LinkedIn Content Strategy for Sales Community Founders | Netwarm
LinkedIn playbook · Case study
LinkedIn content strategy for sales community founders: how a New York founder reached 199 sales leaders and executives in four weeks
We read every reaction on 17 posts from a New York founder of a community for women in sales. 480 people, 199 sales leaders and executives. Here is what brings buyers, what brings peers, and the 5 posts we'd publish next.
Max Sawyer · Netwarm··11 min read
The creator in this case studyA New York founder of a global community for women in sales
Followers14,434
Posts~4 a week
Sells
These numbers are from 1 November. Your audience has already moved.
New sales leaders and executives turn Hot every week and others go quiet. Run your free scan to see today’s version, with the names.
Keynotes, sales training, and partnerships with a community of 20,000+ women in sales: hiring events, sponsorships, brand programs
PeriodOct 2 – Oct 28
Ideal client: sales leaders, enablement and talent teams, and partnership heads at B2B and tech companies who hire, train or want to reach women in sales.The challenge: The founder writes for two audiences at once: the women in sales the community serves, and the companies that pay for keynotes, training and partnerships. Sellers, recruiters and coaches react the most. Which posts reach the leaders who sign?
Key takeaways
4 in 10 readers are sales leaders or executives.199 sales leaders, founders and executives reacted in four weeks: 41.5% of the 480 people who reacted.
Summit stories reach 2x more of them.Posts with Summit stories and data reached 30 sales leaders and executives per post. Sales tips reached 14.5.
15 sales leaders are Hot right now.They reacted to 5 posts or more. One of them reacted to 11 of the 17.
01
Who actually reads you, and what the LinkedIn algorithm changed
The founder posts about four times a week: sales tips, the annual Summit and its data, speaking gigs, webinars with partners, and offers to companies. 17 posts written by the founder between 2 and 28 October. Posts by other people about the Summit were left out.
The LinkedIn algorithm shows a post to the people who reacted to the last ones, then to people like them. A community for sellers draws sellers: they are loud, loyal and rarely the ones who sign a sponsorship. Reach can't tell them apart from the sales leaders who do. Who reacted can. We sorted every person who reacted by role.
17posts in four weeks
480people reacted
199sales leaders & executives
28came back 3+ times
Audience by roleThe 480 people who reacted, by roleFree
Sales leaders and executives are the largest group: 199 people, about 4 in 10. They run sales teams, enablement, partnerships and talent at tech and media companies, or run their own firms. These are the people who book a keynote, sponsor a Summit or host a hiring event.
The 128 sellers, account managers, recruiters and coaches are the community itself. They push reach and they matter to the mission, but they rarely sign the partnership. Role groups are read from headlines, so they are approximate.
SeniorityAll people who reactedFree
Founder, owner, C-level26.9%
Director, VP9%
Manager10.2%
Independent11.7%
Other42.3%
IndustriesSales leaders and executives onlyNetwarm
Tech, software and AI31.2%
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See all industries and company sizes in your free scan.
Core audience28 sales leaders and executives engaged 3+ times · 15 engaged 5+ timesNetwarm
28 sales leaders and executives keep coming back. One of them reacted to 11 of the 17 posts.See your regulars
Engager company sizeEveryone who reacted, by company sizeNetwarm
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See which company sizes your sales leaders and executives work at.See company sizes
02
What to post on LinkedIn to reach sales leaders and executives
Most community founders judge a post by its reactions. A founder who sells partnerships should judge it by who reacted.
We tagged each of the 17 posts by topic, then measured how many sales leaders and executives each topic reached, per reaction and per post.
Your topicsWhat your 17 posts were aboutFree
17posts
Sales tips4
Webinars & events4
Summit stories & data3
Speaking gigs3
Offers to companies2
Personal1
Topics that attract sales leaders and executivesShare of each topic’s reactions from sales leaders and executivesNetwarm
Webinars & events51.3%
Summit stories & data47.6%
Offers to companies45.1%
Speaking gigs44.3%
Personal43.0%
Sales tips35.4%
One topic reaches about 2x more sales leaders per post than another. See which.See which topics
Summit stories and data reach about 2x more sales leaders and executives per post than sales tips: 30 per post against 14.5.
