ON THE RECORD
Joey Liner on building trust and raising standards in performance marketing
Steve Rafferty
CEO & Founder | ActiveProspect
Joey Liner
Chief Consultant & Strategist | Liner Connections
Joey Liner is a performance marketing and sales leader and the founder of Liner Connections. With more than 20 years of experience across industries including insurance, mortgage, education, and home services, Joey has built a reputation for connecting buyers, sellers, and service providers through trust and long-term partnership. A recognized industry voice, Joey is a published author, frequent podcast guest, and was named LeadsCouncil Executive of the Year for his pioneering spirit and commitment to raising standards in lead generation.
SR:
What’s the one relationship-building principle that has never failed you—even as the industry has completely transformed?
JL:
Always tell the truth, even if it's bad news or something the other side doesn't want to hear.
It’s an extremely tight ecosystem with not that many people for the billions of dollars flowing through each month. If you do wrong by people or they can't trust you, word will spread quickly, and you may never be able to come out of the hole you dug for yourself. Just be true and genuine, and that will go a long way toward building a long-term career path in performance marketing.
I also subscribe to the “what goes around, comes around” motto and have lived it over my tenure. Don't expect the favor to come back immediately; it doesn't always have to work out that way; it might not come back for years down the line, but that's okay. Stay true to the principle here. Trust me.
SR:
You’ve guided teams, founders, and entire companies through growth, downturns, and reinvention. What’s the most common mistake you see leaders make when trying to scale performance marketing operations, and what should they do instead?
JL:
Making short-term revenue decisions without realizing the long-term effect on the company strategy, mission, and values. We are always in a pressure-cooker environment. It’s a “what have you done for me lately” style of sales, where monthly and quarterly targets take priority, and in some cases drive desperate moves by publicly traded companies trying to hit their numbers. You have to have the executive leadership team or founders thinking of the impact down the line or it could really come back to bite you.
SR:
Many folks in our industry credit you with opening doors or giving clarity they couldn’t find elsewhere. What’s the one piece of career advice you give most often, and why does it matter right now?
JL:
Part of it is being genuine and being a straight shooter in every interaction, whether I’m talking with someone entry-level or a CEO. One piece of advice I used to share regularly with my sales team was to LISTEN more. Listen to understand the other person’s pain point, rather than assuming or simply waiting for your turn to respond.
We don’t need product pushers in our space. We need to be consultative and focus on actually helping solve the problem the other side is facing. Even if it’s something you can’t help with right now, they’ll appreciate that you didn’t waste their time and were upfront about it. When it’s time to do business down the line, they’ll remember that approach, which builds trust and credibility.
SR:
Between REACH and your consulting work, you’re helping push the industry toward higher standards. What’s one practical change any company, big or small, can make today that instantly makes their outreach more ethical and more effective?
JL:
Simple, adopt the standards. Specifically, follow established lead generation compliance requirements such as:
- Documented consent
- Clear disclosures
- Data provenance
- Audit-ready recordkeeping
Buyers, sellers, and service providers need to align around shared standards to show regulators that we’re working together. Even if you don’t agree with every part of those standards, you’re part of something bigger. When the next game-changing 1:1 consent rule comes down the line, there will already be a level of unity and self-regulation in place.
A lot is going to change with AI in outreach and marketing. Assuming another company will handle it, or that you don’t need to speak up or participate, is the wrong approach.
SR:
From your vantage point, what shift in consumer outreach or compliance do you believe will define the next 18 months?
JL:
From a calling perspective, how can we work with carriers to avoid having our calls flagged as “unwanted” or blocked by new spam filters? The updated iOS, for example, seems to be very effective at blocking calls. That said, the majority of our community is calling back hand-raisers who have explicitly requested a quote for insurance, a new roof, and similar services, so those calls need to get through.
Contact rates continue to decline, which makes it harder to hit CPA targets. Enhanced SMS and conversational AI will face similar challenges for the same reason—blocking—but over time, they will also evolve and give consumers the ability to move deeper into the sales funnel.