Matt Barker

I make posting on LinkedIn fast, easy and fun. $3M+ revenue driven. 75M+ impressions. 250k+ followers.

I help you grow on LinkedIn using fast, easy and fun to write posts.

Results:

- 50+ clients helped since January 2022
- 2,500+ customers served
- £70k 4 day course launch (The Digital Copywriter)
- 2 x £100k+ digital products launched
- $3M+ in new client revenue driven
- 75M+ organic social views earned
- 200k+ LinkedIn followers gained
- 10,000+ LinkedIn posts created
- 13,000+ email subscribers driven

If you'd like to work together on growing:

- Your LinkedIn profile
- Your team's LinkedIn profile
- Your brand's LinkedIn profile

And growing in a way that is fast, easy and fun to do?

Just DM me so we can discuss how I can help you do that.

Writer

Join 11,000+ readers who get daily tips on attracting dream clients online with digital copywriting.

I have one strict rule for writing LinkedIn hooks.

(been ruthless with my clients on this in 2025 & '26)

My strict rule:

If your hook could be written by 10,000 other people, you are instantly a commodity.

So before you post, ask:

“Can anyone else write this?”

If yes, your hook is generic → rewrite it.

If no, your hook is specific → it stands out → it earns attention → it’s more likely to pull in new followers.

How to fix a “yes” hook (quick and easy):

Add one specific detail from Lived Experience.

- a moment (“Last week I…”)
- a result (“In January my client…”)
- a confession (“I used to…”)
- a quote (“A client asked me…”)
- a number (“I’ve coached 38…”)

That’s it. 

Literally the same idea but now it feels real and it stops blending in with AI-tinted advice posts.

e.g. 

In this post, I mention "I have this strict rule" and "ruthless with my clients". words like "I" and "my" force Lived Experience and that = more unique.

I can't see myself slowing down on this rule.

What do you think?

P.S. Want to write unique LinkedIn posts that grow your followers? You'll need a writing system for that. Here’s a 14 minute training I made for you: https://lnkd.in/d29V4rih

Matt Barker 

Fast, Easy & Fun LinkedIn Writing. 3,675 people taught. Investor @ MagicPost. Follow for posts on Writing, Marketing and Business.

I've written on LinkedIn since early '22 and yes, the game has changed. For the better or worse? Depends how you look at it. But I used to:

- throw up any random carousel
- watch it get 1,000 likes + 100k impressions
- and 1,000+ new followers

That was pretty cool not gonna lie!

(carousels can still smash btw. client of mine just grew about 2k followers, got 700+ likes and 100k impressions from one with about 18k followers)

I don't do that anymore because:

1. i'm more bothered about working on my business
2. i'm more bothered about spending time with my wife
3. i'm more bothered about not being a content / growth addict

(here's how I'm writing posts that drive new followers these days: https://lnkd.in/d29V4rih)

I much prefer to:

- write what i want to write
- do it quickly, easily and in a fun way
- get on with other things in my life

That's just me and my approach.

But there is a big sentiment going around that growing followers on LinkedIn is impossible now. 

It's not impossible, but:

- posts don't seem to go big as much as they used to 
- there's overinflated expectations of how easy linkedin is
- as always, you still have to put in hard work

Combine that together and you get people moaning.

So where does that leave you, if you're just starting writing or already started and not sure if you should continue writing?

My advice to you:

1. Decide if you actually care about growing an audience
(hint: you definitely should)
2. If the answer is yes, think what platform is best for YOU
3. If it's LinkedIn, then yes invest your time in writing there

But please, prioritise making it enjoyable.

Take pride in the process, the writing.

Not the follower numbers and impression counts.

🤘

You’ll hate reading this. But last year, I:

- grew 54,000 followers
- ⁠generated 16M+ impressions
- ⁠⁠made $387k for my one man writing biz

All from writing on silly ol' LinkedIn.

But here’s the real silly thing:

There’s TONS of people smashing it on here.

- ⁠ ⁠Nick Broekema's clients did multi 6 figs w/ content design
- ⁠ ⁠Jacob Pegs​ drives $1.5k daily with passive income 
- ⁠ ⁠Louis Butterfield​ drove $2.4M pipeline for clients with video

I asked them to tell me how they do it. They agreed.

Here's a quick breakdown of exactly how me, Nick, Jacob & Louis personally use LinkedIn to get attention + make money:

(ya might wanna save this for later)

1.⁠ ⁠Matt Barker​ (me). Niche: Writing.

