Keith Weightman, RVP at Bullhorn, on Creating an Impactful LinkedIn Strategy

On this episode of The Staffing Show, Keith Weightman, RVP at Bullhorn, joins David Folwell to talk about his approach to creating engaging LinkedIn content that creates value for his audience. He describes his unique approach to creating posts and provides tips and tricks for LinkedIn users who are looking to increase the quality and frequency of their own content. Later in the episode, Weightman also shares his personal experience as a leader in the staffing industry, including how he motivates and inspires his team.

David Folwell: Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us for another episode of The Staffing Show. Today I’m super excited to be joined by Keith Weightman, who is the RVP at Bullhorn. Keith, thanks so much for being on the show. Really excited about this conversation. To kick things off, could you go ahead and just give a little bit of your background and tell us how you got into staffing?

Keith Weightman: Yes, absolutely. First, thanks for having me. I know it’s been a long time coming and glad we finally got it to work out. So like many people, I fell into staffing. And funny enough, I had to tell the story yesterday in a session. But I graduated college with a degree in classical and jazz guitar performance. And when you’re growing up and you’re playing music, you’re like, “Gosh, this is just so fun. I love doing it.” And then you graduate and you’re like, “Crap, I got to make money to pay all these bills.”

So I ended up putting my resume on Monster and within the first week I got a call from Randstad. There was a local office in the town that I was living in. And I didn’t know anything about staffing. I didn’t know anything about sales. I went and met the district manager. We really hit it off and I ended up staying there for about three years and I learned a lot and that was my entrance into staffing.

Folwell: Well, that’s incredible. And it does seem like I would guess 95% of the people that join this show, it wasn’t that they set out and said, “Hey, I’m going to get into staffing.” But then they get in and realize it’s a great industry, it’s great people, and they stick. Well, I’m super excited for this show. It’s a little bit different than some of the shows that we have. We’re going to get into some pretty, I think maybe details in terms of tactics on LinkedIn and sales strategy. For those of you that don’t know Keith, he is, I would say, a prolific LinkedIn poster. I don’t know if that’s a thing, but your content on LinkedIn is actually how we got to this conversation.

I started following you and I was just saying before we started the podcast that I think I give more of your content a like than maybe anybody else I follow. Most of your posts are very insightful and tailored towards very specific sales strategies and how to do sales. From my perspective, what I think you’re posting, I think it’s really good content and really meaningful stuff. I end up sharing it with my team all the time and for that reason I wanted to have you on and kind of dig into that a little bit.

And then we’ll also expand out and talk about some leadership roles and trends in the industry as well. But to jump in here, could you just tell us a little bit about what it is that you do on LinkedIn and what your strategy looks like?

Weightman: Yeah. First of all, thank you very much for saying that. That’s an awesome, awesome compliment and I love when you always give me likes on there. It makes me feel like what I’m doing actually is helping others.

So for me, I’ve been at Bullhorn for about 11 years and leading the team for about the last six or so, six or seven. And I’m always trying to figure out how I can get better as a leader, as a seller. And one of the things that I didn’t really do well was socially create a personal brand. So we would do social selling where we go find things on the company and things about the persona that we’re reaching out to and use that as outreach.

But for me, I’m like, “I’m missing such a huge opportunity.” Because you and I sell to people that are in the staffing space. They live on LinkedIn. So my first thought was, “Okay, how can I be where my buyer is? They’re all on LinkedIn.” The next thing is I don’t want people to just associate me with Bullhorn. I wanted to create a personal brand that then aligned with what I do in the sales perspective and they see me more from a sales point, but also if they are interested in Bullhorn, they know of me.

And so I actually ended up taking a course. Justin Welsh, who’s very well known on LinkedIn, has a course on how to write for LinkedIn. And prior to writing on LinkedIn, I’ve never been a fan of writing. I never thought of myself as a writer, but it was a new skill that I could learn and I started to really love it, obsess over it. I would wake up on the weekends at 6:00 AM before the kids wake up and I would just practice writing in the different formats and learning copywriting even from back in the day from David Ogilvy and some of the famous copywriters.

