Productivity tips to manage LinkedIn in 10 minutes a day or less | Actionable insights to harness your expertise for the recognition you seek | LinkedIn trainer & COO of Narify

Most of the marketing advice you're seeing is complete nonsense.

❌Spend budget on advertising
While your colleagues have 5x more reach.

❌Spend budget on converting leads 
While the network of your sales reps already established a relationship with them.

❌ Spend budget on recruitment 
While your employees have your next talent in their network.

We think the solution is MORE. 
More content, more ads, more tactics.

This approach gets you nowhere.

You can't do everything and expect to excel at anything.

Since 2011, I have helped professionals like you leverage B2B Thought Leadership, Social Selling, and Employee Advocacy primarily through LinkedIn™️. 

Together with Richard van der Blom, I run a  consultancy and training agency called Just Connecting. We have supported over 100.000 professionals and thousands of organizations globally. 

If those topics aren't your thing, I'm also up for long gravelbike trips or teaching my Australian Labradoodle some new tricks—although, I must admit, she only seems to do them when there are cookies involved!

Anyway, my approach to my clients?

✅ Figure out what they’re actually aiming for.

✅ Support, develop and execute the systems that bring them closer to these goals

✅ Unlock the potential of employee-ship so employees want to become brand ambassadors. 
(Instead of being forced...)

I work with:
🔹Mid sized to corporate organizations 

🔹Marketing departments that want to leverage Thought Leadership and Employee Advocacy

🔹Sales teams that build authority and attract leads and costumers via Social Selling strategies via Linkedin™️ and Sales Navigator

Although I do take on other client profiles from time to time when I am 100% sure I can help you.

Follow me for insights on these topics. 

Connect or contact me to find out more about our programs and systems. 

Talk soon
📬 martijnholtes@justconnecting.nl

Martijn Holtes

Some partnerships work. 
Richard van der Blom and I have been proving this for 15 years. 
Now we're making it official.

For 15 years, we've collaborated without formalising anything. 
It worked because our skills fit together naturally. 

Just like Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger 
Different strengths, shared vision.

Richard has the market presence and expertise that people know. 
I focus on the strategic frameworks and implementation. 
Different roles, one direction.

Last year showed us that our clients' needs have evolved. 

They're no longer looking for training vendors. 
They need partners who can identify and solve the real issues.
The ones hiding behind the surface request.

We realised that to solve those deeper problems, we need to rely on each other's expertise even more. 

So we're formalising what's always been true.

From now on, we're running Just Connecting - Social Selling, Employee Advocacy and Marketing together. 

Not as vendors selling courses, but as strategic partners solving the problems that matter.

We're taking everything we've learned over 15 years and building something different. 

The next six months will be interesting.

More to come.

B2B Thought Leadership | Social Selling and Employee Advocacy | Most companies contact me for platform training. Often they walk away with something more valuable....

The biggest issue for selling isn't your lead-generation process.

It's how you treat the people running it.

I have trained sales teams for over 15 years, 
And I have found that most companies focus on the obvious stuff.

They optimize every step of the process.
Until there is nothing left to optimize 
Then they complain that it doesn't work.

They overlooked one critical element. 

Selling is emotional work. 

Deals fall through. 
Prospects ghost reps. 
The pressure never stops.
Salespeople face rejection daily. 

And if you don't support them in this.
You and the organization are going to pay a price 

So here's my message to all of you leading sales teams 
Stop talking about the f'n numbers for five minutes. 

Ask the question nobody asks:
"How are you really feeling?"

In the long run, this conversation will be what builds the business.

☝️ Swipe through to see how this actually works
♻️ Repost so others can learn too.

Carousel_Selling is a deeply emotional process.pdf

If your own team won’t like your posts...

Why should any customer trust your brand?

I always look at a straightforward thing before I take on new clients 

Do employees like, share, or comment on their own company posts?

If the answer is no, I know the problem isn't their LinkedIn strategy.

Most of our clients tell me it is about time, skills, or tools.

They ask for more training, better content, or an easy way to share posts.

(P.s. I'm all for that 😁)

But…

When people do not feel proud or safe, no tool can fix that. 

They stay silent….

Employee Advocacy acts like a mirror.

If people feel seen, heard, and trusted, they will show up. 
If they do not, they hide.

So next time when you signal low engagement… 

Do you dare to ask what it says about your culture?

Everyone in my social selling cohorts is panicking about AI
"Adapt or get replaced!"
Let's talk about adapting.

To sell anything, you need three things:
Demand
Supply
Leverage to match them efficiently

AI crushes efficiency. 
It always will.

But here's the thing: 
Efficient doesn't mean effective.

I think you are competing on the wrong battlefield.

What your leads and clients actually want? 
Your Point of View.

Not your branding. 
Not your post volume. 
Not your network size.

Your unique way of seeing their problem.

