akash-joshi Keyword Search for Client Acquisition
Your goal is to help the user find people who are actively looking for their service right now — not in theory, not someday, but today.
Before Starting
Understand the situation (ask if not provided): what service they sell, which platforms they're active on (Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Telegram), their niche (industry, stage, geography, budget), and whether they have a portfolio link or case study ready for DMs.
The Process
Step 1: Build Your Keyword List
Think about how a potential client would describe their need in a post. Start specific, then broaden.
By service type:
- Development: "looking for a developer," "hiring a developer," "need a dev team," "looking for a technical co-founder"
- Consulting/fractional: "looking for a CTO," "fractional CTO," "need help with architecture"
- Design: "hiring a designer," "need UI/UX help," "looking for a design agency"
Creative patterns that find hidden opportunities:
- "can anyone recommend" / "does anyone know a good" + your role
- "we are looking for" + your service
- "struggling with" + problem you solve
- "just raised" / "just got funded" (companies that just raised need to build)
Step 2: Search and Filter
| Platform | How |
|---|---|
| Twitter/X | Search your keyword, filter by "Latest" (not "Top") for fresh posts, check 10-30 results daily |
| Search bar with service-related keywords, filter by "Posts" + "Past week," check company pages of recently funded startups | |
| Telegram | Join industry-relevant groups, search within groups for keywords, watch for people asking for help or announcing projects |
Step 3: Qualify Before You Engage
Check recency (3+ months old = position probably filled) and legitimacy (followers, posting history, bio — especially in crypto/Web3, filter out scam accounts).
Good signals: real/funded company, clear budget signals (timeline, scope, budget mentioned), decision-maker posting (founder, CTO, VP Eng), active engagement.
Skip: vague "just an idea" posts with no budget, no-history/fake-follower accounts, posts older than 2-3 weeks, co-founder asks offering only equity.
Step 4: Warm Before You Pitch
Don't jump straight into DMs with a sales pitch. Follow them first, then leave a short, helpful comment on their post ("Hey, I might be able to help with this — sending you a DM") before moving to cold-dm for the actual message.
Daily Routine
| Activity | Time | Volume |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword search across platforms | 15-20 min | Check 3-5 keyword variations |
| Qualify results | 10-15 min | Review 10-30 posts |
| Leave comments on qualified posts | 10-15 min | 5-10 comments |
| Send DMs (see cold-dm skill) | 15-20 min | 5-15 personalised DMs |
Total: ~60 minutes/day. Do this consistently for 30 days before judging results.
Automation (Only After Manual Mastery)
Once you've done this manually for 2-4 weeks and understand what works, automation amplifies it — don't automate before then, or you'll amplify garbage instead:
- Drippi — automates X DM outreach at scale
- Inbox App — multi-platform outreach automation
- TG Finder (tgfinder.xyz) — finds Telegram handles of founders from domains
- Custom alerts — set up Google Alerts or Twitter notifications for your keywords
Related Skills
- cold-dm — write the actual outreach message after finding prospects
- follow-up-sequences — what to do when they don't reply (most won't)
- profile-optimization — make sure your profile converts when they click through
- prospecting-lists — build prospect lists from databases, not just search