You ignore it.
If you sell B2B, odds are your customers and your prospects are on LinkedIn. The founder who never shows up is invisible to all of them.
A free guide for B2B founders. No email required.
Is LinkedIn Bringing You Followers, or Customers?
Get the LinkedIn Sales Playbook Behind All of My Business.
I am not a LinkedIn guru. I do not sell LinkedIn training. But all of my business now comes in from LinkedIn. This playbook is the process I work, written down in ten steps so you and your team can run it.
No form. No email. Click the button and it’s yours.
Download the Free PlaybookFree PDF. 26 pages. Ten steps, with the templates and the homework.
Louie Bernstein. 50 years in sales. Inc. 500 founder. LinkedIn Top Voice. Fractional Sales Leader since 2017.
Five Months. Zero Customers. Then Two in One Week.
I started posting on LinkedIn in April 2022. I had decades in business behind me. I still felt like I was shouting into the void.
I posted every day. I shared stories from 50 years in sales and business. I gave away the best advice I had.
For five straight months, the result was zero. Not one customer. Not one serious inquiry.
In the fifth month I almost didn’t post. I had made a promise to myself to stick to the process, so I wrote about a simple lesson my father taught me. The next day an email came in: “I’ve been following you for a few months. Your post today hit home. Can we talk?”
In one week I had three contract inquiries and signed two new clients. Today all of my business comes inbound from LinkedIn, plus the outbound of connecting with people I can help.
That didn’t happen because I got lucky. It happened because I worked a process. This playbook is that process.
Why LinkedIn Isn’t Bringing You Business
LinkedIn is the world’s largest B2B marketplace. Most founders treat it one of three ways. None of them work.
You connect and pitch.
A pitch in the first message. Everyone hates them. You don’t ask someone to marry you on the first date.
You chase followers.
I hit 15,000 followers. Only about 21% fit my Ideal Customer Profile. A big audience that can’t buy from you doesn’t pay the bills.
The one rule
Like. Trust. Buy.
It’s always in that order. LinkedIn doesn’t change that. It just makes it visible. Every step in the playbook moves a prospect one notch along that line.
Like.
They see your comments and posts. Your face and your name start to feel familiar.
Trust.
They visit your profile and read what you think. They start to see you know what you’re talking about.
Buy.
They reach out, or they say yes when you ask for a conversation. Then you sell.
The Ten Steps in the Playbook
Work them in order. Don’t skip Steps 1 and 2. Every step after them depends on knowing who you’re talking to and having a profile that sells when you’re not on the call.
Know exactly who you want to talk to
Followers and buyers are different people. You write an ICP card before you send one connection request.
2 hours, once
Turn your profile into your best salesperson
Most founder profiles are written for a recruiter. You rewrite yours for a buyer, with a checklist and a headline formula.
2 to 3 hours, once
Build a content engine your buyers want to read
Four content pillars, a simple posting week, and what goes in the first two lines of a post that gets read.
About 2 hours a week
Connect with intention
Who to connect with, how many a day, and five connection notes under 200 characters that get accepted.
10 minutes a day
Comment before you sell
A good comment is prospecting in public. You get the comment formula and what to never write.
15 minutes a day
Write DMs that start conversations, not pitches
A six-part DM sequence with templates, from the thank-you to the ask for a 20-minute call.
10 minutes a day
Run Sales Navigator as your pre-sales funnel
Set it up in one afternoon. Six lead lists, and every stage is earned by an action the prospect takes.
10 minutes a day
Move it to a meeting and into your CRM
LinkedIn starts the conversation. Your sales process finishes it. No next step means you’re just hoping.
As conversations come in
Put your sales team on LinkedIn
If LinkedIn only works when you’re on it, you’ve built another version of founder-led sales. Here is how your reps run it too.
15 minutes a week of coaching
Work the daily rhythm, track it, keep going
The 45-minute daily rhythm, a weekly scorecard, a monthly review, and a plan for your first 90 days.
20 minutes a week to review
Download the Free Playbook
Free PDF. No email required.
What You Get to Copy
This is a working document. You fill it in, you copy the templates, and you do the homework.
