Video Overview

In the #9 episode of The B2B Outbound Marketing & Sales Automation Series, Dancho spoke with the Founder of Linked Assist, Giuseppe Gurrieri.

Giuseppe has extensive experience in the fields of web design, digital marketing and marketing strategies.
A long time ago, he found out about the social network LinkedIn and discovered its potential.
But he didn’t possess a proper automation tool.

He decided to research the market and find out what it has to offer. But the ideal LinkedIn automation tool was nowhere to be found.
That’s why he became determined to create his own – Linked Assist.

Linked Assist offers a 1-day free trial, including all of their outstanding features: Linked Assist

STAY TUNED for more success stories, tips&tricks, and awesome tools in the B2B Outbound world!

Speakers

Interview Transcript

[00:00:07.130] – Dancho – Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the B2B Outbound Marketing and Sales automation series. As usually, our goal is to show you the B2B automation that you can use for your business and how it could save you a lot of time. Since we don’t have an automation, our goal is to invite a lot of external automation tools and give them the opportunity to present to you how you can use their automation in order to save a lot of time. For today, I have a guest, Giuseppe Gurrieri from Germany, and he’s actually the founder of Linked Assist, which is a very nice automation tool that I’m hoping he will tell us more today. So, Giuseppe, welcome.

[00:00:49.520] – Giuseppe – Hello, Dancho, thank you very much for being here. And yes, please.

[00:00:56.960] – Dancho – Yeah. Well, for me, it’s always a pleasure to talk on this subject. I mean, Giuseppe, we are so much into the B2B and Lead Generation, and I always start my interview questions with a personal one about you. So if you could just give us your background, who you are, and how you actually get to where we are now.

[00:01:15.380] – Giuseppe – Yes, I have started in the digital world in the year 2003, web designer, I started there. So then I went slowly to the SEO and then Marketing. And then, someday I found LinkedIn and I understood the potential behind it. So but, the problem on LinkedIn was the automation. Because you need to make a lot of work with copy-paste, copy-paste, to communicate with a broader range of audience.

[00:01:57.710] – Dancho – Yeah.

[00:01:58.580] – Giuseppe – So and then I was looking around what the market is offering, so and I found some solutions, but they, in that moment, I didn’t realize as an easy to use, so what I did is that I planned my own tool, that is very easy to use and easy to understand. So this is the background behind Linked Assist and myself.

[00:02:37.820] – Dancho – But that’s interesting Giuseppe, so you tried the other solution. They didn’t fit your exact need. And like, you know what? I’m just going to create one from scratch. But you are the developer behind the software as well? Or you had a team of developers?

[00:02:51.410] – Giuseppe – Yes, I had a team of developers, I’m not a developer. What I learned is only web design and marketing strategies, like inbound marketing and content marketing and so on.

[00:03:10.340] – Dancho – Nice. So actually now when you have the Linked Assist, because you are a user as well, you know exactly what kind of improvement needs to be done. And actually, you made it tailored to your needs. And of course, now other clients are realizing that it matches their needs as well. And Giuseppe I mean, there are so many automation out there for LinkedIn and for the other part. How does Linked Assist fit in these big ecosystems? Actually, what makes you different from the others and what makes you better than than the others actually?

[00:03:45.360] – Giuseppe – So Linked Assist started four years ago, so it is one of the oldest one on the market, and Linked Assist was also one of the first one that had more features, the other ones. A lot of features more, because we had the feature in the past. Actually, we don’t offer it at the moment, because we are trying to make it even better than in the past. But it will be in our future roadmap.

[00:04:24.070] – Dancho – Nice.

[00:04:24.540] – Giuseppe – So and what actually we offer eight features and it still has more features than the other one. For example, the group message to group members has is not supported by any of our competitors. And as well, the page, the page messaging, it has nobody on the market still. So we are this is our unique point of existence.

[00:04:54.880] – Dancho – Yeah, but especially now with the new introduction of LinkedIn, changing the algorithm where you can send just 100 invitations per week, which was actually 100 per day before. Now, with that limitation, you have a limit of 400 invitations per month. And actually being able to send messages to either groups or either on profile pages gives you some additional edge on the Outreach process.

[00:05:20.910] – Giuseppe – Yes, from one part is the restriction not so good, but Linked Assist and LinkedIn, they offer different kind of tools and features, that have to be applied for making a good marketing campaign. So with marketing campaign means to do what they say to get a relationship with your audience.

[00:05:47.820] – Dancho – Exactly. Not to spend them with just the automation, but actually to start building that key relationship before, we had a discussion before, not just “Hi, would you like to buy?”, but actually qualify if they are relevant.

