LinkedIn Prospecting: Find, Connect With, and Convert Prospects (5 Methods)

LinkedIn prospecting is now a core channel for selling products and services. More and more professionals are turning to LinkedIn to generate leads, start conversations, and close deals. 👀

The problem?
Most people still don’t know how to use LinkedIn effectively. They rely on outdated tactics, generic messages, or approaches that simply don’t work.

Prospecting plays a key role in any marketing and sales strategy. And when it comes to prospecting on LinkedIn, success depends less on volume and more on using the right approach, at the right time, with the right tools. 🔨

In this guide, we’ll break down: 👇🏼

• How LinkedIn prospecting actually works today.
• Which approaches help you connect with the right prospects?
• And how to turn LinkedIn into a real client acquisition channel.

How to prospect on LinkedIn?

For many people, LinkedIn is still closely associated with recruitment.
And while that’s true, it’s far from being its only use. 👀

LinkedIn is first and foremost a professional network, with nearly 1 billion users worldwide. Each of these users shares valuable information: job title, industry, experience, location, education, company size, and more.

In other words, LinkedIn offers a massive amount of contextual, professional data, data that goes far beyond hiring.

LinkedIn’s premium plans and sales features aren’t designed exclusively for recruitment. They are just as relevant for sales professionals looking to: 👇🏼

• Identify qualified prospects.
• Understand their context before reaching out.
• Build more relevant, personalized conversations.

And despite what some people still believe, using LinkedIn for business development is not a workaround—it’s exactly how the platform is meant to be used.

According to LinkedIn itself, the platform supports goals such as: ⤵️

• Finding new customers.
• Promoting a brand or personal branding.
• Distributing content.
• Nurturing relationships.
• Building personal credibility.

Traditionally, when companies wanted to prospect or share content with potential customers, they relied on a familiar channel: email. 📨

But LinkedIn has changed how prospecting works, and in the next sections, we’ll see why.

What is LinkedIn Prospecting?

In simple terms, a prospect is a potential customer for your business.
In the context of LinkedIn prospecting, a prospect is the person your sales efforts are focused on—someone you are actively trying to reach, engage, and convert. 🔄

On LinkedIn, prospecting is not about reaching as many people as possible.
It’s about identifying the right profiles, people who are already close to your ideal customer profile and are more likely to engage with your offer. 💪🏼

That’s why LinkedIn prospects represent a real business opportunity: they’re not random contacts, but targeted individuals who only need the right approach to move forward. 😇

LinkedIn Sales Prospecting Email VS Message

1. LinkedIn Prospecting via Email

Email is often the first channel people think about when it comes to prospecting.
And for one simple reason: you need email addresses if you want to distribute high value-added to make it work.

When you’re sharing content with an existing audience, this usually isn’t an issue; you already have their email.
But when it comes to reaching new prospects, that’s where things get complicated.

There’s another problem.
After more than two decades of heavy use, email prospecting has lost much of its impact; Inbox fatigue is real.

Between newsletters, automated follow-ups, and generic sales emails, most messages are skimmed or ignored entirely. 💬
Receiving yet another “game-changing offer” or a generic sales pitch rarely grabs attention anymore.

And that’s where LinkedIn prospecting starts to make a real difference. 🤔

2. LinkedIn prospecting email or message

LinkedIn prospecting solves many of the limitations of email outreach.

Instead of private email addresses, sales teams reach prospects through public LinkedIn profiles, using connection requests or InMail messages.

LinkedIn messages also get higher open and response rates than emails because they feel more personal. 😇

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s move on to the foundations of an effective LinkedIn prospecting strategy.

Use an Automation Tool for your LinkedIn Prospecting Strategy

If you want to scale your LinkedIn prospecting while keeping a high level of personalization, automation becomes essential.

That’s where a LinkedIn prospecting tool like Waalaxy comes in. 👽

Let’s take a closer look.