To me, it was something I had never done and I love learning new things and that’s what got me writing on LinkedIn. And it’s been probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. And I’ve been doing it for about a year now, so it’s still fairly new.

Folwell: Well, that’s great. And maybe the Ogilvy, I’m a huge Ogilvy fan and maybe that style is what drew me in as well. Who else did you… I did not recognize the name of the other person that you mentioned. You said you actually did a course.

Weightman: Yeah, Justin Welsh. So he was in tech sales for about 10 years. I think he burnt out. He wanted to do something different. He ended up posting on LinkedIn and then he actually built a course on how he built a following and how the algorithm works and the different posting structures. And it’s very tactical and super helpful for anybody that wants to learn how to better post. It was great.

Folwell: That’s great.

Weightman: So for me, it’s all about consistency. Just continue to do it. Find what works, what doesn’t work, double down on what does and what doesn’t. Eventually, I have a saying, and I didn’t come up with it, but I always say, it is, “You got to imitate before you innovate.” So I think what I was doing was taking his style of posts, but I was putting my own content to it. Mine was very sales specific. His was solopreneur.

And the formats and everything was still very much the same. And then I was like, “Okay, everybody’s posting sales content, similar formats. How can I do something different?” And it wasn’t until maybe six or seven months in I was like, “Well, I really love visual selling and I love whiteboarding, and what if I started doing little drawings as part of my posts,” and then it kind of became my thing. Now I think most people expect that there’s going to be some little picture with one of my posts. It’s a way just to differentiate and stand out.

Folwell: Yeah, I mean I think that’s part of what’s unique. And then it’s obviously the copywriting as well. I’m looking at one of your posts right now. It’s, “The sales skill that less than 6% of sellers do.” A? great headline, and then you’ve got the video of you whiteboarding it there as well, which I think is super unique.

When did you realize that the whiteboarding was going to be part of your approach as well? I think actually after our first conversation, you had a whiteboard of me that you sent afterwards, which is unlike any experience I’ve had as well, and stands out…definitely not going to forget that conversation or who you are based off of these moments that you’re creating.

Weightman: So it was 2009. I had just started at Ceridian. It was my first ever tech sales job. I was a couple months in and I had an inbound lead. It was a big opportunity that came in. I got paired with a senior solutions consultant and we were going on onsite to do discovery. And we had a couple of meetings before on the phone and we flew in. I was waiting in the lobby and he walks in and he got this black architect tube with him, the big cylinder. And I’m like, “What’s that?” And he’s like, “Oh, you’ll see.” And we walked in. As we walked in, he was like, “Look, I’m not going to be pulling out a PowerPoint.” He actually led the meeting because I was still kind of new. He’s like, “We’re not doing a PowerPoint. I’m not going to ask you 10,000 questions.”

He unscrewed the cap, dumped out some markers, pulled out some flip chart paper and put it all across the room and then had the entire meeting from a whiteboard, their challenges, what they’re struggling with their current state. They process mapped it all out and what their future state was. They would get up and they grabbed the marker. It was like, “Actually, it’s like this.” And I was like, “Holy crap, I’ve got to learn how to do this.” This was the best meeting I’ve ever been a part of.

So 2009 is when I went really, really deep and has always been a part of what I do and brought it to Bullhorn. I’ve taught some of the reps and yeah, I just love it. For me, it’s a great way to simplify and add clarity to your message and the fact that not many people do it anymore. And I think the last stat I saw less than 6% of sellers do some type of whiteboarding and then less than 4% do it in a digital format on an iPad. Technology has come a long way where you can actually do some pretty cool things.

Folwell: Yeah, I mean I think that’s really great and I had not seen it in a sales process from a digital format outside of you. And I think for our listeners right now, if you’re thinking, “Okay, why are you going so deep into whiteboarding or LinkedIn? Who cares?” As many of us right now we are in a market where selling has a huge impact on your business. I think I hear more than I’ve ever heard since I’ve been in the staffing industry that getting new job orders is priority number one, finding new clients, new business development.

