Alexis Rinker

🚨 Big shift alert: LinkedIn changed how your feed works [and it’s awesome news for sales reps] Yesterday I was catching up with a former SaaS client and explaining how I teach sales teams to use LinkedIn to build real relationships again...so selling feels more human and leads close faster. His response "ughhh - LinkedIn. What has HAPPENED to it!!??" - He hates his feed. Its filled with politics and stuff that is not relevant to him or his prospects (and he's not alone) GOOD NEWS... LinkedIn isn't broken (far from it), it's evolving.... And luckily I subscribe to Richard van der Blom's Algorithm Insights (that just so happened to drop a MAJOR update today!) LinkedIn no longer just shows you posts from people you’re connected to The feed has officially gone from a “who you know” network → to a “what you care about” network That means: You’re not limited by your current connections anymore. You can shape your feed to surface your buyers, your industry, and your conversations...ON PURPOSE!!! And the algorithm is basically saying, “Tell me what you want more of, and I’ll serve it up.” 🤯 In other words: you can now train LinkedIn to bring leads to you, instead of hunting through noise and finding stuff to comment on will be waaay less arduous. 👇 Why this is awesome for sales reps👇 Your feed can literally become your daily prospecting list if you treat it that way. Instead of scrolling through random updates, imagine a feed filled with: Prospects talking about problems you solve Buyers commenting on relevant posts Warm engagement opportunities before the first DM That's what's so cool about the way the feed operates now... It learns from what you click, comment on, and follow, and it rewards intentional activity. So here's how to make the most of it 1. Train your feed daily. Comment on the types of posts your buyers engage with. Your activity tells LinkedIn what to show you next. Think of every comment as a search query. 2. Follow your buyers world Think about who shapes their world: the leaders, peers, and creators they already follow, quote, or learn from. That might be customers, partners, or industry voices having the conversations your buyers care about. Unfollow anything that doesn't align 3. Use the 🔔 It shows you content from people you chose to follow, not random viral posts. 4. GTF out of your echo-chamber!!! Comment across industries that influence your buyers. LinkedIn’s model now rewards cross-network engagement 5. Save your daily circuit. When you find creators or conversations that lead to pipeline, save them. Revisit those threads daily. Show up where your buyers already hang out (remember most of them are lurkers!) Your feed isn’t random anymore. It’s reactive. Make it react to you. XO A❣️ PS - Today is my favorite day of the Social Selling Lab: "Comment Your Way To Credibility: Commenting-as-a-Strategy" PPS - I am officially old - It's raining and my first thought was 'we need this rain' ☔

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Discovery isn’t just for the seller. It’s for the buyer, too. They’re not just there to answer questions. They’re there to get clarity of their own. And sometimes, they’ll interrupt. "How much does this cost?" "Can you integrate with X?" "Do you do refunds?" "What's your SLA?" It’s tempting to deflect: “We’ll get to that later.” “Let’s first understand your use case.” “We’ll cover that on the next call.” But here’s the truth: If they’re asking, it matters. Right now. In this moment. Great discovery isn’t a checklist. It’s a two-way conversation. You’re learning about them. They’re learning if they can trust you. So when they ask you a pricing question “too early,” don’t dodge. Answer with context. Be transparent, not tactical. Say: “We don’t have the full scope yet, but based on similar clients, here’s a rough range.” Simple. Respectful. Real. You don’t need a full picture to be honest. You just need the intent to be helpful. Discovery isn’t just about qualification. It’s where trust begins. And trust doesn’t grow in silence. It grows when you answer the hard questions. Even if you don’t have the perfect answer yet.

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Cold calling didn’t die. But the old way did. When reps call without data, context, or system, it feels random. When done right, it feels inevitable. Here’s the difference 👇 The Old Way A) Reps pull lists manually from LinkedIn or Apollo. B) They dial 100+ numbers with the same intro script. C) They measure success by “calls made,” not conversations started. Outcomes? → Low connect rates. → High rejection. → No feedback loop. Why it failed: It was built for volume, not learning. The New Way A) Signal-Based Targeting You call people already in motion: Website visitors (Midbound / Instantly.ai) Engagers on LinkedIn (Teamfluence™ / Scripe) Job boards or funding rounds (Clay automations) B) Context-Led Openers We start with relevance: “Hey {{name}}, saw you just expanded the SDR team, are you updating your outbound stack?” C) Data-Driven Feedback Loops Each call is transcribed → tagged → learned from. We categorize openings, objections, and tones. If a line tanks twice, it’s cut. D) Multi-Channel Sync Calls trigger DMs + emails automatically. Missed call? → DM with clip → Email follow-up same day. Software used: → Zapier (automation) → HubSpot (routing) → Instantly.ai (sequence triggers) Old calling = “spray & pray.” New calling = “signal → system → sync.” Every rep is a data analyst with a headset. Cold calling isn’t dead. It’s just evolving into intelligent conversation design. P.S. Cleverly has 1,000+ 5⭐ reviews helping teams build cold calling systems that sync calls, DMs, and emails into one motion. If you want your call block to feel like a machine, not chaos ,start here.

