# Reach finance leaders complaining about payroll software

400 public posts read and 120 authors profiled; then 120 accounts and 120 people, about 76 verified work emails and 228 emails sent from inboxes on your own domain.

Family: [Social listening](https://www.routergrowth.com/workflows/social-listening.md) · HTML page: https://www.routergrowth.com/workflows/listening-payroll

## Give this to your agent

```text
Using RouterGrowth, run this workflow: Mine Reddit and X for people complaining about payroll software, 400 posts, then email the finance leads at their companies.
Show me the price before every call, and stop after each stage with a sample of the results so I can adjust.

1. Find the conversations: social.search x 400 posts. Public posts matching the pain, across X, Reddit, LinkedIn and the rest.
2. Read the threads: social.comments x 1,200 comments, social.profile x 120 authors profiled. Comments carry the objections and the names; profiles tell you who is worth a look.
3. Attach the companies: company.enrich x 120 companies. Authors to companies: firmographics on the domain behind each profile.
4. Get the contact: contact.find x 84 (120 tried, 70% found), contact.verify x 84 verdicts. Charged on a match only: a miss is free, so the estimate is a ceiling.
5. Context for the first line: web.scrape x 120 pages. One page per account and a few recent posts per person, so the opener is about them.
6. Run the outreach: email.send x 228 (76 contacts x 3 steps). Sequence from inboxes on a domain you own, one call per email.
7. Read the replies: email.messages x 23 inbox reads. Poll the inboxes, classify replies, hand the warm ones to a human.

Before sending: email.domain x 1, email.inbox x 1, on a domain I own.

Budget for one run: about $7.54 plus $4.66 one-time setup. Run routergrowth inspect on any capability before the first call to confirm the quote.
```

## Why this works

Payroll complaints are specific and urgent: a missed run, a wrong filing. The finance lead who posts one is already calling other vendors.

The first line, as your agent would write it:

> A payroll run that fails on a Friday is a bad weekend. Has support explained what went wrong?

## The workflow, stage by stage

Find the conversations → Read the threads → Attach the companies → Get the contact → Context for the first line → Run the outreach → Read the replies

| # | Stage | Calls | Cost |
|---|---|---|---:|
| 1 | Find the conversations | `social.search` x 400 | $0.80 |
| 2 | Read the threads | `social.comments` x 1,200, `social.profile` x 120 | $2.64 |
| 3 | Attach the companies | `company.enrich` x 120 | $0.85 |
| 4 | Get the contact | `contact.find` x 84, `contact.verify` x 84 | $1.74 |
| 5 | Context for the first line | `web.scrape` x 120 | $0.67 |
| 6 | Run the outreach | `email.send` x 228 | $0.80 |
| 7 | Read the replies | `email.messages` x 23 | $0.05 |
| + | One-time setup | `email.domain` x 1, `email.inbox` x 1 | $4.66 once |

One run: $7.54 for 2,379 calls. Assumptions: 2 contacts per account unless the brief says otherwise, 70% email find rate, 90% verification pass, 3 emails per contact, 30% LinkedIn accept rate. Prices are the catalog's at the time this page was built; `routergrowth inspect` returns the exact quote before a call.

### Find the conversations

Public posts matching the pain, across X, Reddit, LinkedIn and the rest.

### Read the threads

Comments carry the objections and the names; profiles tell you who is worth a look.

### Attach the companies

Authors to companies: firmographics on the domain behind each profile.

### Get the contact

Charged on a match only: a miss is free, so the estimate is a ceiling.

### Context for the first line

One page per account and a few recent posts per person, so the opener is about them.

### Run the outreach

Sequence from inboxes on a domain you own, one call per email.

### Read the replies

Poll the inboxes, classify replies, hand the warm ones to a human.