[00:06:01.470] – Giuseppe – Yeah, the connection requests what it does, it gives you the opportunity to get the potential, but how to use the potential once you have this connection in your network. So having one of the people that you don’t communicate or engage, it’s the same as having zero. So this is the thing. So it’s fine with 100, if you use this 400 connections a month and you really engage with them, you really do something with them, creating a relationship. And you will see, if you get only 25 clients or 30 clients or 50 clients in a month, while you’re doing your job good and you love your job, then it will work. So using the other tools of Linked Assist give you this opportunity to apply it and to convert.

[00:07:01.560] – Dancho – Giuseppe, we are all excited to actually have a look at the demo and all the features and functionalities that your software has, the Linked Assist. So if you can share your screen and show our audience how does it work?

[00:07:15.570] – Giuseppe – Yes, sure. OK, so now we should

[00:07:19.480] – Dancho – Yeah, I can see your screen.

[00:07:26.460] – Giuseppe – Perfect. So the first functionality of Linked Assist is the connection request. So Linked Assist works from the LinkedIn search results page. So we need to search the audience we are looking for to connect, for example, CEOs. So now we have the results of the CEO, we click on “people” because we want to connect to people. And then we choose the second level of connection, because we are not yet connected with them, so we want to connect.

[00:08:24.720] – Dancho – 357,000 results.

[00:08:27.890] – Giuseppe – Yes, it’s a lot. So this is now showing, for example, I was sending it, is “pending” still showing. I have exceeded my limit.

[00:08:52.350] – Dancho – I see, but you can still send the one connect.

[00:08:56.010] – Giuseppe – Yes, this I can send, yes. So we just go to Linked Assist, you choose the auto connection, the number of users. Let’s make three, this point. So 30 seconds is the time interval, which is the minimum time which will be waited for the next. And then we take a standard message, for example, “Hi, Marta, for example, I came across your profile here on LinkedIn and thought we could benefit from being connected.” Yes, we got Giuseppe. So simply then click on start. It’s now simulating human behavior. Practically, yes. So the operation was made because the other two were pending.

[00:09:58.890] – Dancho – Yeah.

[00:09:59.730] – Giuseppe – And so now we have the download. We download the download.csv, and then we can find the operation. So there is URL of the link of the profile. And we have the first name, last name and title. So this is practically the auto connection. So, if you want to go to send messages to our contacts, we have to go to the search and to choose the first level connection

[00:10:43.010] – Dancho – Yeah, people that are already part of your network.

[00:10:46.490] – Giuseppe – So now we see more results and we can operate with that. So we go to Linked Assist and click on auto messaging and for example, we take here now three messages and the time interval, let’s take the minimum and as a message, so simply message, let’s take “How are you, how are you doing?” Because they are my contacts. I can ask them just simply “How are you?” Let’s see. So we click on start.

[00:11:27.680] – Dancho – I see, and now Linked Assist mimickates you, goes to the top, opens up the message, sends the message, wait for 30 seconds, go to the second one.

[00:11:37.280] – Giuseppe – Yes, right. And later, if Linked Assist has already sent that message to the same connection, it will not send it again. So it will avoid it. So what we saw just now, because if it would send it, the little window would keep open. So it closed that immediately the window, because I have already sent this message to the people. So I hope Jonas didn’t receive the message, for testing purposes. And otherwise, we go on the second page and we will see the sent messages. So let’s see the third one, if keep the window, the little window means that I was not sending it. Okay, let’s make a stop. So let’s go to the second page.

[00:12:40.470] – Dancho – Yes, but that’s the flow. I mean, what it does is that it sends the message, waits 30 seconds and continues to the next one, right?

[00:12:48.010] – Giuseppe – Yes, right. If it was sent, it will not send again the same because it’s for spamming purposes, you know, and we want to keep LinkedIn a good place still, and hopefully our clients are people that are thinking also about it, you know.

[00:13:08.280] – Dancho – I see. And the other features that were in the dropdown I saw, you had several few additional things.

[00:13:15.180] – Giuseppe – They drop down here, our fleet assist, yes. So we have practically auto profile viewer and endorses the next feature. It goes to the profile practically. Visits the profile and then it goes here where they have the skills. If they have 40, they will make everyone. So I think who has 40 skills showing up here and he gets endorsed by you, he will appreciate it very much. And this is a very powerful feature because you get in return, you get endorsed too, and when people see you, you’ve got endorsed by a similar connection with similar job positions. So it will be a good point for you on LinkedIn, yes.

[00:14:22.890] – Dancho – I see, I see.

[00:14:26.040] – Giuseppe – So if you want, we can automate it.

[00:14:29.400] – Dancho – No, no, no, I mean it it’s obvious it goes, it sends the endorsal.

[00:14:35.030] – Giuseppe – Okay, so then we have the fourth one is Visit profile based on previously downloaded CSV, you just need to upload it. So then upload the CSV and then it will make the operation

[00:14:48.710] – Dancho – Instead of going through the links is just going to read from the CSV.

