Why do some recruiters post weekly but never get meetings?
Meanwhile, others turn LinkedIn videos into sales talks that close deals.
Mike Mello can help answer this.
He spent 10 years in staffing, achieving what many recruiters dream of: 1,300 placements, over $100 million in sales, and nearly 140 contractors billing as an enterprise salesperson.
Then he walked away.
Not because it wasn’t working, but because he learned something many recruiters missed.
Buyers didn’t respond to more activity. They wanted more context.
Mike combined LinkedIn video with outbound automation. Prospects understood his solutions before any sales talk began.
At that time, his bosses weren’t impressed.
“Stop making videos. Get back on the phones. Do things the old way.”
But Mike couldn’t ignore what the data was telling him.
“I got 10,000 views on this LinkedIn video. It was 90 seconds long. And about 10% of those views were from my main customer. That’s a thousand people from one account who just watched me talk about the problems I solve.”
When Mike showed his boss the analytics, their head nearly popped off.
Now, Mike is the founder of Simple Side AI, which he launched just five months ago. He helps recruitment agencies build content strategies and automation systems. He uses the same methods he tested as a top enterprise rep.
In this episode, we explore why visibility matters more than volume. We also talk about creating video content that highlights pain instead of ROI. Plus, Mike shares that his best meetings often happen around email six or seven, not one or two.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [05:40] Mike’s journey to 1,300 placements and $100M in sales before Simple Side AI
- [09:05] The LinkedIn video that changed everything—how one account gained 50 contractors.
- [10:36] Why recruiters shy away from video and why Mike embraced it
- [12:04] Analytics showing LinkedIn video outperforms cold calling
- [13:56] Why your best clients watch but don’t engage with your content (and that’s okay)
- [19:02] The need for content and outbound efforts to work together
- [23:11] Pain-point content vs. ROI content—what really converts
- [26:42] Why unscripted video builds more trust than polished AI content
- [34:44] Three simple frameworks for structuring video content
- [43:53] The observation-problem-solution-CTA email structure
- [52:19] How to track video viewers and convert warm signals into calls
- [56:01] Why reactivating past accounts often outperforms cold outreach
Pain Points Beat ROI Every Single Time
Most recruiters talk about what they do.
Mike talks about what hurts.
He ran two tests with clients.
One batch of emails focused on ROI. What you’ll gain. The results. The return.
The other focused on pain.
You’re ten minutes into an interview and realise the candidate is cheating. That’s an hour of your morning you’ll never get back.
You hire someone. Two weeks later, you realise half their CV was embellished.
The pain-based messages consistently outperformed the ROI ones.
As Mike put it:
“Sales people like ROI because that’s how we think about business. But staffing buyers care about pain.”
When Mike works with agency owners, he sits down and maps out their top pain points. Not generic staffing problems. These are the real frustrations their buyers deal with every week.
That becomes the content.
He’s also very clear on one thing. ChatGPT doesn’t know those stories.
“ChatGPT does not know what you know. It doesn’t know the biggest problems you’ve solved or the nightmare situations you’ve helped clients through.”
The content that performs best is usually unscripted video.
Not polished. Not perfect. Just human.
Across multiple founders, Mike saw the same pattern. The people doing best on LinkedIn aren’t the smoothest. They hesitate. They repeat themselves. They sound like real people.
That’s what builds trust.
People can spot AI-generated content from a mile away. And they don’t trust it.
The 12-Week Email Sequence Nobody Talks About
Mike doesn’t book meetings on email one or two.
He books them on email six or seven.
His campaigns typically run for 12 weeks. Seven to nine emails, supported by a handful of LinkedIn touches.
Most people think that’s too long.
Mike disagrees.
“I’ve never booked a meeting for a client in fewer than three emails.”
Staffing is noisy. Buyers get hammered with forgettable messages every day.
So Mike focuses on adding value before asking for time.
He uses a simple structure:
Observation Problem Solution Call to action
But the key difference is timing.
On email two or three, there’s no meeting ask. Just a short video.
“Hey, I made this quick video. Thought you might find it useful.”
Only later, once someone has engaged, does the meeting ask appear.
“Thanks for taking a second to watch. When the time is right, we’d love to connect.”
That’s when meetings happen.
In one case, a prospect watched the same video 17 times before agreeing to a call.
By then, the groundwork was already done.
Mike tracks everything. Who opens emails. Who clicks videos. Who watches them multiple times.
He uses tools like Smart Lead and Clay to see exactly who’s engaging and when they’re ready for a conversation.
The sales teams he works with call these warm leads. Not cold outreach. Because by email six or seven, the prospect already knows who you are and what problems you solve.
Sales Skills Still Matter More Than Any Tool
Mike gets asked about AI constantly.
His answer is refreshingly direct.
“A great salesperson is ten times more valuable than any tool.”
He’s worked with people who had great LinkedIn content, strong visibility, and consistent posting. But no deals.
The issue wasn’t marketing. It was sales skill.
Content and automation can get you in front of more people. They can’t compensate for weak fundamentals.
When younger salespeople ask Mike how to improve, his advice is always the same.
Read Never Split the Difference. Read How to Win Friends and Influence People. Read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Do that before worrying about AI or automation.
Those skills compound far longer than any platform ever will.
Mike launched Simple Side AI five months ago. He’s building it in public, sharing wins and losses on LinkedIn and TikTok.
His goal? Give something back to the staffing industry.
“I had some great mentors coming up. Every single leader I ever had was very good to me. Building in public, sharing the mistakes, sharing the highs and lows—it’s a way for me to give something back.”
Here’s how he defines goodwill:
“Building rapport with someone and not expecting anything out of it.”
Do that for a year. Expect nothing.
The dividend will come in two, three, four years.
If you’re posting content but not booking meetings, this episode will show you what’s missing.
