How to Use a LinkedIn Sales Signal to Find High-Intent Prospects
What if you could find people who are actively thinking about the exact problem your business solves, right at this moment? The problem with most prospecting is that it’s cold. You have no idea if the person you’re reaching out to is actually interested in what you have to offer. But a powerful sales signal on LinkedIn changes everything.
I call it the "LinkedIn Post Engager" signal. The strategy is simple: we target a specific LinkedIn post from an influencer or competitor, find every single person who liked or commented on it, and build a hyper-targeted list of high-intent prospects. This approach transforms your outreach from a cold guess into a warm, relevant conversation.
This article will show you why this signal is so powerful, what kind of posts to look for, and how to build a prospect list using this method.
Why This Sales Signal is a Game-Changer
When someone takes the time to like or comment on a LinkedIn post about a specific topic—say, the challenges of "cold email deliverability"—they are publicly raising their hand and saying, "This is on my mind right now!" They are self-identifying their interest and pain point.
This simple action turns a cold prospect into a warm lead. It gives you the ultimate icebreaker. Instead of a generic intro, your outreach can be:
"Hey [Name], I saw you commented on [Influencer]'s post about email deliverability..."
Instantly, you’re not a random stranger; you’re a relevant peer who is part of the same conversation they are already having. This relevance is the key to getting replies and starting meaningful discussions.
What to Look For: Finding the Perfect "Signal Post"
This strategy’s success depends entirely on targeting the right post. You can't just pick any viral content; you need to be strategic. Here’s what to look for.
Posts from an Influencer in Your Niche
Find a well-respected thought leader who your ideal customers follow. Look for posts where they discuss a specific problem that your business solves. The people engaging with this content are your target audience, pre-qualified by their interest in the topic.
Posts from a Competitor
This is a goldmine. Go to your competitor's LinkedIn page and find a post where they talk about a feature, case study, or pain point. Anyone who engages with that post is not only interested in the solution, they are actively evaluating your competition. This is a list of prospects who are in the market to buy, delivered straight to you.
The key is to find a post with high engagement (dozens or hundreds of likes/comments) that is directly related to a pain point your business addresses.
The Tutorial: How to Build a Prospect List with This Sales Signal
Theory is great, but let's get practical. Here is a step-by-step guide to scraping the engagers from a LinkedIn post and turning them into a clean, actionable prospect list. For a complete visual guide, you can watch the full video tutorial here.
Find Your Signal Post: First, identify the high-value post from an influencer or competitor based on the criteria above. Copy the URL of the post.
Use a Scraping Tool: You will need a tool to extract the data. A great option for this is the LinkedIn Post Engagements Scraper on Apify. You can create your Apify account here to get started.
Run the Scraper: In Apify, you'll configure the actor by pasting the LinkedIn post URL you copied earlier. Run the automation to pull the profiles of everyone who liked or commented.
Clean and Enrich the Data: The scraper will give you raw data like names and LinkedIn profile URLs. To make this data actionable, you can use a platform like Clay to clean the list and enrich it with verified email addresses and other company information. For a practical example, you can view this shared Clay Table.
And there you have it—a list of people actively thinking about the problem you solve, complete with a built-in, timely, and relevant icebreaker for your outreach.
Need Help Setting This Up?
If you are a founder or builder who needs assistance with lead generation and go-to-market strategy, feel free to reach out.
Email: gui@decadejourney.com
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is a "sales signal"?
A sales signal is an observable action or piece of information that indicates a person or company may have a need for a specific product or service. In this context, engaging with a relevant LinkedIn post is a strong sales signal indicating active interest in a topic.
Is this method more effective than buying a cold list?
Yes, in most cases. A list built from a sales signal contains prospects who have actively and recently shown interest in a relevant pain point. This makes them "warm" leads who are more likely to be receptive to outreach compared to a cold, generic list where interest is unknown.
About the Author
Gui Stetelle is the Founder of Decade Journey. He is an engineer and a passionate sales professional with extensive experience across various roles, including SDR, AE, Sales Manager, and Go-to-Market specialist. Before founding Decade Journey, Gui made over 50,000 cold calls and generated 8 figures in pipeline for high-growth companies like Bringg, Tractian, and Versum.
About Decade Journey
Decade Journey helps businesses build a predictable pipeline by focusing on quality and strategy, not just volume. We specialize in identifying unique "buying signals" to find customers who may not appear on traditional platforms like Apollo. Our process begins with a deep discovery to craft a high-converting offer and GTM strategy, followed by targeted list-building and data enrichment to ensure every outreach campaign is built on a foundation of high-quality, verified data.