How to do LinkedIn outreach

You sent some connection requests, a few people accepted, and nobody answered your message. This is how to do LinkedIn outreach that gets replies when you have a few hundred connections and no sales team: warm people up with comments, stay under LinkedIn's weekly limit on connection requests, and still reach 100 buyers a day. Most founders send 30 blank requests and a pitch, hit the limit or hear nothing, and decide LinkedIn does not work for them.

Do these three things

About 4 hours 30 minutes a day, every day, for 4 weeks. LinkedIn allows about 100 connection requests a week, so most of your 100 go to people you can already message.

Show the three actions in fullHide the full list

1. 1Today: rewrite your LinkedIn headline to say who you help, and list your first 100 buyers, each with their profile link and one thing they posted or did.
2. 2Every day: reach 100 buyers one to one: 20 comments, 15 connection requests, 50 messages to people you are connected to and 15 free messages to people outside your network, and follow up with everyone up to 3 times.
3. 3Every Sunday: count replies for every 100 of each kind, and after 2,800 move the time from the weakest kind to the strongest.

Get help doing these

ChatGPT or Claude reads this guide and works through it with you.

Do this with ChatGPT(opens in a new tab)Do this with Claude(opens in a new tab)

1. Fix your headline and Featured link before you send anything

Change your LinkedIn headline to say who you help and what you fix, and put one link in your Featured section, before you send a single request. Every person you contact will look at your profile first, and a headline like "Founder at [company]" tells them nothing.

Your headline sits next to your name on every connection request, comment and message. People decide in a second whether you are worth answering. Use the headline and Featured templates below, built from your ideal customer profile sentence and your value proposition.

Headline: I help [kind of buyer] [fix the problem / get the result] · Founder, [company]Featured: one link to the page where a buyer can try, book or ask for a quote.

Keep Connect as the main button on your profile, so buyers who see your comments can connect with you. You do not need to post every day to do outreach, but if you want buyers to come to you as well, posting twice a day works alongside this guide.

• Tool: LinkedIn (a free account), and ChatGPT or Claude to draft 5 headline options.
• Time: 30 minutes. The daily routine after this takes about 4 hours 30 minutes; if that is hard to find, cut product work first.
• You will have: a profile a buyer understands in 5 seconds, with one next step on it.
• It worked if: you show it to 5 people for 5 seconds, and at least 4 can say who you help.
• Common mistake: starting outreach with a profile that reads like a CV. Buyers check you, see a job title, and ignore the request.

2. Build a list of 100 buyers a day, with one true thing about each

Add 100 new people who fit your buyer to a Google Sheet every day, each with their LinkedIn profile link and one true thing about them: a post they wrote, a comment they left, a product they launched. You cannot send 100 personal messages a day without 100 names a day, about 3,000 a month.

Here is how your 100 a day splits, and why. LinkedIn limits connection requests to about 100 a week, so they can only be a small part. The rest goes to people LinkedIn already lets you message.

Start with the people you already know. Export your connections today: click Me, then Settings & Privacy, then Data privacy, then Get a copy of your data. Pick the larger archive that includes connections, click Request archive, and LinkedIn emails you a link. Mark every connection who fits your buyer, and add people you met at events and old colleagues. These are your first warm messages. At 50 a day, 300 connections who fit last about a week.

Then add 100 new names a day. Use the free lead list sources: company websites, directories, trade show exhibitor lists, Google. If you sell to a short list of big companies, list 3 to 5 people at each, as in account-based marketing. Two LinkedIn sources work best:

1. People who comment on posts your buyers read. They are active on LinkedIn and they care about the topic.
2. Members of the LinkedIn groups and online communities where your buyers talk.

Watch the search limit. On a free account, LinkedIn's "commercial use limit" stops you searching for profiles after a number of searches each month. Filtered People searches count toward it. Typing a person's name in the search box at the top of the page does not count, and neither does browsing your own connections. So build the names outside LinkedIn, then find each person by typing their name.

