About Nate Morse: Nate Morse founded the APEX Conversion System, a company dedicated to helping industry leaders generate high-quality leads on LinkedIn. Apex’s mission is to assist those with valuable offerings who struggle to find and attract the right clients. They have a three-phase approach that begins with a discovery phase, where they identify the client’s values and target audience. Nate’s experience in the online world has taught him that understanding the buyer’s journey can significantly impact lead generation. Apex Conversion System works with coaches, consultants, agencies, nonprofits, and financial advisors who offer high-ticket products or services. Nate has also authored a book, “The LinkedIn High Ticket Handbook,” which guides optimizing LinkedIn profiles and building an audience for conversion. This book is a valuable resource for individuals who know they should be on LinkedIn but need help getting started and making their profiles stand out. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Nate.
In this episode, Nancy and Nate discuss the following:
- APEX’s approach to helping industry leaders generate high-quality leads
- Identifying ideal clients and standing out on LinkedIn
- Why is it that some businesses thrive on LinkedIn and others are lost
- The importance of relevancy and personalization in messaging
- Rating clients based on various criteria to identify the best fit
- Optimizing profiles and avoiding brochure-like content
Key Takeaways:
- The Better Client Blueprint is a process we go through, and we have clients rate their current clients based on different criteria.
- On LinkedIn, we’re not playing the quantity game.
- The number one reason businesses fail statistically is the lack of market research.
- When trying to build genuine, lasting relationships on LinkedIn, most people underestimate the initial reason they’re reaching out.
“ So when we talk about industry leaders, I want to ensure that that’s defined because we want to look more at the revolutionary aspects. So, they’re leading an impact inside the market. And those are the people that their clients, the clients they get, essentially decide what the business creates and turns into—figuring out who is the best client we should be going for. And then what we help them do, once we’ve helped them figure that out, is find those that are in the market right now and how to stand out versus all the other competition that’s trying to go after those ideal clients. So, we do that through LinkedIn. ” – NATE
“When I was younger, I did door knocking. I knocked on a lot of doors for door-to-door sales and cold calling. In both of those, I noticed that if I knew something about the person I was talking to, there was a way higher chance that they would listen to me because of a genuine relationship. But if I was just approaching them and trying to give them, you know: “Hey, here’s the offer,” then no matter how good the offer was, it never really hit because it was like approaching someone in a dating scenario and being like, the first thing you say is like: “Hey, here’s all the reasons that we should get married.” It doesn’t matter if you’re a good fit or not; that initial building of it must happen. Then we went, okay, how do we help people do this at scale without having to door knock or cold call? That’s where we ended up on LinkedIn because we can add a connection note, and we can reach out directly to their ideal clients and make sure their profile is optimized, make sure their messaging converts highTop of FormBottom of Form.” – NATE
“I think that you’re doing, everybody’s doing acquisition. They’re trying to get new clients, but they need to take a step back and look at and evaluate their current clients and the clients that are getting to see like: “What’s the actual impact that you can act strategically versus reactively?”. Whether you’re on LinkedIn or doing, you know, Facebook or whatever clients you get are, are super important. So before going out there and wanting to be like, Hey, I just need to get clients focused on getting like, okay, who’s the right client? What’s the impact they’re going to have on my culture? All of this, and then when you have that down, everything that you do from there is going to be much more relevant to them, and most likely, even your energy about who you’re going after is going to change in other areas of your business.” – NATE
Connect with Nate Morse:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conversion-marketing/
- APEX Conversion:https://apexconversionsystem.com/
Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/
Connect with Nancy Calabrese:
- Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsales
- Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/
- Website:https://oneofakindsales.com
- Phone: 908-879-2911
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/
- Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com
Voiceover: You’re listening to The Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi everyone, it’s Nancy Calabrese and it’s time again for Conversational Selling, the podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And it always starts with the human conversation. Today we’re speaking with Nate Morse, a LinkedIn marketer and sales strategist and the founder of the Apex conversion system with valuable offerings who struggle to find and attract the right clients. They have a three-phase approach that begins with a discovery phase where they identify the client’s values and target audience. Nate is also the author of the LinkedIn High Ticket Handbook, A Bridge Between You and High-Ticket Clients Using Strategies, Frameworks, and AI. So welcome to the show, Nate. Given our shared focus on lead generation, I know this is going to be an incredibly engaging conversation.
Nate Morse: Should be. Thanks for having me. [1:20]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, definitely. So, I know you state that your company is dedicated to helping industry leaders generate high quality leads. Basic question, how do they do that?