So how could the staffing agencies that are listening to this, any advice for how they could take some of the tactics you are using today and apply that to their LinkedIn sales strategy, their in-person sales strategy? And how they could actually get more clients from this?

Weightman: Yeah, I think just to add on to what you just said, I’ve been at Bullhorn for 11 years and for the first time winning clients was number one. We were just talking about that before we started, versus the candidate experience or talent acquisition.

To answer the question of how can staffing firms or recruiters or salespeople use it, it’s a great way to create a personal brand that people… like, most recruiters and sellers in a recruiting capacity, they post jobs like, “Hey, I got a new job. Hey, look at this new job that we have.” But everybody’s doing that. Why not share stories of things that they went through? Like, “Hey, interviewed this one candidate today and XYZ happened.” Or, “I learned this new thing today, or I made a mistake. Here are the top five things I’m not going to do again.”

Then they become known as like, “Oh, there’s this really good recruiter or salesperson that’s always sharing really insightful ideas about… next time I have a job, I’m probably going to reach out to them.”

And there are already people on LinkedIn doing it. I think there’s a guy named Austin Belcak who is a… now he’s a career coach, but he started as recruiting, helping people find jobs, and he grew his personal brand to a point where he’s his own person now. But it’s such a great way to stand out and be different without just posting company content, like challenges. Most people are afraid to do that, right?

I get to a point where I’m 40 years old, I don’t care anymore. I’ve reached that in life where you don’t care what people think, which is a great place to be.

Folwell: Yeah. Well that’s really great and maybe part of what’s made your content stick out as well is I think you’ve applied… I’m a huge believer in the inbound methodology, the HubSpot, which is to figure out how to create value, solve the problems that your customers are solving first. And I don’t always say, “Do this.” Sometimes I find myself posting the self-promotional stuff on LinkedIn versus, or the stuff that’s pushing a product, versus the stuff that’s actually helping your audience.

And I don’t know if I’ve even seen you post anything about “Here’s what Bullhorn’s doing today.” All of your content is, “Here’s a sales tactic, here’s a strategy from sales, here’s a lesson I’ve learned that maybe is helpful for you,” which I think is really, really impactful. And I think from my perspective, something that everybody in the staffing industry could probably learn from and do a little bit better at applying as well.

One of the things that you talked about just momentarily there was that you said you started getting up on Saturdays at six in the morning, and I know that when I’ve tried to do, I have moments of glory with LinkedIn and then I fall off the wagon and I’m like, “All right, I got to get back to a steady routine.” How have you made it so that you’re doing this consistently? What’s your approach look like from that perspective?

Weightman: I think it’s evolved over time. I used to make it a habit of when I first started, I was like, “Okay, I’m going to write every single day, one post or one idea just to get the creative process and writing and structures like that.” And then over time, I now batch my content. So on the weekends is where I will plan out a week or two weeks of content and I use a tool called Buffer. It’s $6 a month and I schedule all my posts, so I’m not sitting there posting every single day. I do all of the content creation on the weekend, scheduled to go out for a week or two weeks out, and then it just automates throughout the week. And then I do take time, usually an hour in the morning, usually 35 to 45 minutes to engage with people that may comment back, because that’s a big thing. If people are commenting, please engage back with them. And then I’ll look at it again later at night to see if I miss anybody and respond there. So like I said, now I batch and automate.

Folwell: That makes sense. And for the people that are listening today, if you were to say three to five things that are pieces of advice, you would say start doing this today if you want to have a better LinkedIn presence, what would you recommend?

Weightman: Number one, I would suggest everybody take that Justin Welsh course. He explains it much better than me. But the other thing is making sure you have a clear banner image that tells more about not what your company does, but what are you about, what can you help people with? What’s the value that you bring? Same thing with your headline. You help people do X and then your about me section, make sure you have something that is personable, relevant, and aligned with your target audience and how you help them.

