How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator: 6 Best Practices

With its almost billion members, LinkedIn presents a significant opportunity for lead generation. However, converting users into leads is challenging without the right tools. That’s where LinkedIn Sales Navigator comes in – it’s a specialized tool for finding and engaging prospects.

To get real value from the Navigator, you need to learn how to utilize its features effectively. This guide covers everything you need to know, from the basics to tips for success. Keep reading for the details that will help you get impactful results.

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What Is LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

The Sales Navigator is a deep sales platform part of the global lead gen process that integrates with CRMs.

What Does LinkedIn Sales Navigator Do?

The tool helps sales professionals in three ways:

• It helps find the ideal prospects by identifying and researching promising leads and accounts.
• It offers a chance to capture new opportunities by staying alert to changes and acting fast when opportunities arise.
• It effectively engages prospects through LinkedIn messaging and content tools.

How Does LinkedIn Sales Navigator Work?

Sales Navigator uses sophisticated algorithms that enhance the user experience.

• It provides intelligent lead recommendations by analyzing your search history and interactions to find prospects similar to your best customers.
• Then scores to predict how sales-ready and valuable each prospect is.
• Finally, it uses machine learning to recommend content that your prospects are likely to engage with.

Benefits of LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Precise Targeting Capabilities

More than 40 advanced search filters allow you to customize your searches based on criteria like job title, seniority, company size, past roles, education, location, skills, and years of experience.

This level of precision helps your sales teams to focus on only the highest potential targets. Filters can also be used to combine subsets when needed.

Prospect Insights

Beyond just contact details, Sales Navigator provides rich profiles showing real-time updates, role changes, and recent activity. These insights inform highly personalized and contextually relevant messaging.

Exclusive Communication

The premium InMail feature opens up an exclusive channel for contacting anyone on LinkedIn, not just connections. This vastly increases response rates compared to general email outreach. With a Sales Navigator account, you get 50 InMails each month to reach out directly through LinkedIn to your prospects.

Integration Capabilities

Sales Navigator integrates with CRM systems which allows you to take actions and personalize messages within your CRM. You can endorse skills, track activities, and customize messages to prospects without leaving your sales workflow. This saves time through automation and continuity between LinkedIn and your existing sales tools.

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How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator: 6 Best Practices

1. Tell Sales Navigator Which Accounts You Are Focused On

One of the best ways to enhance the effectiveness of Sales Navigator is by importing your customer database into the “Book of Business” section. Then the tool can extract the data and offer valuable insights such as real-time alerts and intent signals.

You have three options to do it:

• Auto-save from CRM
• Upload via CSV
• Manually create

After uploading your book of business:

• Prioritize your existing accounts. Click Accounts from anywhere in the Sales Navigator Account Hub. There you can compare and sort the accounts in your book by intent level, connections paths, and ‘Growth’ and ‘Risk’ alerts.
• Search high-priority accounts. Click Account Filters + in the search bar to open Account Search. To identify priorities within your saved accounts, filter to your book of business in Account lists.
• Filter. If you’re filtering based on size, apply ‘Annual revenue’, ‘Company headcount’, or ‘Department headcount’ to find the largest opportunities. For buyer intent go to Leverage Buyer intent to find accounts that have shown an interest in your company or Technologies used to find companies that use tech relevant to your offering.

2. Leverage Filters to Find the Right Buyers Across All Leads

The Navigator can search across all leads in or out of your account list to pinpoint the right buyers at the right time.

• Search for buyers: Click Lead Filters + in the search bar to open Lead Search with 30+ filters available. To get started, fill out the optimal account and persona filters.

3. Focus on the Accounts That Are Warm

Sales Navigator can help you find unexpected connections to an account. This provides valuable access through a former colleague, previous customer, or connection to company leadership. Some key tools for identifying these “warm” introduction paths are:

• Relationship Explorer. Analyzes an account to show potential connections matching set criteria (role, seniority, etc.)
• TeamLink. Displays connections from colleagues that are shared with target accounts.
• Company Alumni. Find people who have worked at both your company and the target account. These shared experiences can provide a warm introduction.

4. Set Sales Navigator Alerts

When setting alerts, you always know about changes.

• The homepage shows all alerts so you see when leads and accounts research you, have hiring changes, or job changes. When you see a relevant alert, take action.
• Customize alerts for relevance. Spend a few minutes providing feedback on alerts using the menu button. Turn off the irrelevant ones and any unsafe or unimportant leads/accounts so you can focus on what matters.

5. Focus on Buyers That Are Ready to Make a Purchase

The tool helps you focus on accounts showing buying signals instead of wasting time on uninterested prospects.

It alerts you when:

• Saved leads/accounts show interest in your company. These alerts appear on the homepage.
• Your current Book of Business accounts have Buyer Intent, Growth, and Risk signals. The Account Hub prioritizes accounts by these key data points.

You can also proactively discover new high-intent accounts using:

• Buyer Intent filter in Account Search to find accounts researching your company.
• Category Interest filter in Lead Search to locate leads interested in your product/service categories.

6. Personalize Outreach

Concentrate on tailoring the perfect message for each buyer to cut through the noise.

• Check the lead’s Sales Navigator page to view recent LinkedIn activity and commonalities. This helps assess if they’re a high-quality lead and determine relevant messaging.
• Choose the best outreach method. Commenting on the lead’s posts makes you recognizable. InMail often gets better response rates than email if personalized.

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Wrap Up

With advanced analytics integrated at every stage – from initial targeting to closing deals – LinkedIn Sales Navigator leads the industry in actionable lead generation. Give it a try in your own sales process and see the high-value alerts and insights it provides.