1) Target people who comment on posts

A technique well known to seasoned marketers and LinkedIn prospecting sales, the «Lead Magnet» has the dual function of increasing the reach of your LinkedIn publication while bringing you a number of qualified leads.

The principle is simple: you publish a LinkedIn post in which you promise access to quality content (usually a high value-added article, or even a White Paper) if the person likes and/or comments on your post. ✨

Your post will get more visibility thanks to the sales engagement generated by people liking and commenting on your post, and every person with access to your content will become a qualified lead.

“Okay, that’s all well and good, but if 250 people like my posts, I’m going to spend hours contacting them by hand!”

Well, no! 😅

2) Target people who comment on someone else’s post

See the idea?
The same LinkedIn prospecting approach can also be used to target highly qualified leads, even if the content wasn’t originally created for them.

The logic stays the same: you can automatically export these profiles and reach out using a “connection request + message and follow-up sequence.”

With Waalaxy, you can target people who comment on other users’ posts using LinkedIn automation. 👽

Start by finding a post your ideal audience is engaging with. Then use Waalaxy’s Post Commenters feature to extract the list and launch an automated outreach campaign with personalized messages.

This approach helps you turn engaged profiles into leads—while staying within LinkedIn’s limits.

3) Target your competitors’ users

Another effective about prospecting on LinkedIn is to target users from competitor communities, especially on Facebook. 🔵

This approach doesn’t apply to every business, but when competitors actively run Facebook groups, it can be very effective.

LinkedIn groups can help target people with shared interests. Facebook groups often go one step further, as they are frequently used to manage highly engaged user communities. 💬

In this case, Waalaxy can extract members from a competitor’s Facebook group and reach out to them on LinkedIn using an automated connection request and message sequence.

4) Target subscribers to a LinkedIn page

Targeting people who follow a LinkedIn page can be just as effective.

In this case, there’s no need for third-party tools—everything can be done directly with Waalaxy in just a few minutes. ⏱️

That said, not everyone who follows a competitor’s company page is necessarily a user or customer.
Unlike LinkedIn groups, page followers can’t be validated based on membership or usage.

That said, this LinkedIn prospecting approach remains highly effective. 👀

Even if these people are not active users of a competitor’s product, they’ve still shown interest in a competing solution, which often indicates a real underlying need.

5) Use multichannel to Follow up your prospects on all channels

To maximize your conversion rates, the best strategy is to contact prospects via multiple channels. Multiplying the points of contact means increasing the chances of getting a response from your prospect.

Start with a classic scenario on LinkedIn (connection request + message), then you follow up intelligently by sending an e-mail if your prospect hasn’t responded. 👀

This is where Waalaxy makes all the difference. Not only does it automate the whole prospecting process, but it also offers you the best enrichment rates on the market. 📊

Thanks to Waalaxy, you’ll never run out of data on your prospects again:

• +60% of professional e-mails were found on average.
• 15 data sources in 1 (we directly integrate the best LinkedIn scraping tools on the market, such as Dropcontact, Bettercontact, FullEnrich…).
• <1% bounce rate thanks to triple verification.

With Waalaxy, e-mail searches are ultra-simple and secure:

• 1 click from a LinkedIn profile, from your Waalaxy lists or campaigns.

• Import from standard search, Sales Navigator, Recruiter Lite or via CSV.
• Instant access to over 500M profiles (100% GDPR & CCPA).
• Export to HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and 2000+ apps via Zapier/Make.

👉 Result: optimized multi-channel prospecting, reliable data, higher conversion rates and huge time savings compared to manual research.

All the ways to enrich your database are detailed in our special database enrichment e-book, available on the Waalaxy blog. 🚀

How to find prospects on LinkedIn? The 5 Methods

To find prospects on LinkedIn, here are a few tips. ⏬

#1 Find your personas

A buyer persona defines your target audience—your ideal customer.

This is the first step in any LinkedIn prospecting or marketing strategy and one of the most important. Everything that follows depends on it. 👀

If your persona is off, the rest won’t work.

