Roman Pikalenko 🇺🇦🦩

Turning Impact Leaders into Authority Figures Through Powerful Stories | Ghostwriting LinkedIn & Educational Email Courses ✍️📚

Climate tech founders are building world-changing solutions.But most of them are invisible online.Meanwhile, fossil fuel lobbyists have near-infinite marketing budgets. Greenwashers dominate the conversation. Climate deniers spread misinformation to millions.The people actually solving the problem? They're too busy building to talk about it.That's where I come in.As a climate tech ghostwriter, I build LinkedIn thought leadership for Series A+ climate tech CEOs and founders — helping them take control of the narrative and build visibility that compounds.Here's how it works:→ 6-12 month projects built on weekly or bi-weekly interviews→ I extract your expertise and turn it into content that sounds like you→ Full strategy, content planning, and profile optimization included→ Continuous improvement baked in (that's what Kaizen means)I'm not an agency with 47 writers and a sales team. I'm a solo operator with a limited client roster, which means you work directly with me — every interview, every post, every edit.Results my clients have seen:→ Inbound leads and investor connection requests→ Podcast invitations and speaking opportunities→ Top talent reaching out directly→ Measurable traffic to demos, books, and qualification surveysI've worked with 20+ climate leaders across 4 continents, including 3 LinkedIn Top Voices and a Forbes 30 Under 30 founder. Collectively, my clients have raised $200M+.I've ghostwritten 1,000+ posts and have been running Kaizen for almost 3 years.If you're looking to take control of your narrative and start building your visibility, DM me "climate" and I'm happy to talk more.

Growth Marketer

~ Running company social media marketing operations
~ Running paid ad campaigns on social and Google Ads
~ Inbound and content marketing

Last Friday, I spoke at Climate Drift's Thought Leadership for Humans program.

The Q&A after was fire. Here are 6 questions I got from people in climate (and my honest answers):

Q1: Will AI replace ghostwriters?

Think of AI like Photoshop was for graphic designers. It's a tool, not a replacement. My job isn't writing posts — it's building your presence, course-correcting when things go sideways, and extracting stories you didn't know you had. AI can't do that. If anything, AI raised my client cap from 5 to 7.

Q2: LinkedIn reach is dropping. Should I even bother?

The reach is declining because LinkedIn is going the Facebook route — incentivizing people to pay for distribution that used to be free. But you don't need 50,000 impressions per post. You need the right 50 people to see your post and start a conversation. Focus on profile views, # of conversations started, or revenue as the right metrics.

Q3: Should I start with LinkedIn or an email newsletter?

LinkedIn is your distribution channel. Email is your middle channel. If you start a newsletter without an audience, you'll need to drive traffic from somewhere anyway. Start on LinkedIn. Build the list from there. Then email becomes your insurance policy when the algorithm gets worse.

Q4: I have multiple goals — speaking, advising, growing my business. How do I choose?

You can't pursue them all at once. Something always has to give. For example, if you want to speak and advise? Podcasts are a stepping stone — you build credibility for advising while getting reps as a speaker, without traveling.

Q5: Should I expand to Twitter or Bluesky?

Only if you've maxed out your current platform. Take your 20-50 best-performing posts from LinkedIn and use them as your starter library on the new platform. If you don't have that library yet, you haven't finished building your foundation.

Q6: How do I build an audience in a niche I'm new to?

Borrowed credibility. Highlight people already in the space. I do this every Monday — I pick a lesser-known climate tech founder and tell their story. Tag them. Connect beforehand. 2 out of 3 times, their network engages and a chunk of them follow you. You're borrowing their audience by giving them recognition.

—

These questions came from a variety of people:

Small business owners
Heads of startup incubator programs
Jobseekers
Climate scientists

If you're in climate and want to start building your LinkedIn presence but don't know where to begin, follow me. I share stuff like this regularly.

What question would you add to this list?

