What to do if a signal doesn't respond

You found a perfect signal. You sent a great DM. You followed up twice. Nothing. Now what? Most people either give up too early or harass too late. Here's the decision tree.

Step 1: Send exactly ONE follow-up. Three days after the first DM, send a short, friendly follow-up with a NEW angle (not "bumping this up"). Reference something new — a tip, a question, a resource. ~30% of total replies come from this one follow-up, so it's worth doing. But don't send three follow-ups for a single signal — past that, the response rate drops to near-zero and you risk getting blocked.

Step 2: After 7-10 days of silence, move on. Mark the signal as "Dead" in your tracker. Don't emotionally invest in any single lead — ByPath surfaces dozens per week. The math: if you spend 30 min agonizing over one cold lead instead of sending 10 fresh DMs, you're burning your highest-leverage time.

Step 3: Consider a 2nd-order proxy. This is the move 95% of people miss. The original signal author didn't reply — but who is in their life that ALSO needs your service? Example: a person posted "Just got the keys 🔑" and didn't reply to your designer pitch. But their MOM or SPOUSE likely tagged them in a comment — and that person also has a vested interest in the new home looking good. Check the comments / tags of the original post for a warmer second-degree contact.

Step 4: Soft close with free value. If the lead is high-value enough (estimated deal size >$2k), try ONE more message after 14 days — but reframe it completely. Offer a free portfolio review, a free 15-min audit, a free PDF guide. The pattern: "Hey [name] — no pitch, just wanted to share this [free thing] in case it's useful for [their situation]. Best of luck either way!" This unlocks ~5-8% of dead leads because there's zero pressure.

Step 5: Block your own emotional follow-up. Set a hard rule: 3 messages max, ever. No exceptions. The temptation to send "just one more" is the road to spamming. The signal is dead. Move on. The next one is already in your inbox.