## Run it from the command line

```bash
# RouterGrowth workflow: Mine Reddit and X for people complaining about payroll software, 400 posts, then email the
npm install -g routergrowth && routergrowth setup

# one-time setup
routergrowth run -c email.domain -i '{"domain":"<domain>"}'
routergrowth run -c email.inbox -i '{}'

# 01 Find the conversations  (social.search x 400)
routergrowth run -c social.search -i '{"platform":"<platform>","query":"<query>"}'

# 02 Read the threads  (social.comments x 1200, social.profile x 120)
routergrowth run -c social.comments -i '{"url":"<url>"}'
routergrowth run -c social.profile -i '{"platform":"<platform>","handle":"<handle>"}'

# 03 Attach the companies  (company.enrich x 120)
routergrowth run -c company.enrich -i '{"domain":"<domain>"}'

# 04 Get the contact  (contact.find x 84, contact.verify x 84)
routergrowth run -c contact.find -i '{"first_name":"<first_name>","last_name":"<last_name>","company_domain":"<company_domain>"}'
routergrowth run -c contact.verify -i '{"email":"<email>"}'

# 05 Context for the first line  (web.scrape x 120)
routergrowth run -c web.scrape -i '{"url":"<url>"}'

# 06 Run the outreach  (email.send x 228)
routergrowth run -c email.send -i '{"inbox_id":"<inbox_id>","to":"<to>"}'

# 07 Read the replies  (email.messages x 23)
routergrowth run -c email.messages -i '{"inbox_id":"<inbox_id>"}'
```

## Questions

### How do I find leads on Reddit and X?

social.search returns public posts matching the words a buyer uses when the problem hurts. social.comments reads the threads under them and social.profile tells you who the author is and where they work.

### How do I go from a post to an email address?

The profile gives the person's name, bio links and often their company. company.enrich confirms the company and contact.find returns a work email for that person at that domain, charged only on a match.

### Is it acceptable to email someone about a public post?

A short, relevant message about something a person said in public is ordinary outreach, and it works because it is relevant. Keep it to people who posted in a professional context and follow the law that applies to your recipients.

### How many of the people posting can actually be reached?

Fewer than post. The workflows assume about three authors in ten are worth profiling, and an email is found for roughly seven in ten of those. The page shows the funnel for each one.

### What does this workflow cost to run?

About $7.54 for one run of 2,379 calls, plus $4.66 once for the sending inboxes. Each call is quoted before it runs and a lookup that finds nothing is not charged, so the figure is a ceiling. There is no subscription: the run is paid from a prepaid balance.

## Related

- [Reach store owners complaining about Shopify apps](https://www.routergrowth.com/workflows/listening-shopify-apps.md)
- [Reach sales leaders complaining about LinkedIn automation tools](https://www.routergrowth.com/workflows/listening-linkedin-automation.md)
- [Reach RevOps leaders complaining about B2B data providers](https://www.routergrowth.com/workflows/listening-data-providers.md)
- [Reach sales leaders talking about AI SDR tools](https://www.routergrowth.com/workflows/listening-ai-sdr-tools.md)
- Guide: [Brand monitoring across web, social, news, reviews and AI answers](https://www.routergrowth.com/use-cases/brand-monitoring.md)
- Guide: [Social media API: profiles, posts and comments from X, Reddit, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube](https://www.routergrowth.com/use-cases/linkedin-and-social-signals.md)
- Guide: [LinkedIn lead generation: turn competitor commenters into a qualified lead list](https://www.routergrowth.com/use-cases/competitor-commenters-to-leads.md)
- Skill: [Social lead discovery](https://www.routergrowth.com/skills/social-lead-discovery.md)
- Skill: [Cold email pipeline](https://www.routergrowth.com/skills/cold-email-pipeline.md)

Adjust the volumes and assumptions: https://www.routergrowth.com/free-gtm-tools/workflow-generator#q=Mine%20Reddit%20and%20X%20for%20people%20complaining%20about%20payroll%20software%2C%20400%20posts%2C%20then%20email%20the%20finance%20leads%20at%20their%20companies.