Will Aitken

A Sales Growth Company

Heading up outbound sales & GAP Prospecting training

General Manager Prospecting Practice

WillAitken.com

I provide training, coaching, courses, keynotes, and merch for sellers and sales teams! Check out my offerings on willaitken.com

Chief Vice Directing President of Managing Things

Sales Feed

B2B Sales Media company Sales Feed

We make content that helps sellers sell and brings a big ol'd smile to their face when they need it most

Co-Founder

Sell Better 

I'm one of the hosts of SellBetter's epic daily sales shows

Host

Lavender

Head of Social

Head of Content

Evangelist

Proposify

Senior Account Executive

Account Executive

HR.com

Preacta

Recruitment Consultant

Search It Local

Sales Representative

Trust Me, I'm a Salesperson | Sales Trainer, Keynote Speaker, Author, and Pisstaker | Fluent in English, Memes, & Sarcasm 🇬🇧🇨🇦

Just another LinkedIn sales influencer... but funnier and better looking than most.

Born in 1994 in the roundabout filled town of Milton Keynes I was always the odd child at school. 

After getting the worlds most pointless degree at University of Brighton I decided to go “find myself” by working in a French Ski Resort, backpacking through south-east Asia, before temporarily settling down in Sydney Australia where I got work as a recruiter and then moving to Canada. 

Now in North America I was determined to work in SaaS sales because I saw on Reddit that you can make BANK selling software.

Just a couple of years later after trying to find my footing I was the top rep on my team.

This gave me time to open up TikTok and on April of 2021 I made my first video, then I made one everyday for 6-months. 

This opened up my love for content creation and led me to my current career in marketing, keynotes, book writing, and sales training. 

Expertise include: New Business Development, Account Management, Cold Calling, Sales Proposals/Presentations, Marketing Product Knowledge (SEO, EDM, Retargeting), Recruitment Services, Headhunting, Email Prospecting, Vice President (SEO purposes), VP, CEO, LinkedIn Recruiter/Sales Navigator, Boolean Blackbelt, Training, Sales Kick Offs, Speaker, Speech, Sales Management, and Fixing Up to Look Sharp.

Sub to Sales Feed on YT if you’re an adult and don’t mind some cussing with your sales tutorials, tech reviews, and tips ✌️

Cooking up some epic content with Hansel Alvarez for 2026

Some of your buyers might be taking the next two weeks off... The key is not to let them

 Tyler Lessard 🎯 and I demonstrate one such approach here

Generic GTM is dead → Go to my featured section for actionable GTM insights and elevate your marketing game 🔥| Co-Founder of TACK | Creating the category of People-first GTM 👥| 13+ Years in B2B Marketing 📈

I help B2B companies build go-to-market strategies that prioritize real connection because relationships, not just reach, drive growth.

After 14 years in B2B marketing, I’ve led field marketing, demand gen, community, and influencer programs. I know what works, what doesn’t, and what’s changed.

Too many companies still treat buyers like leads. That’s not how modern GTM works.

I’ve helped 35+ B2B brands shift from transactional tactics to connection-driven growth, building scalable strategies, launching communities, running 30+ webinars, and rolling out on-demand models that replaced bloated in-house teams.

Today, I work directly with brands, founders, and marketers to build go-to-market engines that scale—without the spam.

What I do:
→ Build integrated campaign strategies that drive pipeline
→ Coach creators and brands on influencer marketing
→ Design community-led and field programs that actually work
→ Speak on GTM, content, and creator-led growth
→ Act as a fractional marketing leader or advisor

📚 Author of B2B Influencer Marketing: Work With Creators to Generate Authentic and Effective Marketing (Kogan Page, 2025)

👋 Let’s work together: DM me or visit https://linktr.ee/NickBMarketing

Nick Bennett

20 things I learned running ABM programs for 15+ companies:

