The Show Must Go On: 💥 How I Closed $1B+ in Sales with LinkedIn and Built a Sales Career That Refuses to Quit

The show must go on. That phrase means everything to me.

It’s not just the name of my latest book—it’s the way I’ve lived, sold, led, and kept showing up no matter what life throws at me.

In this episode of Mastering Modern Selling, I had the honor of switching roles and sitting in the guest seat, walking through my story, my process, and the lessons that have shaped my journey in sales and leadership.

Whether you’re just getting started, rebuilding, or scaling to the next level, I hope you take something from what I’ve learned the hard way—and what I continue to live and breathe every day.

The Billion-Dollar LinkedIn Playbook

“Over the last 12 years, I’ve created a replicable, plug-and-play Moneyball sales prospecting process.”

LinkedIn helped me generate over $1 billion in revenue that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Not because it’s a magic bullet (it’s not), but because I focused on three things I could control:

The quality of my message The quantity of my outreach The consistency of my effort

It started back when social selling was still a buzzword. I realized executives were on LinkedIn, and I learned to send compelling messages, stay top of mind, and react in real-time to signals like mergers, new execs, or industry news using tools like Sales Navigator.

Today, LinkedIn is still the cornerstone of my outreach. Just last year, I opened over 100 new executive relationships using LinkedIn—and even found myself training my customers’ biz dev teams on how I do it.

Let me be clear: LinkedIn isn’t the reason I closed billion-dollar deals. But it is the reason I got in the room.

The Wake-Up Call That Changed Everything

In 2010, I lost my job. Then again in 2012. I applied to over 1,600 jobs and got one. The only reason I even got the interview? Because I had written a book, and that made my résumé stand out.

That was the wake-up call. I realized:

“I had no network. And your network is your net worth.”

From there, I built my brand. I bet big on LinkedIn and Twitter. I wrote, posted, engaged, and shared my learnings—even when no one was listening. Today, those seeds have grown into hundreds of thousands of followers, a platform I never imagined, and opportunities that trace directly back to actions I took 10 years ago.

What’s Your Superpower?

“Figure out what you do that others don’t—and double down on it.”

Mine? I’m a connector. A community builder. A problem eliminator. I orchestrate solutions and bring people together. My job isn’t just selling tech—it’s helping people win.

Tip: Find the gap no one else is filling and make that your niche. Be the opposite of what your customer dreads. Show up when others don’t. Deliver what they didn’t even know they were entitled to.

When you show up with consistency, transparency, and responsiveness, you earn trust—and trust is the foundation of every transformative relationship.

Who’s in Your Head?

This chapter came to me while playing basketball with my family. I remembered a coach who once told me I had a low-percentage shot. That stuck with me for years—and it fueled me.

“There is no knockdown punch that has taken me out. I always get back up.”

I still carry an old appraisal from a manager who tried to get rid of me. Why? Because I use it. I love being told I can’t do something. That’s rocket fuel. That’s resilience.

So—who’s in your head? What voices are you feeding?

The Greatest Fear in Sales

It’s not rejection. It’s failure.

We fear missing quota. Getting laid off. Losing face. Getting left behind. It’s real. And that fear can paralyze you if you let it. But here’s what I’ve learned:

You cannot out-perform a system built on fear.You must build a process so strong that when chaos hits, you still know what to do.You need to derisk decisions for your customers, just like you want to derisk them for yourself.

Tip: Make your customer the hero. Arm them with what they need to win. If they look good, you look good. Simple.

Accelerating Sales Cycles

“Start at the beginning. Don’t wait for the deal to stall before you create urgency.”

Want to move a deal faster? Here’s what works:

Create a mutual accountability document. Outline goals, stakeholders, milestones, and outcomes. Share it early. Review it often.

Understand their priorities and map your milestones to them.

Communicate with transparency. “If this milestone slips, here’s what’s at risk. Has the priority shifted? Should we realign?”

Bonus: Share your own urgency. “We care about this closing this quarter. If we can get this done, I may be able to unlock resources or support for you.”

The Daily Non-Negotiables

I live by ruthless discipline. Every morning, I review:

My top deals

My pipeline

My relationships

My calendar (and cut what doesn’t serve my mission)

I focus on the moves that matter before I get pulled into emails, IMs, and meetings. Even if the day gets chaotic, I know I made progress.

Tip: Ask yourself:

What must happen today to move the needle?Who needs to hear from me?What customer needs an advocate?

If you can answer those questions before 9AM, you’re already winning.

Leave It All on the Field

I wrote The Show Must Go On during the pandemic. It took me five years. But I was intentional. I poured every lesson, failure, mindset, and win into those pages.

“This is my full playbook. Everything I’ve learned in 20+ years of selling, leading, failing, growing, and winning is in there.”

I do this for love of the game. Sales has given me everything—my career, my wife, my family, my mission. And I want to give back to the ecosystem that’s been so good to me.

Key Takeaways You Can Apply Today: Use LinkedIn as your prospecting engine—not your bulletin board. Focus on messaging, consistency, and signals. Control your inputs: voices in your head, people in your sphere, and what you consume. Know your superpower—and help your team find theirs. Accelerate deals by creating shared accountability and urgency. Protect time for your non-negotiables every single day. Turn fear of failure into fuel. Process beats panic. Every time.

If this resonated, I’d love to hear from you What’s your sales superpower? How are you using LinkedIn differently today? What’s YOUR biggest takeaway?

The show must go on. Let’s keep showing up. Let’s keep getting better. Together.

#SalesLeadership #ModernSelling #LinkedInSelling #CarsonHeady #SalesMindset #PersonalBranding #SalesPlaybook #MasteringModernSelling