In this episode, we’re thrilled to host Jordan Abbott, widely known as “The Sales Poet.” Over the past two years, Jordan has successfully expanded his professional network by over 9,000 relevant contacts, transforming his sales results and redefining what it means to connect in the digital age.
Together, we’ll explore:
The ONE action you can take today to begin growing your network.
This isn’t just about tips—it’s about actionable insights that salespeople can apply immediately.
Join us on January 7th for a conversation packed with practical takeaways and inspiration for your sales journey.
Jordan Abbott, widely known as “The Sales Poet”
Adam Gray, Co-founder of DLA Ignite
Alex Abbott, Founder of Supero
Alex Abbott [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Sales TV, where we tackle the reality that there's no easy button in sales. If you're a sales representative or account executive looking to navigate the complexities of modern sales and grow meaningful conversations, you're in the right place. In every episode, we explore one thing that can help you elevate your performance and achieve success without shortcuts. And without further ado, welcome, mister Grey. It's lovely to be together with
Adam Gray [00:00:31]:
you on Sales TV again. Yeah. Absolutely. And a happy New Year to to you and to everybody watching.
Alex Abbott [00:00:36]:
Happy New Year indeed. Indeed. So maybe and so are you are you a resolution man or or not?
Adam Gray [00:00:46]:
No. I mean, if if if something needs to be done, I'd try to just do it when it needs doing rather than wait till the the new year.
Alex Abbott [00:00:53]:
Yeah. But I
Adam Gray [00:00:54]:
but I do think that, the the concept of making a resolution is a really good one.
Alex Abbott [00:01:00]:
Yeah. I
Adam Gray [00:01:00]:
think that the the challenge, you know, and and, obviously, this is a show about sales. The challenge is that there are difficult things that need to be done in sales, aren't there? And, it's very easy to make a resolution and very difficult to keep it.
Alex Abbott [00:01:18]:
Yeah. Yeah. I've I've stopped using the word resolution and and sticking to the word plan. I guess that's the word that would resonate with many salespeople. Anyway, enough about New Year's planning and resolutions. I'm thrilled to host or we are thrilled to host Jordan Abbott, known as the sales poet, a true master in the world of networking and social selling. Jordan has spent the last 2 years growing his professional network by over 9,000 relevant contacts, transforming his sales outcomes and redefining what it means to connect in the digital era. As a registered fair ethics in sales practitioner and ambassador of the Institute of Sales Professionals Emerging Professionals Network, Jordan embodies the principles that authenticity and hard work are the cornerstones of success.
Alex Abbott [00:02:16]:
Jordan's focus on personal brand building and AI driven strategies has made him a thought leader in the field. Please join me in welcoming an inspiring and strategic mind, Jordan Abbott.
Jordan Abbott [00:02:33]:
Good morning. What an intro.
Alex Abbott [00:02:35]:
How'd you like that?
Jordan Abbott [00:02:36]:
Yeah. You follow me everywhere I go.
Alex Abbott [00:02:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. Why not? Welcome. So how have you been?
Jordan Abbott [00:02:46]:
Yeah. Very well. Very well. As as you said, I think, you know, resolutions have a place to an extent, but really you shouldn't wait until the turn of the year to to, you know, get stuff done.
Alex Abbott [00:03:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Really good point. So let's dive straight in, Jordan. Indeed. What what sparked your journey toward growing such a substantial network? Because I know we spoke about this before before the show. 9,000 contacts in 2 years.
Alex Abbott [00:03:20]:
What is it? 5000 in the last 12 months? Did I get that right?
Jordan Abbott [00:03:25]:
Yeah. Just over 5,000. I think it's 5,160 odd.
Alex Abbott [00:03:30]:
So before we get to that, what was your motivation, and and how did you get started with, with with this?
Jordan Abbott [00:03:38]:
So I think in all honesty, it was I was getting sick of throwing spaghetti at a wall, you know, following old approaches and and hoping for the best. I started out in telesales, so calling numbers off a sheet, then moved into sort of tech sales, SAS sales, and it was phoning, emailing, all things that really leave their outreach where the buyer doesn't see us. The the person on the receiving end doesn't see us. So very sort of it feels a bit like a monologue. Right? It's very one-sided. There's no real conversation. And then off the back of these changes that we were seeing in buyer behaviors, we knew that things just weren't working the way that they used to, I'd realized I wasn't gonna achieve the results that I desired by continuing down that road. And that's when, our our paths crossed with Adam and Tim, and that that sort of that was what sparked, the the change or or added fuel to that fire, I guess.
Alex Abbott [00:04:52]:
When you say change, though, just for for our audience's benefit for those that perhaps don't know us, You know, you're talking about the traditional approach using using the phone, using email in a in a in a sales salesy way.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:10]:
Any and even social. Right?
Alex Abbott [00:05:13]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:13]:
It's we were using social
Adam Gray [00:05:16]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:16]:
Not very well. We were applying those analogue approaches in the digital world, you know, trying to achieve the mass of the outreach via DMs.
Alex Abbott [00:05:29]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:30]:
And not having done the foundational work or not having done well enough the foundational work that, that really makes the difference when you're then reaching out to people. So
Alex Abbott [00:05:45]:
Which which is when you say really makes the difference?
Jordan Abbott [00:05:49]:
Yeah. So there's a couple of things, and I'll come on to it. But I think what it encompasses is that sort of feeling of community and trying to grow the the sphere of influence, that we have. So when we do reach out rather than it just being a a sales message, we're actually trying to genuinely build a relationship with this person. We've got we built our personal brand in the background. We're constantly creating, content that is insightful, but also very human and genuine. So that when we do reach out, there's this shop window that paints us to be, you know, a half decent person that's actually worth having a conversation with rather than it just being a number that pops up on your phone or an email that's, you know, growing the the the the spam inbox, or a dm that's just lost in the noise.
Adam Gray [00:06:53]:
So I I, obviously, I I get this. And, I I see that that the idea of building a community of people around you who know you, like you, trust you, that don't see you as somebody that's constantly pitching stuff to them, but see you as somebody who they like spending time with. And who knows? Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year, some kind of commercial interaction might come out of that. Or maybe it won't. Maybe it will just be friends. But but social enabling you to scale that that community of people that you have. I get that that's a very efficient way of doing things. But you're young.
Adam Gray [00:07:37]:
You know, you've got a very short legacy of having done the wrong things. Yeah. How difficult is it for somebody that is my age, you know, been in sales for 30 years and, doing these things that no longer work used to deliver a 120% of target every year and now delivers nothing. How difficult is it for people like that to change?
Jordan Abbott [00:08:05]:
Yeah. I I would imagine massively. Right? Even for myself, as you said, I've got a short legacy of doing the wrong things. It took me 6 months, 8 months after we'd completed the training for something to click and for me to actually go, do you know what? I need to just put all my eggs in this basket. This is the way forward. It wasn't as if, you know, we we finished the training and then that was that was it. There was another 6 to 8 months of pain, feeling the pain, putting myself through that pain before before it did click. Now I think the benefit that people, that have been in sales for a longer period than than I have, the the benefit that they have is networking in person networking was a lot more popular.
Jordan Abbott [00:09:03]:
I've only been in sales since, you know, COVID era, so I never really had the opportunities early on in my career to do the in person networking. It was only post post, restrictions being lifted. I think that in person networking builds so many core skills that can be transferred to social when social is thought of as a digital networking space because that's what it is. But for some reason, when we get on to social, all sort of common courtesy and these skills just goes out
Adam Gray [00:09:44]:
the window for some reason.
Jordan Abbott [00:09:45]:
And we think it's okay to to pitch that people and to not really give a hoot about the the person that that that sits behind the profile.
Alex Abbott [00:09:57]:
Let's just come back to that pain that pain of 6 to 8 months because I think it's worth just digging in a little bit there because it it it's more about the pain you went through making the transformation. Is that what you're talking about as opposed to the pain of not feeling not feeling this the success quote, unquote?
Jordan Abbott [00:10:21]:
No. I so the transformation wasn't easy necessarily, but I think it was still the pain because I was doing it for the sake of doing it, if you know what I mean, rather than fully believing it and being bought in. So I was still doing the other things, the emails, the calls because that's what I thought worked. And it would it there was a point where I don't know what happened. I don't know what clicked in my brain, but I just sort of decided to fully throw myself into to things. And, yeah, and then that sort of triggered the transformation, really. And and once that that thing had clicked, the transformation wasn't too difficult, and it's still sort of ongoing. So it's it's never complete, I guess.
Alex Abbott [00:11:19]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:11:20]:
But yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:11:21]:
So so 9,000 relevant contacts, that's some growth rate. This is LinkedIn that we're talking about. So you you've you've managed to successfully grow your network by an additional 9,000 contacts in 24 months. That sounds almost impossible to me knowing some of the limitations that LinkedIn apply. What you know, whether you've got a basic account or a premium account, I think you've got a sales navigator account, which allows you to to send, you know, a couple of 100 connection requests a week. Yeah. But that's that's something like what a 50% connection acceptance rate on average for 2 years?
Jordan Abbott [00:12:05]:
Yeah. Yeah. Give or take. So I think it's 200. And again, I don't know the the specificities of it, but I think the sales nav account and the fact that the SSI is over 70, I think that's one of the milestones. Again, don't think that's confirmed, but but that's just me deducing it from from, you know, what I know. Yeah. It's it's there there's also been some inbound connections along the way that that that's come off the back of the content.
Jordan Abbott [00:12:41]:
And I think the what's enabled it is is the processes that, I've sort of followed to ensure that I can stay consistent.
Alex Abbott [00:12:52]:
Yeah. And would you would you say so if we think about this from an outbound perspective Yeah. And an inbound perspective, let's let's look at the outbound first. What what are some of the things that you're doing in order to achieve such high connection acceptance rates? And these these aren't just anybody. These are your target personas. Right? Your ICP that you're targeting.
Jordan Abbott [00:13:18]:
Yeah. Indeed. So, the profile is the first thing. We need to ensure that we're when we actually send the connection request, when someone lands on our profile, our profile is resonating with our ICP. We look relevant. We're sharing content that is relevant to to their day to day, and we look like a a genuinely decent human being. Then in terms of the the actual connections, so before I get there, there's the content piece. Again, the content is is sort of like fluffing up our profile, but it's adding more value, adding more insight as to who we are, to our profile, and there's a couple of tricks that that we can implement, you know, leveraging our featured section.
Jordan Abbott [00:14:08]:
So the reason I bring that up is when I do send connections, I try and put things put the activities into buckets. So, you know, this week, I might be targeting HR leaders from tech companies. So what I'm gonna do is make sure my featured section contains content that is relevant to HR leaders within the tech space. So as soon as they go on my profile, all of the pieces of content that they see in that first image of the profile makes them believe that that I'm an expert in, you know, or or at least someone that's that's worth having a conversation with. And then on to the the actual activity of sending connections, it's creating those buckets. So I sort of split my activity between focus accounts and then some volume based stuff. So focus accounts, obviously, I create my focus 20, 50, whatever it may be, and then leveraging sales nav will reach out. And then on the volume piece, there's a few, a few types of activity or a few way reasons for reaching out.
Jordan Abbott [00:15:28]:
So if someone's connect, engaged on some of my content, they'll always receive a connection request. If someone has engaged on a piece of content that is relevant to what I do or my space, again, I'll send a connection request. Profile visitors send a connection request. Now on that point, I've a lot of the people that view my profile are people that I've sent a connection request to in the past 3 months. And, you know, maybe they've declined it, But I'll send a note saying, hey. No tissue. You stopped by my profile, and 95% of the time, they'll accept that even though they've previously declined. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:16:18]:
It's fine. Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:16:19]:
Work by doing things there. And then there's also a couple of other ways, to to ensure that I'm that there's a relevant reason for me to reach out.
Adam Gray [00:16:30]:
So so can I play devil's advocate here?
Jordan Abbott [00:16:32]:
Indeed.
Adam Gray [00:16:33]:
So you've you've sent loads for a change. So you you you've sent loads of connection requests. Loads of people have accepted. You've built this huge network of relevant people. Actually, that's not sales, though. You've just built a load of people that you're connected to.