Posts that brought the most sales leaders and executivesShare of sales leaders and executives in each post’s reactions1 of 5 open
#1Your buyer says, “Just send me pricing.”56.2%
#2Your buyer went quiet. Your quota didn't.56%
#3How many “we should definitely work together” conversations are in your phone?54.3%
#41 in 2 women at our Summit came to sales from another career52.2%
#5AI isn't the most important skill story in sales right now. Judgment is.50%
For comparison, the follow-up tip “You're not getting rejected. You're giving up too early.” drew the most reactions of the sales tips but the lowest share: 31.6%.
6 rules for LinkedIn engagement from sales leaders
These rules come from what worked on the founder's own profile, and from the best-performing posts by sales trainers, sales leaders and women-in-sales voices on LinkedIn over the last 3 months.
1
Lead with a number about the room. Sales leaders buy evidence. Four numbers about who was in the room ($774M in quota, 72 women carrying $1M or more) say more to a hiring manager than any adjective.On this profile: the Summit data post reached 35 sales leaders and executives, 49.3% of its reactions.
Tell one deal, not seven tips. List posts are written to sellers and read by sellers. One scene from a real deal (what the buyer said, what you did next) shows a leader how the founder thinks.On this profile: sales tips reached 14.5 sales leaders and executives per post. Summit stories reached 30.
Open on the buyer's exact words. “Just send me pricing.” “Let's circle back next year.” A line every leader has heard from a buyer stops them, because it's a line their own reps hear this week.On this profile: the two posts that opened on a buyer's line had the two highest shares, 56.2% and 56%.
Talk to the leader who hires, not only the seller. A post about career switchers is also a post about where sales leaders should look for talent. Say it to them directly.On this profile: the career-switch post reached 52.2% sales leaders and executives.
Say what you sell, and to whom. Keynotes, sales kickoffs, partnerships: name the offer, the room it's for and the one word to send. Leaders who plan budgets read it as an invitation.On this profile: the “booking 2027” post reached 45 sales leaders and executives, the most of any post.
Give the quiet work a line people repeat. A short line that names what sellers do every day travels from the seller to the leader who manages them, with the founder's name on it.Across the niche: “Nobody claps for the 14th follow-up” drew 84 comments on 178 likes.
When sales leaders read: the best time to post on LinkedIn for sales community founders
We compared the share of sales leaders and executives by the day and the 2-hour slot each post was published (New York time). Slots with fewer than 3 posts are left out.
Share of sales leaders and executives by posting dayAmong the people who reacted to each postFree
36.4%
Mon
53.8%
Tue
44.7%
Wed
47.5%
Thu
46.9%
Fri
43.0%
Sun
Best time to post, by hourShare of sales leaders and executives among people who reactedFree
45.7%
8:00
37.2%
12:00
49.5%
14:00
45.8%
16:00
Tuesday had the highest share (53.8%, on 2 posts) and Monday the lowest (36.4%). Friday brought the most sales leaders in total: 99 across 6 posts.
The 2 p.m. Eastern slot had the highest share (49.5%) and noon the lowest (37.2%). Put the posts that sell (the offer, the data) on Tuesday to Friday, at 8 a.m. or 2 p.m., and keep Monday noon for lighter posts.
05
5 posts ready to publish to target sales leaders
Each post follows the rules above, in the founder's voice. Swap in your own details before posting: the real story is what makes it land.
1Ready to postData post + lead magnet
$774M in quota, one roomRules 1 and 4: a number about the room, said to the leaders who hire. Modelled on the Summit data post that reached 35 sales leaders.
Hook
$774M in quota. One room in New York.That was the Sistas in Sales Summit on September 21.Every year, sales leaders tell me the same thing: “We want to hire more women of color in sales. We just can't find them.”So here is who was in the room:→ 72 women carrying $1M or more in quota
→ 1 in 3 closing deals over $250K
→ 1 in 4 running her own company
→ 1 in 2 came to sales from another careerThat's not a pipeline problem.
