LinkedIn Sales Navigator & How to Use It

LINKEDIN SALES NAVIGATOR & HOW TO USE IT

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LinkedIn is the world’s biggest professional social media network, and it is one of the best tools available to B2B marketers to generate leads and drive new business. LinkedIn is now facilitating that activity with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, their premium LinkedIn package for sales reps.

But what exactly is LinkedIn Sales Navigator, what are the benefits of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, how do you make the most of the tool, and is it really worth the investment?

Let’s take a deep dive into the product to answer these questions.

What Is LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

While LinkedIn is a free social networking platform for professionals, they offer premium paid-for options for those looking to get more out of it.

Sales Navigator is a specific version of LinkedIn Premium designed for those interested in leveraging the platform for discovering B2B leads and generating sales.

OK, but what is LinkedIn Sales Navigator used for? The features made available through Sales Navigator allow you to search the platform for relevant leads better. 

It both expands your access to users of the platform who are outside of your network of connections, and it also provides powerful search tools that help you conduct highly targeted searches to find exactly the leads you are looking for. The platform can also automatically feed you some leads based on your history and preferences.

It also offers features that allow teams collaborating on LinkedIn to work together more effectively, as well as options for integrating LinkedIn contacts into larger CRM systems.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator Review Of Features

What are the benefits of LinkedIn Sales Navigator? Let’s look at some of the specific features available and how they can help B2B marketers exploit LinkedIn more effectively.

InMail Messages

Most LinkedIn users are restricted in who they can contact with the platform. LinkedIn restricts direct messaging to first, second, and third-degree connections.

First-degree connections are the people you know and who you have mutually connected with on the platform, so “friends.” Second-degree connections are “friends of friends,” and third-degree connections are “friends of friends of friends,”

InMail messages allow you to send private messages to anyone on LinkedIn. You don’t need to be connected with them or provide any other proof that you know them.

The number of InMail messages you get per month is limited, as LinkedIn needs to prevent spamming. 

How many InMails do you get with LinkedIn Sales Navigator? This depends on your subscription level. But while at entry-level, this is limited to 20 InMail messages per month (InMail credits expire after 90 days), even at the enterprise level, the number of messages you can send on LinkedIn Sales Navigator is limited to 50 InMail messages.

Access To Out-Of-Network Connections

Out-of-network connections work similarly in that you can see the complete profiles of individuals outside your network. Usually, you would be limited to only the headline information about these individuals.

If you find profiles that look potentially interesting, this feature lets you see their complete profile, like you could if you were connected. This helps you better use your InMail messages as you can rule out people who don’t fit what you are looking for on closer inspection.

This feature actually isn’t available as part of the first tier of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and it only kicks on the second level of the service. Again, you are limited in the number of out-of-network connections that you can view each month.

Advanced Lead & Company Search

LinkedIn Sales Navigator also enhances your ability to search the platform for the leads you are looking for.

There are 30 advanced search filters you can utilize when searching on Sales Navigator Click To Tweet

Some of the most popular filters include:

• Company (including size and type)
• Seniority level
• Job title
• Function
• Years of experience
• Group membership
• Industry
• School
• Geography

You can save searches so you can repeat them to identify new leads. You can also save searches so you can visit people’s profiles, and Sales Navigator can alert you when something changes about someone you have saved, such as if they change their company or job title.

How to find saved searches in LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

Custom Lists

Sales Navigator also allows you to create custom lists to help you monitor and manage your connections and leads more effectively.

For example, you can create lists that are segmented by industry or geographical region. If you have lists of existing leads or customers, you could organize them by their renewal date and likelihood to churn so you can target the accounts that need more attention.

You can also share lists with colleagues to ensure that leads are being effectively and consistently managed across the company as a whole. According to the Weidert Group, up to six different people are involved in every B2B sale.

How to create a list in LinkedIn Sales Navigator? This is one of the principal functions offered by the Sales Navigator homepage. But you can also create lists directly from searches, which provide an option to send results to a list.

Read LinkedIn’s detailed instructions on creating and using custom lists.

Updates & Lead Recommendations

One of the great things about Sales Navigator is that you don’t have to do all the work of finding and monitoring the leads yourself. LinkedIn’s algorithm can take on some of that work. Click To Tweet

LinkedIn can automatically generate potential leads based on your sales preferences, search history, and profile interactions. These will appear when you enter a list or look at an individual. LinkedIn will pop-up related relevant leads.

LinkedIn will also help you track when something changes about a connection or a prospect you are monitoring. You can receive notifications if they change their job title, change company, and so forth.

Interested in how to get the most out of LinkedIn Sales Navigator? Download the app, available for iOS and Android. If you work in a high-paced sales environment, you’ll appreciate the real-time updates about saved accounts and leads so you can respond to changes promptly.

CRM Integrations

LinkedIn Sales Navigator also lets you integrate your LinkedIn leads into your CRM (customer relationship management) system.

It is compatible with many leading CRMs, including SalesForce, Hubspot, Drift, G2, Outreach, and Oracle Sales Cloud. New integrations are being developed and supported regularly.

With this integration, you should be able to send InMail messages directly from your CRM, a view shared connections, add company leads and see them filter through to Sales Navigator, and find out who you are engaging on LinkedIn that you are already connected with elsewhere.