That’s why it’s worth taking a few minutes to clearly define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) before launching any campaign. ⏱️

To build an effective buyer persona, you need to ask the right questions about the people you want to target. The goal is to clearly understand who they are, what they care about, and what problems they’re trying to solve.

Here’s a simple step-by-step framework you can use:

• Demographic data ⭢ start with basic information that helps you identify your target (role, industry, location, company size, etc.).
• Context and goals ⭢ understand what your audience wants to achieve, whether those goals are professional or personal.
• Motivations and frustrations ⭢ identify the pain points your solution can address and what drives decision-making.

Precision matters here.
You can’t target everyone—but by clearly defining your personas, you can focus your LinkedIn prospecting on the customers who are most likely to convert.

This is a basic rule of prospecting. You can’t target everyone. You should always start by targeting a niche and then eventually expand that niche as you grow your business. 📈

#2 Filter your prospects on LinkedIn Sales Navigator

It’s time to start finding customers. 😎

I’d rather tell you now, we’re only going to deal here with the targeting enabled by LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The standard LinkedIn boolean search function is far too limited for LinkedIn prospecting (yes, LinkedIn needs to do business too).

If you’re just starting out and can’t yet afford a Sales Navigator subscription, rest assured, we’ve thought of everything with an article on how to use Sales Navigator without paying for it? 🤑

1) Not using relevant keywords

One of the first mistakes to avoid in LinkedIn prospecting is relying too heavily on keywords.

When you run a keyword search on LinkedIn, the platform scans the entire profile for that term. As a result, you can end up with matches that have little to do with what you’re actually looking for.

For example, searching for “marketing” may surface profiles of people who studied marketing years ago, but now work in a completely different role or industry. 👀

2) Don’t exceed 2500 search results

We can’t stress this enough, but there’s no point in conducting LinkedIn searches that return more than 2,500 results, for two reasons: 👇🏼

• 1️⃣ LinkedIn only returns the first 100 results, and each page contains 25 profiles. So, no matter what, a maximum of 2,500 profiles are displayed.
• 2️⃣ The larger your result, the less you can personalize, and the less you personalize your LinkedIn prospecting, the more your conversion rates suffer.

If you had to choose just one filter to find the right contact, this would be it. Generally speaking, it’s the LinkedIn filter on which you’ll base your search for prospects (but not necessarily).

3) Use Sales Navigator’s advanced search functions

Once you’ve validated your settings, using LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows you to perform yet another layer of filtering based on your search. 🔍 This can be fascinating, depending on what you’re offering.

Once the filtering is complete, export the contacts to Waalaxy to find their data and fine-tune your prospecting on LinkedIn approach.

#3 Take care of your LinkedIn prospecting copy

Once you’ve built a solid list of prospects, that’s a good start.
But on its own, it’s not enough. What really makes the difference is how you communicate with them.

This is where copywriting comes into play—the ability to persuade and sell through clear, written messages.

Effective LinkedIn prospecting isn’t just about reaching out. It’s about using the right structure and the right wording to start a conversation that feels relevant and natural.

Without a clear message, even the best targeting won’t deliver results. 🦋

1) Send an invitation without a note to develop your network

A connection request without a note often gets a higher acceptance rate—especially when notes are poorly written, too long, or overly sales-driven.

This is a common rule in LinkedIn marketing: a bad note can turn a prospect off before the conversation even starts.

2) The hook of the LinkedIn prospecting message

The hook, as its name suggests, comes first in your communication. It’s a short sentence that should arouse your interlocutor‘s curiosity. 🧐

This sentence should make your interlocutor want to continue reading your message. The « question » format generally works quite well.

Pay particular attention to this sentence. You’d be surprised how quickly we analyze an exchange and how eager we are to find out more.

A few seconds are enough to determine whether we continue reading your LinkedIn prospecting message. ⏱️

The better you segment your prospects, the easier it will be to find an effective catchphrase.

