Aug 16, 2026
Every founder-led advisory firm knows the feeling: business
comes in waves. Referrals and word-of-mouth are lovely — until the
pipeline goes quiet for three months and nobody can explain
why.
In this episode, Mark McIntosh, founder of RevGrow, joins the show to break down why that unpredictability isn't a mystery to solve, it's a system to build. A CPA by training, Mark spent years watching talented advisors get referred business only when it happened to occur to someone else — because their expertise "lived in someone else's memory." His answer was to build a repeatable playbook: get ruthlessly clear on who you help and who refers you, then use LinkedIn and thought leadership to stay visible with that specific group, consistently, over months and years rather than days.
The conversation digs into what separates this from the "bullhorn" marketing most people associate with LinkedIn — the cold pitches and connect-and-sell tactics that erode trust instead of building it. Instead, Mark and the host unpack a longer-arc mindset: treating visibility like a compounding asset rather than a 30-day campaign, so that when a prospect's need finally surfaces, you're already the obvious call.
There's a sharp, practical discussion of the 80/20 rule as it applies to referral partners — why a handful of relationships typically drive the majority of business, and what it actually takes to earn and keep that position. Mark shares how his own firm operates on this model, including the deceptively simple habits (an immediate thank-you, a follow-up on how an introduction went) that keep referral partners confident enough to keep referring.
If you've ever wondered why your best relationships don't reliably turn into business, or you're trying to move your firm off the referral rollercoaster, this episode offers a clear-eyed, commercially grounded way to think about it — plus a live example of someone who, in the host's words, genuinely eats his own dog food.
In this episode, Mark McIntosh, founder of RevGrow, joins the show to break down why that unpredictability isn't a mystery to solve, it's a system to build. A CPA by training, Mark spent years watching talented advisors get referred business only when it happened to occur to someone else — because their expertise "lived in someone else's memory." His answer was to build a repeatable playbook: get ruthlessly clear on who you help and who refers you, then use LinkedIn and thought leadership to stay visible with that specific group, consistently, over months and years rather than days.
The conversation digs into what separates this from the "bullhorn" marketing most people associate with LinkedIn — the cold pitches and connect-and-sell tactics that erode trust instead of building it. Instead, Mark and the host unpack a longer-arc mindset: treating visibility like a compounding asset rather than a 30-day campaign, so that when a prospect's need finally surfaces, you're already the obvious call.
There's a sharp, practical discussion of the 80/20 rule as it applies to referral partners — why a handful of relationships typically drive the majority of business, and what it actually takes to earn and keep that position. Mark shares how his own firm operates on this model, including the deceptively simple habits (an immediate thank-you, a follow-up on how an introduction went) that keep referral partners confident enough to keep referring.
If you've ever wondered why your best relationships don't reliably turn into business, or you're trying to move your firm off the referral rollercoaster, this episode offers a clear-eyed, commercially grounded way to think about it — plus a live example of someone who, in the host's words, genuinely eats his own dog food.
Three Key Takeaways:
• Referrals are a memory problem, not a trust
problem. Good work alone doesn't generate consistent
referrals — your referral partners have to be able to instantly
connect your name to a specific problem. Without deliberate
positioning, even strong relationships stay dormant until something
jogs someone's memory.
• Visibility is a long-term asset, not a short-term
campaign. Marketing campaigns get measured in weeks;
staying top of mind with referral partners has to be measured in
months or years. Founders who quit after "posting for two weeks and
not getting 10 deals" are applying a campaign mindset to a
compounding process.
• Trust compounds when you're the one who follows
up. The advisors who get referred repeatedly aren't the
loudest — they're the ones who close the loop: an immediate
thank-you, a proactive update on how an introduction went, and
genuine care about the referral partner's whole business, not just
the transaction in front of them.
This episode's lesson — that thought leadership pays off
through consistency, not campaigns — is exactly what Peter, Bill Sherman, and Naren Aryal codify in The Thought Leadership Handbook. If Mark's approach
to building lasting visibility resonated, this book gives you the
frameworks to do the same with your own expertise. Out now.