If you haven't noticed, LinkedIn Sales Navigator has had a face lift recently. The popular tool used to grow networks and businesses alike now has more tricks in its bag than ever before. At 80 bucks per month (with a year commitment), Sales Navigator could easily be part of your marketing budget. But is it money well spent? If you already spend time on LinkedIn or the platform is already part of your marketing strategy then, the likely answer is yes.
So really, is it worth all the hype? Here's a break down of the new Sales Navigator Core and how it can help make the best use of your time on LinkedIn.
Saving A Search
It's important to know the difference between "Accounts" and "Leads." Accounts are LinkedIn business page listings (in other words companies). Leads are profiles (in other words people). Depending on what you are looking to achieve, you are probably going to use "leads" most often. The new Sales Navigator Core has many of the same advanced filters as before with a couple of additions and a refreshed interface. The filters with the little compass next to them means that they are not available as filters on the Free or Premium subscription search capabilities.
A couple of new cool filters allow you to drill down your targeting a bit more. For example, you can now look for keywords used in content people have posted and engage very strategically in your feed. There's a new spotlight filter as well - "Following your company." Connecting with people who are already interested in what your company does is a smart way to canvas prospects. Under "People you interacted with" where you can remove profiles you've already viewed as to not target people you've already pre-vetted as a no-go.
Once you have entered in all your filters, be sure to save the search so you can go back to it in the future.
Account Search Filters
If you're in the B2B sales space, finding the right businesses to call upon is probably your first step in the process. Once a list is created of ideal target companies, you can create lead lists using titles and the company names to find the right people at those target businesses to connect with.
Alerts
If you save ideal connections / connections in the "lead lists," you can set up alerts for various pieces of information being updated on those particular profiles. You can save a search and then select the contacts you want to add to a "lead list." For example, search your 1st degree connections and a particular industry. Then filter that lead list to "posted on LinkedIn" in last 30 days. You can then go to those profiles and engage with their recent content.
The Bottom Line
LinkedIn has tremendous potential as a useful tool for sales professionals in any vertical. Sales Navigator can help using LinkedIn be more efficient by narrowing down ideal prospects, guiding more strategic engagement and saving information for future reference. Still not convinced about purchasing a Sales Navigator subscription? Learn more here about the differences between "paid" and "free" LinkedIn.
