5 steps to generate leads with LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Understanding LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator is not an automation tool but a sophisticated platform that enables users to tap into LinkedIn's network of over 800 million professionals. It allows for highly targeted prospecting by using advanced search features, including job titles, industries, company page, and more. It's crucial to understand how to use Sales Navigator and its best use-cases such as creating large lists of targeted prospects and finding active targets, rather than as a CRM tool.

Define Your Ideal Customer Profile

Part of learning how to use Sales Navigator to generate leads is diving into the advanced search filters, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of your ICP and buyer personas. Take the time to define the characteristics of your ideal customer, such as their job title, industry, company size, and pain points. Having a well-defined ICP will guide you in setting the most relevant filters and ensuring you target the right LinkedIn leads.

According to LinkedIn research, the most successful salespeople spend a significant portion of their time researching accounts rather than actively selling. This may seem counterintuitive, but it makes sense when you consider the importance of targeting the right accounts from the start.

For example, if you sell marketing automation software, your ICP might be marketing managers at B2B companies with 50-500 employees in the technology industry.

By thoroughly researching potential accounts, top performers can identify those that are the best fit for their products or services, have the highest likelihood of converting, and offer the greatest potential for long-term value. This upfront investment in research pays off in the form of more efficient and effective selling down the line.

Use Multiple Filters to Narrow Your Search

Sales Navigator offers a wealth of tools and data to help you find the best accounts to target. Here's a simple 4-step process to get started:

1. Use the account search filters to narrow down your options based on key criteria like industry, company size, and geography.
2. Look for accounts that show signs of growth and expansion, such as recent funding rounds or executive hires.
3. Prioritize accounts that have demonstrated intent signals, such as engaging with your company page's content or searching for relevant keywords.
4. Save your top account prospects to a list for easy reference and ongoing monitoring.

By following this process and leveraging Sales Navigator's powerful search capabilities, you can quickly zero in on the accounts that offer the greatest potential for your business.

Sales Navigator offers a robust set of account filters that allow you to get highly specific in your search criteria. Some key filters to consider include:

• Company size and headcount growth: Look for accounts that are large enough to be valuable, but also showing signs of growth and expansion.
• Industry and vertical: Focus on accounts in industries that are a good fit for your products or services.
• Geography: Prioritize accounts in regions where you have a strong presence or see untapped potential.
• Buyer intent: Use intent data filters to find accounts that are actively researching or engaging with topics relevant to your business.

Sales Navigator allows you to apply multiple filters to progressively narrow down your search results. Start with broad filters like industry and company size, then add more specific criteria like job title and location. By combining filters, you can create a highly targeted list of potential leads that are more likely to convert.

Let's say you're looking for decision makers in the finance industry in New York City. You can set filters for industry (finance), location (New York City), and job title (CFO, VP of Finance, etc.) to find the most relevant leads.

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By combining these and other filters, you can create highly targeted lists of accounts that are ripe for outreach and engagement.

Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT allow you to combine or exclude search terms for precise results. For example:

• "sales director" AND "software" finds leads with both terms in their profile
• "manager" OR "head" broadens your search to include either term
• "marketing" NOT "intern" excludes intern-level marketing roles

Experiment with different combinations to hone in on your target persona.

Once you've crafted an effective search, save it for quick access later. You can create a custom lead list from the search and Sales Navigator will notify you of new leads that match the criteria. Organize saved searches by naming them clearly, like "Mid-market HR Directors" or "Bay Area Software CTOs". Revisit and refine saved searches periodically as your targeting evolves.

Sales Navigator's spotlights highlight leads experiencing relevant changes, such as starting a new role in the past 90 days. Leads in transition are often more open to hearing from vendors.

Check the "changed jobs in past 90 days" spotlight when defining your search to surface these timely opportunities. Personalize your outreach with a message like "Congrats on the new role! Let me know if [pain point they likely face] is a priority in your first 90 days."

Sales Navigator analyzes your preferences, activity, and existing connections to suggest new leads you may have missed. Review these recommendations regularly and save promising potential leads to the appropriate list.

Lead recommendations are especially helpful for expanding into new verticals or buyer personas. Sales Navigator's algorithm can identify leads similar to your best potential customers so you can replicate success. For more tips on improving your sales process, check out these sales prospecting tools that can help streamline your efforts.

View Profiles to Further Qualify Leads

Once you have a focused list of leads, take the time to view their profiles and gather additional insights. Look for commonalities, shared experiences, and recent activity that can help you personalize your outreach and build rapport. Sales Navigator also provides valuable insights like job changes and mentions in the news that can be used as conversation starters.

Sales Navigator's Lead Filters allow you to search for contacts based on specific criteria such as job title, function, seniority level, and more. By creating custom Personas that match your ideal buyer profiles, you can quickly surface the most relevant leads at your target accounts.

For instance, if you notice a lead has recently been promoted or their company has launched a new product, you can use that information to craft a personalized message that demonstrates your interest and relevance.

Another example, if you sell marketing automation software, you might create Personas for roles like Marketing Director, Demand Generation Manager, and CMO. Sales Navigator will then prioritize leads matching those Personas in your search results and Relationship Explorer recommendations.

Cold outreach, such as generic emails or irrelevant LinkedIn messages, has become increasingly ineffective in today's sales landscape. Buyers are inundated with spammy, impersonal communications and have learned to tune them out.

In contrast, leveraging warm paths - such as mutual connections, shared experiences, or common interests - can significantly boost your chances of getting a response. People are far more likely to engage when you have a personal connection or relevant reason for reaching out.

Relationship Explorer is a powerful Sales Navigator feature that identifies the best paths into your target accounts based on your Personas and LinkedIn's real-time data. It surfaces up to eight hidden allies at an account who can potentially champion your solution internally.

These allies might be former colleagues, mutual connections, or simply people who have engaged with your company's content on LinkedIn. By prioritizing these warm paths, you can build trust, gather valuable insights, and ultimately win more deals.

In addition to uncovering key contacts, Sales Navigator provides valuable insights to help you personalize your outreach and build rapport. The Activities filter shows you what your leads are posting, liking, and commenting on, giving you timely, relevant topics to reference.

Meanwhile, the Shared Experiences filter highlights commonalities like mutual connections, similar career paths, or shared alma maters. These details can be great conversation starters and help you find common ground with your buyers.

Engaging with Leads

Engagement strategies in Sales Navigator include sending connection requests or using In Mail. InMails are premium messages that can bypass the need for a connection request, making them a valuable tool for reaching out to leads directly. Sales Navigator provides alerts for lead activities, such as job changes or content sharing, which can be used as triggers for personalized follow-ups.

Exporting Sales Navigator Leads and Automation

While Sales Navigator itself does not allow direct export of leads to CSV, you can still export Sales Navigator leads and integrate them with CRMs or other sales tools. Automating Lead gen on LinkedIn with saved searches is another powerful feature, enabling you to receive notifications when new profiles match your search criteria.