Relationship Intelligence: The Sales Strategy Hiding in Your Network (video) by Olivier Roth

Olivier Roth, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, The Swarm

Episode Type	Expert Insight Interview
Guest	Olivier Roth, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, The Swarm
Guest Website	theswarm.com
Listen	View on Sales POP! Podcast Page

Key Takeaways

Olivier Roth, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at The Swarm, says revenue lives in a company’s network of relationships, not in its CRM record.
The Swarm maps investors, advisors, customers, and former colleagues using a continuously refreshed dataset of 500 million people and 100 million companies.
Olivier Roth warns that LinkedIn is a company’s audience, not its network, because LinkedIn connections carry no context on relationship strength.
The Swarm recommends using AI to map and score relationships while keeping outreach mindful and human-led so it doesn’t damage the network.

Episode Overview

Most B2B sales teams treat the CRM as the full picture, but Olivier Roth, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at The Swarm, argues relationship intelligence is where revenue actually lives. Roth shows how The Swarm maps and scores those relationships, why LinkedIn only captures a fraction of a real network, and how sales teams can turn connections into warm introductions.

Key Insights

How does relationship intelligence differ from a CRM?

Relationship intelligence maps the people connected to a company, while a CRM only records past interactions, says Olivier Roth of The Swarm. The Swarm layers network data — investors, advisors, customers, and former colleagues — on top of existing CRM records in HubSpot and Salesforce rather than replacing them. Roth calls the CRM a system of record for the past, and The Swarm a view into future, untapped relationships, so the two work together as a timeline rather than compete for the same job.

What are the best use cases for relationship intelligence in sales?

Olivier Roth points to use cases across the entire funnel: prioritizing net-new accounts by connection strength, finding intros into top target accounts, reviving deals stuck mid-pipeline, and expanding accounts after close by mapping connectivity between two organizations. The Swarm also supports recruiting, fundraising, and marketing tasks like sourcing event speakers. Roth says these relationships are “humanly impossible” to track manually, which is why The Swarm automates the mapping.

How does The Swarm map and score business relationships?

The Swarm builds relationship maps from a continuously refreshed dataset of 500 million people and 100 million companies, says Olivier Roth. Instead of simply flagging that two people once worked at the same company, The Swarm applies seniority, role, function, and geography to score how strong a relationship likely is. Roth notes the company keeps refining that scoring model, since not every shared employer means a close connection.

Why is LinkedIn your audience, not your network?

LinkedIn only shows binary connections with no context on relationship strength, says Olivier Roth of The Swarm. Roth argues LinkedIn functions as a media platform for building an audience through content, not as a complete map of who actually knows whom. The Swarm incorporates LinkedIn connections on an opt-in basis but starts instead with former colleagues, school alumni, and investors to build a fuller, more accurate picture.

How can sales teams use AI without damaging their network?

Sending AI-generated intro requests at scale will ruin a network fast, warns Olivier Roth of The Swarm. Roth says The Swarm uses AI to map, score, and surface relationship data, but the actual outreach still requires a human, mindful touch — deciding when to ask for an introduction versus simply mentioning a shared connection. Companies also need rules of engagement so employees don’t overload the same well-connected investor or executive.

Quotes

“Revenue lives in the network. It doesn’t live in the record.” — Olivier Roth, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, The Swarm

“LinkedIn is your audience. It’s not your network.” — Olivier Roth, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, The Swarm

“The best salespeople already use networks to sell. It’s the oldest thing in the playbook.” — Olivier Roth, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, The Swarm

“If you unleash AI to send a thousand intro requests, you’re probably going to get subpar results, and you’re probably going to ruin your network.” — Olivier Roth, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, The Swarm

Relationship Intelligence: Key Statistics from The Swarm

Statistic	Detail	Source
500 million people, 100 million companies	The Swarm maintains a continuously refreshed dataset of this size to map who-knows-who across a company’s network.	Olivier Roth, Sales POP! interview, 2026
~5 years old	The Swarm was founded roughly five years ago, when “relationship intelligence” did not yet exist as a defined category.	Olivier Roth, Sales POP! interview, 2026
2 major CRM integrations	The Swarm integrates directly with HubSpot and Salesforce, layering network data on top of existing CRM records instead of replacing them.	Olivier Roth, Sales POP! interview, 2026
Use cases across 3+ functions	Relationship intelligence spans recruiting, fundraising, and go-to-market — including top-of-funnel prioritization, deal acceleration, account expansion, and marketing/speaker sourcing.	Olivier Roth, Sales POP! interview, 2026
LinkedIn connections are binary	A LinkedIn connection carries no context on relationship strength, which is why Roth calls LinkedIn “your audience, not your network.”	Olivier Roth, Sales POP! interview, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

What is relationship intelligence in sales?

Relationship intelligence is the practice of mapping and scoring the people connected to a company — investors, advisors, customers, and former colleagues — so sales teams can find warm introductions. Olivier Roth, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at The Swarm, built the category around this idea.

How is relationship intelligence different from a CRM?

A CRM records past interactions; relationship intelligence surfaces future, untapped connections. The Swarm’s Olivier Roth calls the CRM “a system of record of the past” and positions The Swarm’s network data as additive, integrating directly with HubSpot and Salesforce rather than replacing either platform.

Is LinkedIn the same as your professional network?

No — according to The Swarm’s Olivier Roth, LinkedIn is your audience, not your network. LinkedIn connections are binary with no context on strength, so The Swarm layers in former colleagues, alumni, and investor relationships that LinkedIn alone can’t capture.

Can AI safely automate warm introduction requests?

Not at scale, warns The Swarm’s Olivier Roth. AI can map and score relationship data effectively, but sending mass AI-generated intro requests damages trust — Roth recommends a mindful, human-led outreach process with clear rules of engagement.

Related Resources

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Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Coevera. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.