Elevate LinkedIn presence and build brand awareness outside of a niche industry
Selection
“Our decision to work with #samsales was driven by their collective strengths including Sam McKenna’s relevant experience, a deep understanding of LinkedIn, a strategic approach to content creation, organizational professionalism, and the creativity of an accomplished writer.”
Solution
LI Executive Branding + Profile Management
Experience
“Exciting, rewarding and totally successful. We nailed our short term goals together, and the #samsales team is setting us up for the long run too. The team’s ability to decipher market trends and navigate the constantly evolving landscape of LinkedIn is unmatched. Not only is the team friendly, relatable, well spoken and well written, they totally understand our business. I honestly think a book could be made out of these posts, they are that good. Each post connects with the audience and receives so much organic engagement.”
Results
Top Voice on LinkedIn, 2300% follower growth in five months, and we’ve been inbounded by much more deal flow, thousands of potential partners for our portfolio companies, including recruiters, go-to-market specialists, journalists, and even investors. We’ve also been able to use this LinkedIn account as a source for PR for our portfolio companies, including product launches and rounds raised. This has been incredibly helpful for us because often working with PR firms can be both timely and costly. Instead, our founders see the value in sharing their company news on LinkedIn.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Founder + Owner, Executive Search Firm
Challenge
Improve LinkedIn presence and convert that into business
Selection
“I know #samsales understands LinkedIn better than any. Not only is the CEO a former LinkedIn exec, but I’ve seen it firsthand as a repeat customer. I’ve always been extremely impressed with their work, and they continue to exceed my expectations.”
Solution
LI Executive Branding + Profile Management
Experience
“The one word I’d use to describe #samsales is proactive. I’m constantly offered strong insights and recommendations to help improve my brand and drive revenue.”
Results
“I’ve closed well into 6 figures of revenue based on my LinkedIn posts alone this year.” These are individuals I don’t know reaching out to me saying, “You seem to really know this industry. Can we talk about working together?” When I speak to C-level executives, many of whom I don’t know, they’ll regularly say, “You’re all over LinkedIn and really know your stuff.” It almost feels like I have a salesperson working for me 24/7.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
#samsales Case Study
LinkedIn Executive Branding
Why this client is both renewing AND expanding
15,367%
YoY increase in content impressions
Giving a face to a company has direct business impact
How much more trusted and memorable would our brand be if we put a face to our company?
That’s the question this CEO and founder aimed to answer by working with #samsales on building an executive presence on LinkedIn. On the rare occasion that she posted, as a busy founder and CEO, she didn’t have time to invest in a LinkedIn strategy that encompassed both content and strategic back-end administration. Further, she didn’t understand the mechanics of why some posts were successful and others weren’t.
There are things I could figure out if I had the time, and there are things I would never figure out. #samsales solved both of those problems.
This is a common challenge that our clients bring to us. They know becoming a thought leader in their space is critical to stay top of mind with their buyers, but given their roles, bandwidth is extremely limited and furthermore, managing their LinkedIn presence is an ineffective use of an executive’s time.
With a background encompassing 15+ years as an attorney and executive at some of the most prestigious law firms in the U.S., our client knew she had meaningful content to share. She simply needed guidance on executing a strategy, and then scaling it in order to expand her influence.
If I’m on LinkedIn, I have to succeed. I don’t have time to learn from my mistakes.
The algorithm, on the other hand, is a different story. With many of the algorithm rules being counterintuitive and frequently changing, she knew she would have never been able to grasp this aspect without #samsales’ deep knowledge of and expertise in LinkedIn.
Process
#samsales relieved both of those pressures, lacking time, and lacking understanding. When working with clients, our content team pulls ideas and inspirations directly from the client, and writes the first draft of a well-structured post with a compelling hook and a format that aligns with LinkedIn algorithm best practices. We then work with the client on edits and tone to ensure that every client is able to speak authentically to their audience.
Our client states that she values #samsales’ willingness to adapt to her communication style and making it easy to craft posts together. She credits our head of content, Courtney Garcia, for taking five-minute voice note ramblings from the car and picking out a tidbit that is transformed into a post that has both power and purpose.
Results
The results speak for themselves, which is why our client says it was an easy decision to both renew and expand. Both her engagement and her impressions have improved (4X!), and that increased brand awareness has led to increased event attendance, website traffic, and countless conference booth visitors who’ve said, “I see you all over LinkedIn.”
Beyond the clear quantitative data, I now have people saying, I’m really enjoying your content. There’s depth and value.
Our client credits #samsales with transforming her LinkedIn strategy, and she now feels more confident in both writing and engaging on the platform. She knows investing in LinkedIn is a long-term strategy, but she’s already bought in. An unforeseen benefit for her is that her success continues to compound with each new post. Her audience grows, which causes each post to gain traction in both impressions and engagement. She’s now investing in #samsales LinkedIn Executive Branding for a second executive within her company.
“LinkedIn is not my expertise, but it’s now critical to the success of our business.”
It was one of the most engaging and useful training sessions my team has attended in years.
