Reputation Equity

Today’s Skill: Reputation Equity

A client of mine closed their first six-figure deal recently. (Shout out to Ciaooo! Media 🥳)

But, this isn’t a story about a highly competitive situation or a skilled negotiation that got them over the line. It was about relationships.

At first glance, you might think they got lucky.

And in a way, they did.

But, as a great Stoic philosopher once wrote..

So how did they get “lucky”?

First, they took action.

It began with a simple idea: reconnect with the network they had built over the years but rarely used.

We broke down their LinkedIn contacts into three buckets:

• A Group – People who knew them, personally. Friends, past clients, or former colleagues.

• B Group – Loose connections. Maybe a brief chat at a conference or someone in their ideal market. But, someone who would recognize their name.

• C Group – Random connections. Not much familiarity or relevance here (we didn’t waste time on these).

Next, they built a small list

They sorted the connections into Group A and Group B. For each connection, they added notes. These included the person’s name, how they knew them, and a link to their LinkedIn profile.

• You can keep a simple Google Sheet to manage this. You don’t need a fancy CRM or anything.

• Side note: It’s better to build a small list and keep adding to it over time. Avoid extremes. Don’t randomly pick one item here and another there. Also, don’t wait months to finish building the list before you start.

Finally, they started outreach.

They focused first on the A Group and then hit the B Group:

• Personal, one-to-one messages using LinkedIn DMs (Video, audio and text) and some emails (if they had the email).

We only had 3 rules…

1. No automation - each message must be personal.

2. Be clear, be concise, and be direct.

3. Make a soft ask in each message.

As an example, if I were writing this it’d sound like…

P.S. - LinkedIn Video DMs are highly underrated and underused. This needs to be your go-to! It allows you to share more details and be more personable!

So, what was the outcome?

They started real conversations:

• Some led to quick catch-ups.

• Others turned into referrals.

• A few weren’t a fit, and that was fine too.

And then… one of those A Group connections circled back…months later.

A friend of theirs needed what my client offered.

They made the intro. Had an initial call and boom…It closed in under a month.

Not only was it their biggest deal ever, it was one of their shortest sales cycles.

Why? Reputation equity

The trust was already built because of the mutual relationship.

The respect came from years of showing up and doing the right thing.

All they needed was the confidence to ask for help.

If you’ve built reputation equity—use it.

People want to help.

But, they can’t if they don’t know what you’re working on or whom you serve.

Your Action Item:

We often send out a lot of automated messages. But we forget about the people who really want to help us. Let’s stop avoiding that this week.

So…

• Open LinkedIn.

• Pick out 5 “A” group people to reach out to.

• Send 5 personal video DMs this week (that's only 1 per day).

  • Forget being overly scripted or polished. Just hit record.

  • FYI, you’ll need the Linkedin Mobile App to use this feature.

Remember, this is about thoughtful re-engagement with people you already know.

And the people you already know might be the bridge to your next big opportunity.

You’ve built up reputation equity. It’s time to use it.