Jordan Abbott [00:16:46]:
Yeah.
Adam Gray [00:16:46]:
So so so for the cynical salesperson that is still seeing constant pitching as being the solution to achieving their their outreach like it used to be. You know? If if if 10 calls equals 1 sale, a 100 calls equals 10 sales. You know, it's pretty easy maths.
Jordan Abbott [00:17:07]:
Yeah.
Adam Gray [00:17:08]:
So so you've built this network of people. What now?
Jordan Abbott [00:17:13]:
Yeah. So I think this is where the process comes into play. And before anyone goes on social, they should be crystal clear about why they are there. So for me, it is building that community, building genuine relationships, starting to lay the foundations for commercial conversations and partnerships. Now once I've got that goal, I can then work backwards. As you said, Adam, you know, previously, it was if I make this many dials, this many people will pick up. If this many people pick up, then I can have this many meaningful conversations. If I have this many meaningful conversations, I can book this many meetings and then, you know, you're in the funnel.
Adam Gray [00:17:59]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:18:01]:
What I'm doing here is the connection request is that first step because it's pulling people into the sphere of influence that that, idea of once they're there, they're gonna see more of my content. I'm gonna see more of the content that they share, that they engage with. So these are all opportunities for me to start building a relationship, having a conversation with those people. Again, it's important to be, really really, strict with yourself in terms of the amount of comments that that you make. So again, with one of the things that I'll do is every week or so, I'll go through my my recently connected, sort of list. If you go into my network, manage connections, you see a chronological view of everyone that you've connected with. I will painstakingly go through that list, open someone's, profile, go on to their profile, see if they've shared anything. Now only 1% of LinkedIn users post, so it's, you know, it it's unlikely that they have posted.
Jordan Abbott [00:19:16]:
But what you can do is look at what they've engaged with and what they've commented on and then comment on that. And I try and keep that process to maximum 2 minutes per person. Ideally, it's 30 seconds. Literally open the profile, have a look. Something comes to mind, then that that's relevant, then I'll comment. That's great.
Alex Abbott [00:19:37]:
I I don't think we can really we shouldn't underestimate the importance of doing what you're describing there, Jordan, because, you know, we we we we tend to be more successful when, you know, when we're trying to sell to people that we know or that know us, like us, and trust us. And so what you're talking about here is crossing that chasm between cold and warm
Jordan Abbott [00:20:06]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:20:06]:
And and encouraging these contacts to become lukewarm because you're building that affinity over time until they become warm and they start to like us and trust us.
Jordan Abbott [00:20:20]:
Yeah. And, look, there there is an ulterior motive there. As you said, I want them to see my face as much as possible. I want them to see my name pop up in their their notification section as much as possible that when I do then reach out and ask for the call, they're more likely to say yes. They're more likely to be receptive. Or even prior to that call request, they're more likely to respond to the message that I send. And that that process of looking at what they've engaged with, one, it benefits me because I they'll likely get notified and see my name, see my face, but also it gives me an opportunity to be doing research, to understand what does this person care about, to find those triggers to then reach out with a message and start a conversation?
Alex Abbott [00:21:16]:
So when we talk about this idea of crossing the chasm, you know, Adam was essentially asking this question. You know, we're we're crossing that chasm between, I've become visible, but, actually, I want to have a conversation with you. Yeah. And crossing the chasm isn't a case of, oh, we've had a profile visit. Let me send you a message. Would you like a chat?
Jordan Abbott [00:21:43]:
No.
Alex Abbott [00:21:44]:
It it might it might be that if we feel it's appropriate to do that as a result of the signals prior to that moment.
Jordan Abbott [00:21:53]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:21:53]:
But it could well be as you're describing a series of steps that create those signals, like commenting, popping up in notifications, engaging with their content in some way. Yeah. What can you what can you tell people, out there to give them the confidence to keep going with this approach for those that have started and haven't quite seen the light? Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:22:23]:
So a couple of things. I think one, just just keep going. And I know it sounds really cliche and really vague, but just keep going because just by doing something, it will spark ideas. It'll it'll sharpen your tools. There's that saying, action comes before inspiration. Right? So just I doing, the the the active the process of of doing the activity will spark ideas, will, you know, help you to realize another prospect that you hadn't previously considered that's actually engaging with a load of this content. It it it just, yeah, it really helps. And then the second piece is really measuring what matters.
Alex Abbott [00:23:18]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:23:18]:
Because by having that view, you it enables you to test and optimize in in, you know, specific areas. You know, what's gonna move the needle most? Where are things dropping off? Where do I need to focus on moving forward? What's actually going well?
Alex Abbott [00:23:38]:
Yeah. So in summary, if if you don't mind, I'm gonna gonna massively simplify everything that you've just said because it's it's no fluke getting to 9,000 new relevant connections in 24 months. What you're saying is it's important to, number 1, develop your personal brand. You understand what you really want to be known for so that your audience can see you for the right reasons. Number 2, it's about content creation and creating content that aligns to your personal brand so that your audience can actively see what you who you are, what you do, and what you're known for, ideally aligned to the outcomes that you deliver to, to your audience.
Jordan Abbott [00:24:24]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:24:24]:
And number 3, engagement. And so, yeah, sending those network connection requests, but also taking the time to engage with them, with their content, with content that's relevant to them so that they constantly your audience constantly sees you popping up in their in their timeline.
Jordan Abbott [00:24:45]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:24:47]:
And and then, you know, coming to what you just said at the end there, which I think is critical, is the measurement. So so give the audience a little bit of an idea of how your performance changed
Jordan Abbott [00:25:04]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:25:04]:
From what you were doing before to then doing this new approach. But then perhaps could you touch on some of the things that are critical to measure on a weekly basis to ensure that you're doing the right things, you're consistently doing the right things?
Jordan Abbott [00:25:19]:
Yeah. Indeed. So from the point of pain Mhmm. You know, prior to doing the training during that 6th month to, you know, the the following 12 months after making the change, my meeting booking rate increased by 6.7x. So it went up to 9%. I think it was from 1.3 or something. Right. The amount of people that accepted, and showed up for a call when I requested 1.
Jordan Abbott [00:25:50]:
So that's how many first meetings was I booking. Then
Adam Gray [00:25:57]:
Hold hold on a sec. Let's just let's just think about that from a a anybody out there that's struggling with generating pipeline. You make 10 calls, nobody talks to you. You, you make 10 outreaches, and 1 person talks to you.
Jordan Abbott [00:26:18]:
Yeah. Look. More more than one talk to me. One except Okay.
Adam Gray [00:26:22]:
Has has a proper meeting. Yeah. I mean, that that that's a staggering output, really, isn't it? Because, you know, most most cold calling teams are doing, like, 60, 70 dials to get a meaningful conversation with somebody.
Alex Abbott [00:26:37]:
Yeah. More than that, I would say.
Adam Gray [00:26:39]:
But there may be. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:26:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. 60 to 70 connects in order to have a meaningful conversation. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:26:52]:
And then in terms of what I measure, typically, it's network growth and follow-up growth. How many posts I'm making? How many of those are human? How many impressions am I getting on those posts, but more importantly, how many people are engaging because then I know who is engaging, and I can then proactively reach out to them. You know, thanks for engaging, Ask a question off the back of it. Start a conversation. How many comments am I making on other people's content? So my prospect's content or the content that my prospects are engaging with.
Alex Abbott [00:27:35]:
Mhmm.
Jordan Abbott [00:27:37]:
How many people am I requesting a call with? How many of those people then show up to that call? How many of those calls move on, so progress? How many of those are are a meaningful conversation, and there's actually something there to continue exploring? And then of those calls, how many become an opportunity?
Alex Abbott [00:28:02]:
Wow.
Jordan Abbott [00:28:03]:
And off the top of my head, my call my meeting generation rate has dropped slightly since I've moved to the the role that I'm currently working. So it's at about 6%, 6.3 officially. So I'm doing testing, you know, how I can increase that. One of the things I'm doing at the minute is voice notes. I'm really sort of doubling down on that as a way to appear more human and cut through the noise. But what I am finding is of those calls that I'm having, I'm having, a lot more meaningful conversations. So at the moment, around 28% of those conversations become a meaningful conversation, and then 58% of those meaningful conversations become an opportunity
Alex Abbott [00:28:55]:
Wow. At the moment.
Jordan Abbott [00:28:57]:
And, again, I think it's, you know, one, I'm having a lot more calls than I did have, so I'm getting better at managing those calls. But I think a lot of the time, the work that I'm doing on social lays the foundation for a good call because people join the call when they feel like they already sort of know me. You know, someone I'll join a call and we'll start talking about a piece of content that I shared or a new tagline or something that I've been doing, and it just helps to lay the foundation for a productive call, whether that progresses or whether it doesn't because, you know, timing is not right or whatever it may be.
Alex Abbott [00:29:41]:
Yeah. I'm I'm conscious of time. I've I've got to dig into this because, right. So you're saying that 6 point you get calls. You have a conversation with 6.4% of people that you've asked to have a call with that match your ICP.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:00]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:00]:
That's 6.4 people for every 100. Yeah. 29% progressed to a meaningful conversation.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:10]:
I think it's about 28. 28%. Fine. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:14]:
And of those, 58% become a qualified opportunity.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:19]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:19]:
So I think by my maths, and I was never very good at maths, for every 100 people you ask to have a call with, you're creating 1 net new qualified opportunity. Because 6 calls 28% of 6.4 is about is about 2, and half of those 2 meaningful conversations become a qualified opportunity.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:44]:
Yeah. Speak I haven't done that calculation, but I will do as soon as we get off.
Alex Abbott [00:30:50]:
I I would because you can build a business on that on that. How how long have you been measuring this? So, you know, is this, you know, how
Jordan Abbott [00:30:57]:
long have you been measuring? Been measuring this for, two and a half, three years consistently, sort of religiously. And
Alex Abbott [00:31:08]:
Solid data.
Jordan Abbott [00:31:09]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:31:10]:
Yeah. Okay. Alright. And we Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:31:13]:
Just on that point, so we use a a tool called Teamfluence, which makes things nice and easy. Would highly recommend taking a look at it if if you wanted to. But equally, I also keep a manual Excel sheet, for my benefit and for internal benefits, which I'm happy to share. I'm happy to share the template, with people, which will actually break down what you need to measure as well as all of the conversion, conversion rates between each stage.
Alex Abbott [00:31:49]:
That's fantastic. So you've you've you've heard it here. And for anyone struggling to build predictability into their pipeline and revenue generation or predictability in growing growing their business, this to me sounds like the perfect way to do it. And, and as as Jordan has said, he's he's offered up his template. So, if anyone wants to see Jordan's template, I guess, drop drop a note in in the in the comments or say connection request.
Jordan Abbott [00:32:23]:
Indeed.
Alex Abbott [00:32:24]:
Send them a connection request. So, what's the one thing you would leave our audience with today, Jordan, if there was just one thing?
Jordan Abbott [00:32:33]:
Yeah. I think it it's measure what matters and Yeah. I'll I'll say that because it allows me to break it down into 2 things. So first, you need to understand what matters to you and be crystal clear about it because then it enables you to work backwards, and ensure that you are employing the right lead measures
Alex Abbott [00:32:57]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:32:57]:
That will bring you closer to achieving that. And then actually measuring gives you the insight into what's actually going well, Where do I need to improve? What can I do to improve? And it just enables this testing and optimization mindset, which will have the biggest impact.
Alex Abbott [00:33:18]:
Yeah. Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. Thank you, Jordan. It's been, it's been enlightening. It's been an eye opener.
Jordan Abbott [00:33:26]:
Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Brilliant.
Adam Gray [00:33:28]:
Absolutely.
Alex Abbott [00:33:30]:
And, mister Gray, lovely to be, on the panel with you again. Likewise. Likewise, Alex. To everyone else, thanks for for tuning in. Until next time on sales TV. Have a great rest of week, folks. Bye bye.
Adam Gray [00:33:43]:
Bye bye.