3) Clear value proposition

You need to be able to explain in one or two sentences how you or your product solves the problem or question raised in your teaser.

4) Clear call-to-action (CTA)

Finally, this call to action gives your prospect the opportunity to go further. At this point, you’ve convinced your prospect of the merits of your approach. 🧲

He knows just enough to be interested but needs further information.

5) Follow up at the right time

Many prospects won’t accept or reply to your first message—and that’s completely normal. Follow-ups are a key part of any effective prospecting strategy. 💭

Ideally, plan one or two follow-ups, spaced a few days apart. Keep them short, personalized, and focused on the value you bring.

You can vary the angle by sharing a relevant resource, asking a simple question, or restating your offer in a different way. 👀

When done right, follow-ups increase your visibility and significantly improve your chances of starting a qualified conversation.

#4 Optimize your performance with A/B testing

A/B testing means comparing two different hypotheses by splitting your test volume into two groups:
one version A and one version B.

You then analyze the results, compare performance, and keep the approach that performs best. This process can be repeated multiple times to continuously improve results.

Over time, this helps you refine your messaging and stick to the communication style that delivers the strongest results. 💟

How do I set up A/B testing in a Waalaxy campaign?

Setting up A/B testing on your LinkedIn approaches is very simple. With a tool like Waalaxy, all you have to do is create two different teasers and split your campaign in two.

You then send your first message to one half of your Waalaxy campaign and your second message to the other half.

Once your LinkedIn prospecting campaign is over, you analyze 🔎 the results directly using our integrated dashboard and keep the best-performing message for the rest of the campaign.

#5. Bonus Step: Optimize your LinkedIn profile

Just as you need to be clear about whom you want to target, you also need to be clear about who you are and what you can contribute.

Your target’s first reflex when reading your note or message will be to visit your profile to find out more about you and your value proposition. So there are many rules to follow so your LinkedIn profile is optimized. 📄

1) Have an explicit LinkedIn headline

Having a LinkedIn title means telling your target audience what you do in a few words: “I teach you how to sell on LinkedIn.” It means attracting potential customers without making any LinkedIn prospecting efforts to prospect.

Don’t forget to mention the company you work for, “Head of Customer Experience @Waalaxy.”

Forget long, pompous titles that mean nothing. 🙈

2) Have a professional profile photo

It’s surprising how many people prospect on LinkedIn with low-quality profile photos that don’t reflect their professionalism. 🌚

You don’t need to look like a model to make a good impression. A clean, well-lit photo goes a long way—and basic retouching can make a real difference.

First impressions matter because people rely on mental shortcuts. One of them is the halo effect: we tend to associate positive traits like competence or credibility with people who present themselves well.

Investing in a professional photo shoot for yourself or your sales team is rarely a bad decision.
It’s a small investment that can significantly improve how prospects perceive you.

3) Use your Cover Photo to showcase what you do

LinkedIn lets you add a LinkedIn banner to the background of your profile. It’s essential to use it in your prospecting on LinkedIn to add a more visual aspect to your otherwise drab profile.

It’s worth spending a little time working on your image or having it done if you don’t have the skills.

4) Take advantage of the LinkedIn summary to prospect

Your job title should stay concise, but the summary section is where you can say more about what you do, your background, and what led you to where you are today.

This is the right place to use storytelling to capture attention. And attention matters—because once people are interested, they’re more likely to engage with you.

That’s exactly the principle behind Inbound Marketing: attracting prospects who don’t know you yet by sharing relevant content and gradually turning that attention into trust—and then into customers.

5) Highlight your LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn allows you to highlight a number of elements on your profile. This could be your site, but also past publications or even articles.

Use this section to highlight your LinkedIn content and prospecting channels to give your visitors the opportunity to feed their curiosity when they visit your profile. 🤔

If you have a French profile and an English one, LinkedIn users will automatically redirect those who don’t speak French to your English profile and make it easier for you to make your first contact with it.

