Identifying High-Value Leads

Walk into any Foot Locker. The conversation is predictable: "Hey, anything I can help you with?" "No, I'm good." "Cool, holler if you need anything." Dead air. Zero connection. Transaction pending. Now watch what happens with actual discovery: "Dude, those are dope ASICS. You run outside or inside?" "Outside." "Those are pretty beat up - you put serious miles on them. Short distances or long?" "Long distance." "What's long for you?" "10-12 miles." "Respect. You pronate at all?" "No." "Interesting - those shoes are actually built for pronation. See how they're worn on the outside? You're fighting the shoe's design. What if I showed you something that matches your stride better?" Boom. Permission to sell granted. The difference? Observation before prescription. Love this example that Andrew Hahn brought to Sales Assembly’s session on Discovery That Leads To Quantifiable Outcomes this week. That rep noticed: - Current solution (beat-up ASICS). - Usage patterns (wear on the outside). - Mismatch between need and solution. - Opportunity to add genuine value. Most sales reps are so eager to pitch they miss what's right in front of them. Your prospect is using Salesforce but half their team logs into HubSpot. They have Gong but mention recording storage issues. They love their current vendor but keep rescheduling implementation calls. These aren't just random facts, folks. They're buying signals. The ASICS were working fine. But "fine" isn't optimal. And once someone shows you the gap between fine and optimal, you can't unsee it. Every prospect is wearing beat-up ASICS. They're making it work. They're putting in miles. But they're fighting their tools instead of flowing with them. Your job isn't to sell them new shoes. Your job is to notice their stride.

Last year, I was speaking with a VP of Sales who confidently asserted: “Our buyers rely heavily on Gartner and Forrester reports, and LinkedIn is just noise.” That claim led us to a deeper look. So we ran a rapid social intelligence audit across their 10+ ideal enterprise target accounts and the reality was revealing: 👉 significant stakeholders actively adding connections in LinkedIn. 👉 a few of those routinely engaged on LinkedIn content. This wasn’t casual scrolling… it was conscious participation and relationship building. Some buyers were raising ‘purchase-intent’ questions as well. All transparently surfaced on LinkedIn - in public threads and peer groups. Data illuminating exactly where the research action happens pre-RFP. We scripted a custom GTM strategy: 👍 Enterprise Signal Posts: Engineered deep-dive, persona-tagged case studies, optimized to get clipped into internal research decks and circulated among architects, PMOs, and senior engineers. 👍 Dark-Social Authority: By engaging in high-value vendor comparison (and likes) threads, our client’s leadership profiles gained credibility and trust inside private channels invisible to traditional analytics. 👍 Decision-Stage Content: Launched proof-backed narrative video for "solution-aware" prospects, resulting in high-conversion SQLs. With consistency. The outcomes? 💪 Significant % of new enterprise meetings originated directly from LinkedIn-driven content touchpoints and network engagement. 💪 RFP win-rate increased, correlated to significant buyers explicitly referencing LinkedIn case materials. 💪 Sales cycles compressed because buyers entered conversations highly informed and confident. Why does this work in enterprise buying cycles? Vendor Validation: B2B procurement is increasingly cross-functional; live peer discussions on LinkedIn serve as a real-time, trusted “research layer” far beyond static analyst reports. Peer Proof: Enterprise decision-makers weight peer-shared insights more heavily than vendor-curated collateral, especially within their own secure collaboration channels. If you’re still dismissing LinkedIn as “just noise,” you’re strategically ceding ground during arguably the most critical phase of buyer evaluation. In 2025, enterprise buying journeys don’t start with vendor meetings… they start with social proof, digital authority, and dark social signals. And the winners are the brands that embed themselves authentically and intelligently in these ecosystems. #SocialSelling #DarkSocial #LinkedIn #RevOps #AIGTM

