treat LinkedIn like an email database with better targeting. They research profiles → craft personalized messages → send connection requests → pitch immediately But social selling isn't about better cold outreach. It's about becoming part of your prospect's decision-making process before they even know they're buying… and just keeping it casual, like a normal human. Here's what the highest-performing social sellers actually do: → They follow prospects months before reaching out → They add value to conversations prospects are already having → They become a trusted voice in their prospect's content feed → They earn permission to have sales conversations When you consistently add insight to someone's posts for 4-6 weeks, your eventual outreach isn't cold anymore. It's the natural next step in an existing relationship. Your prospects are literally telling you their priorities, challenges, and timeline through their LinkedIn activity. Stop treating social selling like fancy cold calling and start treating it like relationship building at scale. How much of your prospect research happens on LinkedIn versus actually engaging with their content? — Enjoy this? 📱 Join our community: https://lnkd.in/e3WAJnft