In 2014, LinkedIn rolled out a new product for members called Sales Navigator. Depending on which paid LinkedIn subscription you are currently using, you may have received multiple emails recently that look something like this:
Which LinkedIn subscription level are you on? To find out, hover over your picture in the top right corner of your LinkedIn account and you will see which version you have:
If your account is Sales Plus ($49.95/month), then be prepared for your membership to automatically switch to Sales Navigator at some point in the near future. LinkedIn is discontinuing the Sales Plus subscription. This may seem like a great thing at first, and it may be in the long run, but here are a few things you need to know:
- Your individual account will move to the Basic (free) version with Sales Navigator overlaid on top
- Sales Navigator is a separate interface to manage and learn
- You may lose saved searches you created on your previous Sales Plus account
My colleague was on the Sales Plus account when LinkedIn automatically switched her account to Basic with Sales Navigator. She only found this out because when she went to go view her Saved Searches they were completely gone; wiped clean from her account when LinkedIn made the switch. We are uncertain if this was a glitch in LinkedIn’s flip or if this is par for the course when the transition occurs.
So, what can you do? Here are a few options:
- Click on Manage in the dropdown menu and then click Switch Plans. Change your plan to Business Plus—It is the same subscription as Sales Plus, LinkedIn is just changing the name and increasing the price by $10.
- If you have Saved Searches, go into each one individually, copy the criteria you used (i.e. keywords, location, relationship, etc.) and paste it into a document—This way, if you end up losing your Saved Searches, you can recreate them later.
- Do nothing and go along with the ride—Just remember that Sales Navigator is a separate interface that will require your learning it to make it work for you (if you need us, we can help with that).
Per usual, we want to keep you informed as we notice changes within LinkedIn.
Since the premium subscriptions have changed, I will launch a blog post in January that refreshes us on the differences in the LinkedIn subscriptions. Stay tuned and stay in-the-know by subscribing to our blog posts.