Most SEO/ GEO discussions focus on rankings rather than revenue. Rankings only matter if your pages convert and attract the right audience. Lead generation SEO needs a different approach from content volume or keyword chasing. It starts with intent and ends with action. Search behavior in B2B and high consideration buying journeys is slower, longer, and more research driven. This means your content must help users progress through each stage, not just appear in search. Start by mapping your funnel. Identify which queries signal early research versus active interest. Build pages that reduce friction, answer questions clearly, and remove any uncertainty about what to do next. Technical SEO is essential but only valuable when paired with strong messaging, fast loading pages, structured headings, and clear calls to action. Many sites rank but fail to convert due to unclear positioning or slow response times. If you want stronger leads, align content, structure, and clarity. https://lnkd.in/dEg93Pj #seo #leadgeneration #digitalmarketing #b2bmarketing #contentstrategy

What makes a decision-maker actually reply to your LinkedIn message? I wanted to find out. So we ran an experiment. At my recent Get Paid To Speak Bootcamp, I invited Brian Tee, Head of Sales at SingPost, as one of our corporate guests. Why? Because I wanted my aspiring speakers to hear directly from someone who hires speakers: what gets their attention, what turns them off, and what actually gets you booked. So here’s what we did: Everyone in the room had to reach out to Brian on LinkedIn. No scripts. No templates. Just thoughtful outreach. Brian received 95 connection requests and he took the time to go through every single one. Then he shortlisted the messages that stood out to him and shared WHY they worked. That’s what this post is about (you might want to bookmark this post!) Here are five things the best outreach messages had in common: 1. They anchored to a real, shared moment. “I really appreciated your insight at GPTS, especially when you said ‘leadership today requires empathy and adaptability.’ That stayed with me.” 2. They focused on Brian first not their pitch. “May I ask what business challenges you're currently facing? How do you envision inspiring your sales team in 2025 and beyond?” 3. They asked meaningful, open-ended questions. “What’s your take on vulnerability in the workplace? Does it have a place in leadership today?” 4. They aligned their offer with Brian’s values and goals. “Given your focus on transformation, I believe my talk on resilience could complement your vision at SingPost.” 5. They offered to add value without sounding transactional. “If there’s any way I could contribute to your work at SingPost, I’d be happy to explore how.” One big lesson from this? The best outreach doesn’t try to impress, it tries to connect. Respect. Curiosity. Relevance. That’s what opens doors. A huge thank you to Brian Tee for being so generous with his feedback, this was GOLD for every speaker in the room. And now, for you reading this: If you’re trying to reach high-value contacts, use the above five insights as your blueprint. Your turn: if you were a potential client, how should we reach out to you that will elicit a positive response? #LinkedInTips #GetPaidToSpeak

Most sellers do referral prospecting backwards. Smart referral prospecting is NOT asking your warm network "Is there anyone in your network who might find value in taking a look at our Legal Time Tracking software?" You're almost always going to hear "Hm, nobody immediately comes to mind, but let me think about it." (They're not gonna think about it) Asking someone to scan through their entire mental rolodex of every single person they know isn't going to get you good referrals. You're asking for too much of the referrer.  -- Here's how I do outbound referral prospecting: 1. Start with the end in mind. Identify the prospect you want to talk to. (If you don't start with the end in mind, you're going to get a bunch of random non-ICP or out of territory intros, if you get any at all) - 2. Find mutual connections who actually know your target prospect. I like mutuals who have shared work history (you can find this in Sales Nav). If that fails, I'll look for shared membership in trade association groups or folks who have spoken on a panel/event together. - 3. Ask your shared contact for permission to make the introduction. Here's what I send: 𝘕𝘈𝘔𝘌, 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩? 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 30 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵'𝘴 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘣 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘕𝘈𝘔𝘌 𝘢𝘵 𝘈𝘊𝘔𝘌. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? - 4. If your referrer says yes, ghostwrite them a message in THEIR voice. This helps remove as much friction as possible for the person who is making the introduction. Don't worry about including pleasantries in the message you draft (Ex. "Hope you have been well since our days working together at ACME!). I've found that most people delete the pleasantries you write on their behalf so it's not a good use of your time. - 5. If someone makes a referral for you, send them a thank you note + a gift. Seems obvious but this goes a long way. - 6. If you start to find success with outbound referral prospecting, consider adding an "outbound referral blitz" to your weekly prospecting cadence. -- Anything else you'd add re: prospecting for referrals?