#SalesTV #B2BSales #Networking #NetworkGrowth #SalesTips
In this episode, we’re thrilled to host Jordan Abbott, widely known as “The Sales Poet.” Over the past two years, Jordan has successfully expanded his professional network by over 9,000 relevant contacts, transforming his sales results and redefining what it means to connect in the digital age.
Together, we’ll explore:
The ONE action you can take today to begin growing your network.
This isn’t just about tips—it’s about actionable insights that salespeople can apply immediately.
Join us on January 7th for a conversation packed with practical takeaways and inspiration for your sales journey.
Jordan Abbott, widely known as “The Sales Poet”
Adam Gray, Co-founder of DLA Ignite
Alex Abbott, Founder of Supero
Alex Abbott [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Sales TV, where we tackle the reality that there's no easy button in sales. If you're a sales representative or account executive looking to navigate the complexities of modern sales and grow meaningful conversations, you're in the right place. In every episode, we explore one thing that can help you elevate your performance and achieve success without shortcuts. And without further ado, welcome, mister Grey. It's lovely to be together with
Adam Gray [00:00:31]:
you on Sales TV again. Yeah. Absolutely. And a happy New Year to to you and to everybody watching.
Alex Abbott [00:00:36]:
Happy New Year indeed. Indeed. So maybe and so are you are you a resolution man or or not?
Adam Gray [00:00:46]:
No. I mean, if if if something needs to be done, I'd try to just do it when it needs doing rather than wait till the the new year.
Alex Abbott [00:00:53]:
Yeah. But I
Adam Gray [00:00:54]:
but I do think that, the the concept of making a resolution is a really good one.
Alex Abbott [00:01:00]:
Yeah. I
Adam Gray [00:01:00]:
think that the the challenge, you know, and and, obviously, this is a show about sales. The challenge is that there are difficult things that need to be done in sales, aren't there? And, it's very easy to make a resolution and very difficult to keep it.
Alex Abbott [00:01:18]:
Yeah. Yeah. I've I've stopped using the word resolution and and sticking to the word plan. I guess that's the word that would resonate with many salespeople. Anyway, enough about New Year's planning and resolutions. I'm thrilled to host or we are thrilled to host Jordan Abbott, known as the sales poet, a true master in the world of networking and social selling. Jordan has spent the last 2 years growing his professional network by over 9,000 relevant contacts, transforming his sales outcomes and redefining what it means to connect in the digital era. As a registered fair ethics in sales practitioner and ambassador of the Institute of Sales Professionals Emerging Professionals Network, Jordan embodies the principles that authenticity and hard work are the cornerstones of success.
Alex Abbott [00:02:16]:
Jordan's focus on personal brand building and AI driven strategies has made him a thought leader in the field. Please join me in welcoming an inspiring and strategic mind, Jordan Abbott.
Jordan Abbott [00:02:33]:
Good morning. What an intro.
Alex Abbott [00:02:35]:
How'd you like that?
Jordan Abbott [00:02:36]:
Yeah. You follow me everywhere I go.
Alex Abbott [00:02:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. Why not? Welcome. So how have you been?
Jordan Abbott [00:02:46]:
Yeah. Very well. Very well. As as you said, I think, you know, resolutions have a place to an extent, but really you shouldn't wait until the turn of the year to to, you know, get stuff done.
Alex Abbott [00:03:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Really good point. So let's dive straight in, Jordan. Indeed. What what sparked your journey toward growing such a substantial network? Because I know we spoke about this before before the show. 9,000 contacts in 2 years.
Alex Abbott [00:03:20]:
What is it? 5000 in the last 12 months? Did I get that right?
Jordan Abbott [00:03:25]:
Yeah. Just over 5,000. I think it's 5,160 odd.
Alex Abbott [00:03:30]:
So before we get to that, what was your motivation, and and how did you get started with, with with this?
Jordan Abbott [00:03:38]:
So I think in all honesty, it was I was getting sick of throwing spaghetti at a wall, you know, following old approaches and and hoping for the best. I started out in telesales, so calling numbers off a sheet, then moved into sort of tech sales, SAS sales, and it was phoning, emailing, all things that really leave their outreach where the buyer doesn't see us. The the person on the receiving end doesn't see us. So very sort of it feels a bit like a monologue. Right? It's very one-sided. There's no real conversation. And then off the back of these changes that we were seeing in buyer behaviors, we knew that things just weren't working the way that they used to, I'd realized I wasn't gonna achieve the results that I desired by continuing down that road. And that's when, our our paths crossed with Adam and Tim, and that that sort of that was what sparked, the the change or or added fuel to that fire, I guess.
Alex Abbott [00:04:52]:
When you say change, though, just for for our audience's benefit for those that perhaps don't know us, You know, you're talking about the traditional approach using using the phone, using email in a in a in a sales salesy way.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:10]:
Any and even social. Right?
Alex Abbott [00:05:13]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:13]:
It's we were using social
Adam Gray [00:05:16]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:16]:
Not very well. We were applying those analogue approaches in the digital world, you know, trying to achieve the mass of the outreach via DMs.
Alex Abbott [00:05:29]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:30]:
And not having done the foundational work or not having done well enough the foundational work that, that really makes the difference when you're then reaching out to people. So
Alex Abbott [00:05:45]:
Which which is when you say really makes the difference?
Jordan Abbott [00:05:49]:
Yeah. So there's a couple of things, and I'll come on to it. But I think what it encompasses is that sort of feeling of community and trying to grow the the sphere of influence, that we have. So when we do reach out rather than it just being a a sales message, we're actually trying to genuinely build a relationship with this person. We've got we built our personal brand in the background. We're constantly creating, content that is insightful, but also very human and genuine. So that when we do reach out, there's this shop window that paints us to be, you know, a half decent person that's actually worth having a conversation with rather than it just being a number that pops up on your phone or an email that's, you know, growing the the the the spam inbox, or a dm that's just lost in the noise.
Adam Gray [00:06:53]:
So I I, obviously, I I get this. And, I I see that that the idea of building a community of people around you who know you, like you, trust you, that don't see you as somebody that's constantly pitching stuff to them, but see you as somebody who they like spending time with. And who knows? Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year, some kind of commercial interaction might come out of that. Or maybe it won't. Maybe it will just be friends. But but social enabling you to scale that that community of people that you have. I get that that's a very efficient way of doing things. But you're young.
Adam Gray [00:07:37]:
You know, you've got a very short legacy of having done the wrong things. Yeah. How difficult is it for somebody that is my age, you know, been in sales for 30 years and, doing these things that no longer work used to deliver a 120% of target every year and now delivers nothing. How difficult is it for people like that to change?
Jordan Abbott [00:08:05]:
Yeah. I I would imagine massively. Right? Even for myself, as you said, I've got a short legacy of doing the wrong things. It took me 6 months, 8 months after we'd completed the training for something to click and for me to actually go, do you know what? I need to just put all my eggs in this basket. This is the way forward. It wasn't as if, you know, we we finished the training and then that was that was it. There was another 6 to 8 months of pain, feeling the pain, putting myself through that pain before before it did click. Now I think the benefit that people, that have been in sales for a longer period than than I have, the the benefit that they have is networking in person networking was a lot more popular.
Jordan Abbott [00:09:03]:
I've only been in sales since, you know, COVID era, so I never really had the opportunities early on in my career to do the in person networking. It was only post post, restrictions being lifted. I think that in person networking builds so many core skills that can be transferred to social when social is thought of as a digital networking space because that's what it is. But for some reason, when we get on to social, all sort of common courtesy and these skills just goes out
Adam Gray [00:09:44]:
the window for some reason.
Jordan Abbott [00:09:45]:
And we think it's okay to to pitch that people and to not really give a hoot about the the person that that that sits behind the profile.
Alex Abbott [00:09:57]:
Let's just come back to that pain that pain of 6 to 8 months because I think it's worth just digging in a little bit there because it it it's more about the pain you went through making the transformation. Is that what you're talking about as opposed to the pain of not feeling not feeling this the success quote, unquote?
Jordan Abbott [00:10:21]:
No. I so the transformation wasn't easy necessarily, but I think it was still the pain because I was doing it for the sake of doing it, if you know what I mean, rather than fully believing it and being bought in. So I was still doing the other things, the emails, the calls because that's what I thought worked. And it would it there was a point where I don't know what happened. I don't know what clicked in my brain, but I just sort of decided to fully throw myself into to things. And, yeah, and then that sort of triggered the transformation, really. And and once that that thing had clicked, the transformation wasn't too difficult, and it's still sort of ongoing. So it's it's never complete, I guess.
Alex Abbott [00:11:19]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:11:20]:
But yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:11:21]:
So so 9,000 relevant contacts, that's some growth rate. This is LinkedIn that we're talking about. So you you've you've managed to successfully grow your network by an additional 9,000 contacts in 24 months. That sounds almost impossible to me knowing some of the limitations that LinkedIn apply. What you know, whether you've got a basic account or a premium account, I think you've got a sales navigator account, which allows you to to send, you know, a couple of 100 connection requests a week. Yeah. But that's that's something like what a 50% connection acceptance rate on average for 2 years?
Jordan Abbott [00:12:05]:
Yeah. Yeah. Give or take. So I think it's 200. And again, I don't know the the specificities of it, but I think the sales nav account and the fact that the SSI is over 70, I think that's one of the milestones. Again, don't think that's confirmed, but but that's just me deducing it from from, you know, what I know. Yeah. It's it's there there's also been some inbound connections along the way that that that's come off the back of the content.
Jordan Abbott [00:12:41]:
And I think the what's enabled it is is the processes that, I've sort of followed to ensure that I can stay consistent.
Alex Abbott [00:12:52]:
Yeah. And would you would you say so if we think about this from an outbound perspective Yeah. And an inbound perspective, let's let's look at the outbound first. What what are some of the things that you're doing in order to achieve such high connection acceptance rates? And these these aren't just anybody. These are your target personas. Right? Your ICP that you're targeting.
Jordan Abbott [00:13:18]:
Yeah. Indeed. So, the profile is the first thing. We need to ensure that we're when we actually send the connection request, when someone lands on our profile, our profile is resonating with our ICP. We look relevant. We're sharing content that is relevant to to their day to day, and we look like a a genuinely decent human being. Then in terms of the the actual connections, so before I get there, there's the content piece. Again, the content is is sort of like fluffing up our profile, but it's adding more value, adding more insight as to who we are, to our profile, and there's a couple of tricks that that we can implement, you know, leveraging our featured section.
Jordan Abbott [00:14:08]:
So the reason I bring that up is when I do send connections, I try and put things put the activities into buckets. So, you know, this week, I might be targeting HR leaders from tech companies. So what I'm gonna do is make sure my featured section contains content that is relevant to HR leaders within the tech space. So as soon as they go on my profile, all of the pieces of content that they see in that first image of the profile makes them believe that that I'm an expert in, you know, or or at least someone that's that's worth having a conversation with. And then on to the the actual activity of sending connections, it's creating those buckets. So I sort of split my activity between focus accounts and then some volume based stuff. So focus accounts, obviously, I create my focus 20, 50, whatever it may be, and then leveraging sales nav will reach out. And then on the volume piece, there's a few, a few types of activity or a few way reasons for reaching out.
Jordan Abbott [00:15:28]:
So if someone's connect, engaged on some of my content, they'll always receive a connection request. If someone has engaged on a piece of content that is relevant to what I do or my space, again, I'll send a connection request. Profile visitors send a connection request. Now on that point, I've a lot of the people that view my profile are people that I've sent a connection request to in the past 3 months. And, you know, maybe they've declined it, But I'll send a note saying, hey. No tissue. You stopped by my profile, and 95% of the time, they'll accept that even though they've previously declined. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:16:18]:
It's fine. Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:16:19]:
Work by doing things there. And then there's also a couple of other ways, to to ensure that I'm that there's a relevant reason for me to reach out.
Adam Gray [00:16:30]:
So so can I play devil's advocate here?
Jordan Abbott [00:16:32]:
Indeed.
Adam Gray [00:16:33]:
So you've you've sent loads for a change. So you you you've sent loads of connection requests. Loads of people have accepted. You've built this huge network of relevant people. Actually, that's not sales, though. You've just built a load of people that you're connected to.
