The Borrowed Trust Strategy: Scaling Referrals Without Burning Relationships

The Problem: Cold outbound is broken. AI-generated emails have burned the market. Response rates are near zero. Email Service Providers are locking down deliverability.

The Opportunity: Your satisfied clients each have 500+ LinkedIn connections. Those connections already trust your clients. What if you could systematically reach them?

What is “Borrowed Trust”?

Borrowed trust is a systematic approach to leveraging existing client relationships for warm outbound. Instead of cold outreach, you strategically access the networks of satisfied clients.

The Core Insight: People trust recommendations from their connections far more than cold messages from salespeople. This strategy formalizes and scales that dynamic.

Why This Works Now

LinkedIn Deliverability: LinkedIn currently maintains near-100% deliverability vs. declining email deliverability due to Gmail/Yahoo restrictions.

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): LinkedIn is currently the #2 source cited by Large Language Models (LLMs), predicted to become #1 within 6-12 months. This makes LinkedIn presence critical for getting cited when prospects ask AI for recommendations.

Trust Deficit: AI-generated outbound has created massive trust erosion. Borrowed trust bypasses this entirely by leveraging pre-existing relationships.

Why This Matters for Consultants

At Hexaxia, we’ve always operated on referrals and reputation. Cold outbound never felt right - it’s spammy and burns markets before you can build credibility. But waiting passively for referrals doesn’t scale. Borrowed trust solves this: systematic outbound that preserves relationships and leverages trust you’ve already earned through good work.

The Complete Workflow

Step 1: Gather “Raw” Proof

Collect screenshots or quotes from clients who explicitly praised your service. Screenshots are preferable over text because they’re “raw” and “real” proof that’s difficult to fake.

Sources:

  • LinkedIn testimonials
  • Email feedback
  • Slack messages
  • Video testimonials
  • Project completion surveys

Document specific outcomes:

  • What problem did you solve?
  • What measurable result did they achieve?
  • What was the before/after state?

Example: “DDTS went from no online presence to a professional website with booking system, increasing lead generation by 40% in 90 days.”

Step 2: Use the “Connections Of” Filter

LinkedIn Sales Navigator has a specific filter called “connections of” that identifies prospects who are personally connected to your satisfied clients.

How to use it:

  1. Open Sales Navigator
  2. Use “connections of” filter
  3. Input names of clients who provided positive feedback
  4. Result: A list of prospects who have mutual trust with your advocates

Why this matters: These aren’t cold prospects. They’re one degree from someone who vouches for you.

Step 3: Execute the Outreach

Message the connected prospects referencing the mutual connection and the proof.

Example Script:

“Hey [prospect name]. [Mutual connection name] really liked [specific outcome/project]. Would you be interested in learning more about how we achieved [specific result]?”

Alternative for events:

“Hey, [connection name] really liked this [webinar/event]. Do you want to get invited to this?”

Why This Works:

  • Outreach relies on existing trust between prospect and their connection
  • Bypasses the salesperson’s credibility problem entirely
  • Uses “borrowed trust” instead of building from zero
  • Significantly higher response rates than cold outreach

Real-World Example: The Podcast Strategy

This approach is particularly effective for content creators. Here’s how podcast hosts leverage it:

  1. Interview a guest on their podcast
  2. Use “connections of” filter for that guest in Sales Navigator
  3. Send the recording to those connections
  4. Result: Gains traction by leveraging the guest’s network and credibility

Why it works: You’re not selling - you’re sharing valuable content their connection participated in.

Scaling Borrowed Trust: Content Amplification

Next-level play: Create content WITH clients (not just about them).

Examples:

  • Case study interview/webinar featuring your client
  • “How [Client] solved [Problem]” webinar series
  • Virtual roundtable with multiple satisfied clients

Then: Use “connections of” filter for each participating client.

Outreach: “Hey [name], [client] just did a webinar with us on [topic]. Thought you’d find it valuable given your work in [industry].”

Scale multiplier: One webinar with 3 clients = access to 1,500+ connections (3 x 500 average connections).

Why This Works at Bootstrap Scale

Traditional cold outbound:

  • 1,000 cold emails
  • 2% response rate = 20 responses
  • 10% conversion = 2 deals
  • High effort, low return

Borrowed trust approach:

  • 5 satisfied clients x 500 connections = 2,500 prospects
  • 10% response rate = 250 warm conversations
  • 20% conversion = 50 deals
  • Lower volume, higher quality, preserves relationships

Implementation for Your Business

Phase 1: Foundation (Week 1-2)

  1. Get LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($99-149/mo) - needed for “connections of” filter
  2. Proof Collection:
    • Screenshot positive feedback from each satisfied client
    • Document specific outcomes (problem solved + result achieved)
    • Get permission to reference them in outreach

Phase 2: Systematic Outbound (Week 3-4)

  1. For each satisfied client:
    • Use Sales Navigator “connections of” filter
    • Start with 5-10 connections (test and iterate)
    • Message using the example script template above
    • Track response rates
  2. Content Strategy:
    • Create detailed LinkedIn articles with case studies
    • Include screenshots of results (not just theory)
    • Track “saves” and “sends” metrics (not likes)

Phase 3: Intelligence Layer (Ongoing)

  1. Social Listening:
    • Monitor Reddit for raw, unfiltered pain points (r/cybersecurity, r/msp, r/sysadmin, r/netsec)
    • Reddit is currently #1 LLM source - mine for authentic language
    • Use prospect language in your content and messaging
  2. Strategic Content:
    • Build citation-worthy thought leadership now
    • When LinkedIn flips to #1 for LLMs (6-12 months), your content is already embedded in training data

Critical Success Metrics

Skip vanity metrics. The key insight: If a post receives more saves/sends than reactions (likes/comments), you’ve hit a real pain point.

Why saves matter:

  • Can’t be faked - requires actual value perception
  • Indicates intent to reference later or share with others
  • High save rates identify topics to amplify through thought leadership ads

The Flywheel: Successful organic content (validated by high save rates) - Amplify through thought leadership ads - Convert into long-form articles - Further index in LLMs - AI sells for you 24/7

Key Takeaways

  1. LinkedIn = 100% deliverability vs. declining email performance
  2. Borrowed trust beats any message formula because it bypasses trust deficit
  3. Screenshots > text for proof (harder to fake, more authentic)
  4. “Connections of” filter = systematic access to warm networks
  5. Content WITH clients > content about clients (for maximum reach)
  6. Saves > likes as success metric (indicates real value)
  7. Reddit listening + LinkedIn content = AEO strategy (present + future LLM indexing)

Resources

About the Author: Aaron Lamb is the founder of Hexaxia Technologies, specializing in cybersecurity consulting, infrastructure engineering, and AI product development.