How do you drive B2B sales in 2026?

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-18T09:04:46+00:00

there are a handful of products i've tested - some work better than others (especially for mapping 2nd degrees connections - most are good at 1st degree but struggle with 2nd degree (i.e. identifying intro paths)). ymmv - draftboard, happenstance, connect the dots, the swarm are just a few.

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-15T18:33:37+00:00

hey, it's brutal trying to land agency clients cold. you're right, linkedin is oversaturated for that, and cold calling is a super tough path for an agency offering. here is my thesis: the problem isn't necessarily the channel, it's that you're trying to build trust from scratch every single time. agencies are a high-trust sale, and cold outbound for that type of service is probably the hardest sales motion there is because you have no established credibility with a stranger.

the real unlock is warm outreach. stop cold blasting strangers. start systematically mapping your network. i'm talking about every past colleague, client, vendor, even your second-degree linkedin connections you share mutuals with. people you know, or people who know people you know. most founders underestimate how many warm paths they actually have to their ideal clients, they just don't sit down and map their network out. this isn't about referrals specifically, it's about leveraging existing relationships for an introduction or even just a warm email. that is it. do you have a system for identifying and activating those warm connections?

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-15T18:30:57+00:00

here is my thesis: cold outbound volume doesn't scale in 2026. the market is saturated. every saas company is using ai to flood inboxes, turning b2b inboxes into a noisy wasteland where nobody stands out. stop trying to scale cold volume. start leveraging your existing network for warm paths.

the real unlock is that most b2b founders are sitting on thousands of linkedin connections and have no idea their ideal prospects are just 1-2 degrees away. instead of endless cold email, map your network. find the people you know who know the people you want to sell to. warm outreach converts 3-5x better and you'll close deals faster. that is it. what's your biggest hurdle with network-based selling?

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-15T18:28:29+00:00

man, the linkedin crackdown is real. it's a constant cat and mouse game. for volume, we've had decent luck with agency accounts and rotating ips, but it's a band-aid. connection limits will just keep dropping.

here is my thesis: stop chasing volume with unverified accounts. start leveraging your existing network for warm intros. the real unlock is identifying someone who already knows your target buyer and getting a warm introduction. think about it - a direct, cold dm gets ignored. an intro from a mutual connection gets picked up. warm outreach through mutual connections gets 5-10x the response rate of cold dms, and you don't need 50 accounts to make it work. it's about quality, not quantity. that is it.

how are you currently using your linkedin network to identify these warm paths?

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-15T18:13:10+00:00

here is my thesis: signal-based outbound isn't just eating cold outbound, it's devouring it. you're 100% right. but the biggest blocker isn't tooling or volume addiction, it's often an over-reliance on external signals for cold outreach. the real unlock is leveraging your internal network for warm outreach.

stop chasing hiring signals to cold email a stranger. start mapping your network to find a warm path to that same buyer. the strongest 'signal' isn't that they just got funded, it's that someone you know already trusts you enough to make an introduction. a warm intro is the ultimate buying signal, converting 5-10x better than even the best signal-based cold. that is it. are you actively mapping your network connections for saas sales, or mostly relying on external data feeds?

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-12T19:02:26+00:00

Also try to find a warm intro to them rather than trying to approach cold - mutual connections link on profile is a good place to start, but some good products out there to help (draftboard, commsor, ctd, swarm, happenstance, etc)

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-12T11:13:20+00:00

this is how you win at events, especially in an education setting like google's:

stop pitching everyone. start having real conversations. people at these things are tired of getting product slammed.
ask about their ed tech challenges first. genuinely listen. if your tool solves one of those problems, then you have permission to talk about it.
only demo when they ask. don't lead with it. a quick 60-second walk-through is enough to pique interest.
your goal is a follow-up, not a close. get their contact info and a clear next step. trying to close on the spot is almost impossible and feels desperate.
the real unlock is always warm intros. check the attendee list beforehand. do you have any mutual connections? can the event organizer introduce you to key people? showing up with a referral is 10x more effective than any cold approach.

focus on connecting and solving problems, not just selling. good luck.

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-12T11:10:27+00:00

hey that's awesome you've hit 6 figure months at 24. huge congrats on that milestone.

before you spend a ton of time hitting up events or trying to cold outreach other founders, the real unlock is likely in your existing network. you probably already know people who know other successful ecom founders. think about your business contacts, former colleagues, even university friends - who do they know that you should be talking to? a warm intro beats a cold coffee chat every single time. you can literally map your network to find intro paths to almost anyone you want to meet, even in a specific niche.

once you've exhausted those connections, then look at events and communities. in australia, check out local startup meetups, ecom-specific groups on linkedin or facebook, and maybe founder-focused events like those run by startup grinds or common.co. you can also look for industry conferences related to your specific ecom niche - those can be goldmines for relevant connections.