Nate Morse: Yeah, so when we talk about industry leaders, I want to make sure that that’s defined, because we want to look more at the revolutionary aspects. So, they’re leading an impact inside the market. And those are the people that their clients, the clients that they get, essentially decide what the business creates and what it turns into. So, figuring out who is the exact best client that we should be going for. And then what we help them do, once we’ve helped them figure that out, is find those that are in the market right now and how to stand out versus all the other competition that’s trying to go after those ideal clients. So, we do that through LinkedIn. [2:20]
Nancy Calabrese: Okay. Okay. And so how do you stand out? I mean, there’s so much noise in LinkedIn nowadays.
Nate Morse: Yeah, totally. So, when I, let’s go back a little bit. So, when I was younger, I did door knocking. I did a lot of doors knocking for door-to-door sales and cold calling. And both of those, I noticed that if I knew something about the person I was talking to, there’s a way higher chance that they were going to listen to me because there was a genuine relationship there. But if I was just approaching them and trying to give them, you know, like, hey, here’s the offer, then no matter how good the offer was, it never really hit because it was like approaching someone in a dating scenario and being like, first thing you say is like, hey, here’s all the reasons that we should get married. It doesn’t matter if you’re a good fit or not, that initial building of it must happen. Then we went, okay, how do we help people do this at scale without having to door knock, without having to cold call? That’s where we ended up on LinkedIn because we can add a connection note and we can reach out directly to their ideal clients and make sure their profile is optimized, make sure their messaging converts high. And so, we get for the last four years, between 50 and 90% of people that we’re reaching out to are responding with interest. And we’re going after big whale clients here. So, it really is the relevancy drives a lot of the urgency. [3:47]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow. Yeah, well how do you identify someone else’s ideal client?
Nate Morse: So, we have a process. It’s called the Better Client Blueprint. And it’s a process that we go, and we have them like rate their clients that they currently have based on different criteria. Even one of them will be like their value, seeing how much that person aligns with their values, how much they pay them, what’s their like longevity potential. So, it really must do a lot with figuring out who they are based on who they have right now and who they like, who are the ones that would give them the most leverage and the biggest impact on what they’re doing. [4:22]
Nancy Calabrese: Right, wow. So why is it that some businesses thrive on LinkedIn and others are lost?
Nate Morse: Yeah, so I think that from what I’ve seen over the years is that some of them are just going in and doing what everybody else is doing. And so, they really just blend into everything else. Cause even if someone’s like, hey, this is what works. And then everybody does that. Well, it’s not going to, it’s not going to work as well then. Um, I mean, really with anything, a lot of businesses just, they lack the consistency of like continuing to go and trying to stand out and things like that. So, I would say again, it’s basically just not trying to follow everybody else and trying to do something that really stands out and makes an impact on that person and I mean I feel like that has to do with looking at people as actual people and what’s going to excite them versus what do you think? Is going to I don’t know fit into some Programmatic way of converting like a lot of people do. [5:25]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. Yeah, they say if your competition is doing it, stop. Do something different. Right? Yeah. So many talks about the power of LinkedIn, but how do we move from just being present on the platform to truly leveraging its potential for business growth? What are some of the steps?
Nate Morse: Yeah. Totally agree. Great question. Yeah, great question. So, a lot of people are on LinkedIn, and they set up their profile, for example, just like a resume, right? So, it shows like what you do. So, if someone has gone through the entire buyer’s journey and they want to work with someone like you, and then maybe they like the positioning that you have on your profile or whatever, then they might pick you out. But that’s at the end of the buyer’s journey, okay? I like to talk about… How do we compete not only on positioning, but also proximity? So when someone is, let’s say, looking at your profile, because LinkedIn loves to put your profile in, do well with SEO, so it’ll show up on Google, people are searching on LinkedIn, but how do you make it so that your profile is relevant to each stage of the buyer’s journey and the internal questions that they have to answer, because that will make it so that a larger portion of people that are visiting your profile are going to turn into leads and you’re not just waiting for them to complete the buyer’s journey on their own and then decide you. [6:47]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow. Well, I mean, you’re the expert, so it has to make sense. I mean, in your experience, how has harnessing like the existing data transformed the LinkedIn strategies for businesses and professionals?
Nate Morse: Yeah, no, that’s, I have a great example for that. So, I’ve had clients come in and, or let’s say, yeah, so I have clients come in and they’ll be like, hey, we want to go after this audience with this messaging. And a lot of times if you go work with someone, whether they help you with ads or whatever, that’s a lot of times a setup that they have. Well, what happens is that once you start down that journey, what happens if that messaging in that audience, what if that didn’t work? Then whose fault, is it? Right? And so, the number one, reason statistically that businesses fail is lack of market research. And so, the first step that we do is look into LinkedIn to see, okay, within this group that you want to go after, what are the segments that have the highest potential and have the pain point that you have right now, and the competition might not be, you know, you might be better positioned versus them. [7:57]
Nancy Calabrese: Right. But how do you find out their pain points via LinkedIn?