1. 25 target accounts performed better than 500 every single time
2. Sales, marketing, AND ops picking accounts together changed everything
3. The CFO sending one email beat 24 marketing touches
4. Intent data was right about 30% of the time
5. Direct mail got 5x more meetings than digital campaigns
6. Geographic territories killed 3 programs before we ditched them
7. One $5K gift beat $50K in digital ads
8. Account-specific landing pages doubled conversion
9. Early wins came in 60 days but real ROI took 6 months
10. Customer success knew more about buyers than sales
11. Tier 2 accounts needed completely different playbooks
12. Competitive accounts took longer but paid 2x more
13. Executive dinners beat virtual events even post-COVID
14. Dedicated ABM manager or don't bother starting
15. Generic content got 0% engagement from enterprise
16. Multi-threading saved 8 deals when champions left
17. C-suite alignment meetings prevented 90% of problems
18. Testing on best-fit accounts proved ROI faster
19. CAC went up 40% before pipeline caught up
20. The companies that committed for a year won

Every company wants ABM to work in 90 days.

The ones that give it a year build pipeline machines.

The ones that don't blame ABM.

15+ Year B2B Marketing Leader Turned Founder | ABM, Field Marketing & Events, Influencer Marketing & More | DM Me to Learn More

I wasn't a brand marketer.

I was the "pipeline now" guy. The "just get meetings" guy. The "who cares about brand when we need revenue" guy.

Then I watched the same movie play out at company after company.

10 things I learned the hard way about brand in B2B:

1. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝗗𝗥 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴? 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝘅. You're literally paying for invisibility. In time. In burnout. In missed quota.

2. "𝗙𝗶𝘅 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲'𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱." I've heard this from every CEO. It's like saying "let me drown first, then I'll learn to swim."

3. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴? They're not better. They're just... known. Familiarity beats features every damn time.

4. "𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗴𝗲." No, they just have no idea who you are. There's a difference between a bad lead and a cold lead. Brand warms them up before sales even talks to them.

5. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀. That competitor who's been blogging for 3 years while you were "waiting for budget"? Yeah, good luck catching up now.

6. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱. It's underspending. Ask me how I know. Actually don't. It still hurts.

7. 𝗪𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟮𝟰 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝟲. Same close rate. Only difference? People had heard of us. That's 18 touches your SDRs don't have to make.

8. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗖𝗔𝗖 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝗰𝗸. But nobody wants to hear that in a board meeting when pipeline is down 40%.

9. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱: "𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗖𝗔𝗖 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽?" Also every board: "Cut brand spending, we need pipeline now." Make it make sense.

10. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗳𝗳𝘆 𝗕𝗦. It's the difference between cold calling 100 people and having 10 people call you.

If I could go back and slap 2010 me:

Start content on day one. Not after product-market fit. Not after Series A. Day. Freaking. One.

Put 30% into brand even when it hurts. ESPECIALLY when it hurts.

Stop measuring brand impact at 30 days. That's like planting seeds and digging them up next week to see if they grew.

Document everything. Share the ugly parts. Be known for something before you try to sell something.

The brutal truth?

While you're in another meeting debating whether brand is "worth it," your competitor just became the default choice in your prospect's mind.

And once they own that mental real estate?

Your 10% better features mean exactly nothing.

After working with 35+ B2B brands in 3 years, here's what's actually going to matter in 2026.

Not predictions. Not hot takes. Just patterns I keep seeing with companies that are winning right now.

𝟭. 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗕𝗠 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀.

Every company says they do ABM. Maybe 10% actually do it right.

The difference? They pick 25-50 accounts MAX. They know the actual humans involved. They create experiences, not campaigns.

One client went from 500 target accounts to 30. Pipeline went up 3x.

𝟮. 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿-𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.

The companies growing fastest? They're not doing it alone.

Customer co-marketing. Influencer partnerships. Integration partners running your events. One customer selling to another customer.

Solo marketing is dead. Everything is partnerships now.

𝟯. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 + 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿.

Stop arguing about brand vs performance. You need both.

The winning formula I'm seeing: 30% brand, 70% demand. But that 30% makes the 70% work 10x better.

We went from 24 touches to 6 at one company. Just because people knew who they were.

𝟰. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰.

The 500-person conference still exists. But the ROI is in the 8-person dinner.

