Getting 13 customer development calls in 3 days using LinkedIn 🙂

I used to not enjoy the prospect of cold emailing people for customer development meetings. Long delays, low response rates.

So, this week, I switched to a simple LinkedIn-based approach. This worked well.

The one-liner: 13 calls booked in just 3 days with very helpful people, all done in a respectful way.

Most importantly, I've had some very helpful conversations regarding the idea with some very helpful people.

This post walks through exactly what I did, why it worked, and lessons I'll use going forward.

My LinkedIn Method this week

Step 1: Pick Your Target Group

We've been exploring a product idea for an ICP of:

• Chiefs of Staff and Founders
• 2-150 employees
• who have many meetings
• VC-backed
• Company based in London 🇬🇧

Step 2: Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to target the right people

To find the right people, I used LinkedIn Sales Navigator. (LinkedIn Sales Navigator is easily worth the £100/month investment).

I used the following filters in my search:

• Job title: Chief of Staff (exact match)
• Company size: 2-150 employees
• Industry: Excluded consulting, recruiting, and other non-relevant sectors.
• Industry: Included 'technology' industry as a proxy for VC-backed.
• Location: London, UK
• Activity: Active on LinkedIn in the last 3 months. This is to speed up responses.

I experimented with a few different filters. The above worked well for me.

Step 3: Connect

I sent connection requests in batches of 50, then waited for acceptances before moving to the next batch.

This probably works because people who accept your connection request are curious enough in you to accept your connection request. The person also probably has some context about you, so they're more likely to accept.

Likewise, the people who are entirely uninterested in me are welcome to ignore the request.

Step 4: Message

Once someone accepts your request, I'd send a message like this:

My thoughts on this message:

I really want to be respectful of the person I'm reaching out to (I don't think you can really build any connection without doing this?)

So my message is:

1. Short and easy to read - they can skim in a second to decide whether to respond
2. Clear and specific - no need for them to expend energy working out what I'm suggesting
3. Easy to say no - low pressure approach
4. Compensation offered - shows you value their expertise (I'm not sure this is necessary, but it is a concrete indication of respect)

I also like not including a calendar link in the first message. It feels too pushy. I'd rather send the booking link only if they say yes.

What About People Who Decline Payment?

How I try to run customer development calls

Use "The Mom Test"

I follow Rob Fitzpatrick's The Mom Test principles to uncover real pain points.

The core idea: Ask about their past behavior and current struggles, not their opinions about your future product.

My call structure

We had a script of questions to ask. But this is more of a conversation starter.

Aim to go off script and explore things they have said. Look for the emotion!

Here are some simple questions, probably from the Mom Test, that I like to ask to start the conversation:

Following up with more specific questions, perhaps related to your hunch about the problem:

Throughout, listen for emotional language. Then explore any areas. Some examples that I heard last week are:

• "This is an absolute nightmare"
• "I spend way too much time on..."
• "The most frustrating part is..."
• "I hate having to..."

And then drill deeper when you hear pain:

And always end with asking for referrals to other people who might have similar challenges.

My Results: The Numbers breakdown

Here's exactly what happened over three days:

Conversion funnel:

• ~150 connection requests sent
• ~40 acceptances (~26% acceptance rate. Likely more to come)
• 13 calls booked (~33% of acceptances. Likely more to come)

Comparison to cold email: This 33% booking rate is ~10x higher than typical cold email response rates.

Most importantly, we've had some very helpful conversations regarding the idea with some very helpful people.

Limitations

• 200 connection requests per month (Sales Navigator limit)
• Requires significant time investment (1-2 hours daily)

So, this method is not scalable. But it's a great way to get started, in keeping with the "do things that don't scale" approach at the start of a new product idea.

Other things to try that I didn't try this week

• Message Warm connections on LinkedIn. Likely much higher response rate, but harder to target the exact people within your target group. It might be easier to use third-party LinkedIn tool to extract your contacts to search them for the right people. Though try the manual approach first.
• Improve your LinkedIn profile. People will likely check you out before accepting (I didn't bother doing this).