LinkedIn Outbound Guide for 2024

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Today, it takes an average of 1,000-1,400 touches per opportunity sourced from cold outbound (across many possible accounts and contacts).

Markets aren't what they were in 2021. Hiring more SDRs only to have 1/3rd of opps show up to meetings simply isn't feasible anymore.

"Connect rates are lower. If [sales reps] don't two or three X the value of their salary — the ROI isn't there.

You can't capture demand at scale without creating the demand first." — James Hanzimanolis, Erudite

That's why your customer-facing teams — especially execs and salespeople — should consider social selling.

This playbook is designed for GTM teams looking to build their credibility and book more meetings through LinkedIn.

What Does Outbound Success Look Like on LinkedIn?

Here's what successful LinkedIn outbound should look like: demand is created, prospects are identified through intent data, and outreach is done based on this information.

As for the results:

• Our AE, Ryan Patel, increased his LinkedIn reply rate from 5 to 21.6% in his first three months of social selling, which was quickly followed by a record week of 8 demos booked from outbound.

(Here are his results from our study on the impact of social selling on pipeline.)

• Oliver Johnson, BDR from Rep.ai, saw incredible success from just one week of what he calls "A/B testing" posting to LinkedIn — and within a month, he improved his reply rate from 10% to 65%.

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The insights in this playbook are based on Ryan and Oliver's strategies.

5 Step Guide to Successful LinkedIn Outbound

Step 1: Make Your Profile Worth Connecting With

You want to turn your profile into a sales page that prospects actually want to connect with.

Here's what our CEO's LinkedIn profile looks like as an example.

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Here's what to include to set up an effective LinkedIn profile, with insights from our podcast episode with Mark Jung, founder of Authority:

• Benefit-Focused Headline: Clearly state the main benefit you offer.
• Emotional Hook: Address the primary problem you solve right at the beginning.
• Spotlight Expertise: Mention 1-2 key offerings without overloading the reader.
• Value Proposition: Use bullet points and stats to convey your value.
• Simple Language and Layout: Avoid jargon and clichés; keep your tone conversational. Use spacing and bullets to make it an easy read.
• Social Proof: Include endorsements and testimonials.
• Creator Mode: Connections automatically follow you if you turn this on.
• Professional Picture: Use a high-quality, professional headshot.
• Effective Tagline: Include your role and how you help others.
• CTA in Banner: Add a call-to-action in your profile banner.
• Website Link: Direct visitors to your website.
• Helpful "About" Section: Make this section valuable to prospects by helping them understand how you can solve their problems.

Step 2: Create Buyer-Centric Content That Drives Engagement

We created a detailed playbook for generating inbound pipeline on LinkedIn — but, the TL;DR is:

1. Talk to your best-fit customers and turn their use cases, questions, problems, and more into content for LinkedIn
2. Post regularly. We recommend a three-day or five-day LinkedIn content calendar to establish consistency and credibility
3. Connect with other similar best-fit prospects. You want to max out your connection requests here, and ultimately elicit a "It's like they read my mind" response with the content you're posting

Folks will now start coming inbound, and sending you signals to make first contact.

P.S — Not sure how to structure your posts? Here's some effective LinkedIn post templates to get started.

Step 3: Look For Intent Data

Content is a great sales trigger in general, showing you the 3-5% of people who are actually in market.

There's a trust element to it — you build trust when prospects see the content from you, and are now more likely to engage with you or open an email.

You want to scrape LinkedIn both first-party and third-party intent data on LinkedIn to build a highly targeted list of warm accounts.

1. First-party intent is when prospects engage directly with posts from you or your team
2. Third-party intent is when prospects engage with posts relating to problems you solve, with relevant influencers, and with competitors

"If a key persona from an account has interacted with your content multiple times, that's a clear sign they're warming up to your solutions.

In sales, it's the golden indicator that you're pursuing the right opportunities. Never waste time on cold accounts." — Alon Waks, fractional CMO

Step 4: Avoid Pitch-Slapping in Follow-Ups

Both Ryan and Oliver have warmer cold calls because of their presence on LinkedIn.

This is because they send contextually relevant messages based on the activity they've observed on LinkedIn. When a prospect engages with content, it gives you clues on what problems they might have.

Here's how folks typically respond to Ryan's outbound.

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How to Outbound to a Specific Signal

Here's how Ryan structures his outbound sequence when following up with LinkedIn engagement on a specific post.

It's important to do this within 24 hours.

Blank Connection Request

If the prospect isn’t already connected, send a blank connection request. If done within 24 hours, acceptance rates are usually higher (up to 90%).

Value-First Message (Based on Specific Engagement)

If the prospect has engaged with a post about a particular topic, follow up with a short, personalized message that includes a relevant resource. This keeps the outreach value-driven and continues the conversation sparked by your post.

Example Message:

"Hi [Name], I noticed you liked my post on [topic]. I recently put together a playbook on [related topic or resource] that could be helpful. Here’s a link—let me know if it’s of interest!"

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How to Outbound to Generally Engaged Prospects

Here's how Ryan outbounds to prospects that he's seen engagement from or has been engaging with.

Day 1: Blank Connection Request

Ryan starts with a simple and non-intrusive step — a blank connection request on LinkedIn.

Day 3: Engage with Their LinkedIn Content

On the third day, Ryan engages with the prospect’s LinkedIn content.

This involves reacting (liking) to a recent post and leaving a thoughtful comment. This demonstrates genuine interest and subtly brings Ryan into the prospect’s sphere of awareness.

Day 5: Voice Note with Picture

By the fifth day, Ryan sends a personalized voice note along with a picture.

In the voice note, Ryan is sure to highlight specific triggers and offers a solution along with social proof.

This kind of communication stands out in a world where long-form spam is the norm.

Template for the Voice Note:

"Hey {name}, shooting you this note because I noticed XYZ (I try to mention a couple of triggers here).

I talk to {role} all the time and they share PROBLEM.

Not sure if this is something you’ve considered but we helped CUSTOMER see RESULT by SOLUTION/ACTION.

Would you be open to learning more about how it works?

Let me know. Thanks"

Example:

"Hey Tarana, shooting you this note because I noticed you recently joined the team at Rokt and hired Pearl to lead content.

I talk to VPs of Marketing all the time and they share new content hires create more content, but it's tough to understand what’s driving pipeline & what isn't.

Not sure if this is something you’ve considered but we helped Close’s new content leader drive more pipeline from organic by seeing a trail of account level content touch points from first interaction to closed-won so she could focus on creating more of what was actually working.

Would you be open to learning more about how it works?

Let me know. Thanks"

Day 7: Text Follow-Up

If there’s no response by the seventh day, Ryan sends a brief follow-up message.

He offers the opportunity to reconnect at another time.

Step 5: Get Your Manager's Buy-In

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Once you and your team have seen success, present results to your manager to drive wider company adoption.

• Explain that it's more important than ever to cut through the noise to make any impact today
• Showcase initial results, such as increased reply rates and even positive responses from prospects
• Highlight both tangible and intangible benefits, like improved brand recognition and personal branding

Avoid Pitch-Slaps in Your Outbound

You may not get a lot of engagement initially. This is normal.

The key is to focus on value-first messaging based on first-party signals rather than generic pitch-slaps, and to stand out among otherwise crappy outbound efforts today.

We can help you automate social selling best practices. Reach out to us.