VIP experiences. Executive roundtables. Customer advisory boards. Micro-events in tier 2 cities.

Quality > Quantity. Every single time.

𝟱. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀.

Not just case studies. Not just referrals.

Customers creating content. Running webinars. Speaking at your events. Closing deals for you.

The best GTM teams are turning customers into an extension of their team.

𝟲. 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹.

Not because of AI. Because CFOs are done with 120+ tools.

The companies winning? They have maybe 15-20 core tools. Everything else is noise.

Pick platforms, not point solutions.

𝟳. 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲-𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆.

Your buyers are people with actual problems, actual budgets, and actual bosses breathing down their necks.

Talk to them like humans. Solve real problems. Make their lives easier.

The companies that remember this are the ones still growing.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵?

None of this is revolutionary. It's just hard to execute.

But after 15+ years in B2B, I can tell you:

The basics done well beat innovation done poorly. Every time.

Anything you disagree with on the list?

I'm 38 and still don't have it figured out.

About to turn 39 in January. And you know what? I'm done pretending that's a problem.

Here's what timeline pressure really is:

It's your dad asking when you'll get a "real job" at Thanksgiving. It's scrolling LinkedIn at 11pm seeing someone younger announce their Series B. It's that voice at 2am whispering you should be further along by now.

It's fear dressed up as ambition.

I spent my entire 30s racing against a clock that doesn't exist. Chasing titles I didn't even want. Comparing myself to people whose lives I wouldn't actually choose.

Know why we do this?

Because timeline pressure isn't about achievement. It's about approval.

We're not actually racing to success. We're racing to prove we're not failures. To our parents. To our high school classmates. To strangers on the internet who don't even know we exist.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹:

Every "30 under 30" list is really saying you have an expiration date.

Every "I made VP at 28" post is really saying you're already too late.

Every "built three companies by 35" is really saying you're not trying hard enough.

But here's what I learned after three layoffs, a mental breakdown, and missing too many bedtimes:

The people creating these timelines? They're just as lost as you. They're just better at hiding it.

That 28-year-old VP? Anxiety medication and a therapist on speed dial.

That serial entrepreneur? Third marriage and kids who barely know them.

That overnight success? Ten years of invisible failures they'll never post about.

We're all performing success for an audience that's too busy performing their own success to even notice.

You know what I actually want at 38?

To do work I don't hate. Make enough money to not stress about groceries. Be home for dinner. Watch my kids grow up. Maybe take a vacation without my laptop.

That's it. That's the dream.

Not VP by 40. Not a million by 45. Not whatever milestone LinkedIn decided matters this week.

Just... a good life. With people I love. Doing work that matters to someone.

The timeline isn't just a lie.

It's a trap that makes you miss your actual life while chasing someone else's definition of success.

I'm 38. Almost 39. And I finally get it:

There is no behind. There is no ahead.

There's just now. And whether you're living your life or performing it.

20 things nobody tells you about being a terrible leader:

1. Hired someone toxic because they were brilliant. Kept them 8 months. Two people quit. Should've fired them week 3.

2. Your team knows when you're lying. Told mine everything was fine two weeks before layoffs. Trust never came back.

3. We're a family is BS. Families don't fire you when revenue drops.

4. Made my team work all weekend on a deck the CEO looked at for 90 seconds. That's when I learned to push back.

5. Your best performer will ghost you if you ignore them. Lost my best marketer this way. Still think about it.

6. CC'ing someone's boss just tells everyone you can't have real conversations.

7. 30 minute 1:1s are useless. Nothing real happens until minute 45.

