Show Up Before You're Ready.
Lessons from James Ski, founder of Sales Confidence.
Most people wait until they feel ready. James Ski has bipolar disorder, has been in and out of mental health hospitals, and built one of the most recognisable personal brands in B2B sales. He shows up every single day. The two things are not unrelated.
LinkedIn Is Still the Most Underused Tool in B2B
James was once the number one social seller at LinkedIn, globally. Social selling index of 98 out of 100. His tips are deceptively simple.
Let go of the voice telling you that you have nothing to say. Post a mix of text, image and video. Comment on other people's posts to pull their audience towards you. Follow up more than feels comfortable. And use LinkedIn to identify the people who are 10 years ahead of you, then invite them to dinner.
The digital connection is just the starting point. The real relationship happens in the room.
Takeaway: If you are not consistently posting and engaging on LinkedIn, you are invisible to the people who could change your business.
Sales and Marketing Should Be in the Same Room
The division between sales and marketing is artificial and expensive. Sales people are on the cold face every day. They know exactly what prospects are worried about, what language they use and what objections they raise.
Marketing that ignores this is just guessing. James is direct: marketers need to listen to call recordings, talk to customers directly and stop hiding behind vanity metrics like follower counts.
Takeaway: Plug your marketing team into your call intelligence platform. Everything they need to write better content is already in those recordings.
Going Live Is the Most Missed Opportunity in B2B Marketing
James was on a LinkedIn Live when a prospect, who had been ghosting his team for weeks, sent an email mid-stream saying he was ready to sign and could they announce it live.
Going live works because the platforms notify your audience in real time. Even if someone tunes in for 10 seconds, you are top of mind for that day. It is warm, human and immediate in a way that email sequences simply are not.
Takeaway: Put a live streaming schedule in place for your founders and leaders. Once a week is enough to start. The compounding effect is real.
Make Your Customers the Hero
The most successful companies James has seen are not the ones with the slickest campaigns. They are the ones who elevate their customers, tell their stories and make them famous in their own industry.
When you make someone feel seen, they do not leave. They renew, they refer, and they become your best marketing channel.
Takeaway: Find five customers with a good story. Interview them on video. Put it front and centre on your website. Nothing you write about yourself will be as persuasive.
It Takes One Piece of Content to Change Everything
James does LinkedIn Lives with no viewers. He posts when nobody responds. He shows up on Sundays. His logic is simple: you need the history before the tipping point arrives. If you have never shown up, you cannot capitalise on the moment when things break through.
He is not waiting to feel ready. He is building the foundation so that when the moment comes, it lands.
Takeaway: Start now. Post badly if you have to. The consistency matters more than the quality at the beginning.
James Ski: LinkedIn
Suds Singh B2B Video Content Specialist London for Interesting Content, LinkedIn.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/HUF53fLBiKc?si=oEZDSyjIMaOArn8W
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/61hd22iQEm0RBOsdsPMtEw?si=XVonQpJKSvyxOlOrExlNXQ