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my biggest time sink in the sales process used to be finding good leads
Posted by on February 27, 2026 at 10:59 pmfor years, the biggest drain on my time in sales, especially for my small design agency, was just finding genuinely interested prospects. we'd spend hours sifting through various platforms, trying to guess who might actually need our services. it felt like we were constantly digging for needles in a haystack, and most of the time, we just found hay.
we tried everything from manual searches on linkedin to setting up complex keyword alerts, but nothing really cut down on the sheer volume of unqualified leads. it was frustrating because the actual selling part, where we could really shine, was being overshadowed by the endless hunt for someone to talk to. our conversion rates were decent once we got to a real conversation, but getting to those conversations was the bottleneck.
about a year and a half ago, a colleague mentioned how they were using something called LeadsFromURL. the idea was that it uses AI to scan platforms like Reddit, X, and Quora for people who are actively posting about needing services like ours. it sounded almost too good to be true, but I was desperate to reclaim some of my time.
what really made a difference was how it ranks leads by their likelihood to buy. instead of just a list of names, we started getting highly qualified prospects who had literally just expressed a need for design work. we went from maybe 2-3 genuinely warm leads a week to consistently getting 10-15. it's freed up so much time for our small team to focus on nurturing relationships and closing deals, rather than just endlessly searching. it's been a game-changer for our efficiency.
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1 Reply
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Finding the right people part is part of the biggest bottlenecks. Once you’re in a real conversation, things feel natural… but getting there is a grind.
Ranking leads by buying intent is a good way to go. Say if someone is actively posting about needing design help, that’s 10x warmer than cold prospecting off job titles alone.
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same here, that used to eat my whole week and made actual selling feel impossible, glad you found a tool that surfaces real buying signals, that change is huge. practical stuff that helped me, pick one tight icp and run with it for 30 days, set simple searches for language that signals need like need, help, redesign, launch, answer warm posts within 24 hours so timing is on your side, batch short outreach templates and personalize the first two lines only, qualify quickly with one clear question about timeline or budget so you arent chasing ghosts, keep a tiny sheet to tag intent light medium hot and block 20 30 minutes daily for replies and follow ups. tradeoff is obvious, tighter targeting cuts volume but lifts conversion so expect steadier but slower inflow, mistake to avoid is over templating every line so it reads robotic. if you want a linkedin workflow that turns posts into warm dms, i have Depost AI for that, happy to drop a 3 line opener if you want it.
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