6) Expand your LinkedIn network

An optimized profile won’t do much if your network isn’t active and relevant. The goal isn’t to collect hundreds of random connections—it’s to connect with the right people: potential leads, customers, partners, influencers, or industry experts. 💬

Send connection requests regularly (often without a note) and accept requests that strengthen the quality and consistency of your LinkedIn audience. The more relevant your network is, the more reach and impact your content can generate.

Make it a habit to engage with your connections by liking, commenting, and sharing. That relationship-building is what turns your network into a real source of opportunities. 📑

LinkedIn Prospecting Tips & LinkedIn Message Template

So, how many prospecting on LinkedIn messages does it take to get a conversion? 😏

Now that you’ve set the foundations, let’s move on to what matters most: the tools and messages that actually work. 👇

Automated Scenario with the Best LinkedIn Prospecting Tool

Everything we’ve seen so far involves several repetitive tasks that couldn’t be automated. Let’s move on to the most interesting part: LinkedIn prospecting automation.

We’ve noted that the two ways to get in touch with an individual on LinkedIn were either to send a LinkedIn connection request or to send a message.

What if I told you that you could automate the sequence of these two actions? 🤯

This is what the prospecting on LinkedIn features of Waalaxy campaigns offer.

In fact, this feature allows you to link a series of LinkedIn and email prospecting actions together, including requests, adds and messages.

The principle is simple:

• 1️⃣ You choose the number of reminders you want to send,
• 2️⃣ You write the content of your approaches; you can use personalized variables,
• 3️⃣ Send your sales campaigns.

Your activities are then carried out automatically, without you having to lift a finger.

And why am I telling you all this? Simply because, by making one or even two follow-ups after your request to add a contact, you multiply your conversions.

How to approach a prospect on LinkedIn? 15 LinkedIn Prospecting Messages Examples

Here are a few LinkedIn prospecting message examples that work well. 🫶

If you want more, check out our additional templates you can use in your LinkedIn outreach campaigns.

1. Member of the same Group

Hi {{firstName}}, I noticed we’re both in the {{groupName}} group. I’d love to connect and exchange insights.

2. Posts with a Hashtag

Hi {{firstName}}, I really enjoyed your post on {{hashtag}}. What’s your take on the {{trendName}} trend?

3. Wrote a comment on Posts

Hi {{firstName}}, I saw your comment on this post ({{postLink}}) and really liked your perspective. I’d love to connect.

4. Industry leader

Hi {{firstName}}, I came across your profile while searching for leaders at {{companyName}}, and you stood out right away. I’d love to learn more about your background and what you’re currently working on.
Looking forward to connecting!

5. Connection in common

Hi {{firstName}}, your profile popped up in my feed because we have a few connections in common, and what you’re doing at {{companyName}} caught my attention. I’d love to connect and follow your work more closely.

6. Visited your profile

Hi {{firstName}}, LinkedIn showed me you visited my profile—thanks for stopping by. Was there something specific you were looking for? Happy to connect and chat.

7. Expand your network in a specific region

Hi {{firstName}}, I work in the {{industry}} space, and I’m trying to better understand the challenges around this topic in {{region}}. I’d love to connect and get your perspective.

8. Similar ecosystem with a touch of humor

Hey {{firstName}} — looks like we’ve got a lot of mutual connections, and LinkedIn keeps putting you in the “top prospecting people” category. I’ll be honest: I sent this request so my network looks cooler… but in your case, I’m pretty sure it’s actually deserved 😉
Would love to connect!

9. Find a mentor

Hi {{firstName}}, I’m starting a new project, and I’m looking to learn from people who are strong at LinkedIn prospecting. If you’re open to it, I’d love to connect and learn from your experience.

10. News of your Industry

Hi {{firstName}}, as a leader, I’d love to get your perspective on how {{newsTopic}} is impacting your company. Has it changed anything for your business so far?