More leads don't always mean more growth. Sometimes, they just mean more wasted budget. I recently worked with a fast-growing gifting and floral commerce brand that had a common scaling challenge: High traffic. More leads. But declining conversions and rising CAC. The problem wasn't a lack of marketing efforts. It was a lack of data-driven decisions. Here's what we discovered: ❌ Lead qualification was based only on form submissions ❌ Multiple campaigns were running without clear attribution ❌ Every lead received the same nurturing journey ❌ Mobile users were bringing traffic but not converting The solution? We stopped treating every lead equally. Using behavioral data, we built a smarter lead scoring system based on intent signals like: → Pages visited → Time spent on the website → Category interest → Repeat visits Then we: ✅ Shifted budget toward high-performing channels ✅ Created personalized nurture journeys ✅ Optimized the mobile experience using real user behavior The outcome after 6 months: 📈 52% improvement in lead quality 📉 41% reduction in CAC 🚀 67% increase in revenue per lead 📱 Mobile conversion improved significantly The biggest lesson? Growth is not about generating more leads. It's about understanding the right leads. How are you using data to improve your growth strategy? #DataAnalytics #GrowthStrategy #LeadGeneration #MarketingAnalytics #DigitalMarketing #CRO

"Let me know if you have any questions." "Happy to discuss further." "Looking forward to your thoughts." Every time you end a follow-up with these wimpy closes, you're asking busy executives to do work they won't do. They're not going to think of questions. They're not going to schedule a follow-up call. They're not going to send you their thoughts. They're going to delete your email and move on with their actual job. The fix is making the next step so easy that a drunk executive could do it. Instead of "let me know if you have questions," embed your calendar link directly in the email. One click to book time. Instead of "happy to discuss further," Create a simple yes/no decision box: "Ready to see the ROI calculation? Yes | No" Instead of hoping they'll respond with their availability, give them three specific time slots to choose from. The most powerful follow-up technique? Use their exact words from your call. When Jessica said she's "bleeding money on software licenses," don't paraphrase it. Quote it exactly. Reference her Thursday board meeting. Add one insight she didn't know. There's nothing more impossible to ignore than hearing your own words reflected back with new value attached. Your generic templates sound like every other vendor they're ghosting. But your personalized follow-ups that reference specific moments from your conversation get responses. Stop making prospects do the work of figuring out next steps. Start making it obvious how they move forward. Every follow-up is life or death for your deal. Most AEs are committing suicide with their own emails. Don’t be like most AEs.