Jordan Abbott [00:16:46]:
Yeah.
Adam Gray [00:16:46]:
So so so for the cynical salesperson that is still seeing constant pitching as being the solution to achieving their their outreach like it used to be. You know? If if if 10 calls equals 1 sale, a 100 calls equals 10 sales. You know, it's pretty easy maths.
Jordan Abbott [00:17:07]:
Yeah.
Adam Gray [00:17:08]:
So so you've built this network of people. What now?
Jordan Abbott [00:17:13]:
Yeah. So I think this is where the process comes into play. And before anyone goes on social, they should be crystal clear about why they are there. So for me, it is building that community, building genuine relationships, starting to lay the foundations for commercial conversations and partnerships. Now once I've got that goal, I can then work backwards. As you said, Adam, you know, previously, it was if I make this many dials, this many people will pick up. If this many people pick up, then I can have this many meaningful conversations. If I have this many meaningful conversations, I can book this many meetings and then, you know, you're in the funnel.
Adam Gray [00:17:59]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:18:01]:
What I'm doing here is the connection request is that first step because it's pulling people into the sphere of influence that that, idea of once they're there, they're gonna see more of my content. I'm gonna see more of the content that they share, that they engage with. So these are all opportunities for me to start building a relationship, having a conversation with those people. Again, it's important to be, really really, strict with yourself in terms of the amount of comments that that you make. So again, with one of the things that I'll do is every week or so, I'll go through my my recently connected, sort of list. If you go into my network, manage connections, you see a chronological view of everyone that you've connected with. I will painstakingly go through that list, open someone's, profile, go on to their profile, see if they've shared anything. Now only 1% of LinkedIn users post, so it's, you know, it it's unlikely that they have posted.
Jordan Abbott [00:19:16]:
But what you can do is look at what they've engaged with and what they've commented on and then comment on that. And I try and keep that process to maximum 2 minutes per person. Ideally, it's 30 seconds. Literally open the profile, have a look. Something comes to mind, then that that's relevant, then I'll comment. That's great.
Alex Abbott [00:19:37]:
I I don't think we can really we shouldn't underestimate the importance of doing what you're describing there, Jordan, because, you know, we we we we tend to be more successful when, you know, when we're trying to sell to people that we know or that know us, like us, and trust us. And so what you're talking about here is crossing that chasm between cold and warm
Jordan Abbott [00:20:06]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:20:06]:
And and encouraging these contacts to become lukewarm because you're building that affinity over time until they become warm and they start to like us and trust us.
Jordan Abbott [00:20:20]:
Yeah. And, look, there there is an ulterior motive there. As you said, I want them to see my face as much as possible. I want them to see my name pop up in their their notification section as much as possible that when I do then reach out and ask for the call, they're more likely to say yes. They're more likely to be receptive. Or even prior to that call request, they're more likely to respond to the message that I send. And that that process of looking at what they've engaged with, one, it benefits me because I they'll likely get notified and see my name, see my face, but also it gives me an opportunity to be doing research, to understand what does this person care about, to find those triggers to then reach out with a message and start a conversation?
Alex Abbott [00:21:16]:
So when we talk about this idea of crossing the chasm, you know, Adam was essentially asking this question. You know, we're we're crossing that chasm between, I've become visible, but, actually, I want to have a conversation with you. Yeah. And crossing the chasm isn't a case of, oh, we've had a profile visit. Let me send you a message. Would you like a chat?
Jordan Abbott [00:21:43]:
No.
Alex Abbott [00:21:44]:
It it might it might be that if we feel it's appropriate to do that as a result of the signals prior to that moment.
Jordan Abbott [00:21:53]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:21:53]:
But it could well be as you're describing a series of steps that create those signals, like commenting, popping up in notifications, engaging with their content in some way. Yeah. What can you what can you tell people, out there to give them the confidence to keep going with this approach for those that have started and haven't quite seen the light? Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:22:23]:
So a couple of things. I think one, just just keep going. And I know it sounds really cliche and really vague, but just keep going because just by doing something, it will spark ideas. It'll it'll sharpen your tools. There's that saying, action comes before inspiration. Right? So just I doing, the the the active the process of of doing the activity will spark ideas, will, you know, help you to realize another prospect that you hadn't previously considered that's actually engaging with a load of this content. It it it just, yeah, it really helps. And then the second piece is really measuring what matters.
Alex Abbott [00:23:18]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:23:18]:
Because by having that view, you it enables you to test and optimize in in, you know, specific areas. You know, what's gonna move the needle most? Where are things dropping off? Where do I need to focus on moving forward? What's actually going well?
Alex Abbott [00:23:38]:
Yeah. So in summary, if if you don't mind, I'm gonna gonna massively simplify everything that you've just said because it's it's no fluke getting to 9,000 new relevant connections in 24 months. What you're saying is it's important to, number 1, develop your personal brand. You understand what you really want to be known for so that your audience can see you for the right reasons. Number 2, it's about content creation and creating content that aligns to your personal brand so that your audience can actively see what you who you are, what you do, and what you're known for, ideally aligned to the outcomes that you deliver to, to your audience.
Jordan Abbott [00:24:24]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:24:24]:
And number 3, engagement. And so, yeah, sending those network connection requests, but also taking the time to engage with them, with their content, with content that's relevant to them so that they constantly your audience constantly sees you popping up in their in their timeline.
Jordan Abbott [00:24:45]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:24:47]:
And and then, you know, coming to what you just said at the end there, which I think is critical, is the measurement. So so give the audience a little bit of an idea of how your performance changed
Jordan Abbott [00:25:04]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:25:04]:
From what you were doing before to then doing this new approach. But then perhaps could you touch on some of the things that are critical to measure on a weekly basis to ensure that you're doing the right things, you're consistently doing the right things?
Jordan Abbott [00:25:19]:
Yeah. Indeed. So from the point of pain Mhmm. You know, prior to doing the training during that 6th month to, you know, the the following 12 months after making the change, my meeting booking rate increased by 6.7x. So it went up to 9%. I think it was from 1.3 or something. Right. The amount of people that accepted, and showed up for a call when I requested 1.
Jordan Abbott [00:25:50]:
So that's how many first meetings was I booking. Then
Adam Gray [00:25:57]:
Hold hold on a sec. Let's just let's just think about that from a a anybody out there that's struggling with generating pipeline. You make 10 calls, nobody talks to you. You, you make 10 outreaches, and 1 person talks to you.
Jordan Abbott [00:26:18]:
Yeah. Look. More more than one talk to me. One except Okay.
Adam Gray [00:26:22]:
Has has a proper meeting. Yeah. I mean, that that that's a staggering output, really, isn't it? Because, you know, most most cold calling teams are doing, like, 60, 70 dials to get a meaningful conversation with somebody.
Alex Abbott [00:26:37]:
Yeah. More than that, I would say.
Adam Gray [00:26:39]:
But there may be. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:26:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. 60 to 70 connects in order to have a meaningful conversation. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:26:52]:
And then in terms of what I measure, typically, it's network growth and follow-up growth. How many posts I'm making? How many of those are human? How many impressions am I getting on those posts, but more importantly, how many people are engaging because then I know who is engaging, and I can then proactively reach out to them. You know, thanks for engaging, Ask a question off the back of it. Start a conversation. How many comments am I making on other people's content? So my prospect's content or the content that my prospects are engaging with.
Alex Abbott [00:27:35]:
Mhmm.
Jordan Abbott [00:27:37]:
How many people am I requesting a call with? How many of those people then show up to that call? How many of those calls move on, so progress? How many of those are are a meaningful conversation, and there's actually something there to continue exploring? And then of those calls, how many become an opportunity?
Alex Abbott [00:28:02]:
Wow.
Jordan Abbott [00:28:03]:
And off the top of my head, my call my meeting generation rate has dropped slightly since I've moved to the the role that I'm currently working. So it's at about 6%, 6.3 officially. So I'm doing testing, you know, how I can increase that. One of the things I'm doing at the minute is voice notes. I'm really sort of doubling down on that as a way to appear more human and cut through the noise. But what I am finding is of those calls that I'm having, I'm having, a lot more meaningful conversations. So at the moment, around 28% of those conversations become a meaningful conversation, and then 58% of those meaningful conversations become an opportunity
Alex Abbott [00:28:55]:
Wow. At the moment.
Jordan Abbott [00:28:57]:
And, again, I think it's, you know, one, I'm having a lot more calls than I did have, so I'm getting better at managing those calls. But I think a lot of the time, the work that I'm doing on social lays the foundation for a good call because people join the call when they feel like they already sort of know me. You know, someone I'll join a call and we'll start talking about a piece of content that I shared or a new tagline or something that I've been doing, and it just helps to lay the foundation for a productive call, whether that progresses or whether it doesn't because, you know, timing is not right or whatever it may be.
Alex Abbott [00:29:41]:
Yeah. I'm I'm conscious of time. I've I've got to dig into this because, right. So you're saying that 6 point you get calls. You have a conversation with 6.4% of people that you've asked to have a call with that match your ICP.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:00]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:00]:
That's 6.4 people for every 100. Yeah. 29% progressed to a meaningful conversation.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:10]:
I think it's about 28. 28%. Fine. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:14]:
And of those, 58% become a qualified opportunity.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:19]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:19]:
So I think by my maths, and I was never very good at maths, for every 100 people you ask to have a call with, you're creating 1 net new qualified opportunity. Because 6 calls 28% of 6.4 is about is about 2, and half of those 2 meaningful conversations become a qualified opportunity.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:44]:
Yeah. Speak I haven't done that calculation, but I will do as soon as we get off.
Alex Abbott [00:30:50]:
I I would because you can build a business on that on that. How how long have you been measuring this? So, you know, is this, you know, how
Jordan Abbott [00:30:57]:
long have you been measuring? Been measuring this for, two and a half, three years consistently, sort of religiously. And
Alex Abbott [00:31:08]:
Solid data.
Jordan Abbott [00:31:09]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:31:10]:
Yeah. Okay. Alright. And we Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:31:13]:
Just on that point, so we use a a tool called Teamfluence, which makes things nice and easy. Would highly recommend taking a look at it if if you wanted to. But equally, I also keep a manual Excel sheet, for my benefit and for internal benefits, which I'm happy to share. I'm happy to share the template, with people, which will actually break down what you need to measure as well as all of the conversion, conversion rates between each stage.
Alex Abbott [00:31:49]:
That's fantastic. So you've you've you've heard it here. And for anyone struggling to build predictability into their pipeline and revenue generation or predictability in growing growing their business, this to me sounds like the perfect way to do it. And, and as as Jordan has said, he's he's offered up his template. So, if anyone wants to see Jordan's template, I guess, drop drop a note in in the in the comments or say connection request.
Jordan Abbott [00:32:23]:
Indeed.
Alex Abbott [00:32:24]:
Send them a connection request. So, what's the one thing you would leave our audience with today, Jordan, if there was just one thing?
Jordan Abbott [00:32:33]:
Yeah. I think it it's measure what matters and Yeah. I'll I'll say that because it allows me to break it down into 2 things. So first, you need to understand what matters to you and be crystal clear about it because then it enables you to work backwards, and ensure that you are employing the right lead measures
Alex Abbott [00:32:57]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:32:57]:
That will bring you closer to achieving that. And then actually measuring gives you the insight into what's actually going well, Where do I need to improve? What can I do to improve? And it just enables this testing and optimization mindset, which will have the biggest impact.
Alex Abbott [00:33:18]:
Yeah. Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. Thank you, Jordan. It's been, it's been enlightening. It's been an eye opener.
Jordan Abbott [00:33:26]:
Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Brilliant.
Adam Gray [00:33:28]:
Absolutely.
Alex Abbott [00:33:30]:
And, mister Gray, lovely to be, on the panel with you again. Likewise. Likewise, Alex. To everyone else, thanks for for tuning in. Until next time on sales TV. Have a great rest of week, folks. Bye bye.
Adam Gray [00:33:43]:
Bye bye.
