Daily Content & LinkedIn Insights • Founder at I.Am.U Media • Content and LinkedIn Consulting for Founders & CEOs

Before joining The 216, most of our clients were struggling with:

→ No clear offer (or an offer nobody understood)
→ An inconsistent way to generate qualified leads 
→ No process to have sales conversations with confidence

Many felt like impostors when talking about their business.
Others seriously considered going back to their 9-5 jobs.

And in general, they were constantly worried about when they would sign their next client.

After joining The 216, they all walked out with clear frameworks around:

1️⃣ Niching and Positioning: Explaining their business in a way that people instantly “get”.
2️⃣ Offer Creation: Building a premium, outcome-driven offer built around real client pain.
3️⃣ Repeatable Outreach System: Having a simple process anyone can follow to start conversations every week using only LinkedIn.
4️⃣ Natural Sales Process: A sales process that feels natural, easy, and with improving close rates. 

It’s the same system that helped:

📌 Adina Samuels (Manuscript Ghostwriter): From corporate job → $200k solo business
📌 Christian Mather (Wealth & Exit Planner): 4× monthly income to $23k in under 10 weeks
📌 Matthew Mercer (Recruitment Coach): Consistent £10k–£15k months
📌 Allison Paley (CS Consultant): From self-doubt → landed a $36,000 client
📌 Efe Buyuk (Data Systems Designer): Made 6× the program fee in under 12 weeks
📌 Priscilla Leigh (Psychoaudiologist): First high-ticket client in 21 days
📌 Chris Corridore (Brand Strategist): First $15k month and best year ever

These are all real people. You can find their profiles in my Featured Section. 

I invite you to message them and ask what their experience was like. 

And if you're ready, and you want a business that runs with clarity, control, and clients you can count on, send me a DM and I’ll share how The 216 works.

—

Mat Lehnhoff

If you're sending connection requests and getting less than 20% acceptance rate, something's broken. Here's what to check:

1. Your profile picture is doing you dirty.

Make sure you're showing your face. Zoom in. And smile.

It sounds wild, but people will literally judge if you're worth connecting with based on this.


2. You're connecting with the wrong people.

The secret is to be as specific as possible. "Coaches & consultants" doesn't cut it.

Use specific job titles. Use specific locations. Pay for LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Some audiences simply aren't active on LinkedIn. 
But you have to test it.


3. Your headline shows zero value.

The first 10 words of your headline are what matter most.

They need to show how you can help your ideal client.

Or at minimum, create some intrigue.

Don't waste that precious real estate writing something like "Loving father". 

Show what's in it for THEM.


Here's what nobody tells you:

Having less than 20% acceptance rate means you'll be able to send fewer connection requests.

Because it signals to LinkedIn that people don't want to connect with you.

Which means fewer opportunities to grow your network and generate leads.

No bueno.

But it's easily fixed if you pay attention to these 3.


PS: If you consistently have 20-30% acceptance rate, you should be able to send 200 requests/week.

—

Grow to $15,000 months with LinkedIn alone • Learn how at The 216

A client was overthinking their LinkedIn outreach, so I reminded them:

LinkedIn has 1.2 billion users 

And you don't need to reach ALL of them.

Not even close.
You just need to reach a handful.

For example:

You could have 10 clients at $1500/month to create a $180k/year business.

That's it. Ten people.

You can run that solo, keep 95% profit margins, and design the lifestyle you actually want.

So you basically can get ignored by a billion people on this platform and STILL WIN.

You can fail 99% of the time, and STILL WIN.

How cool is that?

Here's the punchline:

Stop worrying about reaching everyone.

Start focusing on finding those "ten" clients who need what you offer.

That's all you need.

(And you can always grow from there).

Catherine Hamilton

Trestle Solutions Inc.

I build trestles that get Marketing programs from “here” (strong regional player) to “there” (ready to compete on the national stage).

Using a framework that makes Marketing transformation PREDICTABLE and FASTER, I will create a change vision + structure + execute with you or on a project basis, for you.

You’re a CMO or VP Marketing in a $20-$500 million company that’s unifying after long-term growth, starting EOS, or consolidating post-merger or acquisition who realizes that fractional, expert support will accelerate change - it can't be done off the "side of your desk."

Or a CEO who’s activating change and needs an interim Marketing leader to light the fire during an extended search for the right permanent resource. (I’ll onboard them too!)

Transformation is chaotic (IYKYK 😉).

And having the path, the plan, and a Marketing transformation expert at your side accelerates change and gets you to results faster. Companies with trestles:

🚀 Smashed an all-time monthly leads record within 10 months.

🚀 Untangled a 25-brand portfolio into a powerful unified brand that changes lives. (And saved $120K in annual regional media costs.)

🚀 Built a digital customer journey that became the template for all countries in the global model and teed up 25% more leads (and counting) from existing buyers.

🚀 Optimized their sales enablement touchpoints and tools, bringing Marketing and Sales together for the first time, and pivoting to a “shared responsibility for leads” mindset.

🚀 Uplevelled people, processes, and vendor partners, creating a Marketing infrastructure that can scale with growth. (And they posted 20% YOY last fiscal.)

