LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium search tool on the world’s largest professional network that helps sellers find new leads and customers. A powerful search engine that allows you to explore more detailed profile information, LinkedIn Sales Navigator goes much deeper than the site’s default search function. Through use of both predefined and customizable filters, Sales Navigator can narrow down LinkedIn’s whopping 810 million members to just the kind of prospects you’re looking to target.
Read on to learn about key LinkedIn Sales Navigator best practices and how you can achieve optimum search results for your business.
How To Optimize Results with These LinkedIn Sales Navigator Best Practices
LinkedIn Sales Navigator gives sellers more robust search options, but this also means the tool comes with a bit of a learning curve. Understanding how Sales Navigator works and is best used can be the difference between finding your ideal customer and wasting precious time conducting fruitless searches.
The following Sales Navigator best practices should help start your Sales Navigator journey, while allowing you to refine and improve your searches along the way.
1. Make the Best Use of the Filters
LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator offers a myriad of filters to help you more accurately target your core audience. Set the filters too broad, and you’ll be inundated with far more people than you could feasibly target. Set the parameters too small, and you run the risk of missing out on potential customers that could be a good fit for your offer.
Some Sales Navigator filters you can choose include:
- Geography – Search results typically default to global, so you’ll often want to limit the geographic location to just the areas you’re interested in prospecting.
- Industry – LinkedIn provides you with a lengthy list of predefined industry options. Choose the ones best suited for finding your ideal customer.
- Seniority Level – This allows you to choose which tier of employees you target – from entry-level to CEO.
- Function – This filter allows you to choose the types of work done by the people you’re hoping to contact. For example, “engineering,” “marketing,” etc.
- Boolean – This filter allows you to choose several combined keywords to further customize your search. The order of the keywords, as well as the words you choose to separate them by, prioritizes and contextualizes the keywords in specific ways. For instance, if you list keywords separated by the term “And”, the filter will search for profiles that contain all of the keywords. If you separate words with the term, “Or”, it will choose profiles that contain some, but not necessarily all, of the keywords.
2. Save Your Searches
Once you have come up with the right filters and parameters, take time to click on the ‘save search’ button. If not, the next time you begin a search you’ll have to go through the entire process again.
3. Save Specific Accounts
Sales Navigator allows you to choose specific accounts to keep an eye on. Once selected they’ll show up in the newsfeed of your Sales Navigator homepage. You can sort these profiles by date of the last contact, top leads, or most recent updates. With a glance, you can then stay up-to-date on your most promising leads.
4. Set Alerts for Specific Activity
Once you’ve generated a list of leads and saved them, you can create alerts so that you’re made aware of any changes to their profiles. For example, you could set an alert for the type of job listed in the profile. This alert would be triggered if any of your leads changed jobs – whether they changed positions within their company or moved on to a different organization.
5. Make Use of the Leave Notes Feature
Customers appreciate being recognized as people, not just dollar signs. One way to enhance that feeling is to bring their personal information into the conversation. As you build your relationships, use the leave notes feature to jot down important dates, family members' names, interests, and any other information that will make your clients feel seen, heard, and cared about.
6. Use the Find Similar Prospects Feature
This feature can show you profiles similar to the one you’re viewing. Once you’ve found a potential lead that looks promising, simply open the drop-down menu and hit the ‘view similar’ button. Sales Navigator will then present you with other candidates that might also be worth considering.
7. Use InMail to Contact Leads
Once you’ve settled on your lead list, InMail allows you to directly message people on LinkedIn that aren’t yet connections. Since most people receive fewer messages on their LinkedIn profiles than through email, InMail can sometimes give your message a better chance of being opened and read.
Get to Work Using these LinkedIn Sales Navigator Best Practices
While understanding LinkedIn Sales Navigator best practices is a great starting point, the only way to optimize results for your business is to start searching, learning, and refining. As you discover what’s lacking or cluttering your lead lists, customize your searches until you’re identifying prospects that are a good match for you and your business.
Additionally, regularly check back here for our updated LinkedIn Sales Navigator tips and tricks. We’re eager to introduce you to new Sales Navigator capabilities so you can make the most out of your LinkedIn experience.
