April 19, 2025 | Read online
I’ve always hated vanity metrics.
You know the ones that look good from the outside but are meaningless if you dig one layer deep?
The biggest vanity metric is “followers” in my opinion. I subscribe to Gary V’s mentality on this. Instead of having 10,000 followers who never engage with your content, I’d rather have 10 that engage all the time.
That’s why I’m going through another purge for this Newsletter.
When I went back out on my own in early 2023 I took the email list we had curated over the years with my brand and SellBetter and used it to re-launch my personal newsletter.
There were over 60k names on that list which seemed really impressive. But, after 5 weeks of sending emails we looked at the open/engagement rate and decided to purge the 50% who hadn’t engaged at all.
This brought us down to about 30k with a ~40% open rate and ~8% click through rate which are well above industry standards.
It’s stayed that way for a while but we’re doing it again.
Friday we sent out a “Did I lose You” email (still works like a charm when you’re getting ghosted) to anyone who hasn’t opened or engaged in the newsletter for the past 2 months.
So who’s coming with me?
(a bit of foreshadowing for the ‘stories from the streets section)
If you’re reading this you’re still on the list and I wanted to show my appreciation by sharing some insights that I thought you might find valuable.
TACTICAL TIPS:
Content that truly adds value
I’ve always struggled a bit trying to figure out what content I could share in a contact strategy to a target prospect that would really add value to their life.
I have it easier than most when it comes to prospecting because I’m in Sales and I sell sales training to sales leaders.
So, it makes it easier for me to share content that I know is valuable in order to earn the right to get someone to talk to me.
But what about that 22 year old BDR with a Liberal Arts degree who needs to prospect into CISOs?
What in the world would they be able to share with a CISO that provides ANY value whatsoever?
I never had a great answer for that until now.
Have you tried the “deep research” function on ChatGPT?
It’s a game changer for valuable content. You can create your own research papers, whitepapers, ebooks or whatever you want on any topic you can think of or you can use it to think of content that would be valuable and then have it create it for you.
For instance, you can go in and say something like “My job is to reach out to CISO’s and try to get meetings with them to talk about my cybersecurity solution. I create multi-touch contact strategies which include content I want to share with them that will add immediate value to their lives based on what they do. I need your help thinking about topics, content, research or anything else that would add value to them and then I need your help creating that content.”
It will give you some ideas and then go do all the research for you and create an insanely valuable piece of content that you don’t have to wait for your Marketing department to create for you.
Don’t believe me? Check out the resource I’m going to share with you in the TECH AND RESOURCES section next.
TECH AND RESOURCES:
Outbound Stats
I’m always on the lookout for updated statistics on all aspects of the sales process, specifically around outbound prospecting.
Historically I would search the web and try to see who came up with any new data that was relevant and reputable but would rarely find anything that highlighted what I wanted and wasn’t self-serving to the vendor that shared the data.
Now, all I need to do is ask ChatGPT to do some deep research for me on exactly the content and data I am interested in.
I asked it recently to do a deep research analysis on outbound conversion rates for the past 5 years.
Check out the data it collected below. You can see the full report here.
Not only is this insanely insightful, I can now use this to share with my targets (VPs of Sales) to add value to their lives while reinforcing how my training can help. (use coupon code “JBNEWSLETTER” for a 20% discount).
By the way, if you want to learn how to use AI like this and create content, do research and much more, you’re going to want to join me this week during our Free Training Friday session where my AI partner, Chris briest, who has helped me create all my GPTs is going to be sharing his best practices for AI in Sales and giving away templates and resources so you can get the most out of it without wasting time.
STORIES FROM THE STREETS:
Fun Full Cycle Story
When everything fell apart for me in early 2023 and I had to rebuild my brand and business I was talking to my good friend Kevin "KD" Dorsey who was helping me through it all.
Since I no longer had a team working with me, I needed to find a way to diversify my lead channels and outsource some support.
This was around the time B2B Influencer Marketing was starting to come on strong.
I told KD - "I wish there was some type of Linkedin agent that I could work with to help me leverage my brand for sponsorships, etc."
He said - "I got a guy for you" and introduced me to Aneesh Lal.
I did some homework on his background and then jumped on a call with him. It was evident from the start that he knew what he was talking about and had the right mentality but more importantly, he was a good person with strong values.
I hung up with Aneesh and called KD back and asked one more question - Do you trust him?
Since trust has become one of the most important criteria for me to work with anyone these days, when KD said he trusted Aneesh, that was enough for me.
As we started working together I told him that he had a unique niche and incredible marketing/branding opportunity in front of him as "The Jerry McGuire of Linkedin."
He laughed it off but I wasn't kidding. I even bought the url WhoIsComingWithMe.co and told him to let me know when he wants it.
Fast forward, Morgan J Ingram (Who Aneesh represents too) tells Aneesh that David Meltzer (the Agent who inspired and consulted on the movie Jerry McGuire) is having a Mastermind class and he should go.
Aneesh goes to the Mastermind, meets David who was so impressed with him that he signed with him immediately to rep him on Linkedin sponsor ops.
Last Wednesday night, David was hosting a dinner event in Boston and Aneesh got me an invite which brought things full circle.
I met up with David, shared our mutual admiration for Aneesh and made an immediate connection, especially after realizing his mission:
To empower over a billion people to be happy.
I couldn't think of a better mission to be a part of.
It aligns perfectly with what I always say at the end of my podcast - "go out there and make someone smile today because no matter how bad you think your day is, if you make someone smile, you know you had a good day and the world needs a lot more of that right now."
Not only is this a fun full circle story but it's a testament to what happens when you bring good people together and spread positivity.
ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN LEVEL UP YOUR SALES GAME
- The JB Sales Learning Lab Membership 2.0 is where you’ll get access to my live training, workshops, AMAs and OnDemand catalog so you can level up your sales skills every day! 3000+ Sales pros have already joined. Are you next?
- The industry-leading Make it Happen Monday Podcast where you’ll get insights and inspiration from some of the most interesting and influential people in the world of Sales and business. (this is where you’ll hear the Guy Kawasaki episode on May XYZ)
- The JB Sales YouTube channel with practical tips that you can apply immediately to drive results along with interviews and content that is guaranteed to get you to think differently.
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