8. Gave an all hands where I talked for 50 minutes straight. Someone actually timed it.

9. Promoting your best IC to manager usually ends badly. Different skills entirely.

10. Used to rewrite everything my team wrote. They stopped trying. Just waited for me to do it.

11. Your open door policy is meaningless if you're in meetings all day.

12. Brutal honesty without empathy is just being a jerk.

13. Remote teams need MORE connection not less. Real conversations. Not virtual happy hours.

14. Every pointless meeting costs 2 hours. The meeting plus getting back into deep work.

15. We need to move fast usually means I didn't plan and now it's your emergency.

16. Taking credit for your team's wins feels good for one week. Then they start interviewing.

17. Your weakest performer shows everyone what you'll accept.

18. First time I said I don't know what do you think everything changed.

19. If you're not uncomfortable weekly you're avoiding conversations that matter.

20. That person you can't lose? Already interviewing. Because you assumed they'd stay instead of earning it.

The difference between terrible leaders and good ones?

Terrible leaders pretend they never screwed up.
Good leaders tell you exactly how.

I've been awful at this. Multiple times. With witnesses.

But every time I admitted it my next team trusted me more.

Not because I got better.
Because I was honest about being bad at it.

Your early career disasters aren't failures.
They're your real education.

The only failure is pretending you were good from day one.

Nobody was. Especially not that VP you think has it all figured out.

Every CEO knows marketing takes 6 months to show results.

But they cut it anyway after sales complains on day 6.

I've watched this movie 100 times. Smart leaders making the same dumb mistake. Over and over.

The psychology behind it is brutal:

𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.

Sales misses number today = immediate pain
Marketing investment pays off in 6 months = invisible gain

Your brain is wired to stop the bleeding NOW. Even when you know the tourniquet will kill you later.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗽.

Sales: "We need leads TODAY"
Board: "Why is pipeline down THIS QUARTER?"
CEO: "What can we cut THIS MONTH?"

Marketing ROI lives in the future. But pressure lives in the present.

When the house is on fire, nobody invests in smoke detectors.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀.

That deal that closed today? You think it was your killer sales team.

It was actually:
- The blog post from 8 months ago
- The webinar from 6 months ago  
- The customer story from 4 months ago
- The LinkedIn post from 2 months ago

But sales gets the credit. Marketing gets the cut.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.

While you're cutting, your competition is doubling down.

They're playing the long game while you're playing quarter-to-quarter.

6 months from now they'll be eating your lunch. And you'll wonder why your "sales problem" got worse.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁.

Cut marketing for 3 months.
Takes 9 months to recover.

Not because marketing is slow. Because trust is.

Your audience stops seeing you. Forgets you exist. Moves on to whoever kept showing up.

And when you come back? You're starting from zero. While paying catch-up prices.

I watched a friend's company cut marketing (a year ago) in Q2 to "save" the year.

Q3: Pipeline dropped 40%
Q4: Panic hiring of BDRs
Q1: Emergency budget to "fix" marketing
Q2: Finally back to baseline

Cost of the "savings": $2.3M in lost revenue.

The solution isn't complex:

Treat marketing like you treat product development. Long-term investment. Compound returns.

You wouldn't stop building features because sales had a bad week.

Stop treating marketing like an expense you can pause.

It's compound interest on your revenue. And compound interest only works if you don't interrupt it.

Your empty pipeline next quarter is being built right now.

By the budget you're about to cut.

20 things I learned putting people first in field and event marketing:

1. Partner events convert 3x better than solo ones. When their customers see your customers in the room, trust transfers instantly.

2. VIP experiences beat volume plays. 8 executives at a private dinner drove more pipeline than 800 people at our user conference.

3. Webinar engagement dies after minute 23. Unless a customer is talking. Then they'll stay for an hour.

4. The pre-event is the real event. Send personalized video invites. Call each attendee. Half your pipeline comes from pre-event touchpoints.

5. Micro events in tier 2 cities outperform major markets. Nashville beats NYC. Austin beats SF. People actually show up.

6. Your customer advisory board is your best event list. They'll bring the right prospects. Give them invite codes and get out of the way.

7. Event ROI takes 6-9 months to measure. That Q4 deal came from your Q1 dinner. Stop checking pipeline after 30 days.

8. Workshop format beats presentation format. Make them do something. Passive listening creates zero pipeline.

9. Regional field marketers should own the P&L. They know their market. Stop making them beg HQ for budget approval.

10. Partner with customers, not just vendors. Customer co-hosts bring qualified prospects. Vendor co-hosts bring whoever.

