How to Steal Leads from Influencer Audiences and Get a 20% Reply Rate

TL;DR: Influencer engagement ≠ buying intent. But it is the perfect time to start a conversation.

If you're in B2B sales or growth marketing, you've likely realized one painful truth:

Engagement on LinkedIn is not a signal of buying intent.

But here’s the twist:

Engagement is a signal to start a conversation.

This guide will show you how to turn someone else’s audience—like your favorite influencer’s loyal followers—into warm leads that respond at a 20% reply rate.

Let’s dive into the method.

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Step-by-Step: Capture Demand from Influencers' Audiences

1. Identify the Right Influencers for Your ICP

Start with tools like Favikon to find LinkedIn creators who:

• Consistently post content aligned with your ideal customer profile (ICP)

• Have a strong audience of decision-makers or users in your niche

• Spark high engagement (especially recurring commenters or likers)

Pro tip: Look beyond vanity metrics like follower count. Focus on comment quality, post frequency, and topical alignment.

2. Find and Qualify Their Engaged Followers

You’re looking for people who:

• Engage with the influencer’s content more than once a week

• Fit your ICP (job title, industry, company size, etc.)

• Might have the problem your solution solves

This recurring engagement shows mindshare. It means they’re interested in the topic—and might be open to more.

3. Reach Out Without Mentioning the Signal

Here’s where most people screw up.

Avoid weak, obvious intros like:

• “I saw you follow Sam Jacobs...”

• “Noticed you commented on Sam’s post…”

Instead, do what Trinity Nguyen, CMO at UserGems, calls:

“Manufacturing coincidence.”

The magic is in inference. Don’t mention why you're reaching out. Just meet them where their mind already is.

Messaging Framework That Gets Replies

Here are high-performing cold message examples that earn 20%+ reply rates:

✅ Example 1:
“Not sure if you saw Sam Jacobs’ post last week about benchmarks for efficient growth. Curious… which SaaS metrics take the most time for your team to generate?”

✅ Example 2:
“Our product team is doing research to figure out where we fit in someone’s tech stack. What tools do you use today to monitor key SaaS metrics?”

These work because they:

• Reference timely, relevant topics

• Ask easy, low-pressure questions

• Sound like research, not a pitch

Why This Works: Intent Signals ≠ Outreach Scripts

Most B2B teams over-engineer intent data.

But the truth is:

• Engagement = signal to connect

• Conversations = path to qualified meetings

• Experiments = what reveals true buying intent

If you're waiting for someone to fill out a demo form, you're too late.

Results You Can Expect

When done right, this approach can generate:

• 20%+ cold outreach reply rates

• 30%+ meeting conversion from replies

• Shorter sales cycles with higher context

It's not magic—it’s psychology, timing, and positioning.

Let MoxieGTM Help You Run These Plays

If you're tired of:

• Buying more tools to solve the same pipeline problem

• Running campaigns with no reply

• Wondering what signal actually matters

MoxieGTM helps B2B companies:

• Consolidate their GTM tech stack

• Run rapid outbound experiments

• Scale what works

Final Thoughts: Don’t Chase, Steal

You don’t need to generate all the demand yourself.

Instead, steal demand from competitors and influencers who’ve already warmed up your buyers. They’ve created the context—you just need to create the conversation.

Steal leads. Start conversations. Book meetings. Repeat.

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By Richard F. Purcell · Launched 2 years ago

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