The LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a great prospecting tool for building an extensive list of potential connections.
This tool essentially acts as a search engine on LinkedIn but is much more comprehensive. It lets you filter leads by several criteria, including geography, industry, function, and seniority.
Sales Navigator can be one of the sharpest tools in your arsenal if you’re trying to develop a pipeline of potential connections and grow your list of prospects.
With the Sales Navigator, BNI members can build networks and communities tailored to their target market and audience. Each connection will carry more value and will, in turn, derive more value from their networks.
With this article, Scion Social aims to help you take full advantage of the LinkedIn Sales Navigator by simplifying its workflow. We will take you step-by-step and show you how to use it for networking, inviting visitors, and conducting 121 online.
We’ll cover the following topics in this article:
- Why Choose the Sales Navigator
- How the Sales Navigator Works
- How to Use Sales Navigator for Networking
Why Choose the Sales Navigator: Top Features and Benefits
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a tool that allows you to expand your reach phenomenally and cultivate a thriving network and a rich pipeline of relevant leads.
Let’s look at the reasons why you must choose this unique tool from LinkedIn.
1. Targeted search + Tailored Messages = Great Pipeline
Sales Navigator can help you build your pipeline with leads and accounts.
Sales Navigator helps you put a face to the name and gives you relevant and updated details about your prospect. This information allows you to tailor your messages to their roles and interests.
You can also focus your searches on geography, roles, industry, company, and seniority level.
Here are some more specific search parameters that you can use:
- People who have experiences similar to yours
- People who have been active on LinkedIn in the last 30 days
- People who have moved from their current jobs in the previous three months
- People who have included TeamLink intro in their bio
- People who follow your company’s page on LinkedIn
Setting preferences in Sales Navigator further allows you to customize which results you receive and what you see on your home page.
However, that’s not even the best part about the search function. It is the ability to save these searches.
Pro tip: Save the targeted searches to create custom lists, which you can share with your team if needed.
2. Access to InMail and InMail Credits.
Another key feature of this tool is the InMail function, which is invaluable to people searching for leads.
With the free version of LinkedIn, you cannot message people outside your network. Sales Navigator provides 50 free InMail credits each month and has many other features, including an inbox.
By looking at the number of people who have accepted your InMail within 30 days of receiving them, you can see which InMail templates or approaches are working. You can now send follow-up emails, or 121 invites to these people and build a relationship.
This function has the potential to become your email campaign for reaching people who have not opted-in to your communication. Another advantage of InMail is that it has a better chance of getting the user’s attention than regular email channels.
Pro tip: Create InMail templates and use different ones for different ‘campaigns’ and target lists.
3. Automate Your Outreach.
One of the most significant features of the Sales Navigator is its ability to automate your outreach activity.
One way to do this is to put alerts for any change in the lists you have created. This way, you get an alert when one of your prospects updates their profile with changes such as a move from their jobs.
Another way to use automation with Sales Navigator is to integrate a CRM. You can create more custom lists using options like ‘Similar Leads’ and ‘Icebreakers.’ This action brings all information about your customers to one place on LinkedIn.
You can send bulk emails and post multiple recommendations with such tools.
Sales Navigator integrates seamlessly with CRM tools and allows you to exchange data. You can view this tool as a widget within your CRM application.
Pro tip: Use LinkedIn automation tools like Octopus CRM, Dripify, and Kennected to keep your sales pipeline full.
Is the Sales Navigator Worth It?
Despite its many advantages, many people ask if the Sales Navigator is worth its price? The price of Sales Navigator is $79.99 per month, or $64.99 per month when paying annually ($779.88/yr).
The answer is “yes,” but only if you can use it effectively! Otherwise, you would join several people who hardly use 10% of the tool’s features and essentially waste their license. BNI members can shine where others do not.
More than a quarter of users only use ten percent of their InMails.
86% of users have a poor SSI (Social Selling Index) score, which measures social selling capabilities based on completing profile information, engagement, and building relationships. The result is that many people will essentially leave their licenses dormant and be unproductive.
This issue does not apply to BNI members. As a BNI member, your SSI is already high. If you leverage this tool effectively, you can grow your network at an unprecedented rate.
How the Sales Navigator Works
Sales Navigator offers a prospect tag and the option to send a certain number of InMails to specific prospects.
This functionality can be handy in targeting a small prospect group. For targeting large groups, you can filter your search by industry.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator helps you build an exhaustive contact database by highlighting common interests with your leads.
It also allows you to customize your search to narrow your target audience by location, industry, company size, and role.
It further provides insights on each lead’s company updates.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator also offers dedicated relationship managers and 50 InMail messages per month so that you can send targeted messages to the right people at the right time.
Now let’s look at how you can leverage the Sales Navigator to build your network and generate leads.
How to Use the Sales Navigator: A Step-by-Step Guide
Before implementing LinkedIn Sales Navigator, set your goals and KPIs. Keep your target routines ready and invest in creating an optimized sales profile so that when your prospects look you up, they get a good vibe.
First, ensure you use the platform correctly and align it with your current sales force. Then, develop your playbook. Include LinkedIn outreach templates, daily actions, and a tracking system.
You can then start reaching out to your leads and prospects using InMail.
Here is a step-by-step guide to setting up and using the Sales Navigator:
1. Set your preferences.
Setting up your preferences is the first and most crucial step.
Sales Navigator allows you to set up and save Preferences, which can help narrow down the people with whom you can connect.
However, remember that these preferences only apply to your account and lead to recommendations. Regular searches may include results that are outside of your saved choices.
Sales Navigator’s built-in alerts dashboard allows you to customize how your leads and accounts are presented.
2. Use advanced search and save your searches.
If you only wanted the standard search, you would have stuck to the LinkedIn free version. This advanced search is where the Sales Navigator distinguishes itself.
You can filter your search results by region, industry, function, and seniority level.
3. Create InMail templates for various target groups.
Write a short, inviting, and focused InMail. You can experiment with different formats and templates.
Here’s a potential flow to follow while writing InMails to get a high response rate:
- Ask a relevant question.
- Say how you can help.
- Offer proof, if needed.
- Ask for a meeting.
4. Leverage the ‘View Similar’ option to expand and refine your reach further.
You can send InMails inviting them to connect with you for 121 or even to ask them to a chapter meeting.
5. Use SmartLinks to tag your leads.
SmartLinks allows you to track your leads’ activity and build a profile of their interests and behavior.
Conclusion
LinkedIn has over 700 million members who have created profiles. The system also contains rich prospecting data. Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a great way to find and connect with high-potential prospects.
If you want to make the most of this tool, you must be able to develop a habit of using it and creating an efficient, purposeful prospecting strategy. You need to establish sustainable routines and learn how to use LinkedIn’s tools to your best advantage.
It helps you build an extensive contact database, which is always useful for inviting new members.
Connect with us here if you have any questions.