PS. Huge thanks to Katie Gilbert and Marco Morawec, for inviting me as a speaker once again 🙏

Roman Pikalenko 🇺🇦🍉

I turn $10M+ Series A climate tech founders & execs into LinkedIn thought leaders to attract capital & talent | Helped 3x LinkedIn Top Voices & 10+ climate tech founders | Obsessed with solar right now ☀️

Richard Moore

I help consultants get clients on LinkedIn, using sales and content 🚀 Follow #RichTips for content

At some point it becomes obvious: your expertise isn’t the problem.
The real challenge is turning that expertise into consistent, high-value revenue.

Whether you lead a commercial team or run your own consultancy, gaining traction with potential clients on LinkedIn often feels harder than it should.

That’s where I come in.

I train leaders, consultants, and founders in the psychology of high-trust deal-making and sales. This helps individuals and teams move from interest to commitment without pressure or scripts.

My work blends behavioural psychology, strategic communication, and modern sales design.
More importantly, it comes from doing it:
22+ years of being a sales practitioner and $millions in converted deals.

Because theory is powerful
But you can't beat having done it too

Crucially, the help I give is for those who want to sell with nuance, credibility and long-term results.

Here’s what we focus on:
Strategic positioning: shaping how your expertise is perceived by buyers and decision-makers

Authority content: creating trust through clarity, not noise

Conversation design: turning dialogue into opportunity with structure and intent

Deal-flow mastery: applying timing, buyer psychology, and decision dynamics to close complex deals

I’ve worked with organisations from Microsoft and LinkedIn, to JP Morgan and Deloitte
Beyond this I've also coached thousands of consultants, coaches and founders

All of them have had the focus on refining how they sell and how they communicate

As a 2x LinkedIn Top Voice and LinkedIn Learning Instructor with five courses on sales and communication, studied by tens of thousands of professionals worldwide, I'm asked to work with professionals on their delivery, awareness of buyer state and the words that move a buyer to step forward. 

My communities, the LinkedIn Client Accelerator and Art of Sell, bring together over 500 members focused on mastering client acquisition and high-trust sales.

In the offline world I founded Entrepreneur Business Live, a global event series connecting business leaders to support local causes and I’ve delivered keynotes and lectures at Oxford University, Warwick Business School, University of Edinburgh, Nottingham, Pearson Business School and many more.

If you want to elevate how you or your team win clients, with more trust, depth, and commercial precision, this is where we start.

DM me here on LinkedIn
Or email directly richard@therichardmoore.com
Or check out the featured links on this profile for more

Follow #RichTips for insights on high-trust deal-making and sales

Founder - LinkedIn Client Accelerator

3 years ago, I walked away from being "a LinkedIn guy"

I'd built a solid reputation as a LinkedIn trainer
But I didn't want to be known for a platform

I wanted to be known for a result

So I made a conscious choice:
↳ I was going to own one word
↳ Conversion

Look, everyone's trying to own "sales" and it's impossible

It's too big
It can be so many different things

Owning one word? Now we're talking.

But if you're going to own a word, you need the discipline to use it

(A fun fact about me? My tolerance for boredom, repetition and saying no to shiny objects is very high)

So whilst I do use "sales" sometimes, where possible, I use "conversion" instead of closing or selling.

You'll see it everywhere:

↳ In my posts
↳ In all my workshops
↳ Even in how I describe what I do

It's almost irritating.

But I've built my reputation brick by brick over many years. Because when someone thinks "conversion," I want them to think of me:

↳ The guy who teaches LinkedIn? That wasn't it
↳ Another sales trainer? Too broad
↳ Conversion? Richard

And that goal continues every day.

So if you want to build a reputation that actually converts:

↳ Pick one word that represents the transformation you create
↳ Then use it relentlessly until people can't think of that word without thinking of you

That's how you claim your corner on the internet.

What word are you trying to be known for?

---
PS Okay, you've owned your word. What now? Now you need to write content around it that actually converts.
Click "visit my website" at the top of this post to learn how to do that.

#RichTips

I train founders in the psychology of high-trust deal-making and sales | Creator, Art of Sell | 3× LinkedIn Top Voice | 5 x LinkedIn Learning Instructor

Richard Moore as a panellist at The Value Exchange London

In 2003, I was making 100 calls a day
In 2026, I'm teaching AoS members to close on the first call

Back when I was making 100 calls a day,

I became obsessed with understanding why people said yes or no. What was actually going on in their head when they made a decision?