The experience you've built. 
The knowledge you've earned. The skills you've refined. 
The perspective only you have.

That's what AI can't touch.

That's what makes you irreplaceable.

Stop trying to be more efficient. 
Start being more you.


☝️ Swipe through to see how this actually works
♻️ Repost so others can learn too.

Carousel_Why you need to adapt to the new way of selling (1).pdf

Cold calling worked when people needed information. 
Now they need trusted judgment. 
Different problem. Different solution.

AI can answer your prospect's questions in seconds. 
It can summarize reports, analyze data, and serve up exactly what they're looking for.

But what AI can't do is to make them feel confident about a decision.

That requires a human they trust. 
Someone with real experience and a point of view. 
Someone they've been watching, learning from, and connecting with before they ever need to buy.

This is what I call becoming a "First Choice Authority."
Not the person with the most followers. 
The one they reach out to first when they're ready to move.
The person prospects turn to when they need to make a call. 

If you're in sales, this isn't optional anymore. 
It's how deals get made now.

Here are six reasons why building your authority on LinkedIn is the best investment you can make in your sales career.

P.S. Who's a sales professional on LinkedIn you follow because you actually trust their perspective?

Do you want to share your company's latest press releases?
No? 
Well, guess what - your employees don't want to either.

Only 1 in 10 employees actively participates in advocacy programs. 

Why? 
Because most programs are built on corporate self-interest, not mutual benefit.

Below you find a list of better alternatives. 
Your employees could be your best marketing asset - but only if you treat them like partners, not channels.

Ready to build an advocacy program that actually works? 
DM me to learn how we help companies get this right

The dumbest advice lifestyle guru’s give you is "Just be yourself.”

“Being yourself” can be the exact thing that is holding you back.

Because if “yourself” is telling you that:
❌ Playing big is arrogant
❌ Risks are dangerous
❌ That is “just” who I am….

…then authenticity becomes an obstacle, not an advantage.

We don’t want the watered-down version of you.

We want the version that dares to lead, share, and stand for something.

So don’t just “be yourself.”
Be your best self— the one that we remember, respect, and rally behind.

It improves your business and it improves your career. 
Some won't understand the best version of you. 
Some will 

No matter the outcome, doing the right thing is always the right thing to do. 

What’s one part of your “best self” that we haven't seen yet?

Social selling frameworks promise to make everything easy.
And that's exactly why most people using them aren't seeing real growth.

Don't get me wrong - frameworks and templates have their place.
They give you structure and confidence.

But the people getting real results go way beyond it

✅ They show up consistently.
✅ They ask questions they genuinely want answers to.
✅ They personalise like they actually care.
✅ Their follow-ups add value before asking for anything.

Frameworks can teach you what to do.
They can't teach you how to care.

Use frameworks as starting points.
Then master the parts you can't systemise.

Building trust through genuine human connection.

Do frameworks help or get in the way of your relationship building?

Frameworks  make Social Selling feel easy, but...

Subset AB

“We develop innovative solutions for security and defence”

We deliver secure solutions through our development and as advisory partners when reviewing critical systems or individual applications. Over the past sixteen years, our assignments have helped government agencies and businesses elevate their Cyber security. We have achieved this by consistently earning trust to contribute our unique expertise in areas such as cryptography and mathematics, combined with secure system development, in projects where high demands for trust in systems and applications are a necessity."

Through our unique methodology - the Cybersecurity Integration Model (CIM) - we apply a strategic assessment that focuses on the capabilities our clients wish to achieve, whether it's strengthening protection against specific threats, improving efficiency, or expediting security-enhancing processes.

Today we are recognized as the leading experts, consultants, and developers in cybersecurity, information security, and IT security and with our assistance, organizations can navigate through the complexity of the cybersecurity landscape and make decisions that enhance their ability to meet today's and tomorrow's challenges. 

As an independent actor, we always base our approach on facts and what is best for the customer.

Head of Sales

SHAARPEC by Hallandia V AB

SHAARPEC, a development project for data-driven healthcare system management and personalized precision health.

Skills: Value Propositions · Startups ·Storytelling · Customer-Focused Selling · Customer Relationship Management (CRM) · Leadership · New Business Development · Skill Development · Presentation Skills · People Management · P&L Management · Negotiation · Demand Generation · Marketing Strategy · Sales Processes · Direct Sales · Sales Enablement · International Sales · Sales Management · Executive Management · Business Strategy · Cross-functional Team Leadership

Sr Sales Executive

InterSystems

Responsible for all our activities in Scandinavia 
Change management/ Split and restart of the region
Reconnect/recruited channel partner
Won back several lost accounts
Wrote a new regional market strategy
Established Intersystems as a thought leader
Upsell to existing accounts and partners
Full P&l
Overachieved annual budget (109%)

Built and promoted Intersystems brand in Scandinavia
Early adopter of inter systems social selling program
P&l

Skills: Value Propositions · Storytelling · Customer-Focused Selling · Customer Relationship Management (CRM) · Leadership · New Business Development · Skill Development · Presentation Skills · People Management · P&L Management · Negotiation · Demand Generation · Marketing Strategy · Sales Processes · Direct Sales · Sales Enablement · International Sales · Sales Management · Executive Management · Business Strategy · Cross-functional Team Leadership

Sales Executive

Nordstrom Business Consulting AB

Company Owner

Wallarm Inc.

