LinkedIn is the most useful channel available to a Pakistani B2B services business and the one most commonly used in the way that works worst: connect, then immediately pitch.
That approach has a reply rate close to zero, damages your reputation with exactly the people you want, and is why most people conclude LinkedIn does not work.
Why the pitch on connect fails
Decision makers receive dozens of these a week, nearly all identical: a compliment, a list of services, a request for fifteen minutes. They are ignored as a category, not evaluated individually.
The deeper problem is that you are asking for the highest commitment action, a meeting, at the point of lowest trust, before they know anything about you. Nothing about the message quality fixes that ordering.
What actually produces replies
Be visible before you reach out
The single most effective change. If someone has seen your name three times in useful comments and posts before you message them, your message is read as coming from a familiar person rather than a stranger.
This is slower and it is the difference between a five percent and a thirty percent reply rate.
Comment before you connect
Find the twenty to thirty people who match your target buyer, follow them, and comment substantively on their posts for a few weeks. Not “great post”. A genuine addition: your experience of the same problem, a number, a disagreement stated politely.
This is also visible to everyone else in their audience, which is how inbound enquiries start arriving without any outreach at all.
Publish what you know, specifically
The posts that produce enquiries for a software house are not motivational. They are specific: what an ERP implementation actually costs and why quotes vary, the requirement clinics always forget, what we got wrong on a project and what it taught us.
Being useful to people who will never hire you is what makes the people who might hire you pay attention.
When you do message, make it easy to say no
A short message referencing something specific about their business, one sentence on why you are relevant, and a low commitment ask: a question they can answer in one line rather than a meeting request.
Conversations that start with an answered question convert far better than calls booked from cold pitches.
Profile: it is a landing page, not a CV
Most Pakistani B2B profiles read as job applications. If you are selling services, the profile should be written for a buyer.
- Headline says what you do for whom. “We build ERP and POS systems for manufacturers and retailers in Pakistan and the Gulf” beats “CEO at Company”.
- Banner image carrying your positioning in one line.
- About section that opens with the problem you solve, not your founding year.
- Featured section with two case studies and a way to contact you.
- A real photograph. Face visible, plain background.
The company page matters far less than personal profiles. People engage with people, and a company page post reaches a fraction of the audience a personal post does.
The Pakistan specific considerations
- Time zone. Post when your target market is awake. For UK and European buyers, early afternoon Pakistan time. For US buyers, evening.
- Address the offshore question early. Buyers wonder about communication, time zone overlap and reliability. Answering it before they ask, plainly, removes the objection rather than leaving it unspoken.
- Written English carries the whole channel. This is a text medium and clarity is the product. See our note on the parts of English that affect your income.
- Show specifics rather than claims. “650 projects across 42 countries” is checkable and concrete. “World class quality” is what everyone writes.
A weekly routine that fits around delivery work
The realistic constraint is that whoever does this also has a job. Three to four hours a week, sustained, beats an intense month followed by nothing.
- Monday, 45 minutes: write and publish one substantial post.
- Daily, 15 minutes: comment on five posts from target buyers or peers.
- Wednesday, 45 minutes: send ten personalised connection requests with no pitch, and follow up on any conversations already open.
- Friday, 30 minutes: look at which posts produced profile views and conversations, and note what to repeat.
Expect three to six months before this produces steady enquiries. That is genuinely slow, and it is why most competitors stop, which is why it works for the people who do not.
Paid options, briefly
LinkedIn advertising is expensive per click compared with other channels and can be justified for high value B2B services with a clear target. For most Pakistani software houses, organic activity plus targeted outreach delivers considerably better return than paid.
Sales Navigator is worth its cost only if someone is genuinely doing outreach weekly. Bought and unused, it is a subscription that measures ambition rather than activity.
What to measure
- Profile views per week. The leading indicator that visibility is building.
- Conversations started, not connections accepted.
- Inbound enquiries mentioning LinkedIn when asked how they found you.
- Which posts preceded a rise in profile views, so you write more of those.
For how this compares with other channels on cost per qualified lead, see our channel by channel breakdown.
Frequently asked questions
Does LinkedIn work for Pakistani software houses?
Yes, and it is one of the better channels for reaching foreign B2B buyers. It works slowly and rewards consistency over intensity.
How many connection requests should I send?
Ten to fifteen a week, personalised, with no pitch attached. Volume outreach damages reputation and reply rates fall accordingly.
Should I post from the company page or my profile?
Personal profile, primarily. Reach and engagement are substantially higher, and buyers engage with people rather than logos.
How long before it produces business?
Three to six months of consistent activity before steady enquiries. Earlier results happen but should not be planned for.
Ezitech has delivered projects for clients in 42 countries and builds the marketing systems behind B2B pipelines. Talk to us about your pipeline.