LinkedIn Sales Navigator MASTERCLASS - Tutorial, Tips, Tricks, and Hacks to Find Leads

Key Concepts

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator: A premium subscription service from LinkedIn designed for sales professionals to find, connect with, and engage prospects.
• Lead Search: A function within Sales Navigator to find individual prospects based on various filters.
• Account Search: A function within Sales Navigator to find companies based on various filters.
• Filters: Criteria used to narrow down search results for leads and accounts (e.g., company size, job title, industry, location).
• Spotlights: Specific triggers or events that indicate a potential buying signal (e.g., job changes, news mentions).
• Connections Of: A feature to find prospects connected to a specific person or group, including competitors' connections.
• Workflows: Features that allow for exclusion or inclusion of leads/accounts based on CRM data or existing lists.
• Lead Lists: Saved collections of individual prospects.
• Account Lists: Saved collections of companies.
• Saved Searches: Searches that can be saved for future use and to receive alerts for new matching prospects.
• Alerts: Notifications for changes in saved leads or accounts (e.g., job changes, company news).
• Account Map: A visual representation of key contacts within a target account, categorized by their role (decision-maker, champion, influencer).
• Smart Links: A feature (Teams version only) to share content with prospects and track engagement analytics.
• Social Selling Index (SSI): A score that measures a user's effectiveness in social selling on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator Master Class

This video provides a comprehensive guide to utilizing LinkedIn Sales Navigator for lead generation and account targeting. The presenter emphasizes its utility for finding prospects, building lists, saving searches, and leveraging various features to enhance sales efforts.

Homepage and Initial Setup

The Sales Navigator homepage initially appears sparse but becomes dynamic as users add accounts and leads. The core functionality revolves around two primary search types: Lead Search and Account Search. While Lead Search is generally more common, Account Search offers specific advantages.

Lead Search Functionality and Filters

The Lead Search feature allows users to refine their prospect identification through a wide array of filters:

• Company Filters:

  • Current Company/Past Company: Search based on where a prospect is currently employed or has been employed previously.
  • Company Headcount: Filter by the number of employees in a company (e.g., 1-10, 50-200, 200-500).
  • Company Type: Differentiate between public and private companies.
  • Company Headquarters: Specify the geographical location of a company's headquarters.

• Role Filters:

  • Function: Filter by department or area of work (e.g., Sales, Marketing, Accounting, Finance).
  • Job Title: Search for specific job titles (e.g., VP of Sales, Director of Marketing, HR Manager).
  • Seniority Level: Categorize prospects by their level of authority (e.g., Director, VP, Individual Contributor, C-level).
  • Years in Current Company/Position: Filter based on tenure.

• Spotlights (Potential Buying Triggers):

  • Changed Jobs in the Last 90 Days: Identifies individuals who may be open to new solutions due to a recent career transition.
  • Mentioned in the News in the Past 30 Days: Allows for personalized outreach based on recent public recognition.
  • Posted on LinkedIn in the Past 30 Days: Indicates active engagement on the platform, providing an opportunity for personalized messaging.
  • Follow Your Company: Identifies prospects already aware of and interested in the user's company.
  • Shared Experiences: Filters for prospects who have worked at similar companies or attended the same university, fostering common ground.
  • Content Keywords (New Feature as of 2022): Search for individuals who frequently post about specific topics (e.g., "sales and marketing alignment," "employee turnover").

• Personal Connections:

  • Connections: Filter by direct connections.
  • Connections Of: A powerful feature to identify prospects connected to a specific individual. This can be used to:
    • Prospect connections of existing customers, mentioning the mutual connection.
    • Request introductions from customers to their connections.
    • "Cheeky" Method: Add connections of competitors' sales reps and leaders to identify potential prospects, past prospects, or current customers of competitors. This allows for targeted outreach based on perceived competitor weaknesses.

• Geography: Filter by the prospect's location. This is crucial for targeting specific regional teams within global companies.

• Other Filters:

  • Groups: Identify prospects based on their LinkedIn group memberships.
  • Industry: Filter by the industry listed on a prospect's profile.
  • First Name, Last Name, Profile Language: Basic demographic filters.
  • School: Filter by educational institutions attended.
  • Years of Experience: Filter by overall professional experience.

• Workflows:

  • Account List/Lead List: Exclude individuals already present in existing lists, ensuring focus on new prospects.
  • People in CRM: Integrate with CRM systems (HubSpot, Salesforce) to exclude or include contacts already managed, preventing redundant outreach.

Example Lead Search: Senior Sales Leaders at Startups in North America

The presenter demonstrates a practical lead search:

1. Company Headcount: 50-200 employees and 200-500 employees.
2. Company Headquarters: United States. (Initial results: 18 million).
3. Function: Sales and Business Development. (Results reduced to 1 million).
4. Seniority Level: C-level (CXO - Chief Anything Officer) and VP.
5. Geography: North America. (Results: 980,000).
6. Job Title Specificity: Refined to "VP of Sales" for more precise targeting.
7. Exclusions: "VP of Sales Operations" and "Regional Vice Presidents" were excluded to further refine the list (removed 3,000 people).
8. Profile Language: English.
9. Industry Workaround (Keyword Search): Since company industry is not directly filterable in lead search, the presenter uses the keyword "software" to identify people working in software companies. This is considered a better indicator than the self-reported industry on profiles, which can be inaccurate or misleading (e.g., a VP of Sales at an HR Tech company listing "Human Resources" as their industry instead of "Computer Software"). The industry filters were removed after applying the keyword search.