11. The 30/70 rule never fails. 30% customers, 70% prospects. Perfect mix for social proof.

12. Breakout rooms are where deals happen. Main stage is theater. Small rooms are sales.

13. Member communities 10x event attendance. Build the community first. Events become the reward.

14. Personalization at scale actually works. Custom landing pages. Role-specific agendas. Generic events are dead.

15. First-party data beats third-party intent. Track who engages with your content. Stop buying lists of strangers.

16. Executive sponsors matter only if they stay. Flying in for the keynote doesn't count. Dinner conversations close deals.

17. Follow up in 48 hours or don't bother. Day 1-2: 72% response rate. Day 14: You're forgotten.

18. Virtual events need 3x the production value. Bad audio killed more pipeline than bad content ever did.

19. Customer stories beat product demos. They care about people like them solving problems like theirs.

20. Word-of-mouth drives 60% of quality registrations. Focus on experience, not just attendance.

Spent a decade learning that events aren't about gathering people.

They're about connecting the right people.

The companies winning at event-led growth don't chase attendance metrics. They obsess over the quality of connections made.

But try explaining that when leadership wants to see "cost per lead."

Make your GTM more people-first and that means designing for relationships, not registrations.

Most companies are still shipping branded stress balls to convention centers wondering why nobody remembers them.

Buyers trust their network 5x more than they trust you.

Yet we still cold call and pray.

I mapped the people around every deal we closed. Same 4 types showed up every time.

Here's who actually influences your deals:

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 1: 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱

Stop focusing on the buyer. Look at who's around them:
- Current customers in their network
- Consultants they work with
- Peers at similar companies
- Former colleagues they trust

We found 73% of our deals had a customer whispering in their ear.

We just never knew it.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 - Usually a current customer. They confirm you don't suck.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 - Consultant or advisor. They shape requirements (usually in your favor if you know them).

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗲𝗿 - Someone at a similar company who did what they're trying to do.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻 - Person your internal champion trusts most.

Find these four. Game changes.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 3: 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁

Before you pitch:
- Ask your customers who else they know at target account
- Check LinkedIn for mutual connections
- See which consultants work with them
- Find the Slack groups they're in

One deal: Found out prospect's advisor was our customer.

One intro. Deal closed in 2 weeks.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 4: 𝗔𝗿𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱

Give these people:
- Stories to share
- Data to reference
- Intros to make
- Reasons to mention you

We created a "customer council" just so they'd know each other.

Now they sell for us without us asking.

Deals through network: 67% close rate.
Cold outreach: 2% close rate.

Stop selling to people.

Start selling through people.

Most buyer personas are complete garbage.

62 slides of demographics that help nobody.

"Decision makers aged 35-45 with MBAs who value efficiency."

That's literally half of LinkedIn. Your sales team still can't book a meeting.

Know why? Because knowing someone went to business school doesn't help you connect with them.

Here's what actually works:

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 1: 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀 

Stop caring about age. Education. Years of experience.

Start mapping what matters:
- The problem that makes them search for solutions at 2am
- Which 3 Slack communities they live in (get the actual names)
- Who they trust for advice (hint: not you)

Pull your last 20 closed deals. Call them. Ask these exact questions.

The answers will shock you.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 2: 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 

Traditional persona: "Values ROI and efficiency"

Real persona: "Terrified the board discovers our tech stack is duct tape"

Document the real stuff:
- What failure looks like for THEM (not the company)
- What success means (promotion? respect? sleep?)
- Exact words they use when complaining

We discovered every buyer said "drowning in tools."

Changed our entire messaging. Conversions tripled.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 3: 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀

Sounds old school but it works.

D types: Send ROI data. 3 bullets. No fluff.
I types: Send success stories. Name drop.
S types: Send case studies. Go slow.
C types: Send ALL the documentation.

Trained SDRs on this. Demo rates jumped from 12% to 47%.

Same list. Same product. 

Just actually knowing who we're talking to.

Bottom line: Stop documenting what people look like. Start understanding what keeps them up at night.