Fractional CMO and Marketing Transformation Consultant I Founder & CEO

WSAudiology

During an extended search for a permanent Marketing leader, the CEO brought me in to oversee their large-scale rebrand project execution (US + global stakeholders, consolidate 36 brands to 1) and realign the team. Spearheaded evolution of the legacy Marketing program into the lead engine they needed to fuel significant growth plans. I also onboarded the new Marketing executive and ensured a smooth hand-off to that permanent role.

Interim CMO

me&ideas inc.

Working corporate from the agency side:

Account leadership for a $300 million US-based client with global stakeholders. Transformed the mix of traditional and digital Marketing programs + a focus on evolving brand and culture. Multiple new location launches with compressed leadgen targets.

Execution of a global brand for a business unit in Austria.

Account Director, North America

Connect Hearing

It's a challenging mission: sell a solution people don’t want to buy, at a price they don’t want to pay, for a problem they don't want to have. 

I was responsible for Marketing transformation, strategy, lead generation programs & conversion to qualified scheduled appointments. Brand strategy, traditional + digital media, client journey, acquisition & greenfield (new build) centres growth plans, call centre inbound & outbound lead generation. Optimized leadgen streams with North America and global stakeholders.

*Senior executive team: $80 million company, 400 staff, 130 retail locations
*Multi-year 10+% upside in lead generation
*Re-engineered a 9-person call centre, increasing productivity by 30% while positively impacting team KPIs and client satisfaction

Vice President of Marketing

I joined shortly after Connect Hearing was acquired by Sonova. Immediately executed a national rebrand (consolidating 23 brands into 1) along with a culture plan that unified disparate teams across the country. Transitioned from Operations “order-takers” to a professional Marketing team with an integrated IMC plan to effectively drive lead generation.

*Created a segmentation & customer lifecycle program that grew CLV 3x over CAC
*Development of the first national public relations program and content strategy
*Negotiated two national partnerships that extended reach beyond paid media into member-based communities

Director of Marketing

Suburbia Studios

Suburbia was a nationally recognized agency that created innovative, effective, and award-winning retail campaigns and brands. "Measure twice, cut once" is a phrase I've repeated often from my tenure there.

Key clients included Coastal Community Credit Union, Mic Mac Mall (Halifax) and Woodgrove Centre. Account management, brand development and re-positioning, campaign planning and execution, budget control and results measurement. This was a contract position.

Retail Accounts 

Dollar Financial Group

Retail financial at the $500+ million revenue level with more than 900 outlets across North America. Exceeded annual lead growth targets (always upward trending). Achieved 20% YOY growth.

This dynamic role involved strategic planning and execution of Marketing plans, ROI measurement, budget control, national advertising and sales promotions, qualitative & quantitative research, customer retention and loyalty programs and national merchandising within a complex regulatory environment. Multiple acquisitions. Also started with a franchise group; unravelled that to an owned model.

Senior Marketing Manager, North America

Focused on tourism, environment, hospitality and non-profit sectors. Accounts included Tourism Victoria, Ministries of Environment and Health, The Royal BC Museum, University of Victoria, Accent Inns, Quality Inns, United Way, Credit Union National Association (US). 

Client liaison and leadership, planning, estimating, budget control and project management. Pitching new business with senior management. Development of successful Marketing, brand, and rebrand campaigns. Use of Account Planning principles for qualitative research.

Account Manager

Helping Marketing leaders keep ALL the balls in the air during Growth l MarComm Leader I Brand Implementor I Builder of Content Frameworks I Rider of Road+Mountain+Gravel Bikes

I help VPs of Marketing in midmarket companies scale up. That’s my core work.

Because let’s be real—scaling marketing isn’t just “more marketing.” It’s an evolution. Bigger markets, bigger teams, bigger expectations. And it all needs to happen while still delivering today’s results.

No one prepares you for this part. Not your MBA. Not your last role. Definitely not the playbook that worked when the company was smaller. Yet here you are, staring down aggressive growth goals, needing to level up your marketing function—fast.

That’s why I created 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲-𝗨𝗽 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘆.

Think of it as your "Batphone" to me. A direct line to an expert who’s been where you are – getting Marketing ready for the big leap from regional to national.

✅ Monthly strategic boardroom sessions to map out what scaling means for your department 
✅ “Ask Me Anything” calls to tackle roadblocks in real-time 
✅ Proven playbooks & templates so you don’t have to start from scratch 
✅ A true sounding board—because big decisions shouldn’t be made in a vacuum

Scaling marketing doesn’t have to be a solo sport. If you need a Batphone, let’s talk.

But what if you’re not at the scaling stage yet? What if marketing isn’t bringing in buyers in the first place? I saw that gap too.

So I teamed up with two experts—each a specialist in their field—to build 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀.

Mass marketing is dead. Leads ≠ Buyers. And if the wrong buyers keep showing up, no amount of marketing spend will fix it.

That’s why we created a 30-day accelerator that aligns marketing and sales to attract High Value Buyers—the ones who are ready to invest now.

If you’re a Founder or CEO of a high-touch B2C business ($10M-$20M revenue, 50-100 employees) and you’re tired of wasting money on marketing that isn’t helping you sell, let’s talk.

📩 DM me with “BATPHONE” if you’re scaling up Marketing to support ambitious company growth.

📩 DM me with “MTS” if you want to help your buyers to buy and your sellers to sell.

taplio

The Battle

Mat Lehnhoff

Catherine Hamilton

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taplio

The Battle

Mat Lehnhoff

Catherine Hamilton

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);}Mat Lehnhoff's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

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