Nate Morse: So that you can do that through data analysis. So, we have data analysts that will go and look through like the content and different things that are on there.
Nancy Calabrese: Okay, cool. So, you know, again, you’re the expert here, but what do most people overlook when trying to build genuine, lasting relationships on LinkedIn?
Nate Morse: They underestimate that initial reason that they’re reaching out. So, like if you’re just going after a group of people and then you’re sending some message that’s just based on demographics, so like who do they, what do they look like right now, where are they at, stuff like that, that messaging is not going to convert nearly as high as if you have some psychographics in there. So, if you’re researching someone and you’re finding like, maybe they engage in someone else’s content, maybe they’re hiring for a specific role, like mention something in that connection note that is going to get them to, you know, sparks and go to, you know, cold to warm. [9:08]
Nancy Calabrese: Right, okay. And then how long does it typically take in your experience when you start the outreach? Does it take for a LinkedIn prospect to become an appointment?
Nate Morse: That could take anywhere from a couple days to a few months, depending on what your target is. Some of the bigger companies, they have, you’re talking to someone who’s an employee of a bigger company and they have this quarterly buying process or something like that. So, you might have to fit into theirs, the bigger clients that you’re going after. But we’ve had people get calls booked within the first couple days of launching. [9:45]
Nancy Calabrese: Really? Wow. And I know you mentioned becoming a trusted guide for perfect fit clients. Can you elaborate on what that means? And how do we achieve that status?
Nate Morse: Great question. So, a lot of people when they’re just competing on positioning, it’s like: “Hey, look at us, look at how great we are, you know, choose us because of how great we are”. But I like to find the people in the buyer’s journey and then make them the hero. Kind of like, you know, we’re Yoda and they’re Luke. We’re finding them and helping them become the hero of their own journey. And a lot of times that’s, you know, having resources and different things perhaps that on your profile or offering them to them that help them through that specific stage that they’re in versus just like, look how awesome we are. [10:32]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow. And so how do you differentiate between a transient connection and a meaningful relationship?
Nate Morse: Yeah, so leading with value, if you see where they’re at, and let’s say you offer them a resource, maybe you made, if you want to be the guide for them, you could literally just make a guide for them. But you might have some resource, something that you can give to them for free that’s going to help them get value and move along the stage, so you’re building this relationship where they’re going to open up to you and you guys can actually go through the buyer’s journey together. [11:05]
Nancy Calabrese: Cool, cool. How did you get involved in this?
Nate Morse: So, before LinkedIn, I was actually in the RV industry, and I was getting clients through LinkedIn and then COVID hit and then the RV industry got all wonky. But I was doing this as a side business, but when all that happened, then I went full time in on it because this is the thing I like to do. And these are, the biggest part was the clients. Who are the clients that you want around you? So, the context that you live in. [11:35]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow. And you know, I love stories. So, can you share a story where a shift in LinkedIn strategy led to predictable success and increased revenue?
Nate Morse: Yeah. So, in the beginning, when I was doing this, I was literally just using whatever was out there. So, I was like trying to see, okay, I’m LinkedIn. What messages are people using? What strategies are they doing? But everything was just volume-based, and it was like quantity was the strategy. And I was not a fan. And so, I took a step back to what I had been doing in cold calling and door knocking and like just online sales and it was me remembering going between, because I was a car salesman at one point and everyone who came on the lot, I could take down their wants and needs and help them through the journey. But I noticed that online the journey was totally different. Uh, you know, like 1% of a website’s traffic converts into any type of lead. Um, there’s a lot of information out there, but there’s not much for helping them, at these different stages. And so, basically took a step back and then just, I know you’re not supposed to recreate the wheel, but I basically tried to do that and that almost quadrupled our results from everything. That was about four years ago. But yeah, I was just reminiscing on, okay, what’s the online world, which is great for information, then the in, not the inline, but the in-person world. And that’s mostly built about relationships. And so just recognizing, okay, these people online, they might not have tried the in-person route before and then tried to do it. So that was it was really just that being confused of like, why is it so much different online versus in person? [13:17]
Nancy Calabrese: Right. You know, people have commented, not recently, but in, I’d say in the past year, they’ve complained that LinkedIn is becoming like Facebook. What are your thoughts on that?
Nate Morse: You say in the past couple years? Yeah, so, well, when you say they’re complaining, like, you want to elaborate a little bit more.
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. Yeah, they’re putting personal stories on LinkedIn. I haven’t seen it as much lately, but in the past couple of years, people are posting about their kid, their cat, their dog. What are your thoughts on that?
