Been testing LinkedIn lead gen approaches lately - the old connect-and-pitch strategy feels like garbage now. I've been running comparisons using Apollo, Sales Navigator, and satellyte.ai. What stands out: outreach performs significantly better when there's already some engagement signal. Others in the community report the same - cold reply rates are dropping unless intent exists.
the 'why' behind it: the platform's algorithm now penalises aggressive pitching, and prospects are overwhelmed. From a technical side, I've started scraping engagement metrics from LinkedIn groups and competitor posts. A simple Python filter for users who've liked or commented on niche-relevant content in the last week turns a 2% reply rate into 12%+. That's not anecdotal - it's been consistent across three different campaigns this quarter.
Curious if anyone else has shifted completely from cold to warm targeting, or if you're still mixing both. also interested in what tools you're using for intent scoring beyond Sales Navigator.
