Your order book is slowly emptying. Not all at once: one client leaves, another postpones, and nobody is there to take over. You know you should be prospecting. You tell yourself “this week”. Then Friday evening comes, and nothing has been done.
This is the most common scenario among owners of service SMEs: consultants, firms, agencies, trainers, engineering consultancies. Delivering the work takes up all the space, and prospecting comes second.
B2B LinkedIn prospecting is one of the most direct ways to reach decision makers. It also has rules, and risks, that many tool vendors prefer to keep quiet. This article takes stock honestly: how it works, what LinkedIn allows or not, what the GDPR framework says, what it costs, and when you can very well do it alone.
Why prospect on LinkedIn when you sell to businesses
LinkedIn brings together owners, managers and buyers identified by their job title, industry and city. You can target “managing partners of accounting firms with 10 to 50 employees in Rhône-Alpes” rather than messaging everyone.
Three reasons to be there: targeting (job title, size, industry, area), context (the profile tells you what the person does) and format (a short message, read on a phone, with no switchboard).
It doesn't work for everything. If your offer is aimed at consumers, move on. If your clients aren't on LinkedIn (building tradespeople, local shops), the phone or fieldwork will do better.
LinkedIn prospecting: the method that works, in 5 steps
Whether you do it yourself or delegate it, the method stays the same.
1. Define a narrow target
“SMEs” is not a target. “Managing partners of accounting firms with 5 to 30 employees” is one. The more precise the target, the more your message rings true.
2. Polish your profile before writing to anyone
People visit your profile before answering. A sharp photo, a headline that says what you do and for whom, a client-focused summary: that is your storefront. An empty profile ruins the best message.
3. Build a clean list
Sales Navigator, LinkedIn's paid tool, lets you filter by job title, industry, size and area, and save lists of prospects. It is the reference tool for B2B LinkedIn prospecting. It is sold by subscription, directly by LinkedIn (see the pricing at linkedin.com/sales).
4. Write a short, useful opening message
A good opening message fits in 3 to 5 lines:
- a specific reason for contacting this person,
- one sentence on what you do for people like them,
- a simple question, not a pitch.
Example for an organizational consulting firm: “Hi Claire, I see your firm has opened a second site. We help firms of a similar size streamline case management across two sites. Is that a topic for you right now?”
Avoid “Hello, I'm taking the liberty of contacting you to introduce our services”. Nobody answers that.
5. Follow up without harassing
A reply often comes with the second or third message. A polite follow-up after a few days is normal. Ten messages in a month are not. And if the person says no, you stop.
What LinkedIn allows, and what it forbids
This is the point that is hidden the most, so here it is without detours.
LinkedIn's terms of use forbid using bots or unauthorized automated methods to add contacts, send messages, or like, comment on and share posts. They also forbid software that copies or scrapes profiles (section 8.2 of LinkedIn's terms of use).
LinkedIn's help page on prohibited software and extensions says the same thing: bots, plug-ins and browser extensions that scrape data or automate activity are forbidden. LinkedIn states that members who use them risk having their account restricted or closed, and that these tools may stop working without notice.
What this means in practice:
- The risk is real and it falls on your account, not on the tool vendor's. A restriction can cut you off from your network for a while.
- No provider can honestly guarantee the absence of risk. Those who claim otherwise are selling a tool.
- The risk depends on what you do: moderate, regular, personalized activity does not have the same profile as an identical mass send to hundreds of people.
In practical terms, the good practices that limit exposure:
- Modest daily volumes, far from any maximum.
- Messages that are really different from one prospect to the next.
- A complete, authentic profile, in the real person's name.
- An immediate stop as soon as a prospect says no or doesn't reply to the planned follow-up.
- No bought lists, no fake accounts.
There is a way that is 100% within the rules: do everything by hand, from LinkedIn's own interface. It is slower. It is also the only method that depends on no third-party tool. It is up to you to choose, knowing the facts.
The GDPR and CNIL framework for B2B prospecting
Writing to a professional on LinkedIn involves processing their personal data (name, job title, company). The GDPR therefore applies, even in B2B.
According to the CNIL's guidance on email prospecting (the French data protection authority), here is the essential for prospecting professionals:
- No prior consent is required in B2B: prospecting can rely on the organization's legitimate interest, provided the message relates to the recipient's role. The CNIL's example: offering software to a company's IT director.
- The right to object must be simple and free, and every message must allow people to refuse the following ones.
- Informing the person: they must be able to know that their contact details are used for prospecting and how to object.
- Generic addresses (contact@, info@) of a company are not covered by these rules, unlike a named address.
Three honest clarifications:
- The CNIL guidance is about email. A social network's messaging follows similar logic, but if in doubt, have your case checked by a lawyer.
- Legitimate interest is not a blank check. It assumes the message has a real connection to the recipient's profession. Writing to a baker to sell fundraising advice doesn't hold up.
- This article is not legal advice. The CNIL publishes its practical guides at cnil.fr.
In practice, keep three habits: only contact people whose job relates to your offer, respect a refusal immediately, and don't keep the data of those who don't reply any longer than necessary.
Can you do your LinkedIn prospecting yourself?
Yes, and for many owners it is the right choice at the start.
Do it yourself if:
- you have 30 minutes a day to put into it, consistently;
- your target fits in one sentence;
- you enjoy writing and talking with your prospects.
A Sales Navigator subscription to build your lists, a polished profile, 10 to 15 personalized messages a day: that is enough to test whether the channel works for you. You will learn what gets replies.
Where it gets stuck is consistency. An owner prospects for three weeks, then a big job arrives, and everything stops for two months. Yet prospecting only works over time.
When to delegate, and what it costs
Delegating makes sense when you know prospecting is useful but you won't keep it up over time.
At Fiddes Leads, prices are displayed:
- Setup: €490 one time. Targeting, Sales Navigator lists, message sequences, optimization of your profile.
- Prospecting: €1,490 per month. One LinkedIn account, the campaigns, reply management and meeting booking.
- Prospecting + content: €1,990 per month. The prospecting pack plus 8 LinkedIn posts per month, so your profile stays alive when prospects visit it.
3-month commitment. Prospecting takes time to produce results: testing a target, adjusting the message, following up. Three months let you judge on something concrete.
Sales Navigator subscription not included. You subscribe to Sales Navigator yourself, on your own LinkedIn account. The prices above do not include it.
What we don't promise: a guaranteed number of meetings. Nobody can honestly guarantee that a prospect will say yes. What we do is keep the pace, polish the messages and pass on the useful replies. Results depend on your offer, your target and your market.
On the LinkedIn risk mentioned above: it exists with us too, it cannot be brought down to zero, and we apply the cautious good practices described in this article. You deserve to know that before you order.
How it works:
- You choose your pack on the Fiddes Leads page.
- You fill in the order form (target, offer, examples of ideal clients).
- You pay online, securely. No work starts before payment.
- We prepare the targeting, the lists and the sequences, then prospecting starts.
The money-back guarantee and 2 revisions are included.
Measuring without fooling yourself
Track four numbers per four-week period: people contacted, reply rate, useful conversations, meetings booked.
If the reply rate is low, the problem is the message or the target. If replies are good but meetings are rare, the problem is the offer or the way you propose the call. Change one variable at a time.