Folwell: That’s great. That’s great advice. I feel like I’m getting my own little lesson here talking with you as well. So with all of the effort that you put into this and obviously a decent amount of time, you have the schedule for the routines, are you able to draw an ROI? Are there any results that you can say, “All right, this has definitely happened”? I mean, one thing I know is that we’re sitting here having this conversation on this podcast solely because of, I can’t believe we hadn’t met before this, but your LinkedIn post got my attention then we met at the last conference in person and here we are. But are there things that you’ve been able to say like, “Oh, I got that sale,” or any direct ROI?

Weightman: Don’t know if I can tie it directly to a specific deal per se. However, I can tell you that the relationships that I’ve created first that started on LinkedIn, that then to your point, I’ll go to a conference and I’ll meet customers that I’ve only engaged with on LinkedIn and then it’s like we’ve known each other for a long time. It’s been huge from a networking standpoint, both internally with our customers but also externally. I’ve been on, I don’t know this year, probably like 10 or 15 podcasts.

Before, I would’ve never done that. Yesterday I did a… so we partnered with a company called Sales Assembly for sales enablement. They do training for all of the go-to-market functions, and because of my posting, they had said, “Hey, would you come and do a whiteboarding class for our community?” So I actually did that yesterday, ran it from my iPad and taught people how to do the basics of it. Again, something I would’ve never done if I didn’t put myself out there and be okay with, “I’m going to put something out here and people may not like it, people may not comment, may not post.” But I’m okay with that because I’m a big believer that you just got to take action.?

You got to take consistent action, whether it’s writing, whether it’s learning how to cold call, whether it’s learning how to ask good questions, you just got to keep doing it. And over time that consistency compounds.

Folwell: That’s great. And is that course available for anybody else or is it private for Sales Assembly?

Weightman: It is private for Sales Assembly. However, I have been thinking about putting something up, maybe even as a free lead magnet or something that again will drive and get them interested.

Folwell: Yeah, I would take a look at it. So I think Joey on my team and we were looking at your stuff at one point and he is like, “Do we need to get whiteboards?” I’m like, “Maybe, I don’t know. Maybe that’s part of our deal.”

So we’re going to shift gears a little bit here from LinkedIn, kind of zoom out. What are some of the emerging trends that you’re seeing in the staffing industry? I know we talked about the shift from candidates to clients and to more business development. We can dig deeper there or are there any other exciting trends that you’re seeing?

Weightman: Right now, over the last couple of years, they had more jobs than they could handle and they got really good at taking orders and now times are changed. The focus has shifted on, “Okay, we need to actually go create the demand and create the opportunity, but we don’t necessarily know how.” So it’s like a lot of our customers are coming to us to say, “How do we better leverage the internal CRM? How do we leverage marketplace partners like Staffing Referrals to get more business that way?” They’re really focused on anything that’s going to move the needle in the business development or creating a scalable sales process, and less so on the candidate experience, but they’re also being much more conscious of spending and there’s a lot of competing priorities, but what I’m seeing, anything that will help accelerate business development is usually catching their attention.

Folwell: Yeah, I mean from a Staffing Referrals perspective, we’ve always been a talent referral platform and to help our existing customers actually had to release a client referral component, which has been fantastic. But that’s definitely been part of that shift. One thing I’ve noticed just kind of going with what’s going on in the industry is there’s been certain companies who are seeing this opportunity as a market share grab and who are doubling down on technology.

There’s a lot who are shedding tech, shedding employees. I think SIA, it’s like three weeks ago, maybe a month ago, that the data was at 38% of staffing firms have had layoffs this year. So it’s a hard year. It’s been a challenging year in staffing. I know we’re all waiting for that to change a little bit. In the meantime, I think there’s some agencies who are like, “Okay, well how do I use this time to get ready so that when it comes back I am positioned to grow faster?”

So I think I am seeing some people use it as an opportunity to drive better behavior and kind of level up. Are there any unique stories or anything from customers you’re talking to on a regular basis of people doing things that are unique that you think would be especially valuable for the audience? That’s a hard question.

Weightman: There are two types of customers that I’m dealing with right now. It is the one that you just described is, “Okay, let’s use this to optimize now. So when the snapback happens, we’re going to take off.” The other side is, “We’re going to hunker down and we’re not going to make any changes or make any investments until we get a clear picture on what’s going to happen.” I obviously enjoy working with the ones that want to double down on technology, but I think you would agree. They’re far and few between, unfortunately, but they’re typically the ones that… like, I remember our customer, Triple Crown.

