LinkedIn Automation vs Human-to-Human Prospecting Results

We often hear from prospects that a human-to-human approach on LinkedIn takes too long and is less efficient. But it's actually less time consuming because it's more effective.

I talked to a client who found that it saved him 43 hours a month over automated outreach. 

What would you do if you suddenly had an extra 43 hours a month of free time? Read on to see how our client regained those hours. 

Is LinkedIn Automation More Efficient?

Recently, one of our clients shared his early results using the approach we teach in our LinkedIn Prospecting Accelerator.

He had been using a bot to automate his LinkedIn lead generation. The bot was successfully getting him a LOT of connections. But very few of the connections converted into actual sales leads. Worse, he had landed in LinkedIn Jail and was banned from LinkedIn for a time.

I convinced him to move away from automation and adopt a human-to-human approach.

LinkedIn Automation vs. Human-to-Human - the Results

You would think that eliminating automation would substantially increase the time he had to invest. The 1-to-1 outreach we teach required him to research each lead, find a nugget to use as a conversation starter, and write a very personalized connection request.

But the opposite happened:

January 2022 - 38 initial calls, 16 leads, 1 deal (using Linkedin automation)
January 2023 - 16 initial calls, 10 leads, 3 deals (using the human-to-human approach)

He got 300% better results with a 58% REDUCTION in time invested. 

This is because he was much more targeted in his outreach. So each initial calls was more likely to convert to a qualified lead.

He did less than half as many initial calls and worked 40% fewer leads. Yet this delivered a 300% increase in closed sales!!

Higher lead quality translated to a higher close ratio. And since he wasn't doing as many time consuming calls, he didn't have to put in as many hours. 

This saved him a whopping 43 hours in January, WHILE tripling sales!

He sent me this note:

"That equates to around 43 hours of time that I got back in January. I'm using it to get healthy and increase the joy in my life, which is part of our business plan for 2023. If this continues, you have helped me improve my life."

Efficiency ≠ Effectiveness

This is why I'm constantly saying that "efficiency ≠ effectiveness."

LinkedIn Automation feels efficient, but it's less effective.

I want to help you be EFFECTIVE in your outreach so you don't have to work so bloody hard!! That's the goal for our LinkedIn Prospecting Accelerator.

Here’s How the Accelerator Works

You start with a 4-week onboarding intensive. Our onboarding sessions launch in February, May, August and October.

During your onboarding program, I’ll help you target your ideal audience, beef up your profile, and reach out to your ideal prospects.

You'll get training and coaching 2 times a week to help you figure out what works with your audience. (Tuesdays are for training, Thursdays are for Q&A).

Then the pace slows a little. You can join up to 3 monthly meetings. Each month, we'll do one training session and two Q&A sessions.

You’ll be part of a community where you can ask questions and get personal help.

And there's the accountability. All members report to a scoreboard every week and enjoy a little fun, friendly competition. I will help your improve your score. Getting great results on our scoreboard means you're adding quality deals to your pipeline.

If you want to talk with me to see if this is a fit for you, grab a slot on my calendar.

About the Author: Candyce Edelen is founder of PropelGrowth, where she teaches B2B entrepreneurs and sales professionals to build authentic, human-to-human relationships on LinkedIn. Her strategies have helped clients shift from spammy automation to genuine outreach, resulting in higher-quality leads and increased sales. Candyce is passionate about helping professionals build trust and create a reliable, predictable sales pipeline. She's also a firm believer that you can't automate a relationship.