#SalesTV #B2BSales #Networking #NetworkGrowth #SalesTips
In this episode, we’re thrilled to host Jordan Abbott, widely known as “The Sales Poet.” Over the past two years, Jordan has successfully expanded his professional network by over 9,000 relevant contacts, transforming his sales results and redefining what it means to connect in the digital age.
Together, we’ll explore:
The ONE action you can take today to begin growing your network.
This isn’t just about tips—it’s about actionable insights that salespeople can apply immediately.
Join us on January 7th for a conversation packed with practical takeaways and inspiration for your sales journey.
Jordan Abbott, widely known as “The Sales Poet”
Adam Gray, Co-founder of DLA Ignite
Alex Abbott, Founder of Supero
Alex Abbott [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Sales TV, where we tackle the reality that there's no easy button in sales. If you're a sales representative or account executive looking to navigate the complexities of modern sales and grow meaningful conversations, you're in the right place. In every episode, we explore one thing that can help you elevate your performance and achieve success without shortcuts. And without further ado, welcome, mister Grey. It's lovely to be together with
Adam Gray [00:00:31]:
you on Sales TV again. Yeah. Absolutely. And a happy New Year to to you and to everybody watching.
Alex Abbott [00:00:36]:
Happy New Year indeed. Indeed. So maybe and so are you are you a resolution man or or not?
Adam Gray [00:00:46]:
No. I mean, if if if something needs to be done, I'd try to just do it when it needs doing rather than wait till the the new year.
Alex Abbott [00:00:53]:
Yeah. But I
Adam Gray [00:00:54]:
but I do think that, the the concept of making a resolution is a really good one.
Alex Abbott [00:01:00]:
Yeah. I
Adam Gray [00:01:00]:
think that the the challenge, you know, and and, obviously, this is a show about sales. The challenge is that there are difficult things that need to be done in sales, aren't there? And, it's very easy to make a resolution and very difficult to keep it.
Alex Abbott [00:01:18]:
Yeah. Yeah. I've I've stopped using the word resolution and and sticking to the word plan. I guess that's the word that would resonate with many salespeople. Anyway, enough about New Year's planning and resolutions. I'm thrilled to host or we are thrilled to host Jordan Abbott, known as the sales poet, a true master in the world of networking and social selling. Jordan has spent the last 2 years growing his professional network by over 9,000 relevant contacts, transforming his sales outcomes and redefining what it means to connect in the digital era. As a registered fair ethics in sales practitioner and ambassador of the Institute of Sales Professionals Emerging Professionals Network, Jordan embodies the principles that authenticity and hard work are the cornerstones of success.
Alex Abbott [00:02:16]:
Jordan's focus on personal brand building and AI driven strategies has made him a thought leader in the field. Please join me in welcoming an inspiring and strategic mind, Jordan Abbott.
Jordan Abbott [00:02:33]:
Good morning. What an intro.
Alex Abbott [00:02:35]:
How'd you like that?
Jordan Abbott [00:02:36]:
Yeah. You follow me everywhere I go.
Alex Abbott [00:02:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. Why not? Welcome. So how have you been?
Jordan Abbott [00:02:46]:
Yeah. Very well. Very well. As as you said, I think, you know, resolutions have a place to an extent, but really you shouldn't wait until the turn of the year to to, you know, get stuff done.
Alex Abbott [00:03:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Really good point. So let's dive straight in, Jordan. Indeed. What what sparked your journey toward growing such a substantial network? Because I know we spoke about this before before the show. 9,000 contacts in 2 years.
Alex Abbott [00:03:20]:
What is it? 5000 in the last 12 months? Did I get that right?
Jordan Abbott [00:03:25]:
Yeah. Just over 5,000. I think it's 5,160 odd.
Alex Abbott [00:03:30]:
So before we get to that, what was your motivation, and and how did you get started with, with with this?
Jordan Abbott [00:03:38]:
So I think in all honesty, it was I was getting sick of throwing spaghetti at a wall, you know, following old approaches and and hoping for the best. I started out in telesales, so calling numbers off a sheet, then moved into sort of tech sales, SAS sales, and it was phoning, emailing, all things that really leave their outreach where the buyer doesn't see us. The the person on the receiving end doesn't see us. So very sort of it feels a bit like a monologue. Right? It's very one-sided. There's no real conversation. And then off the back of these changes that we were seeing in buyer behaviors, we knew that things just weren't working the way that they used to, I'd realized I wasn't gonna achieve the results that I desired by continuing down that road. And that's when, our our paths crossed with Adam and Tim, and that that sort of that was what sparked, the the change or or added fuel to that fire, I guess.
Alex Abbott [00:04:52]:
When you say change, though, just for for our audience's benefit for those that perhaps don't know us, You know, you're talking about the traditional approach using using the phone, using email in a in a in a sales salesy way.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:10]:
Any and even social. Right?
Alex Abbott [00:05:13]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:13]:
It's we were using social
Adam Gray [00:05:16]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:16]:
Not very well. We were applying those analogue approaches in the digital world, you know, trying to achieve the mass of the outreach via DMs.
Alex Abbott [00:05:29]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:30]:
And not having done the foundational work or not having done well enough the foundational work that, that really makes the difference when you're then reaching out to people. So
Alex Abbott [00:05:45]:
Which which is when you say really makes the difference?
Jordan Abbott [00:05:49]:
Yeah. So there's a couple of things, and I'll come on to it. But I think what it encompasses is that sort of feeling of community and trying to grow the the sphere of influence, that we have. So when we do reach out rather than it just being a a sales message, we're actually trying to genuinely build a relationship with this person. We've got we built our personal brand in the background. We're constantly creating, content that is insightful, but also very human and genuine. So that when we do reach out, there's this shop window that paints us to be, you know, a half decent person that's actually worth having a conversation with rather than it just being a number that pops up on your phone or an email that's, you know, growing the the the the spam inbox, or a dm that's just lost in the noise.
Adam Gray [00:06:53]:
So I I, obviously, I I get this. And, I I see that that the idea of building a community of people around you who know you, like you, trust you, that don't see you as somebody that's constantly pitching stuff to them, but see you as somebody who they like spending time with. And who knows? Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year, some kind of commercial interaction might come out of that. Or maybe it won't. Maybe it will just be friends. But but social enabling you to scale that that community of people that you have. I get that that's a very efficient way of doing things. But you're young.
Adam Gray [00:07:37]:
You know, you've got a very short legacy of having done the wrong things. Yeah. How difficult is it for somebody that is my age, you know, been in sales for 30 years and, doing these things that no longer work used to deliver a 120% of target every year and now delivers nothing. How difficult is it for people like that to change?
Jordan Abbott [00:08:05]:
Yeah. I I would imagine massively. Right? Even for myself, as you said, I've got a short legacy of doing the wrong things. It took me 6 months, 8 months after we'd completed the training for something to click and for me to actually go, do you know what? I need to just put all my eggs in this basket. This is the way forward. It wasn't as if, you know, we we finished the training and then that was that was it. There was another 6 to 8 months of pain, feeling the pain, putting myself through that pain before before it did click. Now I think the benefit that people, that have been in sales for a longer period than than I have, the the benefit that they have is networking in person networking was a lot more popular.
Jordan Abbott [00:09:03]:
I've only been in sales since, you know, COVID era, so I never really had the opportunities early on in my career to do the in person networking. It was only post post, restrictions being lifted. I think that in person networking builds so many core skills that can be transferred to social when social is thought of as a digital networking space because that's what it is. But for some reason, when we get on to social, all sort of common courtesy and these skills just goes out
Adam Gray [00:09:44]:
the window for some reason.
Jordan Abbott [00:09:45]:
And we think it's okay to to pitch that people and to not really give a hoot about the the person that that that sits behind the profile.
Alex Abbott [00:09:57]:
Let's just come back to that pain that pain of 6 to 8 months because I think it's worth just digging in a little bit there because it it it's more about the pain you went through making the transformation. Is that what you're talking about as opposed to the pain of not feeling not feeling this the success quote, unquote?
Jordan Abbott [00:10:21]:
No. I so the transformation wasn't easy necessarily, but I think it was still the pain because I was doing it for the sake of doing it, if you know what I mean, rather than fully believing it and being bought in. So I was still doing the other things, the emails, the calls because that's what I thought worked. And it would it there was a point where I don't know what happened. I don't know what clicked in my brain, but I just sort of decided to fully throw myself into to things. And, yeah, and then that sort of triggered the transformation, really. And and once that that thing had clicked, the transformation wasn't too difficult, and it's still sort of ongoing. So it's it's never complete, I guess.
Alex Abbott [00:11:19]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:11:20]:
But yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:11:21]:
So so 9,000 relevant contacts, that's some growth rate. This is LinkedIn that we're talking about. So you you've you've managed to successfully grow your network by an additional 9,000 contacts in 24 months. That sounds almost impossible to me knowing some of the limitations that LinkedIn apply. What you know, whether you've got a basic account or a premium account, I think you've got a sales navigator account, which allows you to to send, you know, a couple of 100 connection requests a week. Yeah. But that's that's something like what a 50% connection acceptance rate on average for 2 years?
Jordan Abbott [00:12:05]:
Yeah. Yeah. Give or take. So I think it's 200. And again, I don't know the the specificities of it, but I think the sales nav account and the fact that the SSI is over 70, I think that's one of the milestones. Again, don't think that's confirmed, but but that's just me deducing it from from, you know, what I know. Yeah. It's it's there there's also been some inbound connections along the way that that that's come off the back of the content.
Jordan Abbott [00:12:41]:
And I think the what's enabled it is is the processes that, I've sort of followed to ensure that I can stay consistent.
Alex Abbott [00:12:52]:
Yeah. And would you would you say so if we think about this from an outbound perspective Yeah. And an inbound perspective, let's let's look at the outbound first. What what are some of the things that you're doing in order to achieve such high connection acceptance rates? And these these aren't just anybody. These are your target personas. Right? Your ICP that you're targeting.
Jordan Abbott [00:13:18]:
Yeah. Indeed. So, the profile is the first thing. We need to ensure that we're when we actually send the connection request, when someone lands on our profile, our profile is resonating with our ICP. We look relevant. We're sharing content that is relevant to to their day to day, and we look like a a genuinely decent human being. Then in terms of the the actual connections, so before I get there, there's the content piece. Again, the content is is sort of like fluffing up our profile, but it's adding more value, adding more insight as to who we are, to our profile, and there's a couple of tricks that that we can implement, you know, leveraging our featured section.
Jordan Abbott [00:14:08]:
So the reason I bring that up is when I do send connections, I try and put things put the activities into buckets. So, you know, this week, I might be targeting HR leaders from tech companies. So what I'm gonna do is make sure my featured section contains content that is relevant to HR leaders within the tech space. So as soon as they go on my profile, all of the pieces of content that they see in that first image of the profile makes them believe that that I'm an expert in, you know, or or at least someone that's that's worth having a conversation with. And then on to the the actual activity of sending connections, it's creating those buckets. So I sort of split my activity between focus accounts and then some volume based stuff. So focus accounts, obviously, I create my focus 20, 50, whatever it may be, and then leveraging sales nav will reach out. And then on the volume piece, there's a few, a few types of activity or a few way reasons for reaching out.
Jordan Abbott [00:15:28]:
So if someone's connect, engaged on some of my content, they'll always receive a connection request. If someone has engaged on a piece of content that is relevant to what I do or my space, again, I'll send a connection request. Profile visitors send a connection request. Now on that point, I've a lot of the people that view my profile are people that I've sent a connection request to in the past 3 months. And, you know, maybe they've declined it, But I'll send a note saying, hey. No tissue. You stopped by my profile, and 95% of the time, they'll accept that even though they've previously declined. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:16:18]:
It's fine. Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:16:19]:
Work by doing things there. And then there's also a couple of other ways, to to ensure that I'm that there's a relevant reason for me to reach out.
Adam Gray [00:16:30]:
So so can I play devil's advocate here?
Jordan Abbott [00:16:32]:
Indeed.
Adam Gray [00:16:33]:
So you've you've sent loads for a change. So you you you've sent loads of connection requests. Loads of people have accepted. You've built this huge network of relevant people. Actually, that's not sales, though. You've just built a load of people that you're connected to.