For each name, write down one true thing and whether their profile shows a free Message button (step 5). Paste 10 profiles at a time into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to pull out the most recent thing each person posted or did. You check each one.

If you run a D2C store: your shoppers are rarely on LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn buyers are shop owners and stockists, distributors, wholesale buyers and people who order corporate gifts. List them.

If you run an agency: list the founders of the kind of company you serve, not other marketers. Agency clients on LinkedIn come from your clients' world.

• Tool: Google Sheets, LinkedIn's data export, and ChatGPT or Claude. No paid tool.
• Time: about 1 hour a day for 100 names.
• You will have: a lead list that grows by 100 a day, about 3,000 a month, each row with a true thing.
• It worked if: you never stop sending for lack of names, and every row has a true thing in it.
• Common mistake: building the list inside LinkedIn's People search with filters, hitting the commercial use limit in a few days, and being locked out of search until the 1st of next month.

3. Comment on 20 buyers' posts a day before you ask to connect

Leave 20 thoughtful comments a day on posts by people on your list, then send them a connection request a day or two later. A blank request from someone they have seen twice gets accepted far more often than one from a stranger.

On a free account you can add a note to only 3 connection requests a month, so almost every request you send will be blank. The comment does the job the note used to do. A 2026 study by a LinkedIn tool maker, of 13.2 million requests, found that requests mentioning a real link to the person, such as a follow or a group you share, were accepted about twice as often as average or more.

Open the profiles of 20 people on your list, find their latest post, and write a comment of 2 to 4 sentences:

[Agree or disagree with one point, and say why in one line.][One fact, number or example from your own work.][One question back to the writer.]

Write every comment yourself. Since February 2026, LinkedIn hides comments posted by scripts and browser plugins without a person checking them, and may restrict accounts that keep doing it. AI can help you find the post and remind you what you know, then you write. If someone replies to your comment, answer them, and message them that day (step 5).

• Tool: LinkedIn, and your Google Sheet to mark who you commented on.
• Time: about 1 hour a day, 3 minutes a comment.
• You will have: 140 comments a week, 560 after 4 weeks, each on a buyer's post.
• It worked if: at least 1 in 4 people you commented on accept your request later, and at least 5 people a day reply to your comments.
• Common mistake: "Great post!", or a comment that pitches your product. Nobody clicks on the name behind it.

4. Send 15 connection requests a day, and withdraw the ones left waiting

Send 15 connection requests a day, only to people on your list who have seen your comment or reacted to something of yours. That is 105 a week, which keeps you at LinkedIn's limit of about 100 a week without going far over it.

The limit. LinkedIn limits how many connection requests you can send each week. It does not publish the number. Reports from 2026 put it at about 100 a week on every plan, so Premium and Sales Navigator do not raise it. LinkedIn also restricts you when many requests are ignored, left waiting or marked as spam, and when it suspects a tool. A restriction usually lasts about a week, and LinkedIn will not lift it on request.

How to send one. Open the profile and click Connect. Most days, send it without a note. Keep your 3 notes a month for the people who matter most, and say in the note what links you, such as their post or a group you share:

Hi [first name], I enjoyed your post on [topic] and left a comment about [one thing]. I [what you do] for [kind of company]. Happy to connect.

Withdraw old requests every Sunday. Click My Network, then Manage next to Invitations, then the Sent tab, then Withdraw next to each request older than 3 weeks. There is no bulk button. A long list of waiting requests counts against you, and you cannot invite the same person again for up to 3 weeks after you withdraw.

Do not use a tool that sends requests or messages for you. LinkedIn's rules ban software, bots and browser extensions that automate activity on the site, and it restricts or shuts down accounts that use them. Your account is how you reach every buyer here, so it is not worth the risk.

