Colin Gallagher

So people can’t talk about topics they are interested in without getting shit on by people who aren’t completely aligned with their way of life?

Fact: Buying groups engage with 27 touchpoints before deciding. Your single LinkedIn profile can't cover that. 3 profiles can.

The 2-Like Post That Closed a $5M Client Last week one of our clients signed a $5 million a year e-commerce brand. The lead came from a LinkedIn post that got 2 likes. Not 200. Not 20. Two. Here's why it worked (and why you're thinking about this wrong): The post wasn't about going viral. It was about resonating with the right person. Our client works in CPG e-commerce. Dialed-in niche. Financial modeling built into their service (that most agencies don't offer). Great social proof. When they posted about a specific problem that CPG brands face, someone at a $5M company read it and thought "holy shit, this person gets it." One conversation later, they're now on a chunky monthly retainer. The lesson isn't "engagement doesn't matter." The lesson is that if you're doing the basics right for long enough - posting consistently, talking to your actual niche, showing real expertise - you build momentum. You don't need 30 leads a month to make LinkedIn work. If you're getting 4-5 really good leads a month and you convert a percentage of those, it's a massive win. Stop chasing vanity metrics. Start chasing resonance.

We started offering a Free trials last week, the results have been weird (in a good way). I expected more leads. That happened. I didn't expect as many higher quality leads as we got. Here's what I learned: I'm selling LinkedIn services on LinkedIn… The most saturated market on the platform. Everyone gets outreach messages about LinkedIn growth 100 times a week. Plus there's horror stories everywhere about people getting burned by agencies. So when I started offering a free trial, it did two things: Made me stand out (obvious) Put my money where my mouth is (less obvious but more important) I'm not just saying "we can help you" like everyone else. I'm saying "let us prove it first." The trade-off? I'm spending a couple hundred dollars on fulfillment for each trial. Time and setup. But I was going to spend that money somewhere anyway - on ads, on more outreach, on something. Now it's just a fulfillment cost instead of a marketing cost. And a percentage of trials convert to full clients. I'm not saying free trials are right for your business. They're not right for everyone. But if you feel like you can do really good work and you're confident in your results, why not let people see it first? The offer is what gets people to restart conversations. The quality is what gets them to stay.

How to find unlimited Linkedin post ideas to build authority in your niche without being cringe: Think of Linkedin like a public work diary. That's the best advice I can give CEOs/founders who want to stand out. Here's what I mean: People don't want to hear about how great you are. They want to hear about what you've done. So just tell them. The stories from your client work. The problems you solved. The mistakes you made. The lessons you learned. That's the content that actually works. Not "5 tips to scale your business." Not "here's my morning routine." Stories from the digital trenches, minus the mud… plus a very comfortable chair Here's how I do it: I use AI to ask me questions. Like I'm talking to a younger person in my business or a family member I'm trying to teach something. AI asks. I answer out loud. Then I use it to form the post. It's not about being polished. It's about being real. Document what you're doing. Share the work. Show your expertise by doing, not by claiming. That's how you build authority on LinkedIn. The diary approach keeps it simple. You're not trying to be a content creator. You're just showing your work. And people respond to that way more than they respond to generic advice posts.

LinkedIn content hack: Think like you're teaching someone younger. AI asks questions, you answer. Content done.

First 100 LinkedIn connections secret: Target future clients, not current peers. Play the long game.

You don't need 30 leads/month. You need 4-5 quality conversations. Math > volume.

Content brought them in. Outreach offer restarted convo. Both needed. Neither alone works.

Automating an unproven process is a really bad idea. I see this mistake constantly. Someone tries LinkedIn outreach manually for 2 weeks. Gets no results. Then buys automation software to "scale it up." All they do is amplify the broken process. Now they're sending bad messages faster. Annoying more people. Hurting their brand at scale. Automation is an amplifier. That's it. If your manual process doesn't work, automation won't fix it. It'll just break it faster. My advice: either work with someone who knows what they're doing, or do things manually until you figure out what works. Test messages. Try different angles. See what gets responses. Once you've got something proven, then maybe it makes sense to automate. But don't start there. I've seen people get their accounts flagged, burn through their network, and damage their reputation because they automated too early. The basics have to work first. Then you can think about scaling.

Funny cos it’s true 😂😂

CPG e-commerce client closed $5M deal. Secret? Narrow niche + unique angle + social proof.

15 min writing LinkedIn stories > 3 hours perfecting your bio. Document your wins. That's it.

LinkedIn reality check: Great at lead gen but terrible sales process? Platform isn't the problem.

Our client was getting 43% accept & 30% reply rate on their outreach. Sounds great, right? Wrong. Here's what happened: We were running outreach for a client who places Google Ads specialists in companies. He wanted to work with fractional CMOs - people who could bring him into their client engagements. The numbers looked incredible. People were accepting. People were replying positively. He was getting on sales calls. Then nothing closed. After digging into it, we realized the business model didn't work for fractionals. There just wasn't enough pie to feed everyone in that setup. The lesson for anyone thinking "LinkedIn doesn't work for me": Lead generation is just the first part. You need: Lead generation system (check) Sales enablement Sales process An offer that actually fits the people you're talking to If people aren't closing and they're coming from LinkedIn, it's not necessarily the platform's fault. It might be that you're targeting the wrong people in the first place. We had to pivot his targeting completely. Now we're going after different prospects and it's working. So before you blame LinkedIn, ask yourself: "Are these people even realistic buyers for what I'm selling?" Because 50% reply rates mean nothing if 0% convert.

PSA: LinkedIn is your public diary. Share client wins, not self-promotion. People buy proof.

I spoke to a CEO yesterday who said "LinkedIn doesn't work in my Industry" "My industry is different." "My clients aren't on LinkedIn." "Our buyers don't engage with content." Let me ask you something: Are your buyers in B2B? Are they business owners, executives, or decision-makers? Then they're on LinkedIn. They might not be liking posts. They might not be commenting. But they're looking. 80% of LinkedIn users are lurkers. They read. They watch. They don't engage publicly. But when they're ready to buy, they remember who showed up consistently with valuable insights. I've had clients in recruitment, SaaS, professional services, manufacturing, legal services, healthcare. It works in all of them. But the approach is different. If you're targeting Fortune 500 CEOs, you can't use the same playbook as targeting small business consultants. Different audiences need different strategies. But saying "LinkedIn doesn't work for my industry" is just an excuse for not figuring out the right approach. Find someone who's made it work in your space. Copy their strategy. Adapt it to your voice. Or keep making excuses while your competitors build their brands. Your call.