So back before COVID or even right when COVID started, they started to really double down on tech. They bought automation, they bought our analytics and they grew like crazy, like most staffing firms. But when the pandemic had first happened, they had a lot of technology where they were like, “It’s okay. We’ve got the analytics, everybody’s working remote now we can see what everybody’s doing and still manage performance.” So I think for them it was just sheer luck that they had implemented before all that happened, but it was also like, “Okay, now we need to be prepared whether things go up or go down, we’ve got to have the right structure, the right technology in place to run our business.”

Folwell: It makes sense. I imagine that Bullhorn Automation has a lot of interest right now as well, just because I hear finding clients is probably one, I think it was rated as the number-one priority and the survey I saw recently and then also hear “increase recruiter productivity” because everybody has less recruiters. So hey, we’ve got less… 40% of the staff industry has less recruiters. How do we do more with less? So definitely seeing a push towards the automation front.

I know we didn’t talk about this ahead of time, but I was wondering if you have any just great sales stories, any fun, unique sales stories throughout your career at Bullhorn or any previous roles as well?

Weightman: I mean, I’ve got a lot of stories. I’m trying to think if there’s anything that would be super…. Well, I posted not too long ago about, I remember I used to get very, very emotional about ups and downs.

Folwell: Yeah.

Weightman: The post was about, I remember this very vividly, we worked months on an opportunity. Built a really strong champion, had really good discovery, built a strong ROI and business case, and they came back to us and said, “Hey, well, we’re ready to move forward if you can get your price to X.” And it was so incredibly low that it was insulting. I told my boss, I was like, “We need to walk away from here. I don’t even want this.”

At the time it was like a 100k deal, so it’s sizable as a rep, and luckily he had a lot more EQ than I did at the time, and he was able to walk me off the ledge and negotiate a deal that we finally move forward that was much closer to their number than it was to my number. I think that’s something that a lot of sales reps often let their ego get in the way. And unfortunately just because you ran a stellar sales process and you think you should get it at your price, it doesn’t always work like that, especially when you’re dealing with a sophisticated buyer.

But it’s always fun to look back on some of the things that I used to do going into negotiations thinking like, “Oh man, I’m going to win this negotiation.” It’s the worst strategy ever as a salesperson. If you take one thing from this podcast, don’t go into a negotiation thinking you’re going to win. It’s about finding common ground and prioritizing what’s important to them, knowing your levers and then finding something that’s agreeable to both sides. But yeah, no, plenty of stories where I look back and I’m like, “Wow, I can’t believe I did that.”

Folwell: Yeah, that’s funny. On the negotiation side, I think before learning about negotiations, I always thought it’s like, “All right, negotiations are hard, we’re going to go in there. I’m going to be aggressive. I’m going to start with a really… I’m going to throw this out there, then I’m not going to move.” And then you read Getting to Yes, and everything changes. You’re like, “Let’s look for shared value creation and figure out how do we do this together?” And it’s just a more enjoyable, better path.

One of the other areas I’ve seen you talk about on LinkedIn, and actually it was something that resonated with me as well, was about making sure that you’re getting your customer, you’re understanding where their priorities are. I think you even talked about the different layers and levels of understanding if your deal even has a chance, regardless of how excited the person you are talking to is.

Could you dig a little bit deeper on that? I’m not explaining it well; I just vaguely remember the post.

Weightman: Yeah, no, I think you did a great job. I mean, I think at the end of the day there are problems that are more annoyances, and then there are problems that are blocking executive-level priorities. And if you’re not asking questions to understand if that problem impacts or is blocking executive-level priority, then you’re missing a huge opportunity to qualify. Is your deal going to happen sometime or is your deal actually going to happen sooner because it is tied to something that executives care about?

