How to close deals in the DMs

Founders are sleeping on DM closes.

They see people running "cold DM automations" or scripted outreach campaigns and assume that's the ceiling of what DMs can do. 

What if I told you that it isn't?

The version I’ve seen convert doesn't use a script at all. 

Step 1. Befriend your followers.

Before you sell anyone anything, they have to feel like they know you. That does not happen through posts alone. It happens through interaction.

- Ask questions in your posts. 

- Reply to comments with personality instead of platitudes. 

- Show up in your own feed as a human.

Step 2. Build trust through the right kind of content.

You need 3 types running in rotation.

- Authority long-forms that establish you as someone worth listening to.
- Technical step-based content that proves you know what you’re talking about.
- Story-based content that lets people see the human behind the expertise.

Step 3. Respond to every comment.

This is the step almost every founder skips. Comments are not vanity metrics. Every person who commented is a lead that raised their hand, and most founders wave back with a heart emoji and move on.

Reply to each one with a meaningful response, and where it makes sense, ask a follow-up question. 

Step 4. Incentivize tailored responses.

When someone leaves a comment that hints at a specific problem, respond with something concrete. Tell them if they share a bit more, you'll walk them through a strategy for their exact situation.

Then do it. Reply with real value. Ask if they have questions.

You are not selling here. You are being a mentor. 

Robert Cialdini spent decades studying influence, and one of his core findings was that reciprocity is the strongest short-term driver of human behavior. When you give someone something valuable without expecting anything in return, they feel a genuine, biological pull to reciprocate. 

Step 5. Take the conversation to the DMs.

Once the exchange in the comments has built some momentum, DM them. Something simple. 

"Hey, saw your comment and wanted to follow up in case you had more questions."

Just a natural continuation of a conversation you already started publicly. The transition feels seamless because it is one.

Step 6. Provide more value in the DMs.

If they engage, keep helping. 

- Send a Loom breakdown of their situation. 

- Send a screenshot of a relevant framework. 

- Send a voice note walking through the strategy you would run.

You are trying to make them experience what it would be like to work with you.

Step 7. Transition to the offer.

When they show gratitude (and if you have done steps 1 through 6 correctly, they will) that is your moment. 

"Happy to help. If you want to go deeper on this, we do X for founders like you. Want to hop on a quick call?"

It works because the sale has already been made emotionally by the time you say it. You are offering the natural next step.

Step 8. Close.

The call happens. The relationship has already been built. Most of the objections that would exist with a cold prospect do not exist here. They already believe you’re competent. 

Disclaimer: None of this works without a personal brand.

Every one of these steps assumes there is content for people to comment on, presence for them to interact with, and trust they have built with you before you slid into their DMs. 

Without the personal brand, you are just another cold outreach account. 

Peter Drucker said the goal of marketing is to make selling superfluous. That's what this process does. The personal brand does the selling for you in the background through the content, through the presence, through the reputation you built while you were doing everything else. 

By the time the DM conversation starts, most of the work is done.

Founders who try to shortcut this by skipping the personal brand and jumping straight to DM outreach get reply rates in the low single digits. 

– Wiz

P.S. Building the brand that makes this whole process work is exactly what we do for the 30+ founders inside Mogul. If your DMs are quiet and your comments are dead, book a call here and let’s talk strategy.