In this episode of the Social Selling Podcast, host Daniel Disney shares his top 5 tips for sending better LinkedIn direct messages (DMs). He provides practical advice on how to craft personalized, compelling messages that get responses from prospects and customers.

Best Moments:

(02:24) The importance of hyper-personalization in LinkedIn messages. Using specific details about the recipient's company, content they've shared, etc. to show you care about them, not just making a sale

(05:11) Sharing real ROI examples and results you've achieved for similar companies. This shows the tangible value you can provide

(07:22) Trying out audio and video messages to add extra engagement and personality. People react well when they can see and hear your human side

(11:02) Messaging outside of regular business hours like early mornings, evenings, and weekends. Decision makers are often more responsive at these times when not bogged down in back-to-back meetings

In this episode of the Social Selling Podcast, host Daniel Disney explores the controversial question of whether LinkedIn should pay content creators on its platform. He discusses the pros and cons of LinkedIn monetizing creators, drawing comparisons to how other platforms like YouTube and TikTok compensate top creators.

Best Moments:

(04:18) Fear that paying creators could encourage more low-quality, algorithmic-gaming content

(05:55) Paying creators would attract more talent and incentivize better content

(09:17) Both LinkedIn and creators would benefit from a pay model

(10:13) Importance of rewarding creators based on real engagement and value provided

In this episode of the Social Selling Podcast, host Daniel Disney is joined again by sales expert Benjamin Dennehy, commonly known as "The UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer." They have an in-depth discussion about how artificial intelligence and automation are impacting sales roles, especially cold calling. They talk about the future of AI potentially replacing certain sales functions and how salespeople need to focus on continuously developing their skills to stay competitive.


Main Discussion Points:

- How AI and automation will impact sales roles, especially cold calling
- AI's potential to fully replace certain sales functions in the future
- The need for salespeople to continuously develop their skills to stay competitive
- Issues with how some sales teams focus too much on activity metrics rather than having quality conversations
- The importance of finding and qualifying the right prospects instead of trying to sell to anyone
- How the perception and professionalization of sales needs to evolve to attract top talent


Guest Bios:
Benjamin Dennehy - A sales trainer and LinkedIn expert. Known for his telephone prospecting programs. Founder of the Sales Matrix for sales training courses.

In this episode, host Daniel Disney interviews Tom Boston about using humor in LinkedIn social selling and personal branding. Tom shares his journey from starting as an SDR to building a personal brand around humor and comedy sketch videos. They discuss how humor helps create rapport in sales, how anyone can tap into problems their customers face to create entertaining yet relatable content, and tips for getting started with posting creative content on LinkedIn.

Key Discussion Points:

- Why Tom started posting humorous content on LinkedIn to build familiarity as an SDR cold calling prospects

- How using your existing interests and skills can lead to unique and engaging content

- Overcoming objections that "my industry is boring" or "my prospects won't like silly content"

- Humor being an integral part of building relationships in sales, not just for social media

- Learning through practice - start simple and persist to improve over time

- Focusing on value for the viewer rather than overly slick production

- The importance of believing in yourself and having confidence to start

Guest Bio:
Tom Boston is a LinkedIn Top Voice and Brand Manager at Salesloft. "Making Sales Fun," he creates entertaining videos that highlight sales problems and frustrations. His content entertains over 300,000 followers.

In this controversial episode of the Social Selling Podcast, host Daniel Disney is joined by sales trainer Benjamin Dennehy, known as the "UK's most hated sales trainer," to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of LinkedIn. Despite a history of disagreements, Daniel and Benjamin find common ground on many issues facing the LinkedIn platform and sales professionals today.

Key Discussion Points:

- The importance of prospecting as a foundational sales skill
- Why the goal of getting good at selling is to become an "order taker"
- How LinkedIn has gone from a valuable resource to a "dumping ground for anybody with a thought now"
- The saturation of low-quality sales advice from inexperienced "gurus" on LinkedIn
- Strategies for cutting through the noise, like posting actual cold calls
- The need to consistently provide value and prove your credibility over the long term

In this episode of the Social Selling Podcast, host Daniel Disney is joined by Jay Schwedelson, founder of Subjectline.com and Guru Media Hub, to discuss LinkedIn newsletters. They explore how LinkedIn newsletters work, why they beat the algorithm, tips for creating compelling newsletters, and more. Listeners can expect to learn best practices for leveraging LinkedIn newsletters to grow their audience and engage their connections.

Main Discussion Points:

- How LinkedIn newsletters differ from regular posts and why they have higher visibility and subscriber rates

- Tips for creating an attention-grabbing newsletter name and compelling subject lines

- Using AI tools like Gemini to easily create newsletter content from existing assets like videos

- Ideas for developing newsletter content like surveying your audience and repurposing existing posts and comments

- The importance of avoiding a hard sales pitch and focusing on value and relationship building

This episode of the social selling podcast focuses on the importance of personalization in sales outreach and how to effectively research prospects to enable more personalized messaging. Host Daniel provides a step-by-step guide on where to find personalized information about prospects on LinkedIn and how to turn that information into customized conversation starters that help build relationships.

Key Discussion Points:

- The majority of sales messages today are generic and not personalized, representing a huge missed opportunity

- The amount of research time invested in a prospect should correlate with their potential deal value

- LinkedIn profiles offer lots of personal details to enable custom messaging, especially the summary, work experience, skills, and content sections

- Look at both prospect's personal LinkedIn activity and their company's LinkedIn activity for shareable content to comment on

- Research other employees at the company to find conversational hooks if the decision maker has a limited LinkedIn presence

- Supplement LinkedIn with website, social media, and external press research to build a 360-degree view

- Personalized outreach boosts response rates and nurtures authentic relationships

In this episode of the Social Selling Podcast, host Daniel Disney provides tips on how salespeople and entrepreneurs can get more people to connect with them on LinkedIn. He explains why it's important to optimize your LinkedIn profile, establish relevance and shared connections, and personalize connection requests - especially for senior-level prospects. Listeners will learn strategies to boost their LinkedIn connections and build relationships.

Key Discussion Points:

- Optimize your LinkedIn profile to look as professional as possible so prospects view you as credible

- Increase shared connections and connections within a prospect's company to establish relevance before sending a request

- Personalize connection requests to senior leaders by referencing their content or demonstrating potential value

- For most prospects, a personalized note may not be necessary and could deter them from connecting

- Build your personal brand so prospects recognize you and see your value before connecting