18 Discovery Calls in 90 Days: A B2B Lead Gen Story

Context: Selling HR Software in a Noisy Market

Selling HR software to busy decision-makers comes with a predictable problem: the people who should care the most have the least time to engage. HR leaders and operations executives are often juggling hiring plans, compliance deadlines, employee relations issues, and constant internal requests. When a sales message arrives out of the blue—especially a templated cold DM—it blends into the daily stream of interruptions.

David, an individual seller of HR software serving small-to-mid-sized teams, was facing that exact reality. Traditional outbound tactics were producing uneven results:

Cold DMs were frequently ignored.
Connection requests were accepted, but conversations rarely followed.
Even when a message got a reply, it often ended in “not right now.”

David needed a way to start conversations that didn’t feel like a pitch and didn’t depend on perfect timing. He also wanted a method he could execute consistently without burning hours on personalization that never converted.

The Challenge: Attention, Trust, and Timing

David’s core challenge wasn’t product quality or pricing. It was earning attention from people who didn’t wake up hoping to evaluate HR software.

Three constraints shaped the problem:

Low trust at the top of the funnel
HR and operations buyers are cautious. They’ve seen enough vague promises to assume a stranger’s message will be self-serving.
High context required
HR software needs a “why now.” Without a clear trigger—growth, compliance risk, onboarding chaos—buyers struggle to justify a call.
Limited time for deep research
David couldn’t spend hours per prospect crafting bespoke outreach. He needed a repeatable approach that still felt human.

Cold outreach forced him to solve all three constraints at once. He wanted a path where trust and relevance could be built before the first direct message.

The Approach: Commenting Where Prospects Already Showed Up

Instead of trying to pull attention into his inbox, David decided to earn it in public—specifically, by commenting on posts his prospects were already engaging with.

This wasn’t random “thought leadership.” It was targeted participation in conversations where his ideal buyers were already present and active.

Step 1: Identify high-signal conversations

David started by finding posts that met two criteria:

Prospects had already liked or commented (indicating real interest, not passive scrolling).
The topic connected to a common HR pain point (hiring speed, onboarding, compliance, performance cycles, employee data management).

This shifted his targeting from “people who fit a title” to people who were visibly in the arena.

Step 2: Comment with usefulness, not performance

David set a simple internal rule: every comment had to make the thread better. No pitching, no vague agreement, no “great post.”

He used a few repeatable comment structures:

Add a practical next step: “One thing that helps is mapping the process in three stages…”
Share a small framework: “I look at this in terms of risk, time, and cost. If time is the biggest pain…”
Offer a caution based on experience: “Watch for the handoff between recruiting and onboarding—most delays hide there.”
Ask a clarifying question that signals competence: “When you say onboarding is slow, is it paperwork, provisioning, or training completion?”

These comments did two things at once:

They demonstrated expertise without a sales claim.
They created a reason for the prospect to recognize David as relevant.

Step 3: Build familiarity through repeated, lightweight touchpoints

Rather than leaving one comment and disappearing, David engaged consistently. When a prospect responded to his comment, he replied thoughtfully. When a prospect posted again, he showed up again—without overdoing it.

This created familiarity without forcing intimacy. By the time a direct message happened, David wasn’t a stranger interrupting. He was a recognizable participant.

Step 4: Transition to private conversation only after a natural trigger

David didn’t DM every prospect he commented near. He waited for signals:

A prospect replied directly to his comment
A prospect liked multiple comments over time
A prospect asked a question in a thread that needed a deeper answer

Then his message was short and context-based—more like continuing the thread than starting a pitch. The goal wasn’t to sell software in the DM. The goal was to earn permission for a real conversation.

A typical transition was:

Reference the specific thread
Offer a helpful resource or quick perspective tailored to their situation
Ask a low-pressure question to see if a deeper chat would be useful

The key was that the DM felt earned, not extracted.

Step 5: Use discovery calls as problem-mapping, not demos

When calls were booked, David kept them focused. Instead of jumping into features, he treated discovery as:

Mapping the current workflow
Identifying where time, risk, or rework was occurring
Understanding what “good” looked like for that team in the next quarter

Only after the problem was clearly defined did the conversation move toward whether software could help—and what requirements mattered.

Results: Conversations That Actually Converted

Over one quarter (approximately 90 days), David’s comment-first approach led to two outcomes that changed his pipeline:

A ~30% reply-to-conversation rate once he transitioned into direct messages (approximate rate, as measured by replies that became genuine back-and-forth).
18 booked discovery calls in that same period.

The most important part wasn’t only the call count—it was the quality of the conversations. Because prospects had already seen David contribute publicly, discovery started warmer:

Less time spent proving credibility
More time discussing real process constraints
Fewer defensive “we already have something” responses
More clarity on what would make change worthwhile

Why This Worked: The Hidden Advantage of “Borrowed Attention”

David didn’t create demand from scratch. He stepped into existing attention flows—threads where prospects were already thinking about HR challenges.

This approach worked because it aligned with how B2B trust actually forms:

Visibility precedes permission.
Helpfulness precedes interest.
Context precedes conversion.

Cold DMs demand trust instantly. Commenting builds trust gradually, in a place where interaction is normal.

Key Takeaways: How to Apply This Without Being “Online All Day”

David’s method wasn’t complicated, but it was disciplined. The following takeaways make it repeatable.

Target conversations, not profiles.
Look for prospects who are already engaging with HR-related topics. Activity is intent.
Write comments that stand on their own.
If a comment wouldn’t help anyone without a follow-up message, it’s probably too vague.
Keep the public-to-private transition natural.
Message only after a signal: a reply, a question, repeated engagement, or an obvious need for depth.
Treat DMs as continuation, not conversion.
The DM isn’t the pitch. It’s the bridge to a call—built on the context you already earned.
Measure what matters early.
Track:
- How many threads you contribute to weekly
- How many prospects engage back
- How many DMs turn into real dialogue
- How many dialogues become calls
Consistency beats intensity.
This strategy compounds. Familiarity builds over multiple touchpoints, not one “perfect” comment.

Closing Perspective: Selling by Showing Up

David’s quarter wasn’t transformed by a new script or a clever automation. It changed because he stopped trying to win attention in the hardest place—an inbox—and started earning it where prospects were already thinking out loud.

For B2B sellers in crowded categories, the lesson is straightforward: be present in the conversations your buyers already care about. When you add value there, the lead generation doesn’t feel like lead generation. It feels like the next logical step.