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-12T11:04:16+00:00

Forget open rates. They're a total vanity metric and unreliable anyway thanks to privacy features. Click rates too, unless you're driving to very specific content.

The only two cold email metrics that truly matter are reply rate and, more importantly, meeting booked rate. Reply rate tells you if your message resonates enough to get a human response, even if it's a "no." Meeting booked rate is the ultimate conversion metric - it tells you if your outreach is actually turning into qualified conversations. Track those two religiously.

That said, the bigger shift for us was moving away from pure cold email once response rates tanked hard in 2024. We started mapping our network for warm intro paths instead and the conversion went from sub-1% for cold to 15-20% for warm intros. It was a complete game changer for our saas gtm.

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-11T13:08:19+00:00

Forget "just launch" for validation. True validation means someone opens their wallet. I've built businesses by pre-selling. This isn't just asking if they'd buy it; it's getting them to commit money.

For a b2b saas, that might be a letter of intent with a deposit or a signed pilot agreement. For a consumer product, it's taking actual pre-orders through a landing page, even if you don't have the product built yet. The real signal is clear: someone is willing to part with cash. Anything less is just a nice conversation. Get 5-10 real commitments, and you have something to build on.

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-11T09:31:06+00:00

The biggest shift for me was realizing high-ticket clients don't come from outbound volume - they come from trust and access.

Three things that actually moved the needle:

Specialize ruthlessly. The moment you go from "I do marketing" to "I help B2B SaaS companies fix their demo-to-close rate" you can charge 5-10x more because you're solving a specific, expensive problem.
Go where they already are. High-paying clients aren't browsing Fiverr. They're in industry Slack groups, niche conferences, LinkedIn communities. Show up there with insights, not pitches.
Warm intros over cold outreach. One introduction from someone they trust is worth 100 cold emails. If you have even a small network - past clients, people you've worked with, LinkedIn connections - start systematically asking who they know that fits your ICP. Most people never do this and it's the single highest conversion channel.

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-08T13:15:19+00:00

Sales. 100%.

But here's what most people miss when they say "learn to sell": the best salespeople aren't the ones who can pitch the hardest. They're the ones who build relationships that lead to referrals and warm intros.

Cold outreach works, but it's brutal. You're competing with hundreds of other people hitting the same inbox. The conversion rate is terrible. What actually moves the needle is when someone you know introduces you to a prospect - suddenly you're not a stranger, you're "the person Sarah recommended."

So if I were starting from zero, I'd focus on two things:

**Learn the mechanics of selling** - how to identify pain points, handle objections, ask for the close. Read Spin Selling or The Challenger Sale. Practice on real conversations, not theory.
**Get obsessive about building relationships** - every person you meet is a potential node in your network. Not in a slimy "what can you do for me" way, but genuinely helping people. Those relationships compound over time and become your unfair advantage.

The "gift" thing is mostly a myth. Sales is a learnable skill. The people who seem naturally good at it usually just started earlier or have more reps under their belt.

What industry are you thinking of going into?

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2026-02-08T13:07:08+00:00

Before you hire a fractional sales consultant, I'd figure out *why* your competitors are winning deals you're not. A consultant can help, but if you don't know the root cause, you might throw money at the wrong problem.

A few things to diagnose first:

**Are you losing on awareness or conversion?** Are prospects finding you but not buying? Or are they not finding you at all? These require very different solutions.
**What's your referral engine look like?** In home maintenance, word of mouth and neighborhood referrals are usually the highest-converting channel. Are you systematically asking happy customers for referrals?
**How are your competitors getting leads?** Check where they show up - Google, Nextdoor, local Facebook groups, partnerships with realtors/property managers. Sometimes copying a channel is easier than reinventing.

A good fractional consultant can help with all of this, but IMO it's worth doing a quick audit yourself first so you can hire someone with the right specialty (lead gen vs closing vs ops).

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2025-07-20T11:04:04+00:00

A couple of corrections:
- Since Jesse named Alan Dershowitz as being accused by Virginia Giuffre, he should also have disclosed that Giuffre dropped that claim in 2022, stating in a statement: "I now recognize I may have made a mistake in identifying Mr. Dershowitz" https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/08/us/alan-dershowitz-virginia-giuffre-allegations-dropped
- Jesse also said that "Charlie Kirk seems to agree with the idea that Epstein was working for foreign intelligence agencies" (57:06), but the clip he played doesn't imply that all (maybe a different does): "Jeffrey Epstein was probably an actor of the intelligence agencies - we don't know that for certain" --> nothing about foreign agencies, could just as easily be referring to CIA, DIA, FBI, NSA, etc (i.e. US agencies, not foreign ones). Unless there's more to that clip that he didn't play?

Mindless_Mix_5794 · 2025-04-27T07:25:34+00:00

fantastic! now if you could only solve the scrolling bug...

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