Jordan Abbott [00:16:46]:
Yeah.
Adam Gray [00:16:46]:
So so so for the cynical salesperson that is still seeing constant pitching as being the solution to achieving their their outreach like it used to be. You know? If if if 10 calls equals 1 sale, a 100 calls equals 10 sales. You know, it's pretty easy maths.
Jordan Abbott [00:17:07]:
Yeah.
Adam Gray [00:17:08]:
So so you've built this network of people. What now?
Jordan Abbott [00:17:13]:
Yeah. So I think this is where the process comes into play. And before anyone goes on social, they should be crystal clear about why they are there. So for me, it is building that community, building genuine relationships, starting to lay the foundations for commercial conversations and partnerships. Now once I've got that goal, I can then work backwards. As you said, Adam, you know, previously, it was if I make this many dials, this many people will pick up. If this many people pick up, then I can have this many meaningful conversations. If I have this many meaningful conversations, I can book this many meetings and then, you know, you're in the funnel.
Adam Gray [00:17:59]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:18:01]:
What I'm doing here is the connection request is that first step because it's pulling people into the sphere of influence that that, idea of once they're there, they're gonna see more of my content. I'm gonna see more of the content that they share, that they engage with. So these are all opportunities for me to start building a relationship, having a conversation with those people. Again, it's important to be, really really, strict with yourself in terms of the amount of comments that that you make. So again, with one of the things that I'll do is every week or so, I'll go through my my recently connected, sort of list. If you go into my network, manage connections, you see a chronological view of everyone that you've connected with. I will painstakingly go through that list, open someone's, profile, go on to their profile, see if they've shared anything. Now only 1% of LinkedIn users post, so it's, you know, it it's unlikely that they have posted.
Jordan Abbott [00:19:16]:
But what you can do is look at what they've engaged with and what they've commented on and then comment on that. And I try and keep that process to maximum 2 minutes per person. Ideally, it's 30 seconds. Literally open the profile, have a look. Something comes to mind, then that that's relevant, then I'll comment. That's great.
Alex Abbott [00:19:37]:
I I don't think we can really we shouldn't underestimate the importance of doing what you're describing there, Jordan, because, you know, we we we we tend to be more successful when, you know, when we're trying to sell to people that we know or that know us, like us, and trust us. And so what you're talking about here is crossing that chasm between cold and warm
Jordan Abbott [00:20:06]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:20:06]:
And and encouraging these contacts to become lukewarm because you're building that affinity over time until they become warm and they start to like us and trust us.
Jordan Abbott [00:20:20]:
Yeah. And, look, there there is an ulterior motive there. As you said, I want them to see my face as much as possible. I want them to see my name pop up in their their notification section as much as possible that when I do then reach out and ask for the call, they're more likely to say yes. They're more likely to be receptive. Or even prior to that call request, they're more likely to respond to the message that I send. And that that process of looking at what they've engaged with, one, it benefits me because I they'll likely get notified and see my name, see my face, but also it gives me an opportunity to be doing research, to understand what does this person care about, to find those triggers to then reach out with a message and start a conversation?
Alex Abbott [00:21:16]:
So when we talk about this idea of crossing the chasm, you know, Adam was essentially asking this question. You know, we're we're crossing that chasm between, I've become visible, but, actually, I want to have a conversation with you. Yeah. And crossing the chasm isn't a case of, oh, we've had a profile visit. Let me send you a message. Would you like a chat?
Jordan Abbott [00:21:43]:
No.
Alex Abbott [00:21:44]:
It it might it might be that if we feel it's appropriate to do that as a result of the signals prior to that moment.
Jordan Abbott [00:21:53]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:21:53]:
But it could well be as you're describing a series of steps that create those signals, like commenting, popping up in notifications, engaging with their content in some way. Yeah. What can you what can you tell people, out there to give them the confidence to keep going with this approach for those that have started and haven't quite seen the light? Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:22:23]:
So a couple of things. I think one, just just keep going. And I know it sounds really cliche and really vague, but just keep going because just by doing something, it will spark ideas. It'll it'll sharpen your tools. There's that saying, action comes before inspiration. Right? So just I doing, the the the active the process of of doing the activity will spark ideas, will, you know, help you to realize another prospect that you hadn't previously considered that's actually engaging with a load of this content. It it it just, yeah, it really helps. And then the second piece is really measuring what matters.
Alex Abbott [00:23:18]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:23:18]:
Because by having that view, you it enables you to test and optimize in in, you know, specific areas. You know, what's gonna move the needle most? Where are things dropping off? Where do I need to focus on moving forward? What's actually going well?
Alex Abbott [00:23:38]:
Yeah. So in summary, if if you don't mind, I'm gonna gonna massively simplify everything that you've just said because it's it's no fluke getting to 9,000 new relevant connections in 24 months. What you're saying is it's important to, number 1, develop your personal brand. You understand what you really want to be known for so that your audience can see you for the right reasons. Number 2, it's about content creation and creating content that aligns to your personal brand so that your audience can actively see what you who you are, what you do, and what you're known for, ideally aligned to the outcomes that you deliver to, to your audience.
Jordan Abbott [00:24:24]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:24:24]:
And number 3, engagement. And so, yeah, sending those network connection requests, but also taking the time to engage with them, with their content, with content that's relevant to them so that they constantly your audience constantly sees you popping up in their in their timeline.
Jordan Abbott [00:24:45]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:24:47]:
And and then, you know, coming to what you just said at the end there, which I think is critical, is the measurement. So so give the audience a little bit of an idea of how your performance changed
Jordan Abbott [00:25:04]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:25:04]:
From what you were doing before to then doing this new approach. But then perhaps could you touch on some of the things that are critical to measure on a weekly basis to ensure that you're doing the right things, you're consistently doing the right things?
Jordan Abbott [00:25:19]:
Yeah. Indeed. So from the point of pain Mhmm. You know, prior to doing the training during that 6th month to, you know, the the following 12 months after making the change, my meeting booking rate increased by 6.7x. So it went up to 9%. I think it was from 1.3 or something. Right. The amount of people that accepted, and showed up for a call when I requested 1.
Jordan Abbott [00:25:50]:
So that's how many first meetings was I booking. Then
Adam Gray [00:25:57]:
Hold hold on a sec. Let's just let's just think about that from a a anybody out there that's struggling with generating pipeline. You make 10 calls, nobody talks to you. You, you make 10 outreaches, and 1 person talks to you.
Jordan Abbott [00:26:18]:
Yeah. Look. More more than one talk to me. One except Okay.
Adam Gray [00:26:22]:
Has has a proper meeting. Yeah. I mean, that that that's a staggering output, really, isn't it? Because, you know, most most cold calling teams are doing, like, 60, 70 dials to get a meaningful conversation with somebody.
Alex Abbott [00:26:37]:
Yeah. More than that, I would say.
Adam Gray [00:26:39]:
But there may be. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:26:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. 60 to 70 connects in order to have a meaningful conversation. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:26:52]:
And then in terms of what I measure, typically, it's network growth and follow-up growth. How many posts I'm making? How many of those are human? How many impressions am I getting on those posts, but more importantly, how many people are engaging because then I know who is engaging, and I can then proactively reach out to them. You know, thanks for engaging, Ask a question off the back of it. Start a conversation. How many comments am I making on other people's content? So my prospect's content or the content that my prospects are engaging with.
Alex Abbott [00:27:35]:
Mhmm.
Jordan Abbott [00:27:37]:
How many people am I requesting a call with? How many of those people then show up to that call? How many of those calls move on, so progress? How many of those are are a meaningful conversation, and there's actually something there to continue exploring? And then of those calls, how many become an opportunity?
Alex Abbott [00:28:02]:
Wow.
Jordan Abbott [00:28:03]:
And off the top of my head, my call my meeting generation rate has dropped slightly since I've moved to the the role that I'm currently working. So it's at about 6%, 6.3 officially. So I'm doing testing, you know, how I can increase that. One of the things I'm doing at the minute is voice notes. I'm really sort of doubling down on that as a way to appear more human and cut through the noise. But what I am finding is of those calls that I'm having, I'm having, a lot more meaningful conversations. So at the moment, around 28% of those conversations become a meaningful conversation, and then 58% of those meaningful conversations become an opportunity
Alex Abbott [00:28:55]:
Wow. At the moment.
Jordan Abbott [00:28:57]:
And, again, I think it's, you know, one, I'm having a lot more calls than I did have, so I'm getting better at managing those calls. But I think a lot of the time, the work that I'm doing on social lays the foundation for a good call because people join the call when they feel like they already sort of know me. You know, someone I'll join a call and we'll start talking about a piece of content that I shared or a new tagline or something that I've been doing, and it just helps to lay the foundation for a productive call, whether that progresses or whether it doesn't because, you know, timing is not right or whatever it may be.
Alex Abbott [00:29:41]:
Yeah. I'm I'm conscious of time. I've I've got to dig into this because, right. So you're saying that 6 point you get calls. You have a conversation with 6.4% of people that you've asked to have a call with that match your ICP.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:00]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:00]:
That's 6.4 people for every 100. Yeah. 29% progressed to a meaningful conversation.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:10]:
I think it's about 28. 28%. Fine. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:14]:
And of those, 58% become a qualified opportunity.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:19]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:19]:
So I think by my maths, and I was never very good at maths, for every 100 people you ask to have a call with, you're creating 1 net new qualified opportunity. Because 6 calls 28% of 6.4 is about is about 2, and half of those 2 meaningful conversations become a qualified opportunity.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:44]:
Yeah. Speak I haven't done that calculation, but I will do as soon as we get off.
Alex Abbott [00:30:50]:
I I would because you can build a business on that on that. How how long have you been measuring this? So, you know, is this, you know, how
Jordan Abbott [00:30:57]:
long have you been measuring? Been measuring this for, two and a half, three years consistently, sort of religiously. And
Alex Abbott [00:31:08]:
Solid data.
Jordan Abbott [00:31:09]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:31:10]:
Yeah. Okay. Alright. And we Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:31:13]:
Just on that point, so we use a a tool called Teamfluence, which makes things nice and easy. Would highly recommend taking a look at it if if you wanted to. But equally, I also keep a manual Excel sheet, for my benefit and for internal benefits, which I'm happy to share. I'm happy to share the template, with people, which will actually break down what you need to measure as well as all of the conversion, conversion rates between each stage.
Alex Abbott [00:31:49]:
That's fantastic. So you've you've you've heard it here. And for anyone struggling to build predictability into their pipeline and revenue generation or predictability in growing growing their business, this to me sounds like the perfect way to do it. And, and as as Jordan has said, he's he's offered up his template. So, if anyone wants to see Jordan's template, I guess, drop drop a note in in the in the comments or say connection request.
Jordan Abbott [00:32:23]:
Indeed.
Alex Abbott [00:32:24]:
Send them a connection request. So, what's the one thing you would leave our audience with today, Jordan, if there was just one thing?
Jordan Abbott [00:32:33]:
Yeah. I think it it's measure what matters and Yeah. I'll I'll say that because it allows me to break it down into 2 things. So first, you need to understand what matters to you and be crystal clear about it because then it enables you to work backwards, and ensure that you are employing the right lead measures
Alex Abbott [00:32:57]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:32:57]:
That will bring you closer to achieving that. And then actually measuring gives you the insight into what's actually going well, Where do I need to improve? What can I do to improve? And it just enables this testing and optimization mindset, which will have the biggest impact.
Alex Abbott [00:33:18]:
Yeah. Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. Thank you, Jordan. It's been, it's been enlightening. It's been an eye opener.
Jordan Abbott [00:33:26]:
Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Brilliant.
Adam Gray [00:33:28]:
Absolutely.
Alex Abbott [00:33:30]:
And, mister Gray, lovely to be, on the panel with you again. Likewise. Likewise, Alex. To everyone else, thanks for for tuning in. Until next time on sales TV. Have a great rest of week, folks. Bye bye.
Adam Gray [00:33:43]:
Bye bye.