How to export contacts from LinkedIn Sales navigator to Excel is a bit more complicated. While it is simple to export data from LinkedIn to Excel, you will notice that the column designated for email addresses is empty when you generate the spreadsheet. This is because LinkedIn automatically applies the strongest privacy settings to email addresses, including rendering them unexportable.

So, how to get emails from LinkedIn Sales Navigator? You will need to integrate with third-party apps that support this step in the process, such as Growth-X. Growth-X allows you to export contacts and will offer options for integrating with other CRMs as desired.

Learn how to download leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

TeamLink

According to LinkedIn, leads are more likely to engage when a recognizable mutual connection introduces them. So, while InMail messages are great, they are more effective if you can point to another person in your team or organization that you have in common.

With TeamLink, you can prioritize prospects with whom you are connected through other team members, as it adds powerful tools for connecting the accounts of the individuals on your sales team.

Sales Navigator can alert you when you become connected to someone through a colleague. Click To Tweet

Everyone on your team is expanding their network daily, so there is a good chance that you can become connected with desirable leads over time.

With the enterprise version of Sales Navigator, you can enhance this further. Beyond just integrating the accounts of people on your team using Sales Navigator, you can tap into the accounts of anyone listed as working at your company. This significantly multiplies your potential pool of connected contacts.

How Much Does LinkedIn Sales Navigator Cost?

How to get Sales Navigator on LinkedIn? LinkedIn Sales Navigator comes in three tiers with different benefits. For each tier, you can choose to pay monthly or annually (for a 25% discount), and you can cancel at any time.

Professional – costs $99.99 per month, or $79.99 per month billed annually

• 20 InMail messages per month
• 1,500 saved leads
• Advanced lead and company searches
• Custom lists
  

Team – costs $149.99 per month, or $108.33 per month billed annually

• 30 InMail messages per month
• 5,000 saved leads
• TeamLink
• CRM integrations
• 25 out-of-network unlocks per month
  

Enterprise – is specialized to your needs, and individualized prices are provided on request

• Designed for sales teams of 10 or more
• Link everyone in your team network without needing a Sales Navigator license for each
• 50 InMail messages per month
• 10,000 saved leads
  

With all LinkedIn Sales Navigator tiers, you can “try before you buy” with a one-month free trial. You do need to provide payment details when initiating the free trial, and you will be billed automatically after the end of your trial period.

How to cancel LinkedIn Sales Navigator Free Trial? Choose to deactivate the add-on in the settings menu on your LinkedIn page before the end of the free trial period. Be sure to do so before the end of the trial, as obtaining a refund can be tricky. Read LinkedIn’s refund policy.

You can cancel or downgrade at any time. Again, you can do this in the settings menu on your LinkedIn page, but the changes will only kick in at the start of your new billing cycle.

What Is The Difference Between Sales Navigator And Linkedin Premium?

When you look to upgrade your account, the first option that LinkedIn will show you is their standard premium accounts, which are a bit cheaper than Sales Navigator. So what are the differences between these options that make Sales Manager worth the additional investment?

Your entry-level premium account is just $29.99 per month, and it is aimed at professionals looking to expand their network but aren’t actively involved in sales.

You get just five InMail messages per month, and the rest of the tools are more focused on you. You can get unlimited insight into who is looking at your profile, job and salary insights for your industry, and advanced search options.

This is really targeted at individuals looking to take the next step in their career and will get a lot of benefits from these features.

In contrast, the Sales Navigator features discussed are all about supporting prospecting on the platform and spotlighting sales leads.

What Is The Best Way To Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

We think the best way to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator is to integrate it with the Growth-X LinkedIn Automation Tool.

You can use the advanced lead generation searches within Sales Navigator to find the people you are looking for. But then, rather than manage your communications within the LinkedIn platform, you can automate those activities with Growth-X.

You can enable Growth-X to invite connections and send messages. It can send reminders at certain time periods and send follow-up messages based on the actions of your prospects.

But more than just automating the process, Growth-X provides you with a dedicated lead generation expert that can help you with campaign targeting and optimization so that you can benefit from cutting-edge industry knowledge and experience.

The Verdict: Is LinkedIn Sales Navigator Worth It?

How effective is LinkedIn Sales Navigator? Our verdict is that Sales Navigator is a highly effective tool for anyone wanting to leverage LinkedIn for B2B sales.

It offers highly effective tools for discovering potential leads that actually meet your criteria, as well as functionality for managing leads based on criteria that are important to you. Receiving relevant updates about changes in the profile of connections and leads is a handy tool.

InMail and out-of-network profile views are beneficial for engaging contacts that are beyond your network of connections, which can be very important when working on sales. Even more useful is being able to exploit the connections of your team and company colleagues, as people are more likely to engage with you if they can see how you are connected.

Sales Navigator is a handy tool on its own, and you can enhance its utility further by integrating it with the Growth-X LinkedIn messaging automation tool.

Do you have experience using LinkedIn Sales Navigator? Do you have any top tips? Please share them with the community in the comments section below.

Growth-X is the #1 automated LinkedIn engagement service for managing, engaging, and building your network of leads on LinkedIn. Growth-X works on a variety of social media platforms and is the leading social media management tool for B2B sales.