# How to run account-based outreach on LinkedIn

Last updated 11 November 2026

Account-based outreach on LinkedIn means you write to the right people at the companies on your list, and HeyLead handles this for you. The first message contains a reason that fits that company.

## Who account-based outreach is for

HeyLead is an AI agent for LinkedIn outreach: it finds the right people, writes to them in the voice of your own LinkedIn posts, follows up, and handles replies. It runs from Claude Code, Cursor, any MCP client or a web dashboard.

This is for someone selling to a named list of companies rather than a broad market. The campaign goal is to sell a product or service. You reach the people who buy what you built. The message is for the customer. The fit question HeyLead asks is whether this audience holds the budget. You focus on specific accounts. You target the exact buyers at those accounts.

## What to write in your first message

You write what is happening at their company now. You explain why your product fits that in 1 line. You ask 1 question for the person who owns it.

You leave out the same message to everyone at 1 company. You leave out a note that they are on a target list. You leave out a demo request in the first line. A strong message focuses on the account. It speaks directly to their current situation.

## The brief to type for this campaign

You type a 1-sentence brief in Claude, Cursor or the HeyLead dashboard. 1 sentence creates a draft campaign. You review it and press Launch. Nothing is sent before. The brief tells the agent who to target. It specifies the list of companies.

```
Reach heads of engineering at the companies on our list; we import the people we already found there, with their LinkedIn links.
```

## Signals that can start this outreach

HeyLead watches 40+ signal types, scored, matched to your ICP and expiring. A strong signal starts outreach and the opener says why now.

1 signal is a company hiring post. This happens when a company posted about open roles. A signal is news expansion. This occurs when news reported the company expanding to a new market or office. A signal is a company tech stack post. This is when a company shared the tools it uses.

Before an invitation, HeyLead warms up. It does a profile view, a follow, and a comment on a recent post.

## What HeyLead does and its limits

HeyLead sends an invitation with a note. It sends an opening message. It sends up to 2 follow-ups on Free and 5 on Pro. It includes InMail and email fallback.

Replies are read, classified and answered from the campaign's facts. A reply that could mean 2 things gets 1 short question back. A question your facts cannot answer is held for you. Not now gets a check-in in 30 days.

Opening messages, follow-ups and answers to replies go out without review unless you switch review on. Then they wait for your approval. Invitations are not held. In review mode, invitations go out without a note.

It runs from the cloud with your laptop closed. It reads your own LinkedIn posts to learn your voice. It never posts unless you ask for a post.

## Questions people ask

### What do I write in the first message?

You write what is happening at their company now and why your product fits that in 1 line. You ask 1 question for the person who owns it.

### What do I leave out of this outreach?

You leave out the same message to everyone at 1 company and a note that they are on a target list. You leave out a demo request in the first line.

### What brief do I type for this campaign?

You type a 1-sentence brief to reach heads of engineering at the companies on your list. You import the people you already found there with their LinkedIn links.

HeyLead sends from your own LinkedIn account at a human pace: at most 20 invitations a day and 100 a week on a free LinkedIn account (more on Premium or Sales Navigator: a newly connected paid account starts at 20 a day and doubles each week up to its limit), Monday to Friday 08:00 to 22:00 in your time zone, minutes apart. It backs off when LinkedIn pushes back and resumes on its own. You can pause any campaign at any time.

HeyLead is not affiliated with LinkedIn. It reaches LinkedIn through Unipile, which is also not affiliated. LinkedIn's own rules are in the Terms: https://heylead.dev/terms

Related: [Founder-led sales: LinkedIn for founders who ship](https://heylead.dev/use-cases/founder-led-sales), [How to find your first employees as a founder](https://heylead.dev/use-cases/founders-hiring-first-employees), [How to hire software engineers on LinkedIn](https://heylead.dev/use-cases/hiring-engineers), [How to recruit candidates on LinkedIn](https://heylead.dev/use-cases/recruiting-candidates), [How consultants get clients on LinkedIn](https://heylead.dev/use-cases/consultants-winning-clients), [Use cases: what people run HeyLead for](https://heylead.dev/use-cases), [How to find integration partners on LinkedIn](https://heylead.dev/use-cases/integration-partners), [How to find reseller partners on LinkedIn](https://heylead.dev/use-cases/reseller-and-channel-partners)