The final search yielded 7,000 VPs of Sales at companies with 50-500 employees in the US, speaking English.

Saving Searches and Building Lead Lists

• Saving Searches: The refined search can be saved (e.g., "VP of Sales, 50-500 US") for future access and to receive alerts for new prospects matching the criteria.
• Refining Searches with Spotlights: The search was further refined by adding the "Changed Jobs in the Last 90 Days" spotlight, reducing the results to a manageable 517.
• Building Lead Lists: Prospects can be manually saved to existing or new lists (e.g., "Q1 Targets"). Alternatively, multiple prospects can be selected using checkboxes on the search results page.
• Post-List Building Actions:
  • Third-Party Tools: Integrate with tools like LeadIQ, ZoomInfo, or Seamless to extract contact details for CRM or sales engagement platforms (Outreach, Salesloft).
  • InMail: Sales Navigator includes a limited number of InMails per month, but the presenter notes limited success with this method.
  • Connection Requests: Send connection requests first, and then engage via LinkedIn messages after a connection is established.
  • Engagement: Like and comment on prospects' posts to build rapport.

Leveraging Past Customers and CRM Data

• Searching Past Companies: A powerful tactic is to search for individuals who previously worked at a company that was a past customer. These individuals may have prior experience with the product and be more receptive.
• Proactive List Building for Existing Customers: Immediately add current customers and past prospects to a Sales Navigator list. This allows for monitoring job changes. When a former customer or prospect starts a new role, a congratulatory message can be sent, followed by a follow-up after 30 days to inquire about their team's current solutions, potentially leading to new opportunities.
• Monitoring List Activity: Saved lists can be checked for individuals who have changed jobs recently, posted in the last 30 days, or follow the user's company, providing warm outreach opportunities.

Account Search Functionality and Filters

Account Search is beneficial for:

1. Targeting specific named accounts or territories.
2. Filtering by industry, which is not directly available in Lead Search.
3. Discovering good-fit accounts more efficiently.

• Account Filters:
  • Annual Revenue: Filter by company revenue.
  • Company Headcount: Filter by employee count.
  • Company Headcount Growth: Identify growing companies.
  • Department Headcount: Filter by the size of specific departments (e.g., sales department with over 20 employees).
  • Department Headcount Growth: Identify departments that are expanding, indicating potential needs.
  • Fortune Rankings: Filter by Fortune 100, 500, or 1000 companies.
  • Industry: Crucial for targeting specific sectors.
  • Number of Followers: Filter by company's LinkedIn follower count.
  • Technologies Used: Identify companies using specific technologies (e.g., HubSpot users), which can be a strong indicator of integration compatibility.
  • Job Opportunities: Find companies that are actively hiring.
  • Recent Activities:
    • Funded in the Past 12 Months: Indicates growth and potential investment in new solutions.
    • Major Senior Leadership Changes in the Past 3 Months: Suggests potential shifts in strategy and decision-making.
  • Workflow: Exclude companies already in the CRM.

Example Account Search: Marketing Agencies in Canada

1. Company Headcount: Over 500 employees (500-1000, 1000-5000, 5000-10000, 10000+).
2. Geography: Canada.
3. Department Headcount: Accounting department with over 10 employees.
4. Industry: Marketing and Advertising.

This search identified 12 companies meeting these criteria.

Post-Account List Building Actions

• Account Insights: View company growth, headcount distribution, similar accounts, and new alerts.
• Account Map: A visual tool to map out key contacts within an account, categorizing them into tiers (Tier 1: Decision Makers, Tier 2: Champions, Tier 3: Influencers). This helps understand the organizational structure and identify key stakeholders.
• Searching Leads within Saved Accounts: Once an account list is created, users can search for specific roles (e.g., VP of Sales) within those saved accounts, generating a highly targeted list of leads.

Alerts and Notifications

Sales Navigator provides alerts for:

• Job changes for saved leads.
• Major announcements for saved accounts.
• New posts by saved leads or accounts.
• New senior hires in saved accounts.

These alerts offer timely reasons for outreach.

Smart Links (Teams Version Only)

• Functionality: Upload content (e.g., PDFs) and create shareable links.
• Benefits:
  • Organization: Presents content in a consolidated, organized manner for prospects.
  • Analytics: Tracks who opened the link, when, and how much time was spent on each page or resource. This provides valuable insights into prospect engagement.
• Application: Useful for sharing resources throughout the sales cycle, not just for cold outreach.

Sales Navigator Inbox and Core LinkedIn Messages

It's important to note that messages sent via Sales Navigator do not sync with the core LinkedIn platform. Therefore, it's recommended to use Sales Navigator exclusively for work-related communications if a company provides a license.

Social Selling Index (SSI)

• Location: Accessible via the user's profile image in the top right corner.
• Purpose: A score that evaluates a user's effectiveness in social selling based on:
  • Establishing a professional brand.
  • Finding the right people.
  • Engaging with insights.
  • Building relationships.
• Benchmarking: Provides a ranking within one's industry and network.

Conclusion and Next Steps

The video concludes by summarizing the core functionalities covered: lead search, lead list building, account search, account list building, and alerts. The presenter encourages viewers to ask questions in the comments and expresses willingness to create more in-depth videos on advanced searching techniques.