Guest Bio
Brynne Tillman is the co-author of The LinkedIn Edge, a tactical guide to using LinkedIn and AI to reduce cold calling and increase targeted, trust-based sales conversations. She has spent years helping sales and marketing teams rethink how they show up on LinkedIn, moving from pitch-first tactics to Social Selling that actually feels valuable to buyers. In this episode, she offers a clear framework for using LinkedIn as an integrated part of your day, not just a one-off activity.
Episode Overview
In this episode of Making Big Shifts, host Josh Anderson talks with Brynne Tillman about how to transform LinkedIn from a noisy prospecting channel into a focused Social Selling engine. They break down four core pillars of LinkedIn for business development, branding, content and engagement, networking, and trust-based prospecting, and why each one has to work together. Brynne explains why most profiles read like resumes instead of resources, and how to reposition your presence as a top-of-funnel landing page rather than a brag sheet of awards and quota numbers.
From there, the conversation moves into the mindset shift required to slow outreach down so you can speed up outcomes. Brynne shows how genuine engagement, thoughtful content, and referral-based introductions create a flywheel of conversations that feel human, not automated. She also shares how AI and call transcripts can act as a bridge between sales and marketing, turning everyday sales conversations into a steady stream of Social Selling content that speaks the buyer’s language.
Key Takeaways
- Social Selling starts with your profile. You need to move from “resume” to “resource” and treat your LinkedIn presence like a top-of-funnel landing page that pulls people from lurker to engager, not a list of awards and quota performance.
- Content alone is not enough. Social Selling works when content and engagement are combined, you publish value driven content and actively engage with your buyers, invite them into the conversation, and feature their expertise.
- You cannot rush trust. Authentic prospecting on LinkedIn only works after you have earned the right through consistent value or through a trusted referral, which means leadership has to rethink KPIs for Social Selling instead of forcing cold call metrics onto social channels.
- Sales and marketing need to share the same fuel. Recorded sales calls and transcripts are a goldmine for Social Selling content. Marketing can mine those conversations for language, stories, and patterns, then build assets that help sales start conversations without feeling like they are cold pitching.
- AI is powerful, but only if it knows your voice. Training AI on your own transcripts and materials, then instructing it to write only in your voice and to ask questions instead of guessing, can dramatically improve your Social Selling content and proposals without losing authenticity.
Favorite Quotes (with timestamps)
“How do we slow down our outreach to speed up our outcome.” (00:51)
“If we are using LinkedIn for top of funnel, our profile needs to be set up as a landing page, not a resume.” (05:25)
“You cannot do the prospecting authentically if you have not earned the right. And the way you earn the right is through content and engagement or through a referral.” (09:18)
“LinkedIn is integrated into everything I do, I am doing my pre call planning there before every conversation.” (21:31)
“Salespeople should not be creating content, however, they should be sending transcripts of their recordings to marketing to leverage.” (24:00)
Playbook: How to Apply
- Turn your profile from a resume to a resource
Audit your profile through the lens of a buyer who has never met you. Remove the brag-heavy, quota-driven language and replace it with language that talks about the problems you solve, the audiences you serve, and the outcomes you help create. Think like a marketer building a top-of-funnel landing page. Make your headline, about section, and featured section clearly support your Social Selling strategy so visitors quickly understand why they should engage with you. - Build a content plus engagement rhythm
Commit to a consistent Social Selling cadence that combines publishing and engaging. Share content that answers real questions from your buyers, then personally invite key prospects and clients to weigh in with their perspective. At the same time, spend time engaging thoughtfully on their posts, adding insights, asking follow-up questions, and signaling that you value their expertise. Over time, this rhythm earns you the right to move into prospecting conversations without feeling pushy. - Use networking to open trust-based conversations
Once you have content and engagement in place, use LinkedIn’s networking tools to identify warm paths into accounts through mutual connections and referrals. Instead of cold pitching new connections, lead with context, shared relationships, and the value you have already been sharing publicly. Ask happy clients for permission to review their network with them and request specific introductions. This turns LinkedIn into a Social Selling referral engine rather than a cold-outreach platform. - Align sales, marketing, and AI around your buyers’ words
Make sure every sales call is recorded and transcribed, then give marketing direct access to that library. Ask marketing to mine those transcripts for themes, language, and stories that can be repurposed into posts, ebooks, clips, and Social Selling assets. In parallel, train your AI tools on those same transcripts so they can draft content and proposals in your authentic voice. Always instruct AI to use your material only, and to ask when it is unsure, so your Social Selling content stays grounded in actual buyer conversations, not generic fluff.
Subscribe
🎧 Listen to the full conversation with Brynne Tillman on Making Big Shifts—available on YouTube and Spotify.
Subscribe for more candid conversations with founders and operators rewriting the rules of modern work.