[00:14:52.310] – Giuseppe – Yes, exactly. So you can also use a, if you make the setup from the CRM, you can, save everything every dot on your CRM and then you can also export it and Linked Assist with it. So the next feature is almost the same, but it’s not visiting only, is messaging people. So you can use these sheets, for example, for a message segments. And so every, like emails, you know, marketing software. So yes, then we have the delete requests. So when you send a lot of connection request, you can delete them. A very, very powerful feature is this message to group members, if you are going to a group, for example, and you see they have so much members, you can from here directly click on here, will get the message to group members. And this is a one unique point till three or four months. It was a unique point for us. We brought it to the market. This is this feature and also the auto message page members. If have a LinkedIn page you can message your own members of the page.

[00:16:34.700] – Dancho – I see. But that is for your own page, right?

[00:16:37.460] – Giuseppe – This is for your own page, and this is for any group, yes.

[00:16:42.460] – Dancho – Nice.

[00:16:43.250] – Giuseppe – Right, yes. It’s nice. It’s very powerful because the groups you find like-minded people or they are from the same branch and so on, and you can message them directly with the content you already create or you have because this is your branch.

[00:17:01.080] – Dancho – And the most important also Giuseppe, that you didn’t mention that this is all done through a normal LinkedIn profile. So you don’t need a Sales Navigator premium profile.

[00:17:10.550] – Giuseppe – You don’t need it, because Sales Navigator is something like a CRM to manage your contacts. But I think almost all companies have a CRM, which is more sophisticated than that. So they can save 100 a month, for example, you know. So and to do something else with that money. Yes, Dancho, if you allow, I want to tell you one good news. Very soon I am launching a new product. It’s an automation product. It’s automating tool again, chrome extension. And this is for bloggers, marketers, professionals, anyone that want to get Outreach in any group of LinkedIn and Facebook, any group. And you are limited by 50 at once. You can send 50 posts at one in 50 different groups. In every 12 hours for each network. So this means really visibility and traffic and also conversion if you make it in the right way.

[00:18:27.710] – Dancho – True, that means that when it got launched, we could do another interview to see how that works as well.

[00:18:33.960] – Giuseppe – Yes, yes. That would be great.

[00:18:38.610] – Dancho – Perfect. Well, Giuseppe also wanted to ask you about partnership opportunities. I mean, do you have any affiliate programs or white-label or any kind of partners that you’re open for Linked Assist?

[00:18:52.340] – Giuseppe – And I am actually open for everything, with regards to business. And a healthy business, with the values and respects. But we also offer already an affiliate program, with the super affiliate option for those people that want to really do actually want to really make money, not only as an affiliate, but as somebody that recruits affiliates and they will earn from their own affiliates. So you can grow your own affiliate network on our platforms.

[00:19:40.970] – Dancho – Affiliate for affiliates.

[00:19:42.710] – Giuseppe – Yes, right.

[00:19:46.040] – Dancho – Nice. Well, Giuseppe, I was also eager to hear what’s the plan for 2021. I mean, there is almost the whole year ahead. So Linked Assist, where is it headed? Where do you see it in the near future in terms of features, in terms of development?

[00:20:04.250] – Giuseppe – Yes. In terms of development, we are going to develop a contract management tool that will be online. So it will be something like a help for managing your contacts, for getting the sheets in all these years need to operate. And so it would be easy to manage everything, what you want to do with LinkedIn and with LinkedIn, by using Linked Assist.

[00:20:39.830] – Dancho – I see. So you want to more specialize on LinkedIn and add more functionalities around the Outreach process.

[00:20:47.270] – Giuseppe – Yes, yes.

[00:20:49.190] – Dancho – That sounds interesting actually.

[00:20:51.620] – Giuseppe – Yes, because what I’m hitting is marketing, that does not work really. I spent 15 years with it almost. So that’s why I have big learning curve and but I have learned very, very much things, a lot of techniques, and so on, but also things that are not working. So I know where to cut immediately, you know. Because this is something very important to do not waste resources as time and so on is very important.

[00:21:30.200] – Dancho – I see. Well, Giuseppe, thank you very much. I mean, I’ll leave a link right after the video. So if anybody is interested to give a try on Linked Assist. I think that you’ve had some small free trial where people can just come in and give it a try to see how it works. And on the other hand, pricing are quite competitive. So they’re affordable. And anybody that’s interested to try, we will provide a link at the bottom. So I wanted to thank you, Giuseppe, for giving us the opportunity to present the Linked Assist to the audience. And I think that with that, we’re finishing this recording.

[00:22:12.320] – Giuseppe – Yes. Thank you very much, Dancho. People can also visit just my blog for getting to know some techniques about LinkedIn marketing. And if they want to buy it, to purchase my tool, they are welcome.

[00:22:28.290] – Dancho – Yes, yes. So thank you very much Giuseppe, again. Have a great day!

[00:22:32.570] – Giuseppe – Thank you, Dancho. You too, thank you. Bye, bye.