That's a closing floor.If you're setting 2027 headcount right now, you're not short on talent. You're looking in the same three places as everyone else.I put the numbers from The State of the Sales Woman on one page, for sales leaders and talent teams planning next year.Want it? Comment “STATE” and I'll send it over. 👇🏾#SistasInSales #WomenInSales #SalesLeadership #Hiring2027
Visual · Single imageThe four numbers on one card, large type, Sistas in Sales colours. No faces needed.Check before postingCheck each figure against the final State of the Sales Woman report. Send the one-pager through your Netwarm Reveal link to see which sales leaders download it.
The buyer who went quiet before quarter endRule 2: one deal instead of seven tips. Modelled on Micael Sasson's “birthday cake” post.
Hook
The buyer stopped answering three weeks before the end of the quarter.I was carrying a $35M quota at Twitter. This deal mattered.Two emails. A voicemail. Nothing.The easy move was a fourth “just checking in.”Instead, I went back to my notes from our first call. She had said one thing I almost missed: her CMO wanted proof the campaign could reach a new audience before anyone signed.So I stopped asking for a decision.I sent her one page: three brands in her category, what they ran, and who they reached. No pitch. One line at the bottom: “Thought this might help with your CMO.”She called me the next morning.Not because of the page. Because it showed I had listened.We signed before the quarter closed.Here's what I teach sellers now:
→ Silence is not a no. It's an unfinished conversation.
→ Go back to the first call. The answer is usually there.
→ Send something that helps them sell it inside.Sales leaders: what do your reps send when a buyer goes quiet?#SistasInSales #WomenInSales #SalesLeadership
Visual · Text onlyNo image. The story carries the post.Check before postingUse your real deal: the buyer, what was missing and what you sent. Keep the brand anonymous.
“Let me run it by my team.”Rule 3: open on the buyer's exact words, then give leaders a question to use in pipeline reviews. Modelled on Samantha McKenna's “Who Are The They's”.
Hook
“Let me run it by my team.”If your rep said “Sounds great!” and hung up, the deal just left the room.I heard that line for 15 years. At LinkedIn, at Twitter, at Yelp.Early on, I took it as good news. Then I watched those deals stall for months.Now I hear it as a question I forgot to ask.Who is the team?Here's what I teach sellers to say instead:→ “Of course. Who's on the team you'll share it with?”
→ “What will each of them want to see?”
→ “Would it help if I joined for ten minutes to answer their questions?”
→ “When are you meeting, so I can follow up the day after?”Four questions. Same buyer. A different forecast.Sales leaders: listen for “my team” in your next pipeline review. Ask your rep who that is. If they don't know, you found your stalled deal.What's the buyer line your team hears most this quarter? 👇🏾#SistasInSales #SalesLeadership #WomenInSales
Visual · Single imageThe buyer line in a speech bubble, the four questions listed under it.Check before postingSwap in the buyer line you hear most in your own trainings and webinars.
Your next top seller has never soldRule 4: talk to the leader who hires. Modelled on Todd Busler's hiring story, and on the career-switch post that reached 52.2% sales leaders.
Hook
Your next top seller doesn't have sales on her resume.Half the women at our Summit came to sales from another career.Teachers. Producers. Nurses. Analysts.And most sales job posts still open with the same line: “2+ years of SaaS sales experience required.”That one line filters out people who already do the job.→ A teacher runs discovery with 30 people every morning.
→ A producer manages a complex deal cycle on deadline.
→ A nurse handles objections with someone who is scared.
→ An analyst turns a spreadsheet into a business case.Sales leaders, if you're writing 2027 job posts this month, try this:1. Replace “years of sales experience” with the 3 skills the role really needs.
2. Interview for those skills with a real scenario, not a quota question.
3. Plan the first 90 days of coaching before the offer goes out.You don't need more applicants. You need a wider door.What's one requirement you'd cut from your next sales job post?#SistasInSales #WomenInSales #SalesLeadership #Hiring2027
Visual · CarouselFour slides, one per career (teacher, producer, nurse, analyst) and the sales skill it already built. Last slide: the 3 steps.Check before postingIf a member who switched careers agrees, open with her story instead of the list.
Booking 2027 sales kickoffsRule 5: say what you sell and to whom. Modelled on the “booking 2027” post, the one that reached the most sales leaders (45).
