Warm DM Playbook

How We Booked 63 SaaS Demos from LinkedIn without any paid ads

Two weeks ago, our sales pipeline was empty. No demos scheduled, no conversations in progress.

Like many early-stage SaaS founders, we knew we needed real feedback from potential customers, but we didn’t want to rely on ads, and we wanted fast results.

So, we tried something different.

We built a simple system around LinkedIn: just one helpful resource and a warm, conversation-first approach. The result? 63 qualified demos booked in a few days.

This article breaks down exactly how we did it :the content we posted, the DM scripts we used, the tools that helped us, and how we turned interest into conversations, then into booked calls.

Why This Approach Worked

Most outbound strategies today are noisy, generic, and easy to ignore. People are increasingly immune to cold emails and ad fatigue. What they respond to is relevance, authenticity, and real value.

We focused on two things:

- Helping first, before asking for anything.

- Starting warm conversations, not sales pitches.

By leading with value and letting people “raise their hand” when interested, we built trust, and filled our calendar without being pushy.

The 4-Step System We Used

Step 1 : Create a Valuable Free Resource

Everything started with one high-value piece of content: The Comeback Kit : a curated set of follow-up email templates designed to help founders & sales people revive cold leads.

It was:

- Useful and immediately applicable

- Relevant to our target audience (founders, marketers, sellers)

- Quick to consume (article + clear instructions)

The goal wasn’t to show off. It was to solve a real problem our ICP faced daily. If you’re replicating this method, focus on a resource that answers a specific, painful question your target customer already has.

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Examples:

- A script library

- A small tool you can build easily

- A calculator or diagnostic

- A mini strategy guide tailored to your niche

- A sales funnel template

It needs to be a valuable resource, not something you can build in 5min with ChatGPT.

One of the thing that works well is : give what your competitors are selling. Not saying you should copy, but it's a metaphor to say you should give something very valuable.

Step 2 : Post Content That Attracts the Right People

We started sharing content on LinkedIn designed to:

- Build credibility

- Tell the story behind the resource

- Invite people to engage

Each post had a soft call to action (e.g. “Comment ‘ComeBack Kit’ and I’ll send it over”), which triggered hundreds of replies : over 1,500 interactions in total for one post on this resource.

We shared:

- A transparent story of why we were tired of being ghosted by potential customers.

- Short lessons learned during the process.

- Wins and metrics (social proof)

- Invitations to test the system

This created a steady stream of inbound attention from our ideal audience.

Step 3 : Start Conversations Through DMs

Here’s the heart of the system: turning likes and comments into real conversations, without ever feeling salesy.

We followed a simple DM process:

1. Send the resource + ask a lightweight question

“Hey [Name], here’s the Comeback Kit I mentioned :) let me know what you think!
By the way, are you gonna use it for [company] ?

This created a natural opening. Most people replied.

2. Engage, but don’t pitch

The key is curiosity > selling. We asked what they were working on, what was working or not, what tools they were using, etc. The goal was to keep it human, helpful, and relevant, not push a product.

Eventually, many conversations revealed a fit for what we were building.

3. Offer a quick chat (not a sales call)

If someone showed genuine interest, we didn’t drop a Calendly link right away. Instead, we said:

“Sounds like we’re tackling similar challenges, happy to share what we’re doing if helpful. Want to hop on a quick 5-minute chat?”

This worked much better than formal demo requests. It felt casual and low-pressure, and almost always led to valuable calls.

Bonus: Invite them to try your product

In some cases, we’d also share early access or offer a free trial code:

“If you’re curious, happy to give you free access to what we’re building so you can test it yourself.”

This strategy alone brought in several self-serve users and warm follow-up conversations.

Step 4 : Use Light Automation to Handle Volume (if needed)

With 1,500+ LinkedIn interactions, managing outreach manually became impossible. To handle this without losing the personal touch, we automated the first message to new connections, then managed replies manually.

Tools we used:

- Waalaxy (to scrap people who interacted with the post + for DM automation)

- Linkedin Sales Navigator (to be able to send a lot of messages)

- Hubspot (to log interested people)

- Gojiberry (to record calls, summarize them, push the info to Hubspot, and draft the follow up email)

Important: even in automation, the tone was conversational and natural. No generic templates. No “Hi, FIRSTNAME, I have a great offer for you…”

Automation helped us distribute, but conversations were always human-led.

Our Results

In less than 7 days :

- 63 qualified demos booked

- 30%+ reply rate on DMs

- Dozens of trial users

- 0€ ad spend

More importantly, we gathered real-world feedback from people in our ICP, and identified clear signals on who would convert, and why.

How You Can Apply This Playbook

If you're a founder, builder, sales or early-stage team trying to get more customers, fast, here's a simple way to start today:

1. Create one useful resource : something that solves a real pain for your audience.
2. Post content that tells the story behind it and invites people to request it.
3. Message everyone who engages : start conversations, not pitches.
4. Offer value, then access : share what you’re building only if it’s relevant.
5. Automate with care : use tools to scale without losing the human touch.

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