If you are looking to increase, improve, or maximize your business development and prospecting efforts, you need Sales Navigator. I honestly can’t imagine doing all of the outreach I do on behalf of multiple clients through LinkedIn.com, especially now that certain features have been removed. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are bugs, features, and a few aspects that LinkedIn needs to fix, update and improve until Sales Navigator is 100% but until then it gets the job done, and done well.
If I had to pick the “best” feature in Sales Navigator, it would be that it centers on saved leads. Your home page only consists of updates and posts from your saved leads, not everyone in your network. Who’s viewed your profile is comprised of your saved leads, not only who has looked at your profile.
This Home Page allows you to stay in touch and in the loop on only the people you deem important. I don’t have to navigate through a client’s home page, connections, etc. to get to the leads. It’s more efficient and focused.
While it is extremely beneficial to focus on your leads, you do need to nurture and work your LinkedIn.com network as well. Don’t jump the LinkedIn.com ship and solely focus on Sales Navigator. They both need to be worked and nurtured to fully maximize your business development efforts.
Since Sales Navigator is a stand alone product, it doesn’t have many bells and whistles. Bells and whistles would take away from the purpose of Sales Navigator