Hook
Your 2027 sales kickoff agenda is being written right now.Here's what I'd put on it.15+ years selling on LinkedIn, Twitter and Yelp. About $50M closed. Nine years building Sistas in Sales into a community of 20,000+ women in sales across 48 countries.This fall I spoke at AcceleratorCON, at BLK Men in Tech's THRIVE summit and on a live panel with HubSpot. The question I got most from sales leaders was the same every time:“How do we use AI without our reps sounding like everyone else?”So that's my 2027 talk.AI Won't Close Your Deals:
→ What changes in selling with AI, and what doesn't
→ Where to hand the busywork to AI, and where the seller has to show up
→ The discovery questions that give AI the context it needsFor sales kickoffs, leadership offsites and revenue team trainings.If you're planning a 2027 kickoff, DM me “SPEAK” and tell me the date. 👇🏾#KeynoteSpeaker #SalesKickoff #SalesLeadership
Visual · Single imageA stage photo from AcceleratorCON or the Summit, with the talk title on it.Check before postingConfirm the formats you offer (keynote, workshop) and that the question quoted is the one you really hear most.
Free forever: unlimited scheduling through LinkedIn’s official API, with images, video and PDF carousels.
06
LinkedIn lead generation: lead magnets that work to target sales leaders
Reactions show interest. A download shows intent. The fastest way to find out which sales leaders are serious is to give them something useful and see who takes it.
In sales training and sales leadership, these formats get the most requests:
Format 1The one-doc cheat sheetEverything a rep needs for one moment of the sale (discovery, objections), in one document.
Format 2The fill-in print-outOne page the seller fills in during the call, so they know what is still missing.
Format 3The prompt toolkitA handful of AI prompts for one sales problem, given away with a live session.
Our pick for you: “The State of the Sales Woman, on one page”Built from the Summit data the founder already presented ($774M in quota, 72 women carrying $1M or more, 1 in 3 closing deals over $250K, 1 in 2 from another career), on one page for sales leaders and talent teams planning 2027. Offer it in post 1, with a Reveal link to see which leaders download it.With a Reveal link, every person who downloads it is shown by name, with their role and how warm they are. Your first Reveal link is free.Create your free Reveal link
07
From reactions to clients
Content brings sales leaders to the profile. It doesn't say when to reach out. Most never comment, so they stay invisible, and a sales leader reading every post in October may have booked another speaker for the kickoff by January.
On LinkedIn, the right moment to start a conversation is when someone keeps coming back. We call that Hot: 5 or more points over 90 days, where a reaction counts 1, a repost 2, a download or a reply 4.
Hot right now15 sales leaders and executives · not contacted yetNetwarm
15 sales leaders and executives are Hot. See who to message first.See who’s Hot
First messageAn opener for each Hot person, based on the posts they readNetwarm
Hi Jordan, you've been reading my posts on the Summit data. Is your team planning to hire sellers in Q1?Hi Sam, I saw you reacted to the post on career switchers. Are you writing 2027 job posts yet?
A first line for each of them, ready to send.See the openers
Netwarm sends nothing for you. It tells you who and when, and you write the message. It also works inside Claude and ChatGPT: ask “Who's Hot today?” and get the list.
08
FAQ
Post the evidence only you have: numbers about your community, one deal story at a time, and the buyer lines every leader hears. Here, Summit stories and data reached about 2x more sales leaders per post than sales tips.
For this founder, Tuesday had the highest share of sales leaders and executives (53.8%) and Monday the lowest (36.4%). Friday brought the most in total. The 2 p.m. Eastern slot did best.
This founder posts about four times a week, and 28 sales leaders and executives came back 3 times or more in four weeks. Four posts a week works when at least one of them speaks directly to the leaders who buy.
Look at who reacts, not how many. Group reactions by role, measure the share of your ideal clients per post, and follow the people who keep coming back. A free Netwarm scan does this for you.
Yes. Netwarm only reads public reactions to your own posts. It never logs in as you, never asks for your password, and never messages anyone for you.
How we made this playbook
We read the public reactions on 17 posts written by the founder between 2 and 28 October 2026, up to the first 100 reactions per post, and sorted the 480 people by role. Posts written by other people about the Summit were left out. Comments were not counted, so engagement figures are a floor.
Niche rules come from top posts by sales trainers, sales leaders and women-in-sales voices over the last 3 months. Role groups are approximate; a Netwarm scan matches people to your own ideal client.