It’s what they’re talking about at the boardroom, it’s what they’re talking about when they get on town halls and they’re like, “These are our three fundamental focuses.” If your problem doesn’t impact that, they don’t care. It may be very personal to the person that you’re selling to, but if, one, it’s not blocking that and two, the person that you’re selling to can’t influence that decision or communicate it clearly on how it actually aligns, then there is very little chance that that deal is going to move.

Folwell: On the other side of, like you maybe in your previous sales career where you’re getting overly excited. I’m always like, I get off a call, I’m like, “Man, that person was so excited. That’s definitely a 100% close.” And it’s like, well, it’s actually not a priority for the company. And that person liked our software and was excited about the conversation, but maybe doesn’t have that lever as well. So I think that’s something that has helped with our sales process here at Staffing Hub and Staffing Referrals as well.

So we’re going to jump into the next section of our conversation and talk… I know you lead a team at Bullhorn. What are some of the things that you do to inspire and manage your team to hit the targets that you guys have in place?

Weightman: For me, it’s how do I find ways to eliminate a lot of the noise and distraction and give them a clear… I call it a “path to plan.” How many deals do I need? What’s my average close rate? What’s the average size of my deal? So I know exactly how many opportunities I need in my pipeline and how much time I need based on our average sales cycle, so they can manage it based on where they are in their sales career versus, “Hey, you should have 3X pipeline and the average sales cycle is six.”

Well, if their closing rate is 30% and this person over here is 60%, well, you probably don’t need three X pipeline. So trying to create something that’s tailored to the individual, and we’ve got a big phrase at Bullhorn ever since I’ve been here, never win alone, never lose alone. And it’s really about no one goes at it alone. You don’t win deals alone. You win as a team. So leverage your resources, your leader, your different CS, professional services, products, support, and really lean into them to help because it takes a village to close a lot of these deals.

Folwell: I think especially for applicant trackings, it’s such a huge decision for staffing agencies. There’s so many moving parts to that. So with us talking about all of the success you’ve had on LinkedIn, is your team also the best LinkedIn group at Bullhorn? Are there things that you’re doing, do you push them to engage in that, or is it more of, “Hey, this is a path if you’d like?” How do you approach that?

Weightman: That is the Mecca end state, David. It’s like I’m a big believer in not asking my people to do something that I wouldn’t do. So that was another part of, I would see companies like Gong. Their team’s amazing at social selling and creating personal brands. I’m like, “Okay, if I start doing it and maybe they see and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of cool,’ they’ll start to dip their toes in.” But I also am not going to force them to say, “Hey, you need to go create a brand. You need to do this.”

Folwell: Post today.

Weightman: In sales, you can’t push somebody to do anything. You’ve got to potentially expose them to it, let them see some of the benefits of it to the point where it becomes their idea. And they want to do it because no one will do something that they don’t want to do.

So eventually my hope is that they will get there and they have actually, I have seen them starting to post more often, which has been pretty cool.

Folwell: Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. And I mean, I feel like I’m in the same boat with my team where I’m always like, “We should do more on LinkedIn. People are on LinkedIn.” But then I’m not doing it, so it’s like I’m at fault for it as well.

With that, we’re going to go ahead and jump into the speed questions and close this out. So what advice do you wish you were given before entering the staffing industry?

Weightman: People are unreliable.

Folwell: That’s the first time I’ve heard that…I like it. Elaborate.

Weightman: I mainly dealt with it in the commercial staffing industry. And you could have someone call you for two weeks saying, “You got any work, you got any jobs?” Then you’d finally call them and give them a job, and then they wouldn’t show up. And that was the story of my life. I think that’s probably why I’m still in sales. You got to build a thick skin really early on and having to deal with the clients that are upset after something like that happens. You deal with a lot of adversity that you have to tackle.

Folwell: That’s great. And in the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life?

Weightman: Posting on LinkedIn and learning how to write better.

Folwell: I love it.?

What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made? It could be an investment of money, time, energy, et cetera.

Weightman: Probably the investment in Justin Welch’s course.

Folwell: I was like, this seems very clear. LinkedIn.

What is the book or books you’ve given most as a gift and why?

Weightman: I don’t think I’ve ever given a book as a gift to be honest with you. But my favorite book and the one I recommend the most is Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Folwell: Great book.?

