Crystal Knows

Looking for ways to make your outreach feel more human? Crystal Knows might just be your best-kept secret. Here’s how I put it to work: before I message a prospect, I pull up this software to get insights on their personality—whether they’re a “get to the point” type or prefer a bit of context and conversation. It’s like having a guide to speak their language from the get-go, making each touchpoint feel more authentic and less, well... ‘salesy.’ ?? In social selling, understanding your prospect’s style can be the difference between a quick pass and a meaningful connection. Crystal Knows makes it easy to show up in a way that feels natural for both sides. Tried it? Let me know how it’s working for you! #SocialSelling #CrystalKnows

Dear Sales reps, You don't need to waste time with fake rapport building at the beginning of every meeting. Rapport building takes on different forms. Some people like to chit chat at the beginning of every meeting about the sports and weather which is how you can develop a little rapport with them. Other people (like me) like to get straight to the point and ideally get done with the meeting earlier which is a different way of developing rapport. When people spend too much time "developing rapport" with me at the beginning of the call, I'll entertain the discussion but it's not going to buy you any points. I'm not going to give you more time at the end of the call if we're going over because you wasted time in the beginning of the call. Here's a couple of tips to help you figure out which approach to take with each person: 1) Do some homework on the company and the person you're speaking with and see if they have posted anything recently or their company has a recent press release that shares some information that could be relevant to your conversation. Start the conversation with the client by saying something like this "Thanks for your time today. As I was preparing for our conversation I noticed you recently posted something about X (or), I noticed in your recent press release where it talked about Y." Then, ask an open ended question about it. If they give you a long answer then they're the type that likes to talk and that's the way you develop rapport with them so you can take a more open approach. If they give you a short answer then get down to business. 2) Sign up to CrystalKnows and run a DISC profile on the person you're meeting with to learn how they like to communicate. Notice the "DON'Ts" with me on my profile. #MakeitHappen

?? Can AI Help Us Communicate Better? Exploring Crystal Knows Following my recent LinkedIn article about the practical uses of generative AI (you can find the article linked in the comments below if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet), I came across Crystal—an AI tool that analyzes LinkedIn profiles to provide personality insights and help you adapt your communication style. Honestly, this concept blew my mind. A software teaching us how to communicate better? It feels like something straight out of ?? Black Mirror. I would have never imagined that a computer could take on something as inherently human as understanding personality and interpersonal communication. But here we are, and naturally, I was eager to try it. ???? I decided to analyze my own LinkedIn profile, curious to see how accurately Crystal could capture “me.” The results? Well, I think they were fairly accurate—but also a bit broad. It got me thinking: How much of my personality does my LinkedIn presence actually reflect? After all, my posts and comments are often a professional, career-seeking version of myself, not necessarily the complete picture of who I am. ?? To explore this further, I asked ChatGPT, who knows me quite well through our ongoing conversations on various topics—both professional and personal—to produce its own personality analysis for comparison. You can find the detailed comparison in the attached screenshot. I think Crystal's purpose is clear: it’s not here to fully “know” you but to give others a helpful framework for professional communication. And for that purpose—whether you’re in sales, recruitment, or just looking to connect more effectively—it seems like a valuable tool. After all, even generalized insights can go a long way in breaking the ice, building rapport, or tailoring communication in ways that make the other person feel understood. Avigail Levine, as a fellow AI enthusiast, I challenge you to try Crystal and share your thoughts on your analysis—I’m genuinely curious to see what insights you’ll get! ?? You'll find the link to it in the comments. What’s your take on the analysis of me? Do you think it’s accurate? And more broadly, do you feel tools like this genuinely enhance communication, or do they push boundaries a bit too far? Share your thoughts in the comments! If you’ve tried Crystal yourself, let me know what you think of your own analysis—I’d love to hear about your experience. ?? #AI #Communication #ProfessionalGrowth #CrystalKnows #GenerativeAI #NetworkingTools

AI FOR NETWORKING? C'EST POSSIBLE. A big element in the Strategic Networking course at the Aix-Marseille Graduate School of Management - IAE-en-Provence last week! We made significant use of AI, particularly for research, brainstorming and feedback, while being aware that AI is a powerful tool, but it only truly makes sense to use once you’ve answered the difficult questions using your brain and ?? We explored AI tools beyond ChatGPT, including Gamma AI or Crystal Knows to amplify networking strategies and Suno AI just for fun. AI helped us research top voices in our fields on LinkedIn identify key content groups on LinkedIn, and refine the LinkedIn profiles through detailed feedback. Yet, the foundation of learning was rooted in deep self-discovery—understanding our WHY, defining our mission, and identifying our core strengths before ever turning to technology. On Friday, the students brought everything together, creating and sharing LinkedIn posts about topics they’re passionate about and at times just experimenting with their personal branding. We had both pros that we can all learn from, like the professional race driver, ?? Arthur Mathieu, and also novice content creators. The student groups are via their LinkedIn content competing for a valuable prize: an online coaching session with four top experts. ?? Petr Moravec from projectYOU will provide advice on brand strategy and management, while Klara Sedlackova and Georgi Darakchiev from Hays and Katerina Stedronska from projectYOU and JATO Dynamics will offer professional career coaching. The winners will receive guidance on CV writing, hiring practices, interview tips, and LinkedIn profile optimization. Thank you to all the students for your energy and enthusiasm, specifically then to Emma Rambaud, Eva Lalot, Louise Koehler, David Vercamer, Juline LAZZARO, Esteban Reinhardt, Adéla Stoklasová, Rawaa Labied, Marin EYGAZIER, Arthur Mathieu, Luca Saade, Luca Durand, Bharath Nagarajan, Harry RAJOELINA, ZAKARIA BEN TALHA and Tom Duris. Special thanks to Fatima Budaly ?????? Budaly and Georgi Darakchiev, who joined us with fantastic 5-minute entries on content and networking. Your advice was valuable, and so are the rewards you offered to the best LinkedIn team—also, heartfelt thanks to my colleagues and friends at projectYOU for the continued inspiration. I’m deeply grateful to Nathalie Chalvesche, Gérald BRUNETTO, and my colleague Tomá? Sadílek from the Faculty of International Relations /Prague University of Economics and Business/. for great company and warm hospitality throughout the last week. And a special shoutout to Pavel ?erny, Head of Department of Tourism and Hospitality at the Fakulta mezinárodních vztah? /V?E/ for his incredibly kind support. StrategicNetworking #AIforNetworking #LinkedInHackathon #AixEnProvence #PersonalBranding #CareerCoaching #ContentEngagement #ProjectYou

