Cold outreach is getting harder. People get hundreds of connection requests and cold messages. But when prospects see your thoughtful comments before you reach out, they're much more likely to respond.
This guide explains how to warm up prospects through LinkedIn engagement before starting your outreach sequence.
Expected results:
40% reply rates on outreach sequences (vs 5-10% industry average)
~20% of prospects start conversations themselves (before your first DM)
70% connection request acceptance rates (vs 30%-50% industry average)
More meaningful first conversations
The workflow
1. Prepare your prospect list
Start with a batch of 100-200 prospects you plan to reach out to. Upload their LinkedIn URLs into a new list in Extrovert.
Name your list based on timing (e.g. "March Batch 1") - this helps track when to start outreach.
You might want to add other roles from target accounts - people read their team's posts. E.g. include senior executives (CEOs, CxOs) even if you don't plan to reach out to them directly
Focus on active LinkedIn users - use "Posted on LinkedIn" filter in Sales Navigator
2. Make initial touchpoints
Goal: Comment on every prospect in your list. Sweet spot is 2 comments per prospect, but you can do 1 or go for more if it makes sense.
Keep the list small (100-200 prospects) - this makes it much easier to track and complete initial comments for everyone.
You can sort the feed by Prospect name. That way you will see several posts coming from each prospect and will be able to choose which ones you want to engage with
☝️ Pro tip: Turn on delayed posting (Campaign → Settings and sharing → Delay between comments) to space out your comments naturally over several days
3. Warm up stage (3 days to several weeks)
Keep commenting on prospects' posts. Use these filters to stay organized:
Last comment time to make consistent weekly touchpoints
Prospect list to focus on specific list
Post category to focus on relevant content
It's better to sort by Time posted now
Sweet spot is weekly touchpoints - this keeps you visible without being too pushy. Check engagement metrics for every prospect in the post card.
4. Send connection requests
After warming up period, start sending connection requests to engaged prospects.
5. Strategic delay (2-5 days)
After prospects accept your connection, wait before sending your first message. This delay is important:
Creates space for them to message first, before your first DM (about 20% do)
Makes the whole process feel more natural
Gives prospects time to see your content in their feed. If you're posting content, make this delay longer (4-5 days) to give prospects time to see your posts (many don't check LinkedIn daily).
6. Start outreach
For prospects who haven't messaged first:
Begin your outreach sequence
Keep commenting during the entire sequence
Whatever outreach sequence you use - 2 weeks or 2 months - keep commenting during this time. Your sequence and comments work together: prospects see your messages in DMs and your thoughtful engagement on their posts.
7. Move warm prospects to permanent lists
When prospects respond positively, move them to permanent lists in Extrovert. This is crucial for long-term relationship building. Create separate lists for:
Hot opportunities (weekly touchpoints)
Longer-term prospects (bi-weekly)
Current customers (monthly)
Partners & champions (as needed)
Each list gets its own engagement schedule. This way you can focus more time on hot opportunities while keeping other relationships warm.
8. Clean up completed batches
After your sequence ends (usually 30 days), clean up your prospects:
Just delete the initial list as a whole
Everybody who replied had been moved to a permanent list before
It's important to make room for new prospect batches
Combining it with manual or automated outreach
With manual outreach:
You can use Extrovert as your main prospecting tool:
Comment on prospect posts
Wait for them to engage back
When they like or reply to comments - send a personalized DM referencing their posts
Keep nurturing with comments during conversations
With outreach tools:
Complete warm up stage in Extrovert
Export the prospect list as CSV
Import to your sequence tool
Start your normal sequence, continue nurturing in parallel
Move everybody who replied to permanent lists
When the sequence ends, delete the initial list from Extrovert to clean up
Combine with posting for better results
Comments work even better when combined with your own content:
LinkedIn shows your posts to prospects who like your comments.
It's a perfect way to target your content to your prospects
Constant commenting makes it more likely that your posts will not fade out from your prospects' feeds
Some prospects can come back themselves weeks or months after the sequence has ended
Comments help you be top of mind, posts help you explain your narrative, and DMs are a final push. That way DMs + Comments + Posts amplify each other