Skip to main content
Sales Gravy

The Rise of the LinkedIn Snake Oil Salesman with Jack Frimston and Zac Thompson

30 min episode · 2 min read
·
Jack Frimston

Episode

30 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Career Growth, Investing, Fundraising & VC

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Red Flag Detection: Distrust LinkedIn "experts" who aggressively push courses but show no recent frontline sales activity on their profiles. The loudest voices often haven't touched a cold call in a decade. Real expertise, like that of UK B2B billionaire Dean Forbes, tends to be quiet, accessible through a handful of podcasts, and never packaged into a $997 course.
  • Authenticity Formula: Never post for the sake of posting. Frimston and Thompson operate by a "never refuse the muse" principle — only publish when something genuinely compels you. Forced content produces the hollow, circular language that defines cringe LinkedIn. Treating posts as a personal journey log rather than a personal brand broadcast produces more genuine engagement.
  • Punching Up in Public Commentary: When engaging critically with bad LinkedIn content, apply comedian Jimmy Carr's rule — only punch up, never down. Targeting newer, younger posters risks coming across as bullying. Reserve pointed commentary for seasoned professionals presenting outdated opinions as universal fact, and only post a comment you couldn't make funnier.
  • Subverting Corporate Voice: One technique for balancing professionalism with authenticity is embedding a joke or subversion deep within an otherwise standard LinkedIn post. Readers who skim miss it entirely; engaged readers find it rewarding. This approach maintains a professional surface while signaling genuine personality, creating stronger community engagement than generic agreement-bait posts.
  • Sales as Therapy Methodology: Frimston and Thompson's book argues that the most effective sales techniques originate from therapeutic practice, tracing back to Socratic method and cognitive behavioral therapy. Rather than pitching bronze, silver, or gold packages, skilled salespeople guide prospects into deeper thinking that surfaces genuine emotion — the same mechanism therapists use without a sales agenda attached.

What It Covers

Jack Frimston and Zac Thompson join Sales Gravy to dissect the performative culture plaguing LinkedIn — from rented Lamborghinis and Dubai flexers to fabricated phone calls and unborn children with LinkedIn accounts — while offering concrete guidance on building an authentic professional voice that generates real business.

Key Questions Answered

  • Red Flag Detection: Distrust LinkedIn "experts" who aggressively push courses but show no recent frontline sales activity on their profiles. The loudest voices often haven't touched a cold call in a decade. Real expertise, like that of UK B2B billionaire Dean Forbes, tends to be quiet, accessible through a handful of podcasts, and never packaged into a $997 course.
  • Authenticity Formula: Never post for the sake of posting. Frimston and Thompson operate by a "never refuse the muse" principle — only publish when something genuinely compels you. Forced content produces the hollow, circular language that defines cringe LinkedIn. Treating posts as a personal journey log rather than a personal brand broadcast produces more genuine engagement.
  • Punching Up in Public Commentary: When engaging critically with bad LinkedIn content, apply comedian Jimmy Carr's rule — only punch up, never down. Targeting newer, younger posters risks coming across as bullying. Reserve pointed commentary for seasoned professionals presenting outdated opinions as universal fact, and only post a comment you couldn't make funnier.
  • Subverting Corporate Voice: One technique for balancing professionalism with authenticity is embedding a joke or subversion deep within an otherwise standard LinkedIn post. Readers who skim miss it entirely; engaged readers find it rewarding. This approach maintains a professional surface while signaling genuine personality, creating stronger community engagement than generic agreement-bait posts.
  • Sales as Therapy Methodology: Frimston and Thompson's book argues that the most effective sales techniques originate from therapeutic practice, tracing back to Socratic method and cognitive behavioral therapy. Rather than pitching bronze, silver, or gold packages, skilled salespeople guide prospects into deeper thinking that surfaces genuine emotion — the same mechanism therapists use without a sales agenda attached.

Notable Moment

Thompson theorized that a viral post about hiring a 17-year-old who voluntarily requested a lower salary was likely fabricated specifically to attract job applicants — a calculated recruitment tactic disguised as an inspirational story about a uniquely wise young employee who understood equity over immediate compensation.

Know someone who'd find this useful?

Episode Transcript

Find the vacation you're looking for in Missouri. Whether you're searching for this, wanting something like this. Oh, that's cute. Maybe up for something like this, or just really, really need something more like this. You'll find the vacation you want in Missouri. Missouri, it's the getaway that gets you. Plan your fun at visitmo.com. Get rewarded just for shopping with Simon Plus. Don't miss Memorial Day sales at Simon Premium Outlets and Mills. You can get points at scores of stores, access to exclusive offers, and exciting surprises. You've got an extra day off, so make it pay off with the best deals from brands you love all in one place. It's a summer kickoff thing. Join today at simon+.com. Rewards program terms apply. See simon+.com for details. When it comes to your sales stack, stop tool hopping and start winning with Nook's. Simplify your outbound today at nook's.ai/salesgravy. That's nooks.ai/salesgravy. This is the Sales Gravy Podcast. Hi. I'm Jeb Blunt, best selling author of fanatical prospecting, objections, sales EQ, and ink, And I'm here to help you open more doors, close bigger deals, and rock your commission check. Welcome back to the Sales Groovy Podcast. I'm Jeblen Junior. We've got my favorite Linkediners and some of my favorite guests from the Sales Groovy Podcast. They wrote a book called Sales is Therapy. It is a great, great book. I've watched the progress of your work. This is Jack Crimson and Zach Thompson. I have to read their names if they're next to me because otherwise, they get them mixed up. But they are some of the leading voices in the new business development space, especially in The UK, in Europe, but it now even getting into The US market. So welcome back to the Sales Group Podcast, guys. Glad to have you back. Great. Sorry to hear you. We missed you, Jeff. I'm glad. I don't hear that a lot. What I thought we could do today, which would be fun, because if you follow Jack and you follow Zach, one thing you'll notice about their style on LinkedIn is if you act like a LinkedIn dork, they will find you, and you will know it very, very quickly. And I find it to be, like, one of the most refreshing things about the LinkedIn community is both of you, your approach to authenticity, how you sort of articulate the funny nuances of a social media world in which, you know, people are either boasting too much or, like, being way too humble, but not really at all. And then also, you know, making sure that people see that there are normal human beings that exist on the Internet. They're well, normal is an interesting word, but, you know, people who are who see through kind of the veil. So kind of, I'm gonna throw it to you, Zach, since you have just bought a house. So congratulations to you. Thank you. And all the successes that go …

Get the full transcript (6,850 words) + summary by email — free

One-time email with the complete transcript and AI summary of this episode. No account needed.

One email, no spam. We’ll also show you what SignalCast does.

Browse all Sales Gravy transcripts →

You just read a 3-minute summary of a 27-minute episode.

Get Sales Gravy summarized like this every Monday — plus up to 2 more podcasts, free.

Pick Your Podcasts — Free

Keep Reading

Books, tools, and gear mentioned in this episode

SignalCast may earn commission on purchases via these links. As an Amazon Associate, SignalCast earns from qualifying purchases.

Books

More from Sales Gravy

We summarize every new episode. Want them in your inbox?

Similar Episodes

Related episodes from other podcasts

Explore Related Topics

This podcast is featured in Best Business Podcasts (2026) — ranked and reviewed with AI summaries.

Read this week's Investing & Markets Podcast Insights — cross-podcast analysis updated weekly.

You're clearly into Sales Gravy.

Every Monday, we deliver AI summaries of the latest episodes from Sales Gravy and 192+ other podcasts. Free for one show.

Start My Monday Digest

No credit card · Unsubscribe anytime