Here are my top 5 takeaways from EY's Strategic Growth Forum, an annual event for entrepreneurs and CEOs. I’ll be experimenting with them over the next few weeks and hopefully, they might be helpful for you too! If you have any questions, just let me know in the comments. 1?? Playground Prompts - my favourite presentation was from Jeff Maggioncalda CEO of Coursera. He talked about how he uses Gen AI as a thought partner and generously shared all of the prompts he has created to iterate Coursera’s strategy. You can access his prompt document here: https://lnkd.in/ew5ga5_Y 2?? Empathy Mapping - Terry Rice talked about Savage Storytelling and reminded me of the empathy map which helps you to consider where your customer is coming from. It’s a useful framework for marketing, customer experience and innovation. You can get a copy of the map here: https://lnkd.in/eptZttpw 3?? New AI tools - Lucas Benson and Catharine Eriksen led an interactive workshop using Gen AI to create a new product, complete with packaging design and its own song. As well as the familiar Chat GPT 4, Lucas also used Ideogram for visuals, Udio for the music. Both tools are new to me and I’ll be playing with them. One of the EY Winning Women also mentioned Crystal Knows which uses people's social profile to tell you about their personality! Useful for sales, recruitment and relationship building. 4?? Plum Profile - I met Caitlin MacGregor founder of Plum which uses tech to match people's potential with positions. Plum’s work really aligns with Amazing If's perspective on prioritising talents over titles. You can get your own free profile of your talents and see how they might match you to different roles here: https://lnkd.in/egVu6ZGp 5?? Finding Focus - Frank Giampietro presented about the work EY are doing to support employee wellbeing. I liked the point that was made about the relationship between control and stress. Essentially, when someone feels in control it reduces their feelings of stress. There was?model Frank shared of common factors in people’s control and where the focus should go. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I think these factors are helpful to reflect on. I’ve summarised them below ?? I also want to give a shout out to Allison Maslan for her talk on the 5 phases of scaling a business. Lots of useful insights for me in that too and her book is on route to my house for a read. Thank you to the EY Winning Women programme for another brilliant year at SGF. My brain is buzzing with ideas.

Sales and marketing leaders often forget this simple fact: People make decisions. Not titles or roles. Using AI and Personality Based Marketing (PBM) can help you reach your target audience on their terms. Scott Gillum and Brandon Kim will share everything you need to know about #PBM on Nov. 19 at noon EST! Sign up today!

Nous avons appliqué au département Techniques de Commercialisation de IUT MONTPELLIER-SETE, la philosophie du Master développé par CHARM-EU pour le développement personnel et professional des étudiants. Dans le cadre de l’élaboration de leur portfolio du BUT, les étudiants ont utilisé la solution Skillz-Up et le test DISC de Crystal Knows pour guider leur réflexion sur leur posture d’étudiant et leur style d’apprentissage. Cela permet de prendre conscience de leurs forces, d’explorer leur motivation, d’identifier les axes d’amélioration et de mieux comprendre leur r?le dans une équipe. Cette analyse permet ensuite de réaliser un SWOT et de définir des objectifs SMART pour la prochaine année. Grace à cette méthodologie, ils apprennent à devenir acteurs de leur parcours d’apprentissage et à mettre en place un plan d’action clair et réalisable pour devenir, chaque jour, une meilleure version d’eux-mêmes ! #Apprentissage #DéveloppementPersonnel #Portfolio #Compétences #SWOT #SMART #IUTMS #UM? --- We applied the CHARM-EU Master's philosophy for students' personal and professional development at the Marketing & Businness department of the IUT Montpellier-Sète. As part of the process of drawing up their BUT portfolio, the students used the Skillz'Up solution and Crystal's DISC test to guide their reflection on their student posture and learning style. This enables them to become aware of their strengths, explore their motivation, identify areas for improvement, and better understand their role in a team. This analysis is then used to draw up a SWOT analysis and define SMART objectives for the coming year. Thanks to this methodology, they learn to be responsible of their own learning path and put in place a clear, achievable action plan to become a better version of themselves every day ! Michiel van der Vlist Vanessa Viganò Yuanfei HUANG Julien Lorentz