#SalesTV #B2BSales #Networking #NetworkGrowth #SalesTips
In this episode, we’re thrilled to host Jordan Abbott, widely known as “The Sales Poet.” Over the past two years, Jordan has successfully expanded his professional network by over 9,000 relevant contacts, transforming his sales results and redefining what it means to connect in the digital age.
Together, we’ll explore:
The ONE action you can take today to begin growing your network.
This isn’t just about tips—it’s about actionable insights that salespeople can apply immediately.
Join us on January 7th for a conversation packed with practical takeaways and inspiration for your sales journey.
Jordan Abbott, widely known as “The Sales Poet”
Adam Gray, Co-founder of DLA Ignite
Alex Abbott, Founder of Supero
Alex Abbott [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Sales TV, where we tackle the reality that there's no easy button in sales. If you're a sales representative or account executive looking to navigate the complexities of modern sales and grow meaningful conversations, you're in the right place. In every episode, we explore one thing that can help you elevate your performance and achieve success without shortcuts. And without further ado, welcome, mister Grey. It's lovely to be together with
Adam Gray [00:00:31]:
you on Sales TV again. Yeah. Absolutely. And a happy New Year to to you and to everybody watching.
Alex Abbott [00:00:36]:
Happy New Year indeed. Indeed. So maybe and so are you are you a resolution man or or not?
Adam Gray [00:00:46]:
No. I mean, if if if something needs to be done, I'd try to just do it when it needs doing rather than wait till the the new year.
Alex Abbott [00:00:53]:
Yeah. But I
Adam Gray [00:00:54]:
but I do think that, the the concept of making a resolution is a really good one.
Alex Abbott [00:01:00]:
Yeah. I
Adam Gray [00:01:00]:
think that the the challenge, you know, and and, obviously, this is a show about sales. The challenge is that there are difficult things that need to be done in sales, aren't there? And, it's very easy to make a resolution and very difficult to keep it.
Alex Abbott [00:01:18]:
Yeah. Yeah. I've I've stopped using the word resolution and and sticking to the word plan. I guess that's the word that would resonate with many salespeople. Anyway, enough about New Year's planning and resolutions. I'm thrilled to host or we are thrilled to host Jordan Abbott, known as the sales poet, a true master in the world of networking and social selling. Jordan has spent the last 2 years growing his professional network by over 9,000 relevant contacts, transforming his sales outcomes and redefining what it means to connect in the digital era. As a registered fair ethics in sales practitioner and ambassador of the Institute of Sales Professionals Emerging Professionals Network, Jordan embodies the principles that authenticity and hard work are the cornerstones of success.
Alex Abbott [00:02:16]:
Jordan's focus on personal brand building and AI driven strategies has made him a thought leader in the field. Please join me in welcoming an inspiring and strategic mind, Jordan Abbott.
Jordan Abbott [00:02:33]:
Good morning. What an intro.
Alex Abbott [00:02:35]:
How'd you like that?
Jordan Abbott [00:02:36]:
Yeah. You follow me everywhere I go.
Alex Abbott [00:02:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. Why not? Welcome. So how have you been?
Jordan Abbott [00:02:46]:
Yeah. Very well. Very well. As as you said, I think, you know, resolutions have a place to an extent, but really you shouldn't wait until the turn of the year to to, you know, get stuff done.
Alex Abbott [00:03:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Really good point. So let's dive straight in, Jordan. Indeed. What what sparked your journey toward growing such a substantial network? Because I know we spoke about this before before the show. 9,000 contacts in 2 years.
Alex Abbott [00:03:20]:
What is it? 5000 in the last 12 months? Did I get that right?
Jordan Abbott [00:03:25]:
Yeah. Just over 5,000. I think it's 5,160 odd.
Alex Abbott [00:03:30]:
So before we get to that, what was your motivation, and and how did you get started with, with with this?
Jordan Abbott [00:03:38]:
So I think in all honesty, it was I was getting sick of throwing spaghetti at a wall, you know, following old approaches and and hoping for the best. I started out in telesales, so calling numbers off a sheet, then moved into sort of tech sales, SAS sales, and it was phoning, emailing, all things that really leave their outreach where the buyer doesn't see us. The the person on the receiving end doesn't see us. So very sort of it feels a bit like a monologue. Right? It's very one-sided. There's no real conversation. And then off the back of these changes that we were seeing in buyer behaviors, we knew that things just weren't working the way that they used to, I'd realized I wasn't gonna achieve the results that I desired by continuing down that road. And that's when, our our paths crossed with Adam and Tim, and that that sort of that was what sparked, the the change or or added fuel to that fire, I guess.
Alex Abbott [00:04:52]:
When you say change, though, just for for our audience's benefit for those that perhaps don't know us, You know, you're talking about the traditional approach using using the phone, using email in a in a in a sales salesy way.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:10]:
Any and even social. Right?
Alex Abbott [00:05:13]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:13]:
It's we were using social
Adam Gray [00:05:16]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:16]:
Not very well. We were applying those analogue approaches in the digital world, you know, trying to achieve the mass of the outreach via DMs.
Alex Abbott [00:05:29]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:05:30]:
And not having done the foundational work or not having done well enough the foundational work that, that really makes the difference when you're then reaching out to people. So
Alex Abbott [00:05:45]:
Which which is when you say really makes the difference?
Jordan Abbott [00:05:49]:
Yeah. So there's a couple of things, and I'll come on to it. But I think what it encompasses is that sort of feeling of community and trying to grow the the sphere of influence, that we have. So when we do reach out rather than it just being a a sales message, we're actually trying to genuinely build a relationship with this person. We've got we built our personal brand in the background. We're constantly creating, content that is insightful, but also very human and genuine. So that when we do reach out, there's this shop window that paints us to be, you know, a half decent person that's actually worth having a conversation with rather than it just being a number that pops up on your phone or an email that's, you know, growing the the the the spam inbox, or a dm that's just lost in the noise.
Adam Gray [00:06:53]:
So I I, obviously, I I get this. And, I I see that that the idea of building a community of people around you who know you, like you, trust you, that don't see you as somebody that's constantly pitching stuff to them, but see you as somebody who they like spending time with. And who knows? Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year, some kind of commercial interaction might come out of that. Or maybe it won't. Maybe it will just be friends. But but social enabling you to scale that that community of people that you have. I get that that's a very efficient way of doing things. But you're young.
Adam Gray [00:07:37]:
You know, you've got a very short legacy of having done the wrong things. Yeah. How difficult is it for somebody that is my age, you know, been in sales for 30 years and, doing these things that no longer work used to deliver a 120% of target every year and now delivers nothing. How difficult is it for people like that to change?
Jordan Abbott [00:08:05]:
Yeah. I I would imagine massively. Right? Even for myself, as you said, I've got a short legacy of doing the wrong things. It took me 6 months, 8 months after we'd completed the training for something to click and for me to actually go, do you know what? I need to just put all my eggs in this basket. This is the way forward. It wasn't as if, you know, we we finished the training and then that was that was it. There was another 6 to 8 months of pain, feeling the pain, putting myself through that pain before before it did click. Now I think the benefit that people, that have been in sales for a longer period than than I have, the the benefit that they have is networking in person networking was a lot more popular.
Jordan Abbott [00:09:03]:
I've only been in sales since, you know, COVID era, so I never really had the opportunities early on in my career to do the in person networking. It was only post post, restrictions being lifted. I think that in person networking builds so many core skills that can be transferred to social when social is thought of as a digital networking space because that's what it is. But for some reason, when we get on to social, all sort of common courtesy and these skills just goes out
Adam Gray [00:09:44]:
the window for some reason.
Jordan Abbott [00:09:45]:
And we think it's okay to to pitch that people and to not really give a hoot about the the person that that that sits behind the profile.
Alex Abbott [00:09:57]:
Let's just come back to that pain that pain of 6 to 8 months because I think it's worth just digging in a little bit there because it it it's more about the pain you went through making the transformation. Is that what you're talking about as opposed to the pain of not feeling not feeling this the success quote, unquote?
Jordan Abbott [00:10:21]:
No. I so the transformation wasn't easy necessarily, but I think it was still the pain because I was doing it for the sake of doing it, if you know what I mean, rather than fully believing it and being bought in. So I was still doing the other things, the emails, the calls because that's what I thought worked. And it would it there was a point where I don't know what happened. I don't know what clicked in my brain, but I just sort of decided to fully throw myself into to things. And, yeah, and then that sort of triggered the transformation, really. And and once that that thing had clicked, the transformation wasn't too difficult, and it's still sort of ongoing. So it's it's never complete, I guess.
Alex Abbott [00:11:19]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:11:20]:
But yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:11:21]:
So so 9,000 relevant contacts, that's some growth rate. This is LinkedIn that we're talking about. So you you've you've managed to successfully grow your network by an additional 9,000 contacts in 24 months. That sounds almost impossible to me knowing some of the limitations that LinkedIn apply. What you know, whether you've got a basic account or a premium account, I think you've got a sales navigator account, which allows you to to send, you know, a couple of 100 connection requests a week. Yeah. But that's that's something like what a 50% connection acceptance rate on average for 2 years?
Jordan Abbott [00:12:05]:
Yeah. Yeah. Give or take. So I think it's 200. And again, I don't know the the specificities of it, but I think the sales nav account and the fact that the SSI is over 70, I think that's one of the milestones. Again, don't think that's confirmed, but but that's just me deducing it from from, you know, what I know. Yeah. It's it's there there's also been some inbound connections along the way that that that's come off the back of the content.
Jordan Abbott [00:12:41]:
And I think the what's enabled it is is the processes that, I've sort of followed to ensure that I can stay consistent.
Alex Abbott [00:12:52]:
Yeah. And would you would you say so if we think about this from an outbound perspective Yeah. And an inbound perspective, let's let's look at the outbound first. What what are some of the things that you're doing in order to achieve such high connection acceptance rates? And these these aren't just anybody. These are your target personas. Right? Your ICP that you're targeting.
Jordan Abbott [00:13:18]:
Yeah. Indeed. So, the profile is the first thing. We need to ensure that we're when we actually send the connection request, when someone lands on our profile, our profile is resonating with our ICP. We look relevant. We're sharing content that is relevant to to their day to day, and we look like a a genuinely decent human being. Then in terms of the the actual connections, so before I get there, there's the content piece. Again, the content is is sort of like fluffing up our profile, but it's adding more value, adding more insight as to who we are, to our profile, and there's a couple of tricks that that we can implement, you know, leveraging our featured section.
Jordan Abbott [00:14:08]:
So the reason I bring that up is when I do send connections, I try and put things put the activities into buckets. So, you know, this week, I might be targeting HR leaders from tech companies. So what I'm gonna do is make sure my featured section contains content that is relevant to HR leaders within the tech space. So as soon as they go on my profile, all of the pieces of content that they see in that first image of the profile makes them believe that that I'm an expert in, you know, or or at least someone that's that's worth having a conversation with. And then on to the the actual activity of sending connections, it's creating those buckets. So I sort of split my activity between focus accounts and then some volume based stuff. So focus accounts, obviously, I create my focus 20, 50, whatever it may be, and then leveraging sales nav will reach out. And then on the volume piece, there's a few, a few types of activity or a few way reasons for reaching out.
Jordan Abbott [00:15:28]:
So if someone's connect, engaged on some of my content, they'll always receive a connection request. If someone has engaged on a piece of content that is relevant to what I do or my space, again, I'll send a connection request. Profile visitors send a connection request. Now on that point, I've a lot of the people that view my profile are people that I've sent a connection request to in the past 3 months. And, you know, maybe they've declined it, But I'll send a note saying, hey. No tissue. You stopped by my profile, and 95% of the time, they'll accept that even though they've previously declined. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:16:18]:
It's fine. Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:16:19]:
Work by doing things there. And then there's also a couple of other ways, to to ensure that I'm that there's a relevant reason for me to reach out.
Adam Gray [00:16:30]:
So so can I play devil's advocate here?
Jordan Abbott [00:16:32]:
Indeed.
Adam Gray [00:16:33]:
So you've you've sent loads for a change. So you you you've sent loads of connection requests. Loads of people have accepted. You've built this huge network of relevant people. Actually, that's not sales, though. You've just built a load of people that you're connected to.
