Episode 224: Brynne Tillman

According to Brynne Tillman, lead generation and prospecting are both top of the funnel drivers—and the top of the funnel drives all business. If you don’t have opportunities in the door, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. It doesn’t matter how good of a salesperson you are. If you don’t have the first conversation, you won’t make a sale. Brynne believes the power lies in warm connections. Listen to this episode of Sales Reinvented to hear her take!

Brynne Tillman is the CEO of Social Sales Link and a LinkedIn Whisperer who teaches business development professionals on how to convert content and connections to conversations. Through her warm marketing prospecting philosophy, she guides sales leaders to leverage the power of LinkedIn to attract, teach, and engage their buyers, ultimately starting relationships with a high level of credibility.

Outline of This Episode

• [0:56] The difference between prospecting and lead generation
• [1:30] Why are both processes so important?
• [2:09] Brynne’s LinkedIn prospecting process
• [5:35] You have to master the ask/offer ratio
• [8:33] Detach from reaching your goals
• [11:58] Top 3 prospecting dos and don’ts
• [13:46] The power of warm connections

Brynne’s genius LinkedIn prospecting process

Brynne prefers prospecting with warm leads. You have already established a high level of credibility and it isn’t a climb to prove that you and your business are worthy of a conversation. Brynne notes that the challenging part is asking clients to send referrals your way. Many of them can’t think of anyone right off the bat. But they say “If I think of anyone, I’ll send them your way.” Occasionally, they get those referrals.

Brynne believes that process needs to be accelerated. LinkedIn allows you to do that. Before you speak with your client, run a filter search on their connections, and identify people that might be a good fit for your business. Now you can ask your client, “Can I run this list by you and get your insights on these people?” From there, maybe you could narrow it down to 8 people that would know your prospect and take your call. Then get their permission to use their name in the conversation. With one simple process, Brynne points out that you could have 8 people to reach out to, 4 of which can become phone calls.

You have to master the ask/offer ratio

Brynne points out that with prospecting, you have to be comfortable asking. You have to be able to have conversations with people. You also have to earn the right to get to the ask. To do that, you have to master the ask/offer ratio. Brynne emphasizes that everything you do in sales is an ask. You’re asking someone to accept a connection, read a piece of content, take a phone call, watch a video, etc. At the end of the consumption, you can do one of three things:

1. A bait and switch: This is an immediate pitch. No one wants that. Don’t make the title better than the information.
2. Neutral: This doesn’t hurt your reputation but there is no compelling reason to engage.
3. Compelled to react: The prospect shares something, accepts a request, asks a question, or asks for more information.

What are you doing that compels them to take your call?

Why you should detach from reaching your goals

Brynne recommends you learn the ability to detach from reaching your goals and attach to helping the prospect or customers’ reach theirs. Your prospects can smell commission breath. They can tell when you’re pushing to make a sale OR if you’re seeking to provide value.

You should only make the sale when you know that the solution is right based on what you’ve learned about the prospect. It’s not easy to do when you have sales goals and KPIs to hit. It’s hard to measure this skill from an organizational perspective. It’s a tough but important shift.

Michael Port wrote the book, “Book Yourself Solid” which was a revelation for Brynne. In the book, he says “Give away so much value that you’re afraid you gave too much—and then give more.” The ability to give is a skill. Salespeople were taught NOT to give things away for free. But you have to be a resource and provide insights for them. If they can learn more from Google than your sales call, you will lose.

What are Brynne’s top lead generation and prospecting dos and don’ts? Listen to find out!

Brynne demonstrates the power of warm connections

8 years ago, when Brynne was building out her program, she found one of her clients (Rob) was connected to one of her largest prospects. She had spent years trying to connect with this person. So she asked her client how they knew each other and if he’d be open to making an introduction. He said “absolutely.” Within 20 minutes, she had a response from her prospect with a meeting time.

She showed up and he said, “go.” So she asked how she got the meeting and he said “If Rob asks me to do something, I’m doing it. He’s one of my favorite people.” Brynne said, “If I can show you how to get your commercial lenders in the door the same way, would you be interested?” He looked at his calendar, set a meeting with her, and asked “By the way, how much?” It was the fastest sale she ever made. She leveraged her warm connection and realized, “Why prospect any other way?” Warm connections are so much easier. Hear all of her thoughts by listening to the whole episode!

• Resources & People Mentioned

  • Gap Selling by Keenan
  • Selling from the Heart by Larry Levine
  • Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port

  Connect with Brynne Tillman

  • Social Sales Link
  • Connect on LinkedIn
  • Follow on Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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More About Brynne Tillman

What was the last book you read?
Gap Selling by Keenan

Who / What inspires you?
Brilliant Sales practitioners

Are there any aspects of your prospecting and lead generation skills that you are working on improving at the moment?
Always A/B testing content, messaging, and approaches

Hobbies, Interests?
Walking 2 miles a day with a Podcast or Audio Book in my ear

How can our listeners contact with you?
LinkedIn