what if you engaged with prospects on Linkedin BEFORE the connection request? i tried it

started running a little experiment in january that kinda changed how i think about linkedin outreach instead of sending cold connection requests straight away I spent a week engaging with prospects first, like their posts, leave a real comment, sometimes share something they wrote.

after like 5-7 touches I sent the request with a short note that actually referenced what we'd talked about. nothing fancy, just showed I wasn't a bot ran it against a control group, same type of profiles, straight cold outreach, no warmup. the difference was not subtle at all honestly i think most people skip this step because it feels slow or extra. but it just changes the whole dynamic of the conversation before it even starts

Comments

Professional_Rip4838•3 months ago•2

was the message in the request different between groups or identical

Godschild-007•3 months ago•2

i actually built this whole thing into a sequence, view profile, wait a bit, like something, wait a few more days, drop a comment, then hit connect. the timing between steps matters more than people think. too fast and it still reads like spam even if you did engage

Low_Implement_7835•3 months ago•1

I went through this same shift last year and it made LinkedIn feel way less like cold calling and more like bumping into someone you already kinda know. I stopped blasting connection requests and started doing a week or two of light touches: comment on 2–3 posts, react to a poll, maybe DM a quick “that line about X really hit” with zero pitch. By the time I sent the request, it felt like continuing a thread, not starting one.

What helped most was having a simple daily rhythm: 15–20 mins just engaging, then 5 mins sending 2–3 tailored requests. I also track what people talk about in Reddit and niche communities, so by the time I show up on LinkedIn it’s super specific; for that I bounced between Clay and a basic Sheets setup, and ended up on Pulse for Reddit because it quietly surfaced threads my ICP was already arguing about so my comments didn’t feel random.

BP041•3 months ago•1

The comment quality point is exactly right. "Great post!" is noise. What actually moves someone from stranger to connection is a comment that shows you read past the headline and have a real take.

What I have seen work: reference something specific from their post that most people would skip, then add one genuine extension or mild pushback. Agreeing with everything reads as performative. But "I tried something similar and it worked until X, then Y happened" shows you are actually thinking rather than warming up for a pitch.

The 5-7 touch minimum also maps well to how B2B relationships work offline. Nobody wants to get asked for something by someone they have never talked to. Same mechanic, different medium.

geoffmoorestudio•3 months ago•1

Quality of comments

mimosacom•3 months ago•1

Oui, ça ne m’étonne pas du tout, j’ai vu exactement le même effet.

Sur LinkedIn, le problème des messages à froid, ce n’est pas forcément le message, c’est le contexte. Quand tu arrives sans interaction avant, tu es juste “une demande de plus”. Alors que là, tu existes déjà un peu dans leur tête.

Le seul point, c’est que ça ne scale pas très bien. C’est efficace, mais ça demande du temps, donc difficile à faire à grande échelle.

Après, je pense que le vrai intérêt, ce n’est pas forcément le nombre d’interactions (5-7), mais leur qualité. Un seul commentaire pertinent peut parfois faire plus que plusieurs likes.

Et au final, tu changes surtout la perception. Tu passes de quelqu’un qui prospecte à quelqu’un qui participe à la discussion. Ça paraît simple, mais ça fait toute la différence.

OstrichCute513•3 months ago•1

The warm-up is non negotiable, but the real multiplier is what you say. Dropping a technical data point or a retention signal they care about turns you from "just another guy liking posts" into a resource they actually need.

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Majestic_Hornet_4194•3 months ago•1

Yeah I tried warming up prospects first too and it really makes a difference. Took longer but the replies were way better.

Same-Flight7084•3 months ago•1

Quality of comments matters a ton here btw. Commenting “Great post!” is worse than not commenting at all. ppl remember who adds something real vs who's clearly just farming visibility

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