The playbook
How to get leads on LinkedIn with a small account.
You do not need followers. You need four moves, in order. Comment. Reply. Connect. DM.
What these four moves did for me
97
comments in two weeks
37
people who replied
25
conversations in my pipeline
More than one reply for every three comments, from an account most people have never heard of. Every number comes straight from my own account.
Why a small account is not the problem
The advice you hear is “post every day and build an audience.” That takes a year, and most of the audience you build will never buy anything.
A small account does not need an audience. It can borrow one. Every time you comment on a post, your name sits in front of that person and everyone who follows them. And people who follow a CFO tend to look a lot like a CFO.
The comment gets you seen. The reply, the connection and the DM turn being seen into a lead. Four moves, in order. Skip one and the chain breaks.
Move 01
Comment
Show up on your buyers' posts with something useful. Five a day.
Move 02
Reply
When they answer, keep the thread alive. Same day.
Move 03
Connect
Send the request while they still remember your name.
Move 04
DM
Move the conversation off the post. No pitch in the first message.
Move 01
Comment
Fifteen minutes a day. Five comments. This is the move that makes the other three possible, so it gets the most detail.
Build your list once (20 minutes)
You need 20 to 40 people whose posts you will watch. Not influencers. People who could buy from you, or who are followed by people who could.
01
Past and current clients
Their posts put you in front of their peers, who look a lot like them.
02
Prospects who went quiet
A comment is a no-pressure way back into the conversation.
03
Referral partners
The people who already send you work. Keep showing up for them.
04
Three to five dream accounts
The ones you would love to land. Start being useful to them now.
05
Fill the rest by topic, not job title
Search the topic your buyers talk about and see who is posting. Titles lie. One search with a job-title filter found 9 posts. Without it, 481.
Save the list somewhere you will open every day. A note on your phone works. So does a spreadsheet.
Every morning, pick five posts (7 minutes)
Go down your list and look for posts from the last 24 hours. Most days, five to ten people will have posted. Pick five using these rules.
Comment when
- The author is someone you could sell to, or is followed by people you could sell to.
- The post is fresh, under a day old.
- The post is about their work: a problem, a lesson, a win.
- You have something real to add.
Skip when
- It is a job listing.
- It is political.
- It is personal. A loss, a memorial, a family moment. Do not bring business there.
- All you have is “Great post!”
Write the comment (8 minutes for all five)
About 90 seconds each. Three parts: point at something specific in their post, add something of your own (a number, a short story, a different angle), and end with a question they would actually want to answer.
Good
“The ‘one shared checklist’ line is the whole post. We cut our onboarding from 6 weeks to 10 days the same way, and the hard part was getting sales to use it. Who owns the checklist on your side?”
Not good
“Great insights! Consistency is key. Thanks for sharing.”
Rules for the comment
- Never pitch in a comment. Not once. The comment earns the reply; the reply earns the rest.
- Two to four sentences. Sound like you talk.
- Five good comments beat fifty sprayed everywhere.
- Do not comment on the same person more than twice a week.
Move 02
Reply
Someone answered your comment. This is the moment most people waste. A reply is a real person choosing to talk to you. Treat it like one.
They replied with a question
“Good question. Short answer: [one line]. The longer answer depends on [one thing about their situation]. Which side of that are you on?”
They replied with a thank you
“Anytime. Curious, how long have you been working on [the thing from their post]? Feels like you're further along than most.”
- Reply the same day. A reply tomorrow is a reply to a dead thread.
- Answer their question, then ask one back. Keep the ball in their court.
- Two or three exchanges is plenty. After that, the thread has done its job.
- Look at who else replied on that post. Those people saw you too.
Move 03
Connect
Once you have traded a reply or two, send the connection request. You are not a stranger anymore. The acceptance rate on these is nothing like a cold request.
To the author
“Enjoyed the back-and-forth on your post about [topic]. Would like to keep seeing what you're working on.”
To someone else in the thread
“Saw your reply on [author]'s post about [topic]. You and I seem to be chewing on the same problem. Figured I'd connect.”
- Always add a note. A blank request from a stranger gets ignored.
- Mention the post. It is the one thing you have in common.
- Send 5 to 10 a day. Enough to grow, not enough to look like a bot.
- Also connect with people who replied to the same post. You already share a thread.
Move 04
DM
Now move the conversation off the post. This is where leads come from, and it only works because of the three moves before it.
First DM, a day after they accept
“Thanks for connecting. Your post about [topic] stuck with me. Quick one: is [the problem they described] still the thing, or did you solve it?”
Second DM, after they reply
“That makes sense. We ran into the same wall with [kind of client] and the fix was [one line]. Happy to tell you how it went if it's useful.”
The ask, after two replies
“Want to grab 20 minutes this week? I'll walk you through what we did, you tell me if any of it fits. If not, no harm done.”
- Wait a day after they accept. A DM the same second feels like a trap.
- No pitch in the first message. Not a link, not a deck, not a calendar.
- Ask about them. The thing they posted about is the easiest opener you will ever get.
- Offer the call only after they have replied twice. Then make it easy to say yes.
The Friday check · 5 minutes
Comments left?
Aim for 25 a week.
People who replied?
One in five is good. One in four is great.
Requests accepted?
Half or better means your notes are working.
DMs that got a reply?
This is your pipeline. Count it.
The whole playbook on one line
Comment on five posts a day. Reply the same day. Connect with a note. DM without a pitch.
Want Allen to do Move 1 for you?
Allen finds posts from the people you sell to, picks the ones worth it, writes the comment in your voice, and posts it from your account every morning. Then it tells you who replied, so you can do Moves 2, 3 and 4.