Nate Morse: Yeah, they’re pushing it to become more of a social media platform versus before it was just for hiring mostly. They have celebrities going on there and pushing this aspect. And I think it should be, there’s a lot of people moving from Facebook to it because there’s a lot less crap on there. But yeah, I guess that may just be early people doing it. And if there’s someone that’s posting and you don’t like their stories or whatever, then just, I don’t know, remove them. [14:23]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. Yeah. Remove them, yeah, delete them. You know, for me and our listeners who feel that we’re struggling to make an impact on LinkedIn, what are some of the common pitfalls we might be falling into?
Nate Morse: Yeah, so if someone is wondering like, hey, what’s the, you know, what’s the low hanging fruit? That’s going to be your profile. So, make sure that it doesn’t read like a brochure, right? So just information like I was talking about earlier. You know, for example, in that bio area, some people say like, hey, you know, I’m this, I do that. And that’s, you know, what people see. But when you’re showing up in search results or maybe you’re engaging in someone’s content or you might be posting yourself, that little area right there is always seen. So… put some type of call to action there to show that you have a resource for someone that’s in the buyer’s journey. That would be, that’s the easiest low hanging fruit, but just expand upon that on your profile and go: Okay, if someone were to, you know, go here and they have, you know, this question or they’re at this stage of the buyer’s journey, is there something that allows them to connect with me and actually start that relationship so that I can nurture them through the journey? But yeah, it’s just optimizing the profile and making sure that the people that are visiting it today, maybe even right now, there’s something relevant enough for them to start a relationship with you. [15:40]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, I guess, you know, what I keep thinking about is how to identify those people on LinkedIn that are in the buying mode. I just I’m not wrapping my head around it.
Nate Morse: Okay, yeah, so let’s say that an easy example, because it’s psychographic, so it’s something that they’re doing right now. So, let’s say for example, you sell a service, and you have a competitor and there’s people engaging with their content and they’re commenting, and you can see those comments. If you can find people within there that are a good fit, they’re literally putting their hand up in the buyer’s journey right now, or they might be engaging in different posts, or they might be hiring for a role. You might do social media management and they might be looking for a role for a social media manager. [16:28]
Nancy Calabrese: Mm-hmm. And are you a big believer in sales navigator?
Nate Morse: Um, I don’t use it that much. I think most of the results are crap, but depending on the scenario, um, it’s good. Like I still have it. Uh, biggest reason for that though, is that LinkedIn made a thing where you get like extra, you can send more connection requests and I just believe that, you know, content, whatever, whatever you’re doing, if you’re paying the platform, it’s going to, you’re going to be in favor for them. [16:56]
Nancy Calabrese: Right. Okay. Yeah. How many requests can you send out a day?
Nate Morse: a day, so it’s more of a week, it’s about 100 to 200 a week.
Nancy Calabrese: Okay. And does that vary or is that stagnant?
Nate Morse: Yeah, it’s stagnant. It’s stagnant. In 21, they limited it because people were sending like 200 to 500 connection requests a day, sometimes even more. But in 2021, they put out these limits that were that were stopping people from sending more than that, which was good for me, honestly, because that’s all we were sending because it’s much harder to go this route. But again, we’re not playing the quantity game. But yeah, that was a that was a good thing. [17:37]
Nancy Calabrese: Well. Yeah. Cool. So, I can’t believe we’re like up in time. I could go on and on, but what is one takeaway you’d like to leave the audience with?
Nate Morse: Yeah, I think that you’re doing, everybody’s doing acquisition. They’re trying to get new clients, but they need to take a step back and look at and evaluate their current clients and the clients that are getting to see like, what’s the actual impacts that you can act strategically versus reactively. Whether you’re on LinkedIn, you’re doing, you know, Facebook or whatever. Um, the clients that you get are, are super important. So before just going out there and wanting to be like, hey, I just, I just need to get clients really focused on getting like, okay, who’s the right client? What’s the impact they’re going to have on my culture? All of this, and then when you have that down, everything that you do from there is going to be much more relevant to them, and most likely, even your energy about who you’re going after is going to change in other areas of your business. [18:35]
Nancy Calabrese: I totally agree with you on that. How can my audience find you?
Nate Morse: So, you can find me on social media, Nate Morse. You can also go to natemorse.com. And if you go to.com slash gift, I have free resources there as well, like the book you mentioned earlier. There’s some other worksheets and things like that. [18:55]
Nancy Calabrese: Awesome. Take advantage of that, everyone. Nate, thank you so much for spending time with us today. Just say that website again, natemorris.com.
Nate Morse: Yep. Nate Morse. N-A-T-E-M-O-R-S-E dot com slash gift. G-I-F-T.
Nancy Calabrese: OK, I don’t know about you all out there, but I’m going there as soon as we get off. Nate, you were wonderful. I encourage everyone to take advantage of Nate’s generous offer. Reach out to him and make it a great sales day. [19:31]
