That's a smart move switching to managers. They tend to move faster and have their finger on the day-to-day pain, so the logic is solid. But that conversion gap you're seeing? It usually means you're hitting the right level but the wrong intent.
"Manager" is still just a demographic filter. Two managers in similar companies can be completely different buyers - one is actively frustrated with a specific problem, the other is coasting. If you target based on what they publicly talk about - posts, comments, the pain they surface online - you're finding people already thinking about the problem you solve. That changes the conversation from the start.
the message side matters just as much. I tracked about 200 connection requests, ones that referenced something the person actually said recently got accepted roughly 70% of the time versus about a quarter for generic openers. When the first message reflects their actual context, the conversation starts warmer and pre-qualified differently.
been working on a tool that handles both sides - behavioural ICP search via a natural language prompt (so you can search "managers who post about finance tool frustration" instead of just filtering by title) and a Chrome extension that drafts a first message based on what the prospect recently posted or commented. It's launching on Product Hunt on June 3rd if you want to check it out.