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

Your ICP is not a persona slide. It's a lot of things. But the first thing it is? A scoring system. Can't score a company 0 to 100 on fit? Then you don't have an ICP. You have an opinion. Here's how to build one today. Step 1. Score your best customers. Open your CRM. Top 20 accounts. Not biggest logos. Best behavior. Rate each one, 1 to 5: Revenue. Velocity. Time to impact. Feature depth. How easy they are to work with. Multiply. Sort. Your top 20% just showed you what ideal looks like. Step 2. Find the pattern. What do those top accounts have in common? Firmographics. Industry, size, geo. Technographics. What tools they run. Signals. What happened before they bought. 5 to 8 attributes that keep repeating. That's your scoring criteria. Step 3. Weight it. Not everything matters equally. Industry match might be 25 points. Revenue range 20. Tech stack 15. Signals 15. Here's what most people miss. Different customer types need different weights. A TripAdvisor rating predicts buying behavior for a small restaurant. Means nothing for a PE-backed chain. Multiple segments? Multiple weight models. Score out of 100. Step 4. Tier your list. Tier 1 (80+): Looks like your best customers. Tier 2 (50 to 79): Good fit. Some gaps. Tier 3 (below 50): Not now. What you do with each tier is a different post. This one is about the score. Now the hard part. The smaller you are, the narrower tier 1 should be. At €1M ARR you don't need 5.000 tier 1 accounts. You need 50. But at that stage you have less data. Maybe 15 customers, not 500. Your model is more hypothesis than proof. That's fine. Start with 10. Iterate every quarter. Step 5. Validate across the whole journey. Your scoring model is a hypothesis. Here's how you prove it. Map these cycles per tier: MQL to SQL time. SQL to Win time. Win to Onboard time. Time to first impact. Time to full impact. Those are your actual validation cycles. If tier 1 accounts move faster, onboard smoother, and reach full impact sooner, your model works. If not, adjust the weights. Check every quarter. Homework: pull your top 10 customers. Score them. What do the top 5 have in common that the bottom 5 don't? That's your scoring model v1. ← Previous: https://lnkd.in/e49kzxXS Next → https://lnkd.in/eHXJunHT

If I were a marketing manager with a <$2,000 budget, here’s what I would prioritise. Priority 1: Optimise the website weekly - Optimise every day. Double down on what’s working and fix what’s not. - Dedicate 3-4 hours weekly for website review. - Examine top-converting pages. - Ensure above-the-fold content builds trust (reviews, brand logos, key benefits, CTA) - Are all CTAs clear and action-oriented? - Check site health using Ahrefs/Semrush and fix critical issues. - Use MS Clarity to understand and reduce bounce rates. - Improve speed with Google PageSpeed insights. Priority 2: Optimise content for SEO -  If you don’t have a big budget for paid media, this is your best bet. - Identify low-hanging-fruits with Ahrefs (pages ranking 4–20). - Use Surfer SEO or SERP analysis for content refinement. - Analyse competitors and build a solid plan to beat them - Not just for content, but also UX, design, messaging, and CTAs. - Optimise 3–4 articles per week. - Publish a weekly expert blog/resources (get input from your team). - Keep an eye on ranking drops for top keywords. Priority 3: Review CRM, attribution & revenue - Ensure forms are working and leads are being captured. - Attribute leads to the correct source. - Review the user journey, first touch, last touch, and everything in between. - Don’t just track lead volume, focus on high-quality MQLs. - Assign a $$ value to each lead and track which pages drive the most revenue. - Tie everything back to revenue, this should be your ultimate KPI. - If you notice an unknown/direct source, call them or delegate it to sales (don’t leave it unknown). - Ensure sales teams are following up and closing deals on time. - Get feedback from sales on lead quality, add an “MQL feedback” field in your CRM. - Keep notes and define action items to improve the site, user journey, and key pages for next week. Priority 4: Get more reviews/testimonials - This is tough for marketers since they don’t always have direct client contact. - Make it a weekly goal (aim for >1 weekly). - Work with the fulfilment and sales teams to prioritise this. - More Google reviews improve local SEO. - More reviews = better SEO, more trust, and higher rankings. - More trust = better conversion rates. Priority 5: Brand awareness and retargeting on Meta - Run small-budget ($500-1k) paid ads and retargeting on Meta. - Focus on brand awareness to drive cheaper clicks. - Retarget with offers, extra value, guarantees, or incentives. - Keep creatives simple, use raw, candid images, product shots, and UGC. - Candid videos, screen shares, and real-talk videos work better than over polished graphics. - Prioritise clear messaging and keep pushing. - Stay front-of-mind, results may take time, but consistency pays off. I couldn't fit everything here due to LinkedIn's limit. Check the comments for more. And let me know if there's anything you'd add!