GTM Weekly - Volume 5

The Game Plan Partners Weekly – The Role of Reps as Mini-Marketers: Why Your Time is Now

So it turns out it is kind of hard to do a newsletter each week, post each week, comment each week and run the other business you are doing while traveling.

So yeah - I keep preaching but it is hard so while no one is losing sleep that I missed a week it bothered me. Ok - who cares.

However, over the past two weeks, I’ve had 15 deep conversations with CEO’s across various stages of companies (including 2 public). One theme keeps rising to the top is pipeline is hard, productivity is hard and guess what? The whole game is hard and that is why we play to win!

One start up founder said literally “How do I know if I have the right rep as they have not closed anything in 8 months and are selling to banks. We figured it was a 6 month sales cycle because we are a new category and there is no budget for this.”.

My reply:

“I have a hot take for you and I will be very direct.

It sounds like you hired a rep and sent them on a fishing expedition to go find PMF. That is not their job. You also should not be selling to banks to start with.”

This stuff makes me ??

I don’t know if I would be a good rep or a bad rep right now at my old age. I could argue it either way but we have a job to do in GTM right now and that is to make sure we do all we can to drive productivity.

This means we must actually work at it and that does not mean just hire the VP of Sales and put them in this same position.

I was on an awesome podcast with Kyle Coleman talking about how reps today can’t afford to just be salespeople — they need to be mini-marketers, content creators, and connectors.

Yes. Cold email is dead but you still have to do it but you need the right infrastructure or else don’t even try. If you don’t know what that means - it means don’t even bother.

Hint - using Apollo is not it.

I said to one founder I believe there’s an 18-month window to leverage this shift, using LinkedIn video to build trust, influence, and pipeline.

One very astute founder said she agreed this needs to be done but the window might close sooner. She could be right but I don’t think so because too many just don’t do it, don’t want to do it, are afraid to do it or even worse - are frowned upon for doing it (I once had a boss do this to me who is def not reading this but……..)

It’s becoming clear that content, community, and conversion (the 3 Cs) are the tools that will differentiate top-performing reps from the rest. Whether you’re selling product-led growth tools, SaaS, or AI solutions, mastering the 3 Cs isn’t optional anymore — it’s your new playbook.

I don’t know Sara Uy personally but she went viral with her content. She has 66k followers on LI - and 150k + on TikTok. I am not advocating TikTok because well I am too old to know but sure some will say IYKYK. I don’t but also don’t think my buyers in B2B Enterprise are there. I am sure I am wrong on something here but for now - not my worry which probably means good whitespace. Anyway, she left to create her own company and got a 12k deal her first week.

Was that staged? Don’t know and don’t care as it was fantastic content if it was and I am sure created urgency for others. Is her particular style what YOU need to do for YOUR buyers? Not at all. Is the playbook there - I would pay attention.

The Role of Reps as Mini-Marketers

The best reps I’ve seen are no longer waiting for marketing teams to hand over leads — they’re creating influence on their own. Every interaction on LinkedIn, every video post, every insightful comment in a community forum is part of their personal brand and pipeline-building strategy.

I actually had a very similar chat with the CEO of Clay this week but more on that later.

As buyers engage more through “dark social” channels, where trust and insight are exchanged outside traditional funnels, your ability to show up as a thought leader matters more than ever. The reps who build relationships today through content and community will convert tomorrow.

Founders and CEO's, This is Your Window as We Need YOU Also :)

? YOU need to ALSO dominate LinkedIn and video. If you don’t start building now, your competitors will. This shift is real, and the advantage goes to those who act early and often. I had one founder say to me this could take them 2 days of work to do. I said well, that is what is required right now but I don’t think it needs to be two days but 1-2 hours a day for sure (comment, like, engage, post, connect). The bigger the CEO of course this goes down.

? The war on talent is brutal. You can’t just rely on equity to attract top talent anymore. The funding landscape has shifted, and people want more than promises of future value — they want opportunities that feel real today.

In fact - some companies believe they are in control and don’t have to sell as their poster of “culture” says it all. Trust them - they have $1M in ARR. I saw recently a rep bow out as they didn’t think they would learn from the leader and this was with massive inbound 20% + commission rates and someone from the space! More on this later.

I had a rant this week on being Entitled and the Importance of Nothing so will stop there :). I also spoke about how to leverage the 3 Cs today.

Did I mention hiring a junior, inexperienced leader who knows nothing about your space and has never done this before will not attract the right talent for you? Do you honestly look in the mirror and think this person will get you the top rep in the world you would want? If so - well done! If not…well……

If you are still reading - just keeping it real folks as this also drives me ??

You know my drill:

1?? Community

2?? Content

3?? Conversion

I have spoken at length about this and here is my favorite and I will sum this up as “Hustle beats talent all day long……especially when talent does not hustle”

I had a rep call me this week to thank me for inspiration. Literally never spoke with them in my life. Here is what they did:

• Built a list of 500 people on LI in their ICP
• Posted 15 times in a month using the right LI algo format (was not video tho)
• Got 100 connections
• Set up a virtual roundtable discussion with their Head of Product (great persona) and did personalized invites for this and used video here for the outreach via DM.
• Got 12 people there from 12 different companies
• 4 said thanks and claimed they liked it but had no real action
• 3 asked for a proposal to take to management (which of course this rep did not do and is running more disco but estimates 400k in ARR)
• 5 asked if they would run this again the following week so they could invite their teams. The rep offered to send DoorDash cards for a true virtual lunch and learn if they got the EB there. As of the call - 3 had confirmed and the other 2 were working on it.

Let’s get to the Math……cue up the Good Will Hunting scene.

• 1-2 Hours of work to put a real list together which can be done on the couch watching Monday Night Football, Netflix or while your kids are playing with toys.
• 100 Connections against 500 = 20% Conversion Rate
• Put in a few more hours of work to post content, like and comment on these folks posts AND company pages
• 100 Personalized Videos (I.E - Send Spark) let’s call it 5 min per. 8 Hrs manually or 30 minutes with automation
• 1 Hour internal call to get Head of Product to agree to a 30 min event
• 1 Hour internal call to get logistics set up
• 12 people confirm and attend. 12% CR on the 100 or 2.4% on 500. Can’t even get that on email for reply rates
• Call it 8 Qualified Pipeline Opportunities - 75% from the 12, 8% from the 100 or 1.5% from the 500 - does not matter - insane either way
• I can’t fcst what “will” happen but what if…..just what if there were 2 deals for 300k that happened in 50% less sales cycle time? More? Hmm…maybe as in play. Less? Sure - could happen but willing to bet at least these stay in the funnel.

??????????????????????????♂?????♂? - beats a sharp stick in the eye huh?

Why This Matters More Than Ever

There’s a reason I’m pushing hard on this now — timing matters. The market, the talent crunch, and the rise of new channels for influence are all converging. This isn’t just a shift; it’s a moment.

You either build influence today, or you’ll be chasing it tomorrow.

Let’s get after it. There’s no time to waste — the window is open, but it won’t stay open long.

If you can’t run - then walk. If you can’t walk - then crawl but whatever you do please don’t stand still or you will be passed by.

Thanks for reading (assuming you did and if not - it saved me $500 in therapy so all good as I find this therapeutic so if you are still reading hopefully you got a laugh)

?? #GTM #Leadership #SalesStrategy #3Cs #ContentCommunityConversion #TalentWar #Pipeline #SalesExecution