• Tool: LinkedIn (a free account).
• Time: 15 minutes a day, and 10 minutes each Sunday to withdraw.
• You will have: 105 requests a week, and about 25 new connections who fit your buyer.
• It worked if: at least 1 in 4 requests is accepted, and LinkedIn never shows you the invitation limit message.
• Common mistake: 50 blank requests a day to strangers. Most are ignored, LinkedIn blocks you for a week, and the 100 a day stops.

5. Send 50 messages to connections and 15 free messages to people outside your network

Every day, send 50 short first messages to people you are connected to who fit your buyer, and 15 free messages to people outside your network who allow them. Each message says one true thing about them and asks one question. No pitch, no link.

Who gets the 50. Work down this order every day: everyone who replied to your comments or reacted to your posts; everyone who accepted a request (message them within a day); then your existing connections who fit, from step 2. LinkedIn lets you message your connections for free.

Who gets the 15. Two kinds of people outside your network can get a free message:

1. Open profiles. Some Premium members turn on "Open Profile", which lets anyone message them for free. Open their profile: if it shows a Message button and clicking it does not ask you for InMail, you can send it.
2. People in the same LinkedIn group. LinkedIn lets you send a message request to members of a group you have both joined. Join the groups where your buyers talk.

You will not find 15 open profiles every day at first. Mark them in your sheet in step 2, and when you are short, send the rest of the 15 to connections.

What to write. Under 200 characters. The same 2026 study found messages of about 150 to 200 characters got the most replies, and requests written by people were accepted more often than AI-written ones. Paste 10 people at a time into ChatGPT or Claude, each with their true thing, and the template below. AI drafts; you make it true. Read each draft, rewrite the first line so it is true and in your voice, and send it yourself. That is about 1 minute 30 seconds a message.

Hi [first name], [one true line: their post, their comment, their launch].Quick question: how do you handle [the problem] at [their company] today?[Only when they answer and it fits:] I [what you do] for [kind of company]. Would [one small next step] help?

When someone answers and the problem is real for them, offer one small next step: a 15-minute call, a sample or a short review. Log every message in your sheet, or in a CRM once the sheet gets slow.

When your connections run out. Most founders run out of connections who fit within 1 to 2 weeks, and new connections come in at about 4 a day. Do not lower the 100. Find the email address of each decision-maker on your list and send the rest as cold emails, from a warmed-up second domain once you send more than about 50 a day. For the smallest companies, a phone call counts as one of the 100.

If you run a SaaS: offer to set up their free trial with them on a 15-minute call. People who start with you are more likely to use it.

If you run a B2B company: offer a free sample or a quick check of their current supplier's price. If you consult, offer a fixed-price first project.

If you run an agency: offer a 5-point review of one thing, such as their last 10 posts or their homepage, then book a call about it. It works without case studies.

• Tool: LinkedIn messages, your Google Sheet, and ChatGPT or Claude to draft.
• Time: about 1 hour 40 minutes a day for 65 messages.
• You will have: 455 first messages a week, each logged with who it went to and the true thing in it.
• It worked if: you get at least 3 conversations from every 100 messages, and by week 2 at least 1 call from every 100. Below 3 per 100, a low reply rate, rewrite the first line so it is more about them.
• Common mistake: a pitch and a calendar link in the first message, the moment someone accepts. It reads like every automated message in their inbox, and they stop reading.

6. Follow up with everyone up to 3 times, then book the call

Follow up with every person who has not replied, up to 3 times: on day 3, day 7 and day 14 after your first message. Each follow-up adds one new thing. Stop the moment someone says no.

Follow-ups bring replies from people who were busy or forgot the first message. They work the same way as cold email follow-ups. On LinkedIn, use these three:

Day 3: Hi [first name], one more thought on [the problem]: [one useful fact or tip, one line]. Is that something you deal with?Day 7: [A voice note under 1 minute, or:] I wrote down how [kind of company] handle [the problem]: [the tip, in two lines]. Happy to share more if useful.Day 14: Hi [first name], I won't keep writing. If [the problem] comes up later, I'm here. Good luck with [their latest thing].

