By Shankar Ganapathy, Co-founder, Boomerang AI. Updated October 27, 2026.
Short answer: LinkedIn's 2026 Trust Advantage research, run with Ipsos across more than 900 B2B buyers and 900 sellers in seven markets, finds that relationships are the clearest separator between sellers who hit quota and those who do not. Sellers who exceeded quota generate 20% more meetings from warm introductions. Shared mutual connections are among the signals most predictive of a positive reply. And 57% of sellers don't begin multithreading until after the first meeting. Below is each finding with the action it implies.
What did LinkedIn's Trust Advantage research find?
- Warm intros separate top sellers. Source wording (LinkedIn): Sellers who exceeded quota generate 20% more meetings from warm introductions. What to do: Make introductions a tracked channel, not a favour
- Mutual connections predict replies. Source wording (LinkedIn): Signals most predictive of a positive reply include shared mutual connections. What to do: Check for a shared connection before every first touch
- Multithreading starts too late. Source wording (LinkedIn): 57% of sellers don't begin multithreading until after the first meeting. What to do: Map the buying group during account research
- Job changes open doors. Source wording (LinkedIn): Buyers who changed jobs in the last 90 days are 40% more likely to accept an InMail. What to do: Track champions and buyers as they move
- Shortlists are short. Source wording (LinkedIn): Buyers typically shortlist just 2 to 3 vendors. What to do: Get recommended before the evaluation starts
- Trust is scarce. Source wording (LinkedIn): 86% of buyers say expertise drives trust, but only 45% trust sellers. What to do: Borrow trust from someone the buyer already knows
LinkedIn's own summary is the headline: "Your organizations existing relationships are an underused competitive asset." Its CEO Dan Shapero adds that in a survey of nearly twenty thousand professionals, more than 50% rely on colleagues or friends over AI or search engines for trusted information.
Why are warm introductions winning in an AI buying journey?
The same research finds 94% of buyers now use AI at every stage of the purchase process, and nearly half use it to challenge claims and surface alternatives. Content and outreach volume are easy to generate and easy for a buyer to discount. A person the buyer already trusts is not. That is why a shared connection lifts reply rates and why top performers reach more stakeholders: LinkedIn's chart shows top performers about 3x more likely to be connected to eight or more stakeholders per account.
How do you act on each finding?
- Check for a path before every cold touch. In Sales Navigator, look at shared connections and TeamLink for your colleagues' connections. Beyond LinkedIn, check your CRM history, calendars, investors and customers.
- Start multithreading before the first call. List the two to four seats that will decide, and find a warm route to at least two. See multithreading in sales.
- Treat job changes as a trigger. When a champion moves, reach out within weeks. See Champion Tracking.
- Measure warm meetings separately. Track intros requested, made, and meetings booked by path type, so the 20% gap shows up in your own numbers.
- Use your leaders' networks on purpose. LinkedIn's leader action is to "make clear that your own network is available to your sales org."
How do Sales Navigator and Boomerang AI fit together?
Sales Navigator is where most teams find people and see shared connections and TeamLink paths. Boomerang AI picks up from there: it adds paths through your investors, board, customers and partners, chooses who on your side should ask, drafts the ask in their voice, and tracks it to the meeting. Sales Navigator shows who. Boomerang AI runs the intro. See how the two work together.
What does this look like in practice?
At 1mind, a team of 15 AEs with no SDR team, nearbound deals closed at 3x the rate of outbound over the last 120 days of closed opportunities. Armis created 26,000 warm intro paths across its enterprise program.
Frequently asked questions
What is LinkedIn's Trust Advantage report?
It is LinkedIn Sales Solutions' 2026 research, run with Ipsos, in two editions: a buyer edition based on more than 900 B2B buyers and a seller edition based on 900 sales professionals, across seven markets. It identifies the seller behaviors that build buyer trust and separate quota achievers from the rest.
Do warm introductions get better results than cold outreach?
LinkedIn's Trust Advantage research finds sellers who exceeded quota generate 20% more meetings from warm introductions than those who fell short, and that shared mutual connections are among the signals most predictive of a positive reply. Our customer 1mind closed nearbound deals at 3x the rate of outbound.
When should sellers start multithreading?
Before the first meeting. LinkedIn found 57% of sellers do not begin multithreading until after the first meeting, which leaves deals single threaded just as buyers form their view. Map the buying group and look for warm paths during account research instead.
How does Sales Navigator help with warm introductions?
Sales Navigator shows shared connections and, through TeamLink, connections your colleagues have to a prospect. That is the best place to find people on LinkedIn. Tools like Boomerang AI add investor, board, customer and partner paths and run the ask from draft to booked meeting.
