30 Minutes to President's Club · 8 Oct 2026 · From the week of 5 October
#615: How to Master Social Selling on LinkedIn to Book Meetings | Kade Hinkle | 30MPC Hall of Fame
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In brief
Host Nick Cegelski and 30MPC account executive Alex Murphy (co-hosting) interview Kade Hinkle, an SDR at Common Room who was SDR of the Year out of 13 SDRs on his team. Kade lays out his LinkedIn outbound system for selling to go-to-market leaders. He sends 30 targeted connection requests a day, posts his own content so connections see him in their feed, and turns on post notifications so he can engage with active posters and watch for buying signals. He pitches most prospects right after they accept, but for active posters he comments on their posts for one to two weeks first. He uses personalized videos and voice notes that contain specific, useful ideas. The episode also covers his name-first cold call opener ('I'm calling to book a meeting with you'), multithreading and name-dropping, and Nick's point that an offer of value works better as a CTA than an interest-based ask.
For founders
- Kade Hinkle's baseline is that 30 targeted LinkedIn connection requests a day to go-to-market leaders yield at least five acceptances, and Nick Cegelski argues that kept up over a year this builds a network in your vertical that produces referrals and introductions.
- Nick Cegelski cites a 30MPC and Gong analysis of over 300 million cold emails which found that a CTA offering something of value beats an interest-based CTA like 'do you want to learn more?'.
- Kade puts something useful in every pitch, such as two specific signals the prospect could be tracking, so the message is worth reading even if the prospect never takes a meeting.
- Kade treats LinkedIn as his hub because his ICP lives there, and says sellers whose buyers live elsewhere (his example is plumbers on Facebook) should build on that platform instead.
For revenue leaders
- Kade Hinkle's system is 30 ICP connection requests a day, no note about 90% of the time, his own posting so connections see his content, and post notifications turned on for active prospects (about 75 at the time).
- For prospects who post, Kade comments on their posts for one to two weeks before pitching; he pitches immediately about 90% of the time and uses the warm-up approach for the other 10%.
- Kade uses short personalized videos instead of long text for follow-ups, and when one voice note ran too long he followed it with a short 'too long, didn't listen' text summary.
- Kade opens cold calls with just the prospect's name and a pause, reads their tone, then says 'this is Kade from Common Room, I'm calling to book a meeting with you,' usually after sending a LinkedIn connection request earlier the same day.
- Kade says a bad habit he sees a lot in SDRs is inconsistency across LinkedIn, email and calls, when the goal is to have as many prospect conversations as possible.
What was said 26, most useful first
Sending 30 LinkedIn connection requests a day to ICP prospects yields at least five acceptances for Kade Hinkle, selling to go-to-market leaders.
Kade's '30 connection rule' is to send 30 connection requests a day to ICP prospects, engage with their posts, and post his own content. He says at least five acceptances a day is the low end for his industry, selling to go-to-market leaders, and that he isn't sure what the rate would be in other markets.
“if you're sending 30 a day, you're going to have at least five people accepting. And that's the lowest for my industry I sell to. I sell on the go to market leaders.”
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Kade Hinkle pitches immediately after a connection is accepted about 90% of the time and warms up prospects first in the other 10%.
The 10% are active posters he engages with for a couple of weeks before pitching. Even after pitching, he keeps interacting when the prospect posts.
“No, I'm always pitching probably 90 % of the time.”
Kade Hinkle booked a demo with a VP of RevOps after three weeks of engaging with his posts, using a new hire at the account as the trigger to reach out.
The account used a competitor. The VP of RevOps accepted Kade's connection and posted about twice a day, and Kade interacted with every post for about three weeks. His signal was a marketer from 6sense joining the company. That marketer said he wanted the team to look at Common Room and then went silent, so Kade sent the VP a voice note relaying the conversation. The VP replied asking for a demo and called it the best LinkedIn outreach he had seen.
“my signal to reach out was I saw that a marketer who worked at 6sense moved over to that company.”
A 30MPC and Gong analysis of over 300 million cold emails found that offering something of value beats an interest-based CTA.
According to Nick, interest-based CTAs such as 'do you want to learn more?' used to be the most effective. The analysis found that an offer of value, such as 'I can send over a couple of ideas or examples,' is much more likely to get the prospect to agree to a meeting or keep the conversation going.
“what we actually learned was that making an offer, an offer of value, actually has a much higher likelihood of getting someone to agree to a meeting and continue the conversation.”
Sending several separate LinkedIn messages in a row increases response chances because each message triggers its own notification.
Nick says three messages in a thread create three notifications rather than one. He describes himself as someone who has to clear every notification daily. He calls the effect a small nuance that he feels psychologically increases the chance of a response.
“when you send somebody those three messages into sessions, session, they actually get more notifications than if you just send one.”
Kade Hinkle records each prospecting video in two to three takes and includes two specific signals the prospect could track, plus a 'worst case' proof point.