Templates and checklists
- The ICP card. Eight fields to fill in before you send one connection request.
- The profile checklist. Photo, banner, headline, About, Featured, and the 10-second test.
- The headline formula. Who you help, the result they get, and your proof.
- Five connection notes. Each under LinkedIn’s 200-character limit. None of them pitch.
- The comment formula. Two to four sentences that show how you think.
- DM templates. The thank-you, the value message, the job-change note, and the ask.
- My pre-sales funnel. Six Sales Navigator lead lists, from “Fits the ICP” to “Conversation.”
- The 45-minute daily rhythm. What to do, in what order, minute by minute.
- The weekly scorecard. Seven numbers to track, with starting targets.
- Your first 90 days. What to work on each week, and how you know it’s done.
The 45-minute daily rhythm
Straight from Step 10. This is the whole day.
- 10 minSales Navigator: alerts, new leads, move people between lists
- 15 minComment on five to ten posts from your ICP
- 10 minSend 15 to 20 personal connection requests
- 10 minDMs: thank-yous, replies, value messages. Log any meetings in the CRM.
A connection note from Step 4 (144 of 200 characters)
“Hi Marcus, I see you’re growing [Company] past the founder-sells-everything stage. I spent 22 years doing that myself. Would be glad to connect.”
Why I Wrote This Down
I spent 22 years in founder-led sales at MindIQ before I wrote down my process and built a team that could run it. A process that lives in your head only works when you’re in the room.
LinkedIn is the same. If it only works when you’re on it, you’ve built another version of founder-led sales. So I wrote this one down too. I post every day, I publish The Sunday Starter every week, and this is what I do in between.
2022
The year I started posting on LinkedIn. April.
5
Months of posting every day with zero customers
2
New clients signed in one week, once it started working
21%
Of my first 15,000 followers who fit my ICP. That is why Step 1 comes first.
Is This You?
This is for you if
- You run a B2B company, roughly $1M to $10M in revenue, and you still close most of the deals.
- You just hired your first salespeople and they need a written process to follow instead of guessing.
- You want LinkedIn to keep bringing in business when you step back from selling.
- You will work a process for 90 days before you judge it.
This is not for you if
- You want followers fast. There are lots of people who will teach you that. I’m not one of them.
- You want a bot to send your requests and messages. LinkedIn can restrict your account for that. Your account is your pipeline.
- You will quit after 30 days because nobody called.
Questions Founders Ask
Is the playbook really free?
Yes. Click the button and the PDF downloads. No email. No form. No sales call.
Why are you giving it away?
Because the process works and most founders never get shown one. If you get stuck on a step and want help, you can book an hour with me. If you never do, you still have the playbook.
How long until LinkedIn brings me customers?
It took me five months of posting every day before the first inquiry came in. I can’t promise you a date. The playbook gives you a 90-day plan and a weekly scorecard so you can see progress before the phone rings.
How much time does it take?
About 45 minutes a day once you’re set up, plus an hour or two a week to write your posts. Steps 1 and 2 take a few hours, once.
Do I need Sales Navigator?
You can start without it. Step 7 shows you how I use it as a pre-sales funnel, and which plan fits. If you’re serious about selling on LinkedIn, get Premium or Sales Navigator.
Can my salespeople use it?
Yes. Step 9 covers what each salesperson does, what you do as the founder, and the 15-minute weekly huddle that keeps it going.
Do you work for LinkedIn?
No. I do not work for LinkedIn and I am not paid by LinkedIn. These strategies are mine. LinkedIn’s algorithm can change overnight, so I will keep the playbook up to date.
Your Buyers Are Watching, Even When They’re Silent.
Give Them Something to Watch.
Download the playbook. Do Step 1 this week. For five months I got nothing. You’ll have the process I wish I’d had on day one.
Download the Free PlaybookFree PDF. 26 pages. No email required.
Stuck on a step?
Reading the playbook is the easy part. Working it is where founders get stuck. Book an hour with me. Bring the one problem that keeps you up at night and leave with a plan.
Get an hour of my advice