AI Powered Application security
Two Year project to help the founders build the team and get the series A funding
Owner of GMT and Channel acquisition
Created a global channel strategy
Changed and implemented pricing strategy and legal steering documents
Signed GTM partnership agreement with Google, AWS, Docker
Critical account management, reenabled and won back 3 largest accounts. 
Recruited and coached 10 channel partners
Presented at several international events
Company growth 100+ percent year over year in Q3/18
Company closed the full A-series investment round in Nov 2018

Skills: Value Propositions · Startups ·Storytelling · Customer-Focused Selling · Customer Relationship Management (CRM) · Leadership · New Business Development · Skill Development · Presentation Skills · People Management · P&L Management · Negotiation · Demand Generation · Marketing Strategy · Sales Processes · Direct Sales · Sales Enablement · International Sales · Sales Management · Executive Management · Business Strategy · Cross-functional Team Leadership

Chief Business Development Officer (Interim)

Positive Technologies

One Year contract
Project lead to list the company in the GMQ
Lead and developed international sales 
Recruited 10 channel partners
Full ownership of GTM strategies and alliances, GCP, Checkpoint, AWS
Sr Advisor to HQ and CEO

Skills: Value Propositions · Startups ·Storytelling · Customer-Focused Selling · Customer Relationship Management (CRM) · Leadership · New Business Development · Skill Development · Presentation Skills · People Management · P&L Management · Negotiation · Demand Generation · Marketing Strategy · Sales Processes · Direct Sales · Sales Enablement · International Sales · Sales Management · Executive Management · Business Strategy · Cross-functional Team Leadership

VP Global Business Developement (Interim)

Tufin

Won back critical accounts, Telia, Telenor, H&m
Business/Territory reengineering
Developed Tufin business in the Nordic, Russian Federation and CiS.
Built and lead a virtual sales and consulting team cross the region
Signed 14 new resellers
Direct relations and carrying quota on Key accounts
Acquired 15 new accounts

Skills: Value Propositions · Startups ·Storytelling · Customer-Focused Selling · Customer Relationship Management (CRM) · Leadership · New Business Development · Skill Development · Presentation Skills · People Management · P&L Management · Negotiation · Demand Generation · Marketing Strategy · Sales Processes · Direct Sales · Sales Enablement · International Sales · Sales Management · Executive Management · Business Strategy · Cross-functional Team Leadership

Sr Director of Sales Nordics, Russian Federation, Eurasia & CiS

EgoSecure

Six-month contract with one-month extension
Independent contractor at vendor in Endpoint security 
Scope: Change project and business reconstruction.

BDM (Interim)

Imperva

Data and Application security (WAF, DAM, DBF)
Established Imperva as the leading Data security vendor in the Region
Recruited 40+ partners in the Nordics, Russia and CiS
Direct relations with Key accounts
Acquired 50+ new accounts
Successfully established Imperva as the No 1 WAF/Data security vendor in the region
Overachieved annual quota in 4 out of 5 years
Chairman’s club 2013

Regional Sales Director Russian Federation & CIS

Arbor Networks, the security division of NETSCOUT

A leader in identify and mitigating Ddos attacks
Established a channel strategy.
Negotiated and signed several resellers in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and the 	Baltic's
Negotiated and signed frame agreements with the largest carriers and enterprise 	business in the region, Telia Sonera, Telenor, TDC, Comhem and Nokia 
KEY account management, closed on and above targets
Overachieved annual quota 112%

Territorial Manager Nordic & Baltics


📌 ABOUT ME
Experienced business developer. Sales, new business and Interim manager. 
Father, and more important Grandfather, loves to travel and to meet new people and cultures.

📌 My ”Why”, in life and profession:

I have a strong ethical drive in everything I do, both private as well as professional and I have a strong belief that we can solve the most challenging problems or situations with human interactions and dialogue.

I also believe that Data, no matter where it resides, traverse or being used, needs to be healthy, clean, protected and usable, and I want to be a part to drive better decisions, actions, and outcomes for people and organisations.

📌 EXPERTISE & TRACK RECORD
- over 25 years experience in different B2B sales roles
- over 14 years experience as Interim C-Roles and Business development
- over 12 years of international business development
- Introduced and established new solutions and companies in foreign regions
- Experienced in social selling 


✉ 
📞 

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