Sam is a sales pro who brings amazing energy, enthusiasm and experience to training and development. We utilized her consulting service for a one hour session where 70+ sellers and sales managers attended her training on the “Top Ten Ways to Win in Sales.” Not only was the session on point, it was one of the most engaging and useful training sessions my team has attended in years, the feedback was exceptionally positive. Oftentimes, training and/or consultants miss the mark but Sam truly gets it, she is relatable, speaks from experience and applies her proven techniques in an easy to digest format. If we had the budget, we would hire Sam to lead all our sales training.
Jonathan Fuller SVP, Head of SMB Sales Intersection, a Google company
Someone Who’s Done It, Gets It, and Knows How To Do It
“Sam is who I go to when I am looking for advice and feedback on how to bring in the BIG deals…She is tactical…she gets in there with you. Not only can she help you with the high-level strategy, but she can also give you that in the trenches feedback – the type of stuff that only someone who’s done it, gets it, and knows how to do it, could give.”
Kevin "KD" Dorsey, VP of Inside Sales, PatientPop + LinkedIn Influencer
We were fortunate because we were introduced to Sam
“Over a year ago when the pandemic caused us to change the way we sell, our management team asked us how we needed to alter our sales approach to be effective digital sellers. We were fortunate because we were introduced to Sam who quickly began coaching our team on effective digital selling strategies. We started with the basics of how to update our LinkedIn profiles, effective LinkedIn communications and then moved to Show Me You Know Me (SMYKM) and more advanced “hacks”. One of the best things about Sam’s training is our ongoing engagements that will focus on other sales techniques and more importantly emerging best practices for digital and in-person selling.”
Steve Manion, VP of Sales for Financial Services, TransUnion
If you’re looking for operational sales coaching and strategy, you can’t miss with #samsales
As a long-standing member of the bag carrying community and a VC in Silicon Valley I’ve seen thousands of sales leaders, and Sam is one of the best. She is strategic, thoughtful, gets Enterprise and is no bullshit. She’s a remarkable relationship builder and has some serious intellectual horsepower wrapped in creative, hilarious, banter. If you’re looking for operational sales coaching and strategy, you can’t miss with #samsales.
Doug Landis, Partner, Emergence Capital
If you’re looking for a consummate Silicon Valley sales leader, Sam is it
As a Silicon Valley CEO, I have worked with many high performing sales leaders and professionals over the years, and Sam is one of the best. She has the rare ability to be both strategic and tactical; she can generate cold leads yet also close complex enterprise deals; she can build personal relationships while being a successful negotiator; and she is able to coach and lead teams, from junior reps to seasoned peers. If you’re looking for a consummate Silicon Valley sales leader, Sam is it.
Greg Tapper, CEO, Patternai, formerly of McKinsey and TOPO
Sam is one of those rare 1% of the 1% of sales executives who simply gets it
Sam is one of those rare 1% of the 1% of sales executives who simply gets it. She understands the full life cycle of the sales process and not only has her consulting allowed us to pivot to tremendous success, but her team of BDRs have changed our entire revenue model.
Marsha Redmon, CEO, LexTrack
Her energy was contagious and she is a breath of fresh air
I hired Sam to bring some fresh ideas and new strategies to our national sales meeting. Her energy was contagious and she is a breath of fresh air. She is relatable, but more importantly results driven. The team was blown away but how much they took away from sixty minutes with her, and even more impressed with how she engaged with them afterwards on LinkedIn to keep helping. It was motivating and showed tangible ways to differentiate. We implemented her “secret sauce” and saw results that day! Multiple members on our team have reached out to have more time with Sam!
Alyssa Gordon, Director of Sales, Affirma & Co-Chapter Head of Revenue Collective, Seattle
#samsales consulting has been the missing puzzle piece in our business-development and sales efforts
#samsales consulting has been the missing puzzle piece in our business-development and sales efforts. We have all the expertise in the world relating to what we do, but getting projects – especially big ones – to sign was a hit-and-miss affair. Sam not only consults for us on our entire sales strategy, but her team of BDRs has examined and reshaped our outreach-and-messaging approach to both show our expertise and to have the prospects discover why they need it, want it, can’t live without it. The result – after only a few months – has been record-breaking, multi-year deals and a trajectory to have the best year in company history!
Jason Lisi, CEO, LISI
Sam and her team helped us find a sales language and rhythm that is comfortable
While there are a million (or more) sales consultants with a plethora of approaches, Sam and the #samsales team were the first to help us position our firm in a way that not only resonated with the market but also has made a measurable impact on the return that we were getting using their guidance. Society 54 has been able to implement the suggested approaches in ways that feel natural to who we are as people and who we are as a firm. While Sam and her team helped us find a sales language and rhythm that is comfortable, they pushed us to reach beyond our comfort level to achieve even better results than we initially thought possible.
Heather McCullough, Partner, Society 54
Sam is a phenomenal consultant who is always by my side
Sam is a phenomenal consultant who is always by my side (virtually, of course), cheering me on and someone I can call or email anytime, and obtain the advice I need for immediate results.
Nicole Miller, Senior Managing Director, Savills
Working with #samsales has changed our entire revenue model
Working with #samsales has changed our entire revenue model. We previously closed deals for 50-60K over 12 months, and now regularly close deals for several hundred thousand dollars over a 36-month term. We also hit our annual revenue goal on July 16th, due to the changes Sam’s team made for us.
