If you’ve ever tried to grow your LinkedIn network for business, sales, or hiring, you know how tedious and risky “manual” outreach gets. Sending five requests is fine. Sending 50+ a day? That’s a recipe for carpal tunnel or a LinkedIn slap on the wrist. This guide is for folks who want to send a lot of real connection requests without getting flagged, spammy, or bogged down.
We’ll walk through how to use Heyreach to create and schedule connection requests in bulk, what to watch out for, and how not to look like a robot. No fluff. Just the steps, the gotchas, and a few sanity-saving tips.
Why bother scaling LinkedIn connection requests?
Let’s get one thing out of the way: sending hundreds of connection requests won’t magically get you clients, candidates, or influence. But if you’re doing legitimate outreach — sales, recruiting, partnerships, whatever — the volume game matters. The problem is, LinkedIn has gotten pretty aggressive at sniffing out automation and spam. The old “set it and forget it” tools can get your account limited or banned.
That’s where tools like Heyreach come in. Instead of blasting out requests like a spam cannon, Heyreach is set up to mimic human behavior, spread requests across multiple accounts if you want, and help you stay under LinkedIn’s radar.
Is it perfect? No tool is. But it beats copy-pasting all day or risking your main profile to some sketchy Chrome extension.
What you need before you start
Before you dive in, make sure you have:
- A real LinkedIn account (preferably warmed up — more on that below)
- Heyreach access (paid, with enough seats for each LinkedIn profile you want to use)
- Your list of target profiles (LinkedIn search, Sales Navigator, CSV, whatever)
- A clear message template (short, not salesy — more on that too)
- A plan for follow-up (but don’t overthink this yet)
Pro tip: Don’t use your main LinkedIn profile for risky mass outreach right away. If you’re planning high volume, consider creating or “warming up” secondary accounts.
Step 1: Warm up your LinkedIn accounts
Don’t skip this. LinkedIn hates sudden spikes in activity. If your account goes from zero to 100 requests overnight, you’ll get flagged.
How to warm up: - Spend 1–2 weeks regularly using LinkedIn like a normal person. Browse, comment, connect with people you actually know. - Start by sending 5–10 manual connection requests per day. Gradually ramp up by 5 every few days. - Don’t automate anything during this warm-up. Just act human.
If you’re using secondary accounts, fill out the profiles properly — photo, summary, work history, etc. Fake-looking profiles get flagged fast.
Step 2: Prepare your target list
You need people to connect with. There are a few ways to get your list:
- LinkedIn search: Use filters to find your audience. You’ll have to copy profile URLs manually or with a browser extension.
- Sales Navigator: Much better for building lists and exporting leads.
- CSV import: Heyreach supports uploading a CSV of LinkedIn profile URLs.
Organize your list. Remove duplicates, obvious junk, or people wildly outside your target (CEOs in different countries, etc.).
What to ignore: Buying sketchy lead lists. They’re mostly garbage and can burn your account fast.
Step 3: Connect your LinkedIn account(s) to Heyreach
Here’s where Heyreach earns its keep. The platform lets you hook up one or more LinkedIn profiles and run outreach from each, all managed in one dashboard.
How to connect: 1. Log into Heyreach. 2. Go to “Accounts” or whatever the section is called for connecting LinkedIn profiles. 3. Follow the prompts — usually involves logging in to LinkedIn through a secure form. 4. If you’re using multiple accounts, repeat for each.
Heyreach lets you spread outreach across several profiles, which helps you send more requests per day without tripping any alarms.
Heads up: Don’t try to connect a profile that’s already being used by another automation tool. That’s asking for trouble.
Step 4: Set up your campaign
This is where you tell Heyreach what to do and how to do it.
1. Start a new campaign:
Find the “Create Campaign” or “New Outreach” button. Give your campaign a clear name (e.g., “Sales Outreach Q2 2024”).
2. Upload or select your target list:
- Upload your CSV, paste URLs, or pull from Sales Navigator.
- Double-check your list. More noise = more ignored requests.
3. Write your connection message:
Keep it short and human.
- 1–2 sentences is plenty.
- Avoid generic templates (“I’d like to add you to my professional network” is a red flag).
- Don’t sell in the first message.
- Use {first_name} or similar personalization tokens if available.
Bad example:
Hi, I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
Better example:
Hi {first_name}, I noticed we both work in SaaS — thought it’d be good to connect.
4. Set scheduling and sending limits:
- Heyreach lets you set daily limits per account (stick to 20–50/day if you want to play it safe).
- Randomize send times if possible.
- Space out requests during working hours.
5. Assign accounts (if using more than one):
- Choose which LinkedIn accounts will send requests.
- Make sure each account is within safe daily limits.
Pro tip: Start slow. It’s tempting to crank up the volume, but a steady, consistent trickle is much safer than a burst.
Step 5: Review, launch, and monitor
Double-check everything. Is your list clean? Is your message not spammy? Are your limits reasonable?
- Launch the campaign when ready.
- Check Heyreach’s dashboard to monitor sent requests, responses, and errors.
- Watch for any LinkedIn warnings or “unusual activity” emails. If you get one, pause the campaign and back off for a few days.
What to watch out for: - High bounce rates (profile URLs that don’t exist) - Connection request limits (LinkedIn can cap you at 100/week if you’re too aggressive) - Generic or salesy messages (these get ignored or flagged)
Step 6: Handle responses and follow-ups
Automation gets you in the door, but you still need to act like a human.
- Respond to replies promptly. Don’t let a hot lead go cold.
- Keep follow-up messages short. If someone connects, thank them and ask a question or share something relevant.
- If you get “Not interested” or “Don’t contact me again,” respect it. Don’t push.
Automation can tee up conversations, but it can’t close the deal for you.
What works, what doesn’t, and what’s just noise
What works: - Warming up accounts and keeping activity natural - Personalizing messages, even if just slightly - Using multiple accounts for higher volume, but keeping each one “human”
What doesn’t: - Mass-blasting generic messages to huge, unfiltered lists - Ignoring LinkedIn’s limits and warnings - Using obvious automation footprints (sending 100 requests at 2:00am, etc.)
Ignore this stuff: - Tools that promise “unlimited” outreach (they’re lying) - Plugins that require you to leave your browser open all day - Lists of “guaranteed buyers” or “verified leads” for pennies — these burn accounts fast
Keep it simple and iterate
Scaling LinkedIn outreach with Heyreach isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to overthink. Start small, keep your messaging honest, and watch your accounts for signs of trouble. Don’t stress about perfection — you can always tweak your approach as you go.
Focus on building real connections, not just big numbers. The folks who do this best don’t look automated — because they’re not acting like robots.
Now go send those requests (carefully).