(Standing at your desk all day with your phone in your hand, dialling numbers and getting hung up on constantly, will do that to you)

And sure, times are different now

- But buyers haven't changed
- The psychology hasn't changed
- Only the platforms have

In the 22+ years of watching people buy,
here's what I know:

They don't buy because of your offer, 
your price or 
even your expertise

They buy when uncertainty drops low enough for them to feel safe saying yes

That's the whole game.

Sony. Deloitte. Microsoft. LinkedIn. BP. Notion. S&P Capital IQ. Vodafone. IATA. JP Morgan. Thales. GSK. Siemens. BAE Systems. Audible...

The list of deals goes on. 
But the truth is the same:

↳ Uncertainty about you = they stall
↳ Uncertainty about the outcome = they ask for a proposal
↳ Uncertainty about themselves = the infamous "let me think about it"

And most of what's taught out there treats these 3 as the same problem,
but each one needs a completely different response

So here's some clarity for you

If they're uncertain about you:
↳ That's a positioning and authority issue
↳ No amount of explaining your offer will fix it
↳ You fix it before the call even starts

If they're uncertain about the outcome:
↳ That's a clarity issue
↳ You're overcomplicating what happens after they say yes.
↳ Simplify the path

If they're uncertain about themselves:
↳ That's the one most people miss entirely
↳ That's the buyer asking "am I the kind of person who invests in this?"
↳ And you can't logic your way through that. You have to make them feel like they belong in the room

The only psychology in sales that works is:

↳ reducing uncertainty
↳ increasing safety and
↳ helping someone think clearly enough to make a decision they already want to make.

That's what I learnt standing at that desk in 2003
And it's what I'm still teaching now

What's the uncertainty your buyers struggle with most?

--
I train founders, consultants and coaches in the psychology of high-trust deal-making and sales. 
Have a look in my featured links here for more → Richard Moore

#RichTips

This is not an advert
But it is a masterclass in how to build a connection.

I run. 
A lot. 
I run like some of you comment on LinkedIn🤭
Yeah. That's a lot!

So I use electrolyte salts to rehydrate.
Henry Porpora's company SULT™ sells them. 
I was using a competitor.

A month ago, Henry connected
Just another day and another founder

But here's what I did and you should consider the same:

↳ Before accepting, I checked his profile 
Always do this as a new connection is a new opportunity (doing nothing is a waste of the moment)

↳ I looked for commonality 
Commonality is a reason to start a conversation and be memorable

↳ I found it
And so I used it (see second image)

Suddenly, I'm not just another connection 
And neither is he

We both saw the opportunity 
And Henry jumped in too

This is what creating opportunities looks like

While everyone else is just collecting connections
And thinking the more they have the better it is

I'm much more interested in going deep with individuals

"Ha! What's the play?" I responded after his reply

"How about this" he wrote...
"I'll send you some on me. If you prefer us you throw the other ones in the bin. If not, give Sult to a friend. Everyone's winning"

"Deal", I said. 

Now look, this is hardly the deal of the century.
But look at this new relationship compared to many you see on LinkedIn. 

All because I bothered to check a profile
And who knows where this goes next

One thing is for sure: it's not a forgettable connection now.

PS I really liked Sult too. Thanks Henry.
Hydration tastes far better now!

Who have you had a meaningful connection with here?
(Only AI won't tag anyone in the comments👀)

--
📌On Thursday this week I'm running "The DM Playbook" session live in Art of Sell. 
Join today for a free 7 day trial using the "Visit my Website" link at the top of this post 👆

#RichTips

Richard Moore with water splashing his face

"Build it and they will come" is not good advice
(and the reason really is obvious):

It is the king of bad advice because it's both
- Passive
- Entitled 

So you worked hard
So you made a great offer
So you think people will like it

That doesn't mean they'll buy

Does it make you cry baby sad tears because "it's not fair"?

Welcome to business, friend
Where you EARN your results.

