Businesses struggling to generate leads from LinkedIn are focusing on the wrong problem, according to social selling expert Dean Seddon, who says consistent lead generation comes down to three things: content, newsletters and events, all built around a clear commercial proposition.
London, UK 15 October 2026 - Businesses posting on LinkedIn without generating leads should stop blaming the algorithm and start looking at their sales strategy, according to LinkedIn and social selling expert Dean Seddon.
Dean, founder of social selling training company Maverrik, says one of the biggest mistakes businesses make on LinkedIn is treating individual tactics like posting, networking, outreach or trying to increase engagement as separate activities.
Instead, he argues that successful LinkedIn lead generation starts much earlier, with absolute clarity over what a business is selling, who is likely to buy it and why they would pay for it.
“The three big reasons people don't get leads on LinkedIn are that they're unfocused on what they're selling, unfocused on who would buy it and unfocused on why,” said Dean.
“It is rarely the algorithm.
“You can post five times a week, grow your network and spend hours on LinkedIn, but if all of those activities aren't connected to the same commercial objective, you're creating activity rather than creating demand.”
The number of professionals using LinkedIn to create content and build their personal brands has increased significantly in recent years.
But Dean argues that visibility alone does not create a sales pipeline.
A business can generate thousands of impressions, hundreds of likes or a growing follower count without necessarily reaching people who are ever likely to become customers.
Instead, he recommends businesses start with four questions:
Those answers should then influence everything from the people a salesperson connects with to their LinkedIn profile, content strategy and follow-up conversations.
“If your profile talks to one audience, your posts attract another and your sales messages are aimed at someone completely different, the system doesn't join up,” said Dean.
“Getting more reach won't fix that.”
Dean's own approach to generating inbound leads from LinkedIn centres around three consistent activities:
Rather than attempting to make every LinkedIn post go viral, Dean recommends publishing content consistently around the problems and outcomes that influence why an ideal client buys.
He has posted regularly on LinkedIn for years and says the value comes from the cumulative effect of being repeatedly associated with the problems his target audience wants to solve.
“People put enormous pressure on individual LinkedIn posts,” he said.
“One post performs well, and they think they've cracked LinkedIn. The next performs badly, and suddenly they want to change their entire strategy.
“That isn't how sustainable lead generation works.
“The objective is to consistently talk about the things your potential clients care about so that when they have that problem, they associate you with solving it.”
Dean recommends that individual posts work independently rather than requiring somebody to have followed previous content.
Each post should make sense to a potential buyer discovering that person for the first time.
The second part of the strategy is long-form content.
Dean currently publishes two LinkedIn newsletters and has built an audience of more than 30,000 subscribers.
Unlike an individual social media post, a LinkedIn newsletter allows professionals to build a subscriber audience that can receive notifications when new editions are published.
But Dean says the real opportunity is not simply having subscribers.
It is creating regular opportunities to start conversations with people demonstrating an interest in the subject.
“A newsletter gives you another meaningful touchpoint,” he said.
“Someone might see one of your posts, subscribe to your newsletter, read several editions and then join one of your events.
“No single action necessarily creates the lead.
“It is the combination of those interactions that builds enough familiarity and trust for a conversation to happen.”
The final part of Dean's system is regular LinkedIn events.
He has run free LinkedIn events every week for approximately six years, generating around 125,000 registrations during that period.
When Maverrik analysed people who subsequently became inbound leads or paying customers, the majority had registered for at least two events.
For Dean, this demonstrates why businesses should stop expecting a single webinar, post or campaign to immediately produce revenue.
“It's not about one event. It's about rhythm,” he said.
“One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is running something once, not immediately generating sales and deciding it didn't work.
“Buyers often need to see you more than once before they're ready to have a conversation.”
One Maverrik client operating in AI cloud services ran two events using the approach.
The first generated a small number of leads. Following the second event, the client contacted someone who had attended both sessions and subsequently created a €250,000 sales opportunity.
Dean says publishing content and running events is only half of the system.
Businesses also need to speak to the people demonstrating interest.
That does not mean immediately sending a sales pitch.
Instead, he recommends what he describes as reactive follow-up: starting conversations with new newsletter subscribers, people engaging with content, event registrants and individuals requesting additional resources.
“Social selling doesn't mean waiting around hoping somebody eventually sends you a message asking to buy,” said Dean.
“If somebody has subscribed, attended an event or engaged with something you've published, they've given you a reason to have a conversation.
“The mistake is turning that conversation immediately into a pitch.
“Ask questions. Find out what they're working on. Understand what they're trying to achieve. If there's a fit, you can then explore whether you can help.”
Dean is also warning businesses against unrealistic expectations around how quickly LinkedIn should generate revenue.
He recommends allowing between 90 and 180 days for a connected content, newsletter and event strategy to begin compounding.
During that period, businesses should focus on repetition, consistency and following up on the interest they create rather than constantly changing strategy based on individual content performance.
“Inbound leads very rarely happen because somebody saw you once,” he said.
“They happen because someone keeps seeing a consistent message and eventually the timing is right.
“The businesses that struggle are often the ones that keep changing direction.
“They try one content strategy, then another. They change their profile. They chase a new LinkedIn tactic. They automate outreach. Then they decide the algorithm is against them.
“In reality, doing a few simple things consistently is far more powerful.”
The advice reflects a broader shift within social selling away from isolated LinkedIn tactics and towards building repeatable business development systems.
For any business selling expertise, Dean argues that LinkedIn should ultimately be treated as a revenue channel rather than a social media popularity contest.
That means measuring success through relevant conversations, enquiries, opportunities and clients rather than likes alone.
“LinkedIn isn't short of tactics,” said Dean.
“You could spend every day learning another trick.
“But if you know what you're selling, understand why somebody would buy it and consistently create content, conversations and opportunities around that problem, you don't need another hack.
“You need to keep doing the work.”
Dean Seddon is a LinkedIn and social selling expert with more than 15 years' experience as a practitioner, trainer and coach.
He has worked with organisations including Citi, KPMG, The Law Society and Mastercard and helps businesses, sales teams and professionals develop practical social selling strategies designed to generate conversations, opportunities and clients.
Maverrik specialises in LinkedIn and social selling training, helping sales professionals, business owners and organisations turn LinkedIn activity into measurable business development.
Its training covers LinkedIn strategy, social selling, Sales Navigator, content, personal branding, prospecting and lead generation, with a focus on creating repeatable systems for generating conversations and new business.
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