For people you are connected to, the day-7 follow-up can be a voice message. Open the conversation in the LinkedIn mobile app, then hold the Microphone icon and talk for up to 1 minute. A real voice is hard to mistake for a tool.

When someone says yes, book the call within one day and run it as a conversation about their problem, with the questions from customer interviews. If they want to see the product, show a short demo. If they want a price, send a short proposal the same day.

• Tool: LinkedIn (and its mobile app for voice notes), and your sheet, with a follow-up date on every row.
• Time: about 30 minutes a day, plus the calls.
• You will have: every person followed up up to 3 times, and every call booked within one day of a yes.
• It worked if: no one gets a 4th message, no one who said no gets another, and every call in your calendar traces back to a row in your sheet.
• Common mistake: "Just bumping this up" with nothing new. It tells them you have nothing to say.

7. Count replies every Sunday and move your time to what works

Every Sunday, fill in one row of a sheet with how many of each kind you sent and how many replies and calls each kind brought. After 2,800 one-to-one messages, about 4 weeks, move time from the kind that brings the fewest replies to the one that brings the most.

Count conversations, not connections. Ask every new client "How did you hear about us?", and tag the links you send in messages with UTM parameters, so you can track which channel brought each deal.

Week | Comments | Requests sent | Accepted | Messages to connections | Free messages | Emails (overflow) | Replies | Calls | New clients

The rules, after 2,800 messages:

• Fewer than 1 in 5 requests accepted: fix your headline (step 1), and only send requests to people you commented on first.
• Fewer than 3 replies per 100 messages: rewrite the first line of your message. Make it about them, and shorter.
• A kind that brought 0 conversations: stop it and give its time to the kind with the most. Requests stay at 15 a day because of LinkedIn's limit, so extra time goes to messages, comments or email.
• Replies but no calls: the small next step is too big. Offer something smaller, like a sample or a 5-point review.

Every 4 weeks, do a wider monthly marketing review, and decide whether to add another channel. Leave LinkedIn ads and Sales Navigator until your messages already bring calls. When a conversation becomes a client, ask for a testimonial and put it in your Featured section.

• Tool: Google Sheets.
• Time: 30 minutes each Sunday.
• You will have: one row a week, and a clear answer on which kind of message starts conversations.
• It worked if: you can name the comment, request or message behind every call you had.
• Common mistake: judging LinkedIn after 50 messages, or by how many people accepted. Accepted requests that never turn into a conversation are worth nothing.

Your LinkedIn outreach checklist for the next 4 weeks

0 of 12 done

Work through this list with an AI assistant

It drafts the work and keeps track of what is done.

Do this with ChatGPT(opens in a new tab)Do this with Claude(opens in a new tab)

Step 1 · Fix your headline and Featured link

• Rewrite your headline to say who you help and add one Featured link.

Step 2 · Build a list of 100 buyers a day

• Export your LinkedIn connections and mark everyone who fits your buyer.
• Every dayAdd 100 new buyers to your sheet, each with one true thing about them.

Step 3 · Comment on 20 buyers' posts a day

• Every dayWrite 20 comments on posts by people on your list.

Step 4 · Send 15 connection requests a day

• Every daySend 15 connection requests to people who have seen your comments.
• Every SundayWithdraw every connection request that has waited more than 3 weeks.

Step 5 · Send 50 messages to connections and 15 free messages

• Every daySend 50 first messages to people you are connected to.
• Every daySend 15 free messages to people outside your network who allow them.
• Every daySend the rest of your 100 by email or phone once your connections run out.

Step 6 · Follow up up to 3 times

• Every dayFollow up with everyone due today, each time with one new thing, and book a call for every yes.

Step 7 · Count replies every Sunday

• Every SundayFill in one row of the Sunday sheet.
• After 2,800 messagesMove time from the kind with the fewest conversations to the kind with the most.

Copy listDownloadReset