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Saniya Sood
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Published October 8, 2026 · Updated November 11, 2026
The answer in 60 words: your first-degree connections are the network you already earned and rarely speak to. This Valley play imports a CSV of your connections, verifies connection status so non-connections never enroll, writes each message personally from real shared history where it exists, continuing an existing thread rather than restarting it, and runs two widely spaced touches that stop on any reply. Never a cold intro, never a pitch-first note.
This article describes the play exactly as published on joinvalley.co/playbooks on October 8, 2026. Valley makes the product, so read it as the maker's own guide, not a review.
Valley is an AI outbound platform that finds the people most likely to buy from you - from live buying signals, natural-language search, or your own lists - qualifies them against your ICP, researches each one, and sends personalized messages across email and LinkedIn that get 15-45% reply rates, against a category average of about 2%.
► Run this play on your own ICP: 7 days free, every feature on
Give your sales team
an unfair advantage.
Who this play finds, and why they reply
A LinkedIn network goes cold by default. The play's premise is that a slow, personal drip, two touches spread over time, keeps hundreds of relationships warm at a cost of minutes, and that the conversations which come from it are the ones that turn into intros, referrals and deals without being asked for.
It is first-degree only by construction. Valley verifies every row; a non-connection never enrolls, so nobody on the list is a stranger and nothing in it reads as outreach.
How the play runs
The flow, as the product shows it: 1st-degree list › Personal DMs › LinkedIn DM.
Import first-degree connections. A CSV of your connections. Valley verifies connection status automatically; non-connections never enroll.
Valley writes each message personally (AI step). Real shared history when it exists, continuing an existing thread instead of restarting it. Never a cold intro, never a pitch-first note.
Slow drip, stops on reply. Two widely spaced touches. Any response ends the drip and starts a conversation.
Before you launch
Upload a CSV with LinkedIn profile URLs for the people you want to reach.
Setting | Value |
|---|---|
Audience | 1st-degree only |
Cadence | One-time |
Cadence tag | One-time |
Sending channel | LinkedIn only |
Review the audience, message and sending settings before starting. The channel shown is the sending channel for this play, not the source of its prospects.
Give your sales team
an unfair advantage.
What the message says
Real shared history when it exists, continuing an existing thread instead of restarting it, in the play's words. Never a cold intro, never a pitch-first note. The message is the kind a person sends to someone they know: a reference to how you know each other and something worth saying now.
Two widely spaced touches. Any response ends the drip and starts a conversation.
When this is the wrong play
You want to ask them for something. Ask your network for intros is the referral ask, one honest ask and one follow-up.
The people are from an old campaign, not your wider network. Re-engage a previous campaign pulls them by stage reached.
The list has non-connections. They are verified out; this play cannot reach them.
Run it on a segment, not the whole export. Two hundred connections who share your industry make a coherent drip with messages that can reference real shared ground; two thousand connections from every chapter of your life make a drip where the shared history is thin and the messages show it. Export the full list, then upload the part the play can write well for.
Related plays
Ask your network for intros: A warm, low-pressure referral ask to first-degree connections who know your buyers.
Re-engage a previous campaign: People who accepted your connect but never replied get a fresh motion, by stage reached.
Reach ex-colleagues at new companies: People who worked where you worked, now sitting in buying seats elsewhere.
Open the play itself: Engage your first-degree network on the Valley playbook library, or browse all 58 plays.
Related: Competitors' LinkedIn Company Followers · LinkedIn Testimonial Posts · LinkedIn Profile Views · Valley pricing
See also: Viral LinkedIn Post: How to Mine an Old One for Prospects · Followers on LinkedIn: How to Find the Ones Worth Messaging · LinkedIn Post Engagement: How to Message the People Who Liked and Commented
► Book a demo: see how Valley would find, research and message your buyers
FAQ
How do I stay in touch with my LinkedIn connections without pitching? A slow personal drip: two spaced messages written from real shared history, stopping on any reply. Valley writes and runs it.
Who can be in the list? First-degree connections only. Valley verifies connection status and non-connections never enroll.
How many messages? Two, widely spaced. Any response ends the drip.
Does it pitch? No. Never a cold intro, never a pitch-first note.
Is it one-time? Yes, one run per list.
How do you find warm leads instead of buying cold lists? Start with people who already know you: first-degree connections, past colleagues, people who viewed your profile or engaged your posts. They reply because the relationship exists, not because the copy is clever. This play covers the first group; how to get warm leads covers the rest, and warm outbound explained shows how to work those signals at scale.
