In the latest episode of B2B Outbound, Chris sat down with Mac Reddin, founder and CEO of Commsor, to dive deep into the world of network-driven revenue generation.
It’s not just about who you know, but how you leverage those relationships.
What is Go-to-Network (GTN)?
Mac breaks it down for us:
“We call ourselves a go-to network platform because if you didn’t invent a term, you’re not a real B2B Company, right?”
But beyond the catchy name, GTN represents a powerful approach that prioritizes warm introductions over cold outreach. As Mac explains:
“We basically help sales teams add a warm intro check before they go outbound. Before they make a cold call or send a cold email, we help find if there’s a partner, a customer, an investor, an advisor, or executive who can maybe open that door to that target account.”
Think of it as systematically tapping into your existing relationships before resorting to cold approaches. (And we all know which one performs better.)
The Two Halves of Go-to-Network
Mac outlines GTN as having two critical components:
- Network Creation: Building partnerships, customer advocacy programs, community, social selling, content, LinkedIn connections
- Network Activation: Making intros happen, driving referrals, co-selling with partners
As Mac puts it:
“A lot of times people seem to forget about the network creation piece. They really get up because, of course, if you’re a salesperson, you just care about the network activation, the short-term gratification of ‘I want deals now.’ But a truly good network requires this symbiotic flywheel of creation and activation that builds on itself.”
Digital Has Changed Our Networks (Not Always for the Better)
The digital world has dramatically transformed how we network, and not always positively.
Mac shares this insight:
“The digital world and social media has made it way easier for us all to have a breadth of network. We all know probably more people than our grandparents or great-grandparents ever did in their whole life. But it’s made us a lot worse at depth of network. So we know way more people, but we know way less people well.”
This highlights the critical difference between having many shallow connections versus fewer deep, meaningful relationships that can actually drive business results.
The Three Types of Referrers
Not all referrers are created equal. Mac identifies three distinct tiers:
- Super Fans (Tier 1): They refer without being prompted because they truly love your product/service
- Willing Referrers (Tier 2): They’re happy to refer but need a specific ask from you
- Incentivised Referrers (Tier 3): They’ll refer if there’s something in it for them
Mac cautions against jumping straight to tier 3:
“A lot of times, I think people make mistakes. They jump straight to, ‘Cool, let’s launch an affiliate program.’ But have you tried? Are you getting tier 1 already?”
Interestingly, paid referrals typically have lower conversion rates than organic ones because the transfer of trust isn’t as strong when there’s an incentive involved.
Small Gatherings > Large Conferences
When it comes to building meaningful connections, Mac is a strong advocate for smaller, more intimate events:
“A conference, you can go meet 200 people in two days. No problem. But how many of them do you really get to know and have lasting conversations with?”
Instead, Mac recommends hosting smaller gatherings:
“If you do a small dinner or a small event, you have time to go deep with each person there and have real conversations that have lasting impact.”
He points to the stunning ROI difference: The cost of a conference booth ($30-50K) could instead fund 10 high-quality dinners with 10 prospects each – with much deeper connections formed.
Measuring Network Success
While network-building can’t always be perfectly measured, there are meaningful metrics to track. Some examples:
- Close rates of deals from referrals vs. other channels
- Time to close for network-sourced opportunities
- Quality and size of deals from different referrers
- Performance of different network sources (which partners or customers generate the best referrals)
Mac emphasises:
“We track the same stuff that you would track for deals coming from anywhere else – time to close, the quality of the deal. So we can show that referrals are better deals. They close more often.”
The Future of GTM: Human Connection Becomes More Valuable
As AI continues to transform sales and marketing, Mac suggests the GTM world will split into two camps:
- AI Native/GTM Engineers: Those who fully embrace automation and AI
- Human-Led/High-Touch: Those who double down on relationships and personalization
Mac predicts:
“I think a lot of sales people and marketers are kind of in the middle. They are neither extreme, and that’s a dangerous place to be.”
The key insight? As automation makes outreach easier, the value of genuine human connection only increases.
“As outbound gets easier than ever to personalize, the volume is only going up, response rate is only going down, so the value of a relationship is also going up as a counter to that.”
The “Tragedy of the Commons” in Outbound
Mac shares a fascinating perspective on why network-building is more resilient than traditional outbound:
“Email, phones, and ads are a shared channel. You’re not just competing with yourself to write a better cold email or make a better cold call. You’re also competing against everything in my inbox.”
By contrast:
“Your network is semi-isolated from being impacted by people outside your network. Your network is the only channel where you have that level of control, compared to any other channel in sales and marketing.”
Key Takeaways
- Warm intros outperform cold outreach – build systems to generate more of them
- Focus on both network creation AND activation to build a sustainable referral engine
- Quality beats quantity – deeper relationships with fewer people often yield better results
- Track your network’s performance like any other channel to optimize and improve
The Bottom Line
In a world obsessed with AI, automation, and scale, the human element of business remains incredibly powerful. Building and activating your network isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s a critical competitive advantage in today’s crowded market.
As Mac puts it:
“Nobody ever regrets having a bigger, better, badder network.”
Want to hear more insights from Mac on leveraging your network for predictable revenue? Listen to the full episode of B2B Outbound here.
P.S. Follow Mac on LinkedIn or check out his newsletter at warmrevenue.com for more in-depth thinking around Go-to-Network strategies.