Here's what Steve McNicholas should do to generate more qualified meetings every month.
Lead generation
For best results, focus your outreach on companies or leaders who already get strong value from your programmes or those who match your ideal client profile (CHROs, Heads of L&D, or CEOs in mid-sized to enterprise firms, especially from sectors like Financial Services, Insurance, and B2B SaaS/Consulting). Leadsforge can help you quickly identify and build lists of similar prospects based on your current best clients or your target industry segments.
Here is why: Targeting lookalikes means you're more likely to reach decision makers who see value in your work, improving conversion and reducing wasted effort.
A high-impact move is to source prospects who already follow your competitors or peer leadership companies on LinkedIn. These audiences have shown an active interest in leadership development, making them more likely to engage with your message. You only need to provide the LinkedIn company page or competitor name—Leadsforge will handle the rest for you.
Share their LinkedIn company page link in Leadsforge and it will find it for you.
Your current approach to identifying decision makers (CHROs, Heads of People, L&D, CEOs, HR Transformation leads) in organisations with 100+ employees is spot on. You can refine your lists even further by specifying company size, region (UK as primary, Western Europe/US as secondary), industry vertical, and buying triggers (recent hires, M&A, funding rounds). Leadsforge supports these filters to make your targeting sharper before you begin sending.
Targeting
Segment your prospecting lists by:
1) Industry (e.g., Financial Services, Insurance, Public Sector, SaaS, Consulting)
2) Company size (mid-market vs enterprise)
3) Geography (UK, Ireland, Western Europe, US)
4) Role (CHRO, L&D, CEO, etc.)
Here is why: This approach lets you craft tailored messaging for each segment, increasing your chances of a positive response.
Focus your outreach on sectors where you already have case studies and proof (like insurance and financial services) and build credibility with sector-specific references. Use vertical segmentation in Leadsforge to tailor messages using relevant results and language for each industry.
For best timing, prioritize companies that show buying signals such as: recent funding, mergers or acquisitions, leadership hires (especially CHRO/Head of People), large hiring waves, and upcoming or recent HR/relevant conferences. These events represent a window when companies are most receptive to leadership solutions. You can identify these triggers in Leadsforge and act fast with timely outreach.
Outbound Stack We Recommend:
Every company should choose outbound tools that work specifically for their industry.
Unlimited Linkedin Profiles
ESP Matching for increased delivery
Here’s Why
Salesforge is designed to simplify and automate campaign management, letting you run sequences, analyze results, and optimize follow-ups in one place. Great for solo consultants or small teams—it makes your outreach more efficient and helps you focus on conversations versus admin.
Here is why: You can spend more time building relationships and less time juggling spreadsheets and scattered tools.
Latest & High Quality Contact Data
Find Competitor’s LinkedIn Page Followers
Highest Data Coverage (10+ Providers)
Find Lookalikes of your Customers
Find Linkedin, Email & Phone Number
Here’s Why
Leadsforge offers you an efficient way to source high-quality, up-to-date lists of exactly the types of prospects you want (e.g., CHROs, Heads of L&D, event organisers). You can use advanced filters matching your ICP and remove the guesswork from list building—helping you stay compliant and relevant.
Here is why: Well-targeted, quality lists mean more replies and booked meetings, and less risk to your reputation.
Start with Primeforge for sending through authenticated Google or Microsoft mailboxes for best deliverability and simplest calendar integration. If you want an easy path to scale or use shared-IP sending, Mailforge is a great option to add a sending channel as your outreach grows. For now, Infraforge isn’t necessary—keep it in mind only if you later scale to very high volumes and need a dedicated IP setup.
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