One profile. One month. Here is the whole funnel, no rounding.
411 connection requests sent. 242 accepted. 58.9%. 80 replied to the opener. 114 moved into the DM sequence. 49 replied there. 43%. Marked interested: 0. Meetings booked: 0.
The top of that funnel is better than most outbound we see. A 59% acceptance rate on cold security leaders is not luck; the list was built from a tight ICP and the rep's profile was already warm in that market.
The middle is where it dies.
The opener was "mind if I ask you something?" People say sure. That's a reply. The dashboard counts it as engagement. It is not.
Then the sequence stops, because any reply ends an automated flow. The rep has to pick it up by hand. Forty-nine times.
Three fixes, in the order we shipped them:
- Openers that only a buyer would answer. "Sure" is not a signal.
- An extension campaign for the "sure" replies, so the sequence keeps going without manual work.
- One definition of "interested", marked in the tool, synced to the CRM.
Same list, same rep. We'll post the October numbers when they're in.
What does a full LinkedIn outbound funnel look like?
| Stage | Count | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Connection requests sent | 411 | — |
| Accepted | 242 | 58.9% of sent |
| Replied to the opener | 80 | 33% of accepted |
| Moved into the DM sequence | 114 | — |
| Replied in the DM sequence | 49 | 43% |
| Marked interested | 0 | — |
| Meetings booked | 0 | — |
Why did the top of the funnel work?
A 59% acceptance rate on cold security leaders is not luck. The list was built from a tight ICP, and the rep's profile was already warm in that market.
Where did the funnel break?
- The opener was "Mind if I ask you something?"
- People said "Sure." That's a reply, and the dashboard counts it as engagement. It isn't.
- Any reply ends an automated flow, so the sequence stopped.
- The rep had to pick each one up by hand. Forty-nine times.
Two campaigns, two reply rates, both healthy on a dashboard. The funnel doesn't leak. It collapses at one step.
How did we fix it?
Three fixes, in the order we shipped them:
- Openers only a buyer would answer. "Sure" is not a signal.
- An extension campaign for the "sure" replies. The sequence keeps going with no manual work.
- One definition of "interested". Marked in the outreach tool, synced to the CRM.
What happens next?
Same list, same rep. October numbers to follow.