Glossary
What is LinkedIn outreach?
LinkedIn outreach is contacting prospects on LinkedIn to start a sales conversation: you find the right people, send a connection invitation, message those who accept, follow up on silence and move the interested ones to a call. It works one person at a time.
Published by Sellinger AI. Numbers and settings checked on 19 October 2026 against the fact register. Report an error.
What are the steps?
- Build a list of people who match your ICP.
- Send an invitation, with or without a note.
- When accepted, send a short first message with one question.
- Follow up after a few days.
- Move replies to a call or a handover.
Two things decide most results: who is on the list and whether the first message gives the person a reason to answer. Ask a question about their work rather than describing your product, and keep it short enough to read on a phone.
What should you track?
| Step | Count | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Invitations sent | 200 | |
| Accepted | 78 | 39% |
| Replied | 30 | 38% of accepted |
| Calls booked | 6 | 3% of invited |
Example funnel. Each step has its own rate, so a weak one shows where to fix.
How Sellinger handles it
The default LinkedIn cadence is 4 follow ups with gaps starting at 5 days, then a move to email, and every value can change per campaign. The agent writes each message from the profile and answers the replies. Defaults are 20 invitations a day and 150 a week, and a quiet window of 01:00 to 08:00 account time applies when no schedule is set. A person can take over any conversation, and the agent stops by itself when it cannot answer.
In Sellinger's own workspace the agents booked 351 showcase meetings, and 40 percent of the people messaged replied, on LinkedIn. See the case study, the playbook with a five day follow up and connection acceptance rate.
Common questions
Should I send a note with the invitation?
How many messages are too many?
Is LinkedIn outreach the same as LinkedIn automation?
Sources and method
Sellinger follow up defaults and own case study (production data), checked 19 October 2026.
Related: LinkedIn automation, Connection acceptance rate, Social selling, LinkedIn outreach best practices.