Then help them sleep better.

Nobody talks about the hardest part of internal marketing.

Getting your own team to actually give a shit.

I've watched brilliant campaigns die because sales didn't get it. Product roadmaps derail because engineering thought marketing was just making things pretty. Budgets vanish because finance saw us as a cost center.

Know what actually works? Stop trying to convince everyone. Start making them part of it.

Here's how I rally stakeholders without the corporate theater:

1. Anchor on one outcome, not 47 metrics

This campaign creates 30 meetings by March 31st.

Not impressions. Not MQLs. One number everyone understands.

2. Make ownership embarrassingly clear

Sarah owns email. Tom owns landing page. Mike owns enablement.

No we'll figure it out together BS. You own it or you don't.

3. Translate, don't escalate

Sales: This gets you 30 meetings
Finance: $50K investment, $500K return
Product: Positions feature X as differentiator

Same campaign. Three languages. Zero confusion.

4. Kill the weekly status meeting

Monday Slack update. Three bullets:
✅ On track
⚠️ At risk (why)
🔴 Blocked (need X)

2 minutes to read. No calendar invites.

5. Make fast decisions when shit gets messy

Sales wants A. Product wants B. Here's the tradeoff. I recommend A. Deciding by 3pm.

No committee. Just clarity.

6. One doc to rule them all

Not 14 decks. One living document:
Goal. Owners. Timeline. Status.

7. Bring sales in before you build

What would make this actually useful?

They shape it = They sell it.
They're surprised = They sabotage it.

8. Share wins like your job depends on it

That campaign? 12 meetings. $2M pipeline. Here's what worked.

Public wins create believers.

The brutal truth?

Your stakeholders don't care about your marketing strategy. They care about their problems.

Show them how you solve THEIR problems, and they'll fight for your budget.

Show them another PowerPoint, and they'll find reasons to say no.

I spent years trying to educate stakeholders about marketing.

Now I just show them what's in it for them.

Works every damn time.

LinkedIn's year in review was like getting a participation trophy from your kid's soccer league.

Congrats! You existed on our platform!

Meanwhile, ŌURA just dropped me 18 shots of actual data. Not 3. Not 5. EIGHTEEN. 

242,792 steps. 131 crowns. Sleep scores. Recovery trends. Stress patterns over time. And that's just what I could screenshot before my thumb got tired.

The kind of data that makes you go holy shit, I did that?

Not you posted 47 times or whatever vanilla metric LinkedIn thinks matters.

Here's what kills me about year in reviews:

Most companies treat them like automated birthday cards.

Generic. Forgettable. Zero emotional connection.

But when you show me I walked the equivalent of Boston to Philly and back? That I earned 131 daily crowns for hitting my goals? That my sleep improved when I started that evening routine?

That's not a recap. That's a mirror.

The companies that get this right understand something simple:

Data without context is just numbers.
Data with YOUR context is a story.

Spotify doesn't just say you listened to music. They show you discovered 847 new artists and played that one embarrassing song 97 times at 2am.

Strava doesn't say you exercised. They show you climbed the equivalent of Everest twice.

Oura doesn't say you wore a ring. They show you exactly how your body responded to every decision you made this year.

Why this matters for every company:

Your customers are doing incredible things with your product. But you're sending them PDFs that say thanks for being a customer.

Show them their journey. Their growth. Their wins they didn't even know were wins.

Make them feel something about their own progress.

4 years as an Oura customer (not sponsored but seriously, Oura, let's talk 👀) and this is the first year in review that made me actually proud of data.

Not because the numbers were good.

Because they told MY story.

Your move, LinkedIn. Maybe next year show me which posts actually moved someone's career forward instead of you got 73 reactions.

Until then, I'll be over here staring at my 242,792 steps wondering how my knees still work.

What's the best year in review you've gotten? The one that actually made you feel something?

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The Battle

Will Aitken

Nick Bennett

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Performance ScoreWill Aitken's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Will Aitken

Nick Bennett

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Will Aitken's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreNick Bennett's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreWill Aitken's LinkedIn Performance