Entitlement is poison

So, instead of waiting we need to do 4 things:

1. Before it's built, go tell people
↳ Warm the audience - work with them to ideate

2. When you're building go tell people
↳ Share the climb. They'll find it fascinating to watch

3. When it's built, go tell people
↳ Showtime! Go harvest those that supported you

4. When people have bought it, go tell people
↳ You're not done yet! Leverage the buyers to get more

See the common theme?

Proactivity. 

So instead of "build it and they will come"
its
"Build it, tell people, nurture them, present an offer, add more touch points, present another offer and even when they come, make sure you actually take the order"

Which of the four could you do more of?

--
📌Pro tip: When do you actually start selling? 
At stage #1
You can't beat "pre sales" with an incentive to join you early
Because getting paid while you're building is way better than after.
➡️DM me and ask how I did it.

#RichTips

Richard Moore hosting his Entrepreneur Business Live London charity networking event

I spent some time considering if I should post this today. 

Because for some people this will seem incredibly arrogant. 

But I do believe it's worth sharing because the point I'm making, I mean genuinely. 

And the fact is I'm not:
↳ Special
↳ Different
↳ Better than anyone else

Because, just like everyone else, I also started at zero. 

But there's something to be said for being incredibly intentional
And marrying that with consistency across years 

So to all the corner-cutters, hackers and "yes, but could I do it faster people?":

You tend to get what you deserve.
So if you show up in a particular way, you see the results that relate to the work you put in*

I'm interested: What are you doing to be intentional every day? 

--
PS: tomorrow in The Art of Sell I'm going to be going through the four pillars of charisma, looking at it from a science and psychology perspective so you can also tap into this super power for your pitching. 
Join us via a free trial here: www.artofsell.co

*Yes of course there are exceptions and I'm conscious of these as I write this.  

#RichTips

I've worked with 100s of founders. The ones who close effortlessly have one thing in common:

They stopped trying to figure out sales on their own.

Look, most of the founders I work with are not beginners

↳ They ran teams of 30+
↳ held senior roles for a decade
↳ and then left corporate to do something for themselves

And they're good at what they do

But selling your own thing is a completely different skill to selling inside a company

In corporate:

- The brand sold for you
- The pipeline existed before you walked in
- There were SDRs, marketing teams, decks and case studies doing the heavy lifting

Now it's just you

And the instinct for most is: "I should be able to figure this out. I've done harder things"

So you grind alone
↳ For months
↳ Sometimes years

Reading books, watching videos, trying to piece it together from free content

And the pipeline stays inconsistent

because you have dressed up your pride as independence and it's expensive.

The AoS member who went from $2k deals to closing a $66k deal in December didn't get there by watching more YouTube

-He got there by being in a room with people who'd done it before
And letting them show him what he couldn't see on his own

That's the pattern I see over and over again

↳ The ones who move fastest aren't the smartest or the most experienced
↳ They're the ones who were honest enough to say:
↳ "I'm good at what I do. But I need to get better at selling it"

There's nothing weak about that

It's actually the most strategic decision you can make for your business

Take a moment to truly absorb that

PS Art of Sell was recently recognised by Circle as one of its top 50 communities out of over 13,000

And it's built for exactly this:

↳ Founders who know their craft
↳ But want to close with more confidence and consistency

If you've been grinding alone, try it

Have a week trial on me for free here: www.artofsell.co

--
PPS AoS sessions are 60 minutes, punchy and built around doing the work. No 3-hour monologues. We get on with it.💪

#RichTips

Richard Moore hosting his Entrepreneur Business Live London charity networking event.

Stop "being yourself" on sales calls

I mean it

Because for most founders, "being yourself" on a call means:
↳ Softening your offer so you don't come across as salesy
↳ Rushing through the price so the 'awkward bit' is over faster
↳ Making the whole thing sound smaller than it is so they don't think you're trying to squeeze money out of them

Then they say a polite "thank you" and hop off the call
Never to return

And you tell yourself they weren't ready

But here's what actually happened:

You made yourself small
And the buyer treated your offer accordingly

Now here's the part nobody talks about:

That call doesn't just cost you one deal
It costs you the next 5

Because every time you shrink on a call and lose
↳ The icky feeling gets louder
↳ You start tensing up before the call even begins
↳ You're already apologising for the price in your head before you've said a word

And the buyer feels all of it

I went through this for a period when I left corporate.