Jordan Abbott [00:16:46]:
Yeah.
Adam Gray [00:16:46]:
So so so for the cynical salesperson that is still seeing constant pitching as being the solution to achieving their their outreach like it used to be. You know? If if if 10 calls equals 1 sale, a 100 calls equals 10 sales. You know, it's pretty easy maths.
Jordan Abbott [00:17:07]:
Yeah.
Adam Gray [00:17:08]:
So so you've built this network of people. What now?
Jordan Abbott [00:17:13]:
Yeah. So I think this is where the process comes into play. And before anyone goes on social, they should be crystal clear about why they are there. So for me, it is building that community, building genuine relationships, starting to lay the foundations for commercial conversations and partnerships. Now once I've got that goal, I can then work backwards. As you said, Adam, you know, previously, it was if I make this many dials, this many people will pick up. If this many people pick up, then I can have this many meaningful conversations. If I have this many meaningful conversations, I can book this many meetings and then, you know, you're in the funnel.
Adam Gray [00:17:59]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:18:01]:
What I'm doing here is the connection request is that first step because it's pulling people into the sphere of influence that that, idea of once they're there, they're gonna see more of my content. I'm gonna see more of the content that they share, that they engage with. So these are all opportunities for me to start building a relationship, having a conversation with those people. Again, it's important to be, really really, strict with yourself in terms of the amount of comments that that you make. So again, with one of the things that I'll do is every week or so, I'll go through my my recently connected, sort of list. If you go into my network, manage connections, you see a chronological view of everyone that you've connected with. I will painstakingly go through that list, open someone's, profile, go on to their profile, see if they've shared anything. Now only 1% of LinkedIn users post, so it's, you know, it it's unlikely that they have posted.
Jordan Abbott [00:19:16]:
But what you can do is look at what they've engaged with and what they've commented on and then comment on that. And I try and keep that process to maximum 2 minutes per person. Ideally, it's 30 seconds. Literally open the profile, have a look. Something comes to mind, then that that's relevant, then I'll comment. That's great.
Alex Abbott [00:19:37]:
I I don't think we can really we shouldn't underestimate the importance of doing what you're describing there, Jordan, because, you know, we we we we tend to be more successful when, you know, when we're trying to sell to people that we know or that know us, like us, and trust us. And so what you're talking about here is crossing that chasm between cold and warm
Jordan Abbott [00:20:06]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:20:06]:
And and encouraging these contacts to become lukewarm because you're building that affinity over time until they become warm and they start to like us and trust us.
Jordan Abbott [00:20:20]:
Yeah. And, look, there there is an ulterior motive there. As you said, I want them to see my face as much as possible. I want them to see my name pop up in their their notification section as much as possible that when I do then reach out and ask for the call, they're more likely to say yes. They're more likely to be receptive. Or even prior to that call request, they're more likely to respond to the message that I send. And that that process of looking at what they've engaged with, one, it benefits me because I they'll likely get notified and see my name, see my face, but also it gives me an opportunity to be doing research, to understand what does this person care about, to find those triggers to then reach out with a message and start a conversation?
Alex Abbott [00:21:16]:
So when we talk about this idea of crossing the chasm, you know, Adam was essentially asking this question. You know, we're we're crossing that chasm between, I've become visible, but, actually, I want to have a conversation with you. Yeah. And crossing the chasm isn't a case of, oh, we've had a profile visit. Let me send you a message. Would you like a chat?
Jordan Abbott [00:21:43]:
No.
Alex Abbott [00:21:44]:
It it might it might be that if we feel it's appropriate to do that as a result of the signals prior to that moment.
Jordan Abbott [00:21:53]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:21:53]:
But it could well be as you're describing a series of steps that create those signals, like commenting, popping up in notifications, engaging with their content in some way. Yeah. What can you what can you tell people, out there to give them the confidence to keep going with this approach for those that have started and haven't quite seen the light? Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:22:23]:
So a couple of things. I think one, just just keep going. And I know it sounds really cliche and really vague, but just keep going because just by doing something, it will spark ideas. It'll it'll sharpen your tools. There's that saying, action comes before inspiration. Right? So just I doing, the the the active the process of of doing the activity will spark ideas, will, you know, help you to realize another prospect that you hadn't previously considered that's actually engaging with a load of this content. It it it just, yeah, it really helps. And then the second piece is really measuring what matters.
Alex Abbott [00:23:18]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:23:18]:
Because by having that view, you it enables you to test and optimize in in, you know, specific areas. You know, what's gonna move the needle most? Where are things dropping off? Where do I need to focus on moving forward? What's actually going well?
Alex Abbott [00:23:38]:
Yeah. So in summary, if if you don't mind, I'm gonna gonna massively simplify everything that you've just said because it's it's no fluke getting to 9,000 new relevant connections in 24 months. What you're saying is it's important to, number 1, develop your personal brand. You understand what you really want to be known for so that your audience can see you for the right reasons. Number 2, it's about content creation and creating content that aligns to your personal brand so that your audience can actively see what you who you are, what you do, and what you're known for, ideally aligned to the outcomes that you deliver to, to your audience.
Jordan Abbott [00:24:24]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:24:24]:
And number 3, engagement. And so, yeah, sending those network connection requests, but also taking the time to engage with them, with their content, with content that's relevant to them so that they constantly your audience constantly sees you popping up in their in their timeline.
Jordan Abbott [00:24:45]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:24:47]:
And and then, you know, coming to what you just said at the end there, which I think is critical, is the measurement. So so give the audience a little bit of an idea of how your performance changed
Jordan Abbott [00:25:04]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:25:04]:
From what you were doing before to then doing this new approach. But then perhaps could you touch on some of the things that are critical to measure on a weekly basis to ensure that you're doing the right things, you're consistently doing the right things?
Jordan Abbott [00:25:19]:
Yeah. Indeed. So from the point of pain Mhmm. You know, prior to doing the training during that 6th month to, you know, the the following 12 months after making the change, my meeting booking rate increased by 6.7x. So it went up to 9%. I think it was from 1.3 or something. Right. The amount of people that accepted, and showed up for a call when I requested 1.
Jordan Abbott [00:25:50]:
So that's how many first meetings was I booking. Then
Adam Gray [00:25:57]:
Hold hold on a sec. Let's just let's just think about that from a a anybody out there that's struggling with generating pipeline. You make 10 calls, nobody talks to you. You, you make 10 outreaches, and 1 person talks to you.
Jordan Abbott [00:26:18]:
Yeah. Look. More more than one talk to me. One except Okay.
Adam Gray [00:26:22]:
Has has a proper meeting. Yeah. I mean, that that that's a staggering output, really, isn't it? Because, you know, most most cold calling teams are doing, like, 60, 70 dials to get a meaningful conversation with somebody.
Alex Abbott [00:26:37]:
Yeah. More than that, I would say.
Adam Gray [00:26:39]:
But there may be. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:26:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. 60 to 70 connects in order to have a meaningful conversation. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:26:52]:
And then in terms of what I measure, typically, it's network growth and follow-up growth. How many posts I'm making? How many of those are human? How many impressions am I getting on those posts, but more importantly, how many people are engaging because then I know who is engaging, and I can then proactively reach out to them. You know, thanks for engaging, Ask a question off the back of it. Start a conversation. How many comments am I making on other people's content? So my prospect's content or the content that my prospects are engaging with.
Alex Abbott [00:27:35]:
Mhmm.
Jordan Abbott [00:27:37]:
How many people am I requesting a call with? How many of those people then show up to that call? How many of those calls move on, so progress? How many of those are are a meaningful conversation, and there's actually something there to continue exploring? And then of those calls, how many become an opportunity?
Alex Abbott [00:28:02]:
Wow.
Jordan Abbott [00:28:03]:
And off the top of my head, my call my meeting generation rate has dropped slightly since I've moved to the the role that I'm currently working. So it's at about 6%, 6.3 officially. So I'm doing testing, you know, how I can increase that. One of the things I'm doing at the minute is voice notes. I'm really sort of doubling down on that as a way to appear more human and cut through the noise. But what I am finding is of those calls that I'm having, I'm having, a lot more meaningful conversations. So at the moment, around 28% of those conversations become a meaningful conversation, and then 58% of those meaningful conversations become an opportunity
Alex Abbott [00:28:55]:
Wow. At the moment.
Jordan Abbott [00:28:57]:
And, again, I think it's, you know, one, I'm having a lot more calls than I did have, so I'm getting better at managing those calls. But I think a lot of the time, the work that I'm doing on social lays the foundation for a good call because people join the call when they feel like they already sort of know me. You know, someone I'll join a call and we'll start talking about a piece of content that I shared or a new tagline or something that I've been doing, and it just helps to lay the foundation for a productive call, whether that progresses or whether it doesn't because, you know, timing is not right or whatever it may be.
Alex Abbott [00:29:41]:
Yeah. I'm I'm conscious of time. I've I've got to dig into this because, right. So you're saying that 6 point you get calls. You have a conversation with 6.4% of people that you've asked to have a call with that match your ICP.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:00]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:00]:
That's 6.4 people for every 100. Yeah. 29% progressed to a meaningful conversation.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:10]:
I think it's about 28. 28%. Fine. Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:14]:
And of those, 58% become a qualified opportunity.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:19]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:30:19]:
So I think by my maths, and I was never very good at maths, for every 100 people you ask to have a call with, you're creating 1 net new qualified opportunity. Because 6 calls 28% of 6.4 is about is about 2, and half of those 2 meaningful conversations become a qualified opportunity.
Jordan Abbott [00:30:44]:
Yeah. Speak I haven't done that calculation, but I will do as soon as we get off.
Alex Abbott [00:30:50]:
I I would because you can build a business on that on that. How how long have you been measuring this? So, you know, is this, you know, how
Jordan Abbott [00:30:57]:
long have you been measuring? Been measuring this for, two and a half, three years consistently, sort of religiously. And
Alex Abbott [00:31:08]:
Solid data.
Jordan Abbott [00:31:09]:
Yeah.
Alex Abbott [00:31:10]:
Yeah. Okay. Alright. And we Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:31:13]:
Just on that point, so we use a a tool called Teamfluence, which makes things nice and easy. Would highly recommend taking a look at it if if you wanted to. But equally, I also keep a manual Excel sheet, for my benefit and for internal benefits, which I'm happy to share. I'm happy to share the template, with people, which will actually break down what you need to measure as well as all of the conversion, conversion rates between each stage.
Alex Abbott [00:31:49]:
That's fantastic. So you've you've you've heard it here. And for anyone struggling to build predictability into their pipeline and revenue generation or predictability in growing growing their business, this to me sounds like the perfect way to do it. And, and as as Jordan has said, he's he's offered up his template. So, if anyone wants to see Jordan's template, I guess, drop drop a note in in the in the comments or say connection request.
Jordan Abbott [00:32:23]:
Indeed.
Alex Abbott [00:32:24]:
Send them a connection request. So, what's the one thing you would leave our audience with today, Jordan, if there was just one thing?
Jordan Abbott [00:32:33]:
Yeah. I think it it's measure what matters and Yeah. I'll I'll say that because it allows me to break it down into 2 things. So first, you need to understand what matters to you and be crystal clear about it because then it enables you to work backwards, and ensure that you are employing the right lead measures
Alex Abbott [00:32:57]:
Yeah.
Jordan Abbott [00:32:57]:
That will bring you closer to achieving that. And then actually measuring gives you the insight into what's actually going well, Where do I need to improve? What can I do to improve? And it just enables this testing and optimization mindset, which will have the biggest impact.
Alex Abbott [00:33:18]:
Yeah. Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. Thank you, Jordan. It's been, it's been enlightening. It's been an eye opener.
Jordan Abbott [00:33:26]:
Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Brilliant.
Adam Gray [00:33:28]:
Absolutely.
Alex Abbott [00:33:30]:
And, mister Gray, lovely to be, on the panel with you again. Likewise. Likewise, Alex. To everyone else, thanks for for tuning in. Until next time on sales TV. Have a great rest of week, folks. Bye bye.
Adam Gray [00:33:43]:
Bye bye.
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