11. LinkedIn suggestion

Hi {{firstName}}, LinkedIn suggested your profile, and I’m glad it did. I took a quick look, and I’d love to connect and learn more about what you do.

12. Change of posts

Hi {{firstName}}, I noticed you recently changed roles—congrats! What’s the biggest new challenge you’re tackling in your new position?

13. People who follow your company

Hi {{firstName}}, I noticed you follow {{companyName}} on LinkedIn—thanks for the support. I’d love to connect and share a few updates we’ve been working on.

14. Problem request

Hi {{firstName}}, I saw you’re a key player in the {{industry}} space. I’m doing some research to better understand the biggest challenges in the sector so I can build a relevant solution.

In your opinion, what are the top 3 issues the industry is facing right now?

15. Request for advice on an article

Hi {{firstName}}, I’m currently writing an article about {{topic}} and I’d love to include an expert perspective.
Since you work in {{topic}}, what’s your take on {{question}}?

These LinkedIn prospecting message templates can be reused for every case. 👀

How about a Recap about LinkedIn Prospecting?

Are you still with me? Good. Let’s try to sum up what we’ve seen in this article in a few lines. 😇

Firstly, we saw that LinkedIn is THE number 1 social network when it comes to LinkedIn prospecting and lead generation.

But in order to take full advantage of the platform for LinkedIn prospecting, you first need to do some preliminary work to:

• Optimize your profile.
• Master LinkedIn search filters.
• Set up A/B testing.

We then looked at how automated LinkedIn prospecting scenarios can boost your conversion rates.

To help those of you who may have run out of inspiration, we’ve given you over 15 examples of invitation notes that will help you maximize your acceptance rate.

Finally, we’ve highlighted the best LinkedIn automation strategies that combine personalization and performance through the use of Waalaxy. 🥳

FAQ: LinkedIn Prospecting

What’s the best LinkedIn Prospecting technique?

There’s no single best technique for prospecting. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for you, especially in terms of approach phrases, for example.

However, the more you expand your network, the more likely you are to make quality connections on LinkedIn. Of course, you won’t be able to add just anyone. 👀

That’s why it’s important to make sure you create the best “buyer personas” for your product. Obviously, we segment them. 🎯

LinkedIn Marketing to boost LinkedIn prospecting

Is LinkedIn content the best way to sell?

Indeed, launching a LinkedIn content strategy (in an overall social selling strategy) can increase your percentage of acceptances, your number of private discussions, and therefore your conversions.

You don’t need to be a professional copywriter to convert your prospects into customers and meet your objectives, but you do need to respect a number of basic principles. 🧲 To help you do this, we recommend using Kawaak. 🐰

How to choose the right automated LinkedIn prospecting tools?

If you surround yourself with tools to automate and supercharge your LinkedIn prospecting strategy, your task will be made much easier.

Using Waalaxy for LinkedIn prospecting automation requires no prior skills. 🤓 The tool has been designed to be used by Mr. and Mrs. Everyman.

As one of the best AI-powered Chrome extensions for LinkedIn prospecting and multichannel, it has been designed to facilitate activities. ✨ Discover the best sales prospecting tool on the market!

Best practices: Do’s & Don’ts of LinkedIn prospecting

Prospecting with LinkedIn ✅ Do’s	Prospecting with LinkedIn ❌ Don’ts
Personalize your connection requests and follow-ups	Send generic, copy-paste messages
Keep messages short, clear, and value-driven	Write long, overly detailed or salesy notes
Optimize your profile before reaching out	Incomplete or weak prospect’s LinkedIn profile
Space out your follow-ups (2–3 days)	Spam prospects with daily reminders
Engaging with your content (likes, comments) before pitching	Sales pitch directly without building any rapport
Test approaches (with/without note, CTA styles)	Stick blindly to one single method

So, thanks to this tutorial, you now know how to do LinkedIn prospecting for your line of business development. 🐉