I'd been closing 6-figure deals with a brand and a business behind me. Then suddenly asking a founder for a few thousand felt like pulling teeth

The problem wasn't my delivery

I'd stopped seeing myself as the prize

In corporate,
↳ I never questioned whether the offer was worth it
↳ I walked in knowing
↳ And that energy carried the whole call

The moment I went solo, I lost that certainty

And I started "being myself" which really meant being the uncertain version of myself.

So what fixed it?

I had to reposition how I saw my own offer before I could present it with any weight

↳ I stopped comparing my price to what felt comfortable
↳ I started comparing it to the cost of the buyer's problem going unsolved
↳ And I reminded myself that every founder I'd helped had got results that far exceeded what they'd paid

That changed how I carried myself on calls
And the buyers felt the difference immediately

Are you being yourself on calls?
Or are you being the uncertain version of yourself?

--
PS A good number of AoS members joined while stuck in this exact cycle. Underpricing, apologising for their offer, losing deals they should've closed.

Inside AoS we work on how you carry your offer, because that matters as much as what's in it

If you want to see what that looks like, try it free for a week here: https://lnkd.in/eHw5fitm

#RichTips

Richard Moore speaking on the Don't Work Harder podcast.

You can’t scale your leadership without scaling trust.

At small scale, people know you. They see you. They understand how you think.

But at a larger scale, that can all disappear.

At that level, people start to interpret you from a distance:
- Through your decisions
- Through your communication
- Through your consistency

And if trust isn’t there, all your results can start to slow down

This Friday I’ll be live with Simone Schiassi, a former Google Global Director, to talk about how trust is actually built and maintained as you grow into more senior leadership roles.

We’ll be sharing practical experiences from inside complex organisations and answering your questions live.

Friday 27 February
UK: 2pm to 3pm
ET: 9am to 10am

If you lead a team, or plan to, join us live.
And let us know below: what questions do you have for the live stream?

--

#RichTips

Marco Zima Simonella, Jeff Abracen and 1 other connection attending

Wow - almost 18.5k of you are subscribed to this newsletter now.
Thank you.

This week, one news story stood out on LinkedIn News 

Standing far above other stories in volume of readers was the recent data showing 5.2% unemployment in the UK. 

And, while this has an effect on employers and employees alike. Beyond all the job market commentary, I believe this represents a shift in the market that affects buyer behaviour too. 

Thank you as always for reading these each week. I really enjoy producing them.

Looking at the analytics, it's wonderful to see that thousands of you tune in within the first 24 hours to read. 

And to those that share their opinions in the comments and in my DMs, thank you. I always welcome the dialogue.

Have a fantastic end to your week,
Richard

--
PS a free gift for any founders / those of you in sales at the bottom of this week's newsletter :)

#RichTips #newsletter #jobs

Weak economies do not punish everyone equally. But they do expose previously hidden differences. UK unemployment has risen to 5.2%, the highest level 

Open article: #10: The End of Average Salespeople by Richard Moore • 7 min read

Often, B2B deals don’t stall because the buyer lost interest.

There's much more going on here. 

They stall because there's a misalignment with the organisation.

You have a great call. They see the value. They agree. Then the deal disappears into “I need to run this internally.”

What’s happening is simple. You spoke to a person, but the decision lives inside a system.

In this week’s newsletter, I break down what I call Stakeholder Physics. 

I also examine the four main roles present in most decisions, and how to manage alignment so deals actually move.

Thank you to the 18.5k subscribers reading these each week. It is all my pleasure to produce them. 

As always, do consider sharing, saving and adding your opinion or reaction in the comments. 

--
Coming soon is an article on agentic AI in selling, with some very special guests contributing! Make sure you're subscribed.

#RichTips

Why individual buy-in creates momentum but group alignment determines whether a deal actually closes. There is a moment in sales that can create false

Open article: #11: Stakeholder Physics: Why Deals Stall Even When Individuals Agree by Richard Moore • 8 min read

#11: Stakeholder Physics: Why Deals Stall Even When Individuals Agree

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The Battle

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Richard Moore

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