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The Small Business Owner’s Guide to Smarter Business Development

When do you get time for business development? It’s tough, isn’t it? You want to dedicate time to it but valuable client work needs to come first. Yet, the pipeline needs constant feeding but how do you build it without spending hours doing it?

Linked In is a valuable resource for Business-to-business sales and small businesses and consultants rely on it, yet it can be an onerouse task to find prospects when you’re doing manual individual LinkedIn connection requests, writing personalised follow-up messages, and tracking who’s responded to what.

9/10 small business owners find business development a challenge with finding or retaining customers cited as the number one issue by 54% of respondents.

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It’s not a lack of ambition; it’s a lack of hours in the day. This is precisely why LinkedIn automation for lead generation has become one of the most valuable tools a small business owner can add to their toolkit. And right now, one lead generation tool is making it genuinely accessible to businesses of every size.

Why LinkedIn Is the Most Powerful Platform for Lead Generation

Before we look at automation, it’s worth understanding why LinkedIn matters so much for business development in the first place.

LinkedIn received over 1.7 billion site visits in February 2025 alone. Nearly 89% of B2B marketers use it for lead generation, and the platform is 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook or X. For service-based businesses, consultants, agencies, and solopreneurs targeting other businesses, there is simply no better place to find and connect with the right people.

The challenge isn’t the platform; it’s the time investment. Manual outreach on LinkedIn is repetitive, slow, and inconsistent. Most small business owners start with good intentions, send a handful of connection requests, maybe follow up once, then get pulled back into client work. The outreach fizzles out, and so does the pipeline.

LinkedIn automation tools solve this by handling the repetitive parts of outreach: automatically, consistently, and around the clock.

What LinkedIn Automation Actually Does for Lead Generation

LinkedIn automation tools work by replicating the outreach actions you’d normally do by hand: sending connection requests, profile visits, personalised messages, and follow-ups, but doing so automatically, at scale, and within a structured sequence.

Rather than spending several hours each week on manual prospecting, you set up a campaign once. The tool then runs in the background, contacting prospects, following up at the right intervals, and tracking responses, while you get on with the actual work of running your business.

The business case for this is strong.

• Businesses using marketing automation see an 80% increase in lead volume and 77% higher conversion rates
• Companies investing in automation see an average return of £4.30 for every £1 spent over the first three years
• 76% of businesses report a positive ROI from automation within the first twelve months
• Leads followed up within five minutes of first contact are nine times more likely to convert; automation makes this possible at scale
• Effective lead nurturing results in 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost

For a small business owner who doesn’t have a dedicated sales team, this kind of structured, consistent outreach would otherwise be impossible to sustain.

The Cost of 100% Manual Business Development Outreach

It’s worth being honest about what manual outreach actually costs. On average, it takes 18 contacts to connect with an ideal prospect. That means a couple of LinkedIn messages and a single follow-up won’t get results; sustaining 18 touchpoints per prospect, across dozens of contacts simultaneously, is simply not realistic without automation.

There’s also the hidden cost of inconsistency. If you’re doing outreach only when you have spare time (which, for most small business owners, means rarely), your pipeline becomes unpredictable. Good months come from busy periods a few months earlier; quiet periods follow the stretches when outreach got deprioritised.

Recommended Tool for Small Business Owners: Dripify

Dripify (www.dripify.com) is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation and lead generation platform designed to make outreach manageable for busy business owners, without requiring any technical expertise to get started.

Where many automation tools require a browser to stay open, Dripify runs entirely in the cloud. That means your lead generation campaigns keep working when your laptop is closed, when you’re in a client meeting, when you’re travelling, or when you’re asleep. You configure your sequences once, and Dripify handles the rest.

It’s the closest most small business owners will get to having a dedicated business development person working on their behalf every single day.

One G2 reviewer, a solo founder, described how, within a single week of setting up Dripify, the tool had generated three or four genuine new prospect conversations, all running automatically in the background while they focused on other work. Another user summed it up simply: “Phenomenal tool that saves time and does lead generation on LinkedIn instead of you. The cost is minimal in comparison to the level of business it can generate.”

Automated LinkedIn Drip Campaigns

Build multi-step LinkedIn outreach sequences using a drag-and-drop interface. Combine profile visits, connection requests, personalised messages, InMail outreach, and timed follow-ups; all triggered automatically and spaced to mimic natural human behaviour.

Always-On Cloud Operation

Unlike browser extensions that stop when you close your laptop, Dripify’s campaigns run 24/7 in the cloud. Your lead generation keeps moving whether you’re at your desk or not.

Email Outreach Integration

On the Business plan and above, Dripify connects with Gmail and Microsoft accounts, allowing you to combine LinkedIn and email outreach in a single, coordinated sequence for broader reach.

Smart Inbox

Manage all your LinkedIn conversations from one organised inbox. No more hunting through LinkedIn notifications; responses are centralised so nothing slips through the cracks.

Analytics Dashboard

Track connection acceptance rates, response rates, and overall campaign performance in real time. See what’s working, identify what needs adjusting, and continually improve your outreach.

Built-In Safety Controls

Dripify includes customisable daily limits and randomised delays that mimic natural LinkedIn behaviour, helping to protect your account from restrictions whilst maintaining consistent outreach volume.

CRM and Tool Integrations

Dripify connects natively with HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, Slack, and Zendesk, slotting neatly into whatever workflow your business already runs.

CSV Lead Export

Export your lead data, including full name, company, job title, email address, and LinkedIn URL, for use in your CRM or for further outreach beyond the platform.

Dripify is priced to be accessible for individual business owners and small teams, with all plans available on a 7-day free trial, no credit card required.

• Basic: from $39/month. LinkedIn automation with one drip campaign. A solid starting point for solo operators.
• Pro: from $59/month. Unlimited drip campaigns, advanced analytics, A/B testing, smart inbox, Zapier integration, and CSV export. This is the plan most small business owners will find delivers the best value.
• Advanced: from $79/month. Adds team management features and enhanced controls, ideal as your team grows.

Annual billing brings a 35% saving across all plans. To put the investment in perspective: users of lead generation automation tools report saving an average of eight hours per week on prospecting activities; that time can go straight back into client work or business growth.

Note: while it works with a free Linked In plan as well as paid, remember, Linked In’s targeting power is in the paid plans and it’s recommended that you go for sales navigator. This increases the cost but it will increase your ROI and it’s cheaper than other outreach channels and tools.

Linked In automation is particularly well suited to:

• Consultants and freelancers selling into B2B markets
• Coaches, trainers, and advisers looking to grow a client base
• Small agencies handling new business development alongside delivery
• Solopreneurs and founders who are their own business development function
• Any business owner where LinkedIn is an active or potential source of new clients

If LinkedIn is where your target clients spend time, and your current outreach is either manual, inconsistent, or non-existent, why not see how Dripify gives you a structured system that runs reliably, without requiring hours of your week to maintain.

LinkedIn automation for lead generation isn’t about replacing genuine relationships. It’s about making sure you’re consistently in front of the right people, so that when they’re ready to have a conversation, you’re already on their radar.

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