How I sell on LinkedIn without being pushy (and how you can too)

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Takeaways

Don’t sell your high-ticket offers too soon. Build relationships and trust first.

Every “ask” you make from your audience drains their trust battery. Pace yourself and keep it charged with value-driven posts.

Use a mix of entertaining, informational, and selling content to move people from awareness to action.

Experiment with two proven approaches: a low-ticket entry point funnel or direct, high-trust offers.

Learn how urgency and social proof can massively boost conversions when used the right way.

Reading time: 10 minutes

Why selling on LinkedIn feels harder than it should

If you’re like me, selling on LinkedIn can feel tricky. I mean, you’re busy running your company or driving strategy, and the last thing you want to do is spam your audience with sales pitches that fall flat.

Here’s what I’ve noticed after years of selling on LinkedIn: the platform rewards trust and authenticity, not shortcuts. But the most common mistakes I see are:

Selling too soon. Asking people to buy your product or service before you’ve built a relationship.

Not nurturing your audience. Posting randomly without taking the time to engage, educate, or add value consistently.

The result? Crickets. No likes, no leads, no traction.

But when you take a step back and focus on building trust and giving more than you ask, everything changes. People start to pay attention.

The secret to pacing your asks without overwhelming your audience

Here’s how I think about selling on LinkedIn: imagine a battery. Every time you ask your audience to do something, whether it’s buying, clicking, or signing up, you drain the battery.

The good news? You can recharge that battery by giving more than you ask for. That’s why I follow the 90-10 rule:

90% of my posts are about giving, sharing ideas, insights, or inspiration that are genuinely helpful.

10% of my posts are about asking, whether it’s asking for a purchase, a click, or feedback.

For me, that means making a “sales ask” about once a week. The rest of the time, I’m focused on building trust and staying top of mind with valuable content. This approach ensures I’m not wearing out my audience.

My content strategy follows the AIDA funnel

You’re probably familiar with the AIDA framework, Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action. It’s a classic marketing funnel, and it works beautifully on LinkedIn.

Here’s how I use it:

Awareness: First, I get on people’s radar. For this, I post entertaining or thought-provoking content that gets shared. The goal here is to be memorable.

Interest: Once people know who I am, I shift gears to educational posts. I teach something actionable, like how to write better headlines or how to approach LinkedIn as a founder.

Decision: After building interest, I share posts that introduce a solution, whether it’s a course, a guide, or consulting.

Action: Finally, I create posts that ask people to take action. These are my direct selling posts, and they always include urgency or an incentive.

By following this funnel, I keep my content purposeful. Every post has a role to play, and it helps me avoid coming across as scattered or salesy.

How I balance entertaining, educational, and selling posts

Let me be real for a second: not all posts are equal when it comes to driving results. Some posts get tons of likes but barely convert. Others don’t get much engagement but drive sales.

I’ve found the sweet spot lies in using three types of posts:

Entertainment posts: These are your awareness drivers. They’re opinionated, bold, or even polarizing. They get shared, which puts your profile in front of more people.

Educational posts: These build trust. They’re step-by-step guides, frameworks, or behind-the-scenes insights. They don’t always go viral, but they warm up your audience.

Selling posts: These are direct asks. They get the least engagement but drive the highest conversions.

For example, I might share a strong opinion on Monday (entertainment), then teach a strategy on Wednesday (educational), and end the week with a post offering a discount on my course (selling).

This rhythm ensures I’m keeping my audience engaged while moving them toward a purchase.

Two selling strategies that actually work

1. Start small with a low-ticket offer

If you’re not ready to pitch your high-ticket product or service yet, start with a low-ticket offer to build trust and test the waters.

Here’s how I do it:

Step 1: Offer something small and affordable, like a $20 guide or mini-course.

Step 2: Use email to nurture those buyers and introduce them to your mid-ticket offer (e.g., $150-$300).

Step 3: Gradually move them toward a higher-ticket offer, like consulting or a coaching package.

This approach works because people who spend even a small amount with you are far more likely to invest in your bigger offers.

For example, I’ve sold a $15 LinkedIn playbook that helped me build trust with new customers. Many of those buyers later upgraded to coaching or more expensive services.

2. Sell directly to a high-trust audience

Once you’ve built a strong reputation, you don’t need to rely on funnels or low-ticket offers. You can go straight for the ask.

I call this my 80-20 approach:

80% of my content is about giving, sharing insights, strategies, and value.

20% of my content is about selling, directly asking people to take action.

For instance, I’ll post consistently for a month without asking for anything, and then drop a single post offering a course or consulting session. Because I’ve built trust, people convert.

This method works best when you’ve spent time building your audience and engaging with them regularly.

When I’m ready to sell, I always include two things: urgency and social proof.

Urgency: I give people a reason to act now. For example, I’ll offer a 24-hour discount or limit the number of spots available. This creates a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out).

Social proof: I show people that others are buying or benefiting from what I’m offering. This could be testimonials, screenshots of sales, or success stories.

For example, when I promoted a LinkedIn course, I shared that it had helped me generate over 11 million views and hundreds of leads. I also added a discount for the first 10 people who purchased. The combination of proof and urgency led to a huge spike in sales.

The bottom line for founders and executives

Selling on LinkedIn isn’t about being pushy, it’s about being intentional. As a founder or executive, your time is limited, and your reputation is everything. By focusing on trust and giving more than you ask, you’ll create a LinkedIn strategy that drives real results.

Start with these steps:

Build awareness with bold, shareable posts.

Teach something valuable to build trust.

Create urgency when it’s time to sell.

Choose a selling strategy that fits where you are, whether that’s a low-ticket funnel or a direct offer.

It’s not just about selling a product. It’s about building relationships that lead to long-term opportunities. And when done right, LinkedIn can become one of your most powerful tools for growing your business.

Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I can help you:

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