Kade keeps videos human and limits himself to two or three takes, opening with 'hey [name], nice connecting' even though people dislike that line. For companies selling to technical buyers, his current focus, he suggests surfacing conversations on GitHub, Reddit, Discord and Slack. He gives two example signals: specific titles complaining about competitors, and new job changers asking their community which tools to adopt in their first 90 days. He closes with 'worst case we can share how this team booked like 75% more pipeline after one quarter using the strategy.'
“Worst case we can share how this team booked like 75 % more pipeline after one quarter using the strategy.”
Kade Hinkle opens cold calls with only the prospect's name and a pause, then says 'this is Kade from Common Room, I'm calling to book a meeting with you.'
Kade usually sends a LinkedIn connection request first and calls later the same day, so prospects often say they saw his request. He says the name-only opener has never failed to get a response. Nick Cegelski, who said he hasn't tried it himself, likes that it lets the seller calibrate tone before committing to an opener and that the bottom-line-up-front ask works as a pattern interrupt that creates curiosity.
“So I'm like, this is Kade from Common Room. I'm calling to book a meeting with you.”
Kade Hinkle uses short personalized videos instead of long text for second messages and follow-ups.
Kade says a one-to-two-minute video feels more personal than a wall of text. When a video works, he looks into why it worked and does more of that over time. One video booked a VP of Sales at a 150+ person company: he congratulated them on the new role, noted they were already familiar with Common Room from their previous company, and pointed out the team seemed fully inbound with a big AE team but no SDRs.
“I think it's better than a massive wall of text. It takes like one to two minutes and it feels personal. And if it works, look into why it worked.”
Kade Hinkle posts his own LinkedIn content so that accepted connections see him repeatedly and already know him when it is time to pitch.
Once a prospect accepts, Kade's posts show up in their feed because they are connected. He wants to be a familiar face by the time a signal tells him to reach out for a meeting. He acknowledges that many sellers won't like the posting part of his system.
“You want to be a familiar face for when the time is right to get them on a meeting because over time they're going to see your post in their feed.”
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Kade Hinkle turns on post notifications for prospects who actively post, both to engage and to catch timing signals.
When sending his 30 daily connections, Kade checks whether each prospect posts actively and, if they do, turns on their post notifications; he had about 75 prospects on notifications at the time. He uses their activity to judge when to reach out, citing signals such as hiring SDRs, a recent funding round, or an upcoming renewal with a current tool.
“Right now, I probably have like 75 prospects notifications on. And it's just a part of always trying to stay top of mind in their world.”
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Kade Hinkle comments on an active poster's content for one to two weeks before pitching, which he says makes a booked meeting far more likely.
Instead of pitching active posters right away, Kade interacts with and comments on their posts and shares them with other people. After one to two weeks he sends the pitch, when they are already familiar with him.
“after that one to two weeks, send them a pitch because then they'll be familiar with you and it's a way higher chance of booking a meeting.”
Kade Hinkle targets accounts that use a competitor, picking about five accounts a day and connecting mostly with above-the-line decision makers.
Kade uses Common Room data to choose accounts and people, and prefers companies using a Common Room competitor. He might choose five such accounts a day and send connection requests to the people he wants to talk to. He only connects with below-the-line people when there is a signal, and stresses keeping the 30 connections high quality.
“I'm a big fan of competitor. like reaching out to folks that are using a competitor. So like, let's say I'll choose five accounts for a day that are using a competitor of Common Room.”
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Kade Hinkle leaves the connection request note blank about 90% of the time and adds one only when there is a referral, a mutual contact, or a job change from a competitor.
Kade adds a note only with a referral, a person they both know, or when the prospect has moved from a Common Room competitor. In that last case, which he has done about three times, he tells them he knows they are familiar with Common Room, and those requests were accepted every time.
“Probably 90 % of the time, I'll put no note. And it really depends. If I get a referral, or if I know somebody that they know, then I'll put that in the note.”
Kade Hinkle comments relevantly on a prospect's post after an unanswered pitch to prompt them to view his profile and find his message.
Kade says posters don't get many comments, so a relevant one leads them to look at your profile and realize you have already messaged them. He says this has worked only a couple of times, because most posts are company promotion he can't add to. He won't leave an emoji-only or AI-generated comment; he comments mainly on personal posts or on hiring posts, where he tags people from his network for the open role. Alex Murphy said he also sometimes follows up with a like and comment instead of another DM.
“If you can comment on their posts with something relevant, then they're going to go look at your profile because they prep don't get a lot of comments.”
Kade Hinkle treats LinkedIn as the hub of his outbound because his ICP lives there, with email and calls around it, and says sellers should build on whichever platform their buyers use.
Kade says everything he does aims to start conversations with prospects and connect with them on LinkedIn so he can book a meeting when the timing is right. He contrasts this with someone selling to plumbers, who live on Facebook. He also notes there is no real way to automate LinkedIn; his engagement is fully manual and he often responds to post notifications within five minutes.
“I think of LinkedIn is like sort of my hub and then there's like emails calls around it”
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Kade Hinkle followed a long LinkedIn voice note with a short 'too long, didn't listen' text summary.