- ⁠Post on LI 7 x per wk (scheduled w magicpost.in)
- ⁠Educational posts to make LI writing fast, easy & fun
- ⁠⁠Stories from working with clients + my life
- ⁠⁠Add link to free resources in posts
- I get their email address (using Kit​)
- ⁠⁠Send automated email sequence
- ⁠⁠Pitch new subs to my Skool​ community
- ⁠⁠After, email 5 x per wk to keep in touch
- ⁠⁠Promote new offer monthly (community/cohorts/1-1)

2.⁠ ⁠Nick Broekema. Niche: Content Design.​

- Talks about Content Design (copy/design/sales)
- Shares 1-5x posts p/w on the fly (whenever he can)
- Content drives people to waitlists and full email list
- Writes 3 emails per week (stories, educational, promo)
- Clients buy through the DMs, waitlists, and email list
- Launches Content Design private group in early April 

3.⁠ ⁠Jacob Pegs. Niche: Offer Funnels.​

- Writes 7x LI posts/wk, 3 drive people to email list 
- ⁠Low ticket funnel to $9 micro “snack” solving 1 core problem 
- ⁠Triggers 4 emails ascending to bigger "snack"
- Leads become customers 
- ⁠Daily email alternating low + high ticket offers
- Turns leads → customers → clients 
- ⁠Runs low cost meta ads to supplement organic 
- ⁠1 long form vid/wk to nurture existing email list 
- ⁠Ascend lower tier clients → higher tiers of proximity on a quarterly basis

4.⁠ ⁠Louis Butterfield​. Niche: Video.

- Makes 1-2 videos per week + panel lives
- Short form to go niche viral, long form to stack trust
- Uses Claude to write scripts + posts (edits in his voice)
- Mix of unhinged zany beard energy and client results
- Simple 5-10 day campaigns monthly to create urgency
- Simple waitlist to capture demand
- Once on waitlist, nurture w emails + videos 2-3x/wk
- Run small cohorts + 1:1 to go deep
- Markets client results

We've all been posting for 2+ years.

What else do you want to know?

Arnaud Renoux

Co-founder @Scalelist

Co-Founder

All infos are just one click away: www.thescalelab.com

The Scalelab is a Lead Acquisition Agency and Consulting firm helping companies to make the first best impressions in front of their prospects by using cold email and cold LinkedIn messages.

🚀 Interested?

Only 1/3 of sales reps still cold call to build their sales pipeline.
I understand why.

- Cold call is uncomfortable. 
- You can’t edit your words. 
- You can’t hide behind an inbox or a social media platform

It’s just you and the prospect trying to start a real conversation

When I was doing 150 dials a day, I improved faster in 3 months than in 1 year sending cold emails with any automation.

Also,

After constantly hearing the same objections, 

- You start recognizing patterns. 
- You stop taking rejection personally 
- You start testing approaches

Some works; Others don’t

You just adapt.

Cold call is a real life exercise. You try, you learn, you adapt.
Cold calling isn’t magic.

It’s exposure.

And because most reps avoid that discomfort, the few who lean into it build a real edge.

Not because they’re better.

Because they’re willing to stay uncomfortable longer.

Help B2B Sales teams find the best email addresses and mobile numbers worldwide.

Over the past 2 weeks, I have done an outbound experimentation for Scalelist. It got us 29 high qualified meetings with our ICP + 2 joined webinars / email list promo + our biggest annual deal of 2026 so far. 👇 

Here’s exactly what I did:

1- I stopped all automated outbound campaigns.

2- I went back to manual outreach.
 One by one. Emails. DMs. Calls.

3- I visited every single LinkedIn profile of every person I contacted. Just to find one real angle.

4- I checked the SEO of every company I reached out to.
Why?
 Because for larger companies with overlap in our space, it often makes more sense to start with content: joint webinars, email swaps, blog posts, backlinks.

5- I personally wrote every freaking email and DM.

That’s it. I tried doing this with AI.

Didn’t get the results I wanted.

So I went back to what I know works.

And I did more of it.

Maybe I’m just not good enough with AI.

But if you are…

DM me.

Cheers,
 
A.

3 days ago, someone sent this to our support team: “How do I cancel my free trial m*ther f*cker” (yeah… 2026 is intense already 😅 )

Chris from our team replied right away.

He said two things clearly:
- don’t speak to our team like that,
- and your account will not be charged at the end of the trial unless you upgrade.

(the prospect didn’t even take 1.5 sec to read what they were signing up for lol)

A bit later, the person apologized. He said he thought it was an AI chat.

That part almost makes it worse.

People tend to forget that they are humans behind the tools/AI we used.

If you talk trash to your LLM in your corner. That’s your problem.

But they are obviously people behind the customer support of a data company like Scalelist.

Be respectful to support teams. They exist to “support” you.

I’d rather lose customers than teach my team that disrespect is part of the job.

The first 5 sec of a cold call decide whether the chat continues or dies.
Since 2015, I’ve opened every cold call with the same line.
(And yes — it still works in March 2026.) 👇 


Script:

- Prospect: “Allo?”
- Me: “John?” (or whatever your prospect’s first name is)
- Prospect: “Yes.”
- Me: “This is Arnaud from Scalelist, how are you doing?”

That’s it. Simple. Human. Natural.

From there, the replies are almost always one of these:

- “Arnaud from where?”
- “Good, and you?”
- “What is this regarding?”
- “Scale—what?”
- “Is this a cold call?”