How has a failure or apparent failure set you up for later success?

Weightman: I failed a lot in my career and I’ve also had a lot of success. I think for me, I don’t know if I know a specific failure. I just know that I fail a lot and that leads to learning faster. And I’m not afraid to fail. I’m not afraid to make a fool out of myself because it leads to learning faster in my opinion.

Folwell: Completely agree. And these last two are a little bit more personal to you, but you mentioned enjoying anything physically active on your LinkedIn. How does your interest in physical fitness play into your professional success?

Weightman: Discipline. I think discipline is key because you can’t always be motivated. But if you have the discipline to do it every single day, it becomes a habit. And for me, the habit of waking up every single morning, I usually work out every single morning and I’ve got some accountability friends that keep me accountable. Like, they’re coming to my house. So I’m like, “Crap, I guess I got to get out of bed now because they’re actually waiting outside.”

But that discipline of having a habit that you do over and over again has bled into my professional life around, “Okay, I’ve got to do certain things and even when I’m not motivated to do this, I’ve got to have the discipline to do it. Because I know it’s going to pay off and it’s going to compound over time.”

Folwell: I love that. That was my word for the year was discipline. So I’m on board with that one. You admitted to having the worst sense of direction. Has this quirk ever led to any interesting or funny moments in your career or life?

Weightman: I always have to have Google Maps on. I’ve lived in the same place for 10 years and even going just into town, my wife’s like, “You are literally the worst.” Google Maps, I’ll be fine. I do remember back in the day before there was Google Maps. You remember there was TomTom. I had TomTom. Before that I used to print out MapQuest.

Folwell: Yeah, same.

Weightman: And I remember going to DC one time with my then-girlfriend. We went to a concert and we were heading home. And she’s trying to give me directions. I don’t know where I’m going. I’m in a 1986 Grand Prix, which is like a big.. And we’re in D.C, which is hard to drive in anyways. And I was a teenager. I was like 17 or 18. And she’s like, “All right, you got to turn here.” And I remember making a turn and she was like, “Oh wait, I think this is a one-way street.” Freaking out. So I remember taking a big turn over the median. Got a big bubble on my tire when I got home. But yeah, I am not good with directions. And I’m okay with it. As long as I’ve got my phone and my Google Maps, I’ll be good.

Folwell: That’s hilarious. Actually, I can’t remember the name of the book that I read recently, but they talked specifically about how all of our use of maps has actually made it so we’re losing that part of our brain. It’s actually becoming non-existent. But potentially it could be used for other capacities. So there’s an upside to it. So, awesome. This has been a really good conversation. Do you have any closing comments that you’d like to share with our audience?

Weightman: No, other than if you’re in sales or recruiting or you’re an executive at a staffing firm, I would 100% start to incorporate a LinkedIn strategy, creating a personal brand, because it will bring customers to you inbound that you’re probably not getting today.

And I know one thing that you’re passionate about is referral selling. That’s a big piece of a LinkedIn strategy. If you start to engage with your customers and then they start to refer you to other people, that’s a big piece. And then if you can take a tool like Staffing Referrals to automate and systematize that referral program, you just amplify it. I mean, I think the last stat I saw on referrals is 92% of people will take a call from a referral from someone that they know and they trust.

It’s such an untapped… people don’t do it enough and they don’t systematize it either. So that’s a big piece I would leave the audience with.

Folwell: I obviously will second that piece of advice. And then let’s, for everybody that listened to this and wants more information about you, where do they find you? How do they get access to the content that you’re producing?

Weightman: Best way is Keith Weightman on LinkedIn, and I post every Monday through Friday at 9:30 Eastern time. And then I do have a Saturday newsletter that comes out at 10:00 AM on Saturday. So would love to connect with anybody listening and happy to connect and chat with anybody that has interest.

Folwell: Yeah, and I would say if your team is looking for ways to improve their sales process, I highly recommend you follow, sign up for his newsletter. Keith, really enjoyed this conversation. Thank you so much for joining today.

Weightman: Yeah, thanks for having me, David.