His voice note to the VP of RevOps covered his conversation with their new product marketing manager, the team's use of Clay, how Common Room differs from Clay (set pricing versus credits, more user friendly), and a quote from the VP's own About section. Kade felt the note ran too long, so he followed it with a one-line text version of the key points.
“that was super long, probably not the best voice note. So I sent like a little message afterwards, like too long, don't listen.”
Outreach now needs several layers of personalization to stand out from AI-generated messages, where five or six years ago one personal detail was enough.
Nick picked out three layers in Kade's voice note: what a colleague at the account said, the tool the account currently uses and why that colleague wanted an alternative, and a line from the prospect's LinkedIn profile tied to the product's value. He framed the shift as his own impression ('I feel like').
“I feel like now to stand out from some of the AI slop, kind of need to show that you know them a little bit more than just one thing.”
A name-drop in prospecting works better when it includes the substance of the earlier conversation, and Kade Hinkle warns it can backfire.
Alex notes that many sellers write 'I talked to Nate' when the actual conversation was a rejection, so bringing in what was really discussed is more credible and catches the new prospect up. Kade says he usually asks the person whether he can mention them. In this case the contact had gone silent, so he says maybe he shouldn't have named him, and that sellers should be careful because some people might get upset.
“usually I'll ask the people they'll, they'll be fine with it, but this guy just went ghost. So maybe I shouldn't have mentioned his name, but I did, but be, be careful with that.”
Alex Murphy structures prospecting videos like the first 90 seconds of a good cold call: a relevant observation, a hypothesized problem, a one-sentence offering, and a free 'worst case' offer.
Alex sells 30MPC's team training program. In an example of how such a video would sound, he cites specifics such as hiring 12 new reps, adding four last quarter, and a fundraise last year, then hypothesizes the problem: high growth targets alongside onboarding and ramp time. He describes the program in one sentence and closes by saying that, worst case, he can share some free material that might be useful in the short term.
“The video is sort of the first 90 seconds of what a good cold call would sound like, but I don't have any responses from the person.”
The goal of outbound is to make clear you'll add value in the meeting, and praises Kade Hinkle for giving value in the message itself so the prospect benefits even if they never reply.
Alex points out that Kade's pitch named specific signals to watch, so a prospect who ignores it might still think they should be checking Discord more. He says this shows the seller will add value in the first meeting and builds trust. Kade says nearly every pitch he sends includes two ideas the prospect could use the product for.
“my whole goal without bound is to make it clear that I'm going to add value in the meeting even if you never talked to me again afterward.”
Prospects with no LinkedIn activity and no visible signals get a more generic pitch and mostly don't respond.
For prospects with no posts, no hiring, no funding and sometimes no profile picture, Kade still sends his ideas-and-signals pitch and keeps it human, but has fewer signals to use. He says most of the time these are the people who don't respond, and that fortunately most of his ICP is active on LinkedIn.
“Maybe you'll get a response, maybe you won't, but most of the time these are the people that don't respond to me.”
Kade Hinkle's blunt 'I'm calling to book a meeting' opener works partly because his buyers are sales leaders who run cold-calling teams.
Alex calls the opener audacious and expects some prospects will refuse. He attributes its success to Kade knowing his audience of go-to-market personas, says sellers should keep experimenting, and plans to test it on his own next dial session.
“I think you are knowing your audience well there because you're selling to these GTM personas.”
Nick Cegelski sees the 30 connection rule as compounding into a referral network over a year for sellers who stay in one vertical.
Nick suggests making a LinkedIn connection at the start of sequencing each prospect. Over a year of 30 a day, a seller builds a network of the people they want to sell to, which enables referrals and introductions. He says that had he stayed selling to law firms, this would have built a strong network.
“this starts to accrue 30 connections today over an entire year. You start to build up a network of people that you want to sell to”
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Following prospects via LinkedIn's notification bell saves sellers from scrolling the feed in hope of seeing a prospect's post.
Nick calls random feed scrolling a horrible use of time. With notifications on, you go straight to the prospect's post when it appears and avoid getting distracted by the rest of the feed. He says he never did this kind of warm-up when selling to law firms and wishes he had, because he thinks it would have helped him break into hard-to-reach accounts.
“It is a horrible use of your time to be randomly scrolling your LinkedIn feed, hoping that you see a post from your prospect that you can engage with.”
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Kade Hinkle listens to the prospect's mood when they answer and tries to have a normal conversation before pitching.
If the prospect sounds annoyed, Kade acknowledges it with something like 'sounds like you get a lot of cold calls,' which he says often opens them up. He says talking with the prospect a little before getting to the pitch always works really well for him.
“if I can talk to them a little bit before I get to my pitch, like that always works really well. So when you say their name, like listen to their tone of voice.”
A bad outbound habit he sees a lot is inconsistency, with SDRs not reliably sending LinkedIn messages, emails or cold calls.
Kade frames outbound as trying to have as many prospect conversations as possible, with every channel moving you closer to the buyer. He talks to SDRs almost daily, and they often admit they aren't sending LinkedIn messages consistently. He says sellers need to find some way to be consistent.
“I talk to SDRs almost every day, and they're always like, well, yeah, I'm not really doing this consistently”
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