LinkedIn Sales Navigator: A best practice guide

If you aspire to advance professionally on LinkedIn, you might have encountered the restrictions of the free version. One such limitation is the restricted monthly searches in LinkedIn's basic service, which may hinder your outreach efforts and interfere with achieving targets. This is where Sales Navigator comes in.

What is LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator is an advanced sales platform designed to facilitate virtual selling by empowering sales professionals to establish and nurture relationships with their buyers on a large scale. As a core component of modern B2B sales teams, Sales Navigator integrates seamlessly with other sales technologies, including CRM systems, to deliver a solid foundation of accurate, real-time data.

For sales professionals, Sales Navigator represents the most effective version of LinkedIn. It offers an impressive array of search features, enhanced access to extended networks, and tailored algorithms to help you connect with the appropriate decision-makers at the optimal moment.

Being LinkedIn's premium subscription service, Sales Navigator offers a variety of features, including advanced search capabilities, expanded contact networks, customised algorithms, custom recommendations, alerts, and more. This article outlines the benefits of choosing Sales Navigator, the different versions available, and how to utilise its resources effectively.

The key features of LinkedIn Sales Navigator

• Advanced searches and filters.
• Save leads and searches.
• Save up to 10K leads.
• Fifty free monthly InMail messages.
• Create custom lists of leads.
• Track leads.
• Receiving alerts on leads.
• And use the account map to build buyer maps and identify gaps.

The right time to upgrade to Sales Navigator

When is the right time to upgrade to LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

• You often need help with LinkedIn's commercial use limits, which hinder your progress.
• You want to maximise your network and accomplish more in less time.
• You're looking for a personalised experience that helps identify potential clients and generate targeted leads.
• When you want to improve your online presence.
• You aim to gain a competitive edge.
  

Selecting the best Sales Navigator edition for your needs

LinkedIn offers three tiers of Sales Navigator:

Core

The core is designed for individual professionals and provides advanced search capabilities, lead recommendations, and CRM integration features.

Advanced

Ideal for teams, Advanced includes all Core features plus team collaboration, lead and account recommendations, and more.

Advanced Plus

LinkedIn's top-tier offering includes everything from Core and Advanced to the ability to integrate a company's CRM for improved data efficiency.

LinkedIn offers a one-month free trial for Core and Advanced and a demo for Advanced Plus.

Getting started with Sales Navigator

To fully benefit from Sales Navigator, it's crucial to pinpoint your target audience and location. Sales Navigator's advanced filtering options allow you to focus on and engage with your ideal audience and potential clients by refining search results. For example, select lead or account filters under "All Filters" to locate specific employees or companies. Then, you can apply the filters that meet your needs and save your preferences for future searches.

Additional Sales Navigator resources

Home Page

The central hub of Sales Navigator, featuring essential information like blue alerts for new prospects.

InMail

InMail is a premium feature for sending direct messages to a targeted audience beyond your 1st-degree connections.

Lists/Saved Searches

You can access all lists you've created when saving people or companies.

Recommended Leads

AI-generated suggestions based on your sales preferences.

Sales Navigator Inbox

View InMail messages sent to your targeted audience through Sales Navigator.

To optimise Sales Navigator's benefits, engage with targeted contacts and leads, utilise InMail, and update your lead lists.

Learning LinkedIn Sales Navigator 

It's always valuable to take a course in LinkedIn Learning; here, I provide a link to the course with Thomas Creighton de Farias, learning experience program manager at LinkedIn.

Summary

Sales Navigator is a potent tool for professionals looking to enhance lead generation, networking, and conversion efforts. By choosing Sales Navigator, you and your team can save time and money while accessing valuable information unavailable elsewhere. Consistency, effort, and time invested are keys to achieving the desired results. Sales Navigator enables you to reach your goals more effectively and intelligently.

LinkedIn training program

If you're interested in starting with Sales Navigator, we have a package that can help. It's a LinkedIn training program designed to boost your sales reps' skills and help them drive more business through LinkedIn. Better yet, we can adjust it based on your priorities — so if you want to increase the focus on Sales Navigator in your training, we can make it happen. Go to the package page here for more details and pricing information and ask for a quote or book a meeting.

Also, if you're new to Sales Navigator and interested in getting started, you can download our Sales Navigator guide below, which will walk you through the first things you need to know when using this tool.