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The average AE spends 3x more time on prep work than selling 🤯 Territory planning, digging through account data, outreach that goes unanswered… it eats up a rep's day and eats into your pipeline. That's why WRITER built a sales super agent — one that works across your systems and playbooks to: Build territory plans → Surface top accounts and create a data-backed action plan Automate deep research → Deliver executive briefs with key talking points in seconds Send personalized outreach → Emails and LinkedIn messages that actually get responses Streamline call prep → Walk into every meeting fully briefed Ramp faster, build a bigger pipeline, and win more deals. See how it works: https://lnkd.in/gicdGN-i

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Here’s a hard truth many B2B sales teams overlook: Not all pipeline is created equal. The data is clear: • Referrals contribute ~10% of pipeline, yet drive 31% of total revenue • Outbound generates ~42% of pipeline, but only 28% of revenue • Referral-led deals convert 3x better Why? Because referrals arrive pre-qualified. Trust is transferred before the first call. Sales cycles shorten. Discounting drops. Win rates rise. Referrals aren’t a “nice-to-have” at the end of a deal. They are the highest-ROI growth channel hiding in plain sight. Top performers don’t wait for referrals to happen. They engineer them—by delivering value, earning advocacy, and asking consistently. If you’re serious about building a predictable, high-quality pipeline, make referrals a process, not a coincidence. Question for sales leaders and sellers: How often do you intentionally ask for a referral each week? #B2BSales #SalesStrategy #RevenueGrowth #EnterpriseSales #SalesLeadership #PipelineManagement #ReferralMarketing #TrustBasedSelling #GoToMarket #SaaSSales #SalesPerformance #BusinessGrowth

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How to go from SMB AE to MM AE (In 6 simple steps) 1. Pick a company that actually promotes. If you’re at a place that doesn’t grow fast and doesn’t promote internally, the odds are already stacked against you. You can be a top performer and still wait forever because the culture just doesn’t value internal mobility. You want to be somewhere that expects and plans to promote from within. 2. Get to the top of the leaderboard. Every interview process I’ve ever seen starts the same way. The leaderboard. That’s the eligibility filter. So that’s where 100 percent of your focus should go. Until you're at the top consistently that should be your #1 focus. 3. Be a MM AE before you’re a MM AE Find out what actually matters in MM. What’s different. What’s expected. Bigger, more complex deals. More outbound. More strategy. More multi-threading. Then go get results in those areas while you’re still in SMB. That way in the interview you can say. “Here’s how I’m already doing the mid-market job.” Nothing builds confidence like results. 4. Build real relationships with the MM team. Get close to the MM AEs. Learn what they’re working on. What their priorities are. What tools they’re using. What’s working. What isn’t. So when your interview comes around, it’s clear you already understand the role. You’re not walking into a whole new world. You’ve already been around the team and the expectations. 5. Build your internal brand with the hiring team. This is one of the most underrated moves. Find out the #1 priority for MM. Let’s say it’s outbound. Go get results. And then send a no ask message to the hiring manager: “Hey, I heard outbound was the focus this quarter. Booked 7 meetings this month using my cold call flow. Documented it in a playbook. Thought I’d share in case it’s useful.” That's one of the most gangster things you can do. 6. Prep early. Prep often. Don’t wait for the interview process to start preparing. Start building now. A highlight deck. A deal room. Case studies. References. Anything that strengthens your narrative. So when the interview actually opens up. You already have everything done. You just tweak it. Meanwhile everyone else is scrambling. 7. Have a competitive mindset. This is the part most people avoid saying out loud. But it’s the truth. You’re competing. You need to ask yourself constantly. “If someone else has similar numbers, how do I make the case that I’m better?” - That could be your prep. - Your brand. - Your relationships. - Your execution. What you don’t want to do is assume that great work alone gets you promoted. It can. But it’s not the optimal strategy. The optimal strategy is to think competitively. Strategically. And position yourself to win. What did I miss? - Mike G 👉 Get The Best Sales Newsletter delivered straight to your inbox for FREE: https://lnkd.in/g-dHTj7s

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