If agencies are your customers, LinkedIn already shows you which ones are thinking about your problem. Agency owners and heads of outbound comment on posts from the tools they use and argue about SDR hiring under thought-leader posts. Each like and comment is a public, dated signal from the person who signs off on tooling.
Short answer: collect the people who engage with competitor posts and outbound-topic posts using a post engagement signal, filter them down to agency owners and outbound leads, then run the "Competitor and outbound-topic engagement" template in Updately. It likes and comments on their posts, connects with a note that references the thread, opens with an operational question rather than a pitch, and follows up twice. When they reply, an AI agent qualifies them and works towards a short call.
Key Takeaways
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who is this campaign for? | Anyone selling to agencies, lead gen shops and in-house outbound teams |
| Where do the leads come from? | People who liked or commented on posts from tools in your space, or about outbound, SDR hiring and lead gen |
| How long is the sequence? | Six steps over about 11 days |
| What does the first message do? | Asks one operational question, founder to founder, with no pitch |
| What is the chat trying to achieve? | A short call about how they run multi-client outreach today |
Who this campaign is for
This template is for companies whose buyers run outbound for a living: agency founders, lead gen shop owners and heads of growth running SDR teams. If your product helps them run more client campaigns, keep accounts safe, or grow without hiring, start here.
It beats a plain cold list when:
- Your buyers are vocal. Agency owners use LinkedIn to win their own clients, so they post and comment a lot.
- Your competitors post regularly and attract real practitioners, not just their own staff.
- The sender can talk shop. The template opens founder to founder, so it works best from someone who knows the operational detail.
If competitor posts are quiet, the direct-to-agency-owners campaign gives you more control over the list.
Where to get the list
The main source is Updately's Post engagement signal: the people who liked or commented on a post. Point it at:
- Posts from tools in your space, from the company page or the founder.
- Posts by people who write about outbound, SDR hiring, cold email or lead gen.
- Your own posts on those topics.
Keyword alerts add people posting about phrases such as "hiring an SDR" or "outbound agency", and G2/Trustpilot reviewers of competitor tools are a smaller, very direct list, covered in mining competitor reviews on G2 and Trustpilot.
Keep the list tight
Engagement lists are noisy. A popular SDR hiring post pulls in job seekers, recruiters and your competitors' employees. Before anyone enters the campaign:
- Set an ICP filter on title (founder, owner, managing director, head of growth, head of outbound) and company type (agency, lead gen, outbound services).
- Remove your competitors' staff.
- Favour commenters when you have enough. A comment gives the AI more to work with than a like.
The invitation note uses {Intent}: the keyword a Keyword alerts lead posted about. Post engagement leads carry no keyword, so for them the sentence naming it is dropped and the note opens straight on the outbound line. Running one campaign per post? Write the topic into the note yourself. More in how to find people who liked competitor posts and how to reach a competitor's users at scale.
The sequence, day by day
Delays count from the previous step. Messages wait for the invitation to be accepted, then go a day later, so the days assume a quick accept.
| Day | Step | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Like recent posts | Likes their posts from the last 30 days, so your name is familiar before you ask for anything |
| 0 | Comment on latest post | The AI comments on their latest post from the last 21 days: a practical point from running outbound at scale, or one genuine question about their approach |
| 1 | Send invitation | Note: "Hi {FirstName}! Saw you in the thread on {Intent}. We run a lot of outbound too, so I'd be glad to connect." Withdrawn automatically if not accepted within 14 days |
| 2 | Operational opener (AI) | Opens on the outbound topic they engaged with and asks one operational question: how they handle multiple clients, account safety, or scaling without hiring. Founder-to-founder tone, no pitch |
| 5 | Voice note follow-up (AI) | Sent as a voice note. A new angle: one concrete operational result from your Knowledge if there is one, then asks whether it is worth comparing notes |
| 11 | Teardown offer (AI) | The last message. Offers a quick written teardown of their current setup instead of a call, as a yes/no question |
If someone has not posted recently, the like and comment steps have nothing to act on and simply move on.
The comment comes first because it is public and makes your name recognisable when the request lands. The note says honestly why you are connecting. The final teardown offer is a smaller commitment than a call, for owners who prefer to judge things themselves. The sequence stops as soon as they reply.
How the AI agent handles replies
With Reply autopilot on, the agent works towards the objective: book a short call to walk through how they run multi-client outreach today. Its rules:
- Any reply: it asks how many clients or campaigns they run, and what breaks first as they scale.
- They mention account limits, bans or juggling client conversations: it links that to what you offer in one sentence and suggests a call.
- They name a tool they use: it asks what they would change about it, and never criticises it. You probably found them on that tool's post.
- They ask about pricing or white-label: it answers from Knowledge only. If the answer is not there, it hands the chat to you.
- They say not now: it asks whether a short written walkthrough would help instead.
The built-in rules sit on top: HUMAN INTERVENTION when it lacks the facts, or when they share an email, phone number or calendar link; END THE CHAT once the objective is met, rather than selling past a yes.
Follow-ups when a reply goes quiet
The Follow-ups card covers people who replied and then stopped. This template waits 2 days, then 5 days:
- The first picks up where the chat stopped, with one low-pressure question.
- The second adds one new, concrete reason to talk and ends with a yes/no question.
How to adapt it
- Knowledge: results you can stand behind, how you handle account safety and multiple clients, and your pricing and white-label answers. Anything missing becomes a hand-off.
- Files & Links: a short walkthrough video or one-pager, with a "use when" note.
- Booking link: shared once they show interest.
- Voice: paste two or three messages you wrote, and set up the voice for voice notes, since day 5 is spoken.
- Comment direction: rewrite it around what you know.
Common mistakes
- Naming the competitor. "Saw you on their post" makes people feel watched. Talk about the topic.
- Letting SDRs and job seekers through. They engage most with SDR posts and cannot buy.
- Pitching in the comment. The comment earns attention; the chat does the rest.
- Leaving the note untrue. Change "we run a lot of outbound too" if you don't.
How to launch it in Updately
- Create a campaign and choose the LinkedIn account to send from.
- On the AI Agent tab, click Start from a template and pick Competitor and outbound-topic engagement. It fills in the sequence, reply rules and follow-ups, and keeps your voice, Knowledge, files and booking link.
- Edit the comment direction and invitation note on the Workflow tab.
- In the simulator, try strong interest, a pricing question, "we already use X", "not now" and a curveball.
- Run Test Sequence on the Workflow tab with a real lead.
- Add the leads from your post engagement signal and activate.
Compare it with the other agency templates on the campaign templates page, including re-engaging warm leads, or browse them all at /campaign-templates.
FAQ
Is it fine to message people who engaged with a competitor's post?
Their engagement is public, and you are opening a conversation on a topic they chose. Keep it about that topic and their work, not where you found them.
Why does the first message ask a question instead of pitching?
Agency owners get pitched constantly. A specific operational question is easy to answer and shows whether there is a problem worth a call.
Do I need to post on LinkedIn myself for this to work?
No. It runs on other people's posts. Your own posts are a useful extra source, because their engagers already know you.
Can I run this campaign across several LinkedIn accounts?
Yes. Each account sends roughly 100 connection requests a week, so big engagement lists outgrow one profile. See how to scale LinkedIn outreach across multiple accounts.