And so on…

The secret? Repetition. You don’t get better at handling these without hearing them again and again. (I’ll break that down in another post.)

But if you want to boost your results right now:

1- Get mobile numbers from Scalelist.
2- Call on WhatsApp. People pick up more often there.
3- Smile. (Yes, they hear it in your voice.)
4- Be confident.
5- If they hang up, keep smiling. Then dial again.

Cold calling isn’t dead.

It just requires consistency, confidence, and the right opener.

PS: Show you an example of how I use that script into the video below 👇

In 13 years, I’ve booked 1,000s of meetings with cold calls.
90% started with an objection. Here’s what took me way too long to realize 👇 


Prospects don’t invent new objections.
It’s the same ones.
Over and over.
Once I got that, cold calling became simple.

- Not easy.
- Simple.

These are the 9 objections I hear all the time
and exactly what I say back.

Save this.
- - 

1- “I’m not interested”

That’s not a decision. It’s a reflex.

I say:
“Totally fair. You probably get a ton of these calls and already have most of this handled.”

Then:
“Quick one so nobody bugs you again. Is it that you already know what we do and it’s not a priority, or did I catch you at the worst time?”

That’s when they start thinking.
- -

2- “How did you get my number?”

I don’t get defensive.

I flip it:
“We use data tools to find verified contacts. How does your team find contact info today?”

If they say manual:
“So that’s manual. Roughly how long per contact?”

Now we’re talking process.
- - 

3- “It’s not a priority right now”
Doesn’t mean no. It means no reason to change.

I say:
“Can you walk me through how you handle this today?”

Then:
“So that part’s manual, right? How much time per week?”

Then:
“Mind if I make a quick suggestion?”
That’s where things shift.
- -

4- “No budget”

Rarely about money.

I ask:
“Is budget off this cycle, or does any new spend need approvals?”

Then:
“Do you feel what you pay today actually solves the problem?”

Pressure off:
“If budget opens later, would it help to see how this works now?”
- - 

5- “I need to talk to my boss”
Not resistance. Uncertainty.

I say:
“What specifically do you need to think through?”

Then:
“If it helps, we can loop them in so you don’t have to relay everything.”

Saved me a lot of time
- - 

6- “That’s not my responsibility”

I say:
“Got it. Who owns this? Sales Ops? RevOps?”

Then:
“Mind if I mention we spoke?”

You transform this into an intro.
- - 

7- “I’m too busy”

Timing. Not rejection.

I go with:
“Can I have 30 seconds to explain why I called?”
or
“When’s a better time?”
or, if they hung up last time:
“Last time was bad timing. Fair. Give me 20 seconds.”

Works more than you’d expect.
- - 

8- “Just email me”

Often a brush-off.

I try:
“What’s the one thing you’d want that email to cover?”

or
“I’ll send it and drop a 5-minute placeholder. Useful, we keep it. If not, decline.”
Sometimes direct:

“Do you actually read cold emails? Give me 15 minutes.”
- - 

9- “We already have a solution”

Good sign. They care.

I ask:
“What still feels messy?”
or
“You’re not running into issues at scale?”

Then:
“My guess is you’re not switching today. but, are you open to a quick look?”

- - 

I stopped seeing objections aren't rejections.

They’re the moment prospects start thinking.

- - 

PS: Share in the comments the top objections you faced in cold calling 👇

If you sell in APAC, you already know that cold calling is a big acquisition channel. Your mobile numbers coverage can’t suck. This is my thought after 11 years doing sales in APAC:

Prospect data is less structured more fragmented in APAC

Last week, we ran a simple test to compare Scalelist to others:

We took 100 CEOs in the Software Development industry with 51–200 employees located in every past of APAC

Our goal was to test our mobile coverage:

This is what we got:

- Scalelist — 95/100 
- SmartE — 91/100 
- Datagma — 81/100 
- Wiza — 74/100 
- Prospeo — 61/100 
- Firmable — 12/100 
- Forager — 8/100

This isn’t a “we’re the best” post.

Most providers are extremely strong in the US and Europe and in other specific countries

But APAC exposes gaps.

If this region is part of your pipeline, don’t rely on global averages.

PS: Check out Scalelist

Next time you think: “I don’t have time to cold call”
I had a 45 min after lunch today (Friday) 
Made 11 calls, booked 2 meetings.

lol,

Maybe I got a bit lucky,
But,

It just shows that there’s no rule,

I call and that’s it.

- I get great mobile numbers in APAC (but not only) using Scalelist
- I call on WhatsApp (free)
- I grow my pipeline 1 day after another.

Have a good weekend, I’m off

taplio

The Battle

Matt Barker

Arnaud Renoux

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Performance ScoreMatt Barker's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreArnaud Renoux's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Matt Barker

Arnaud Renoux

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Matt Barker's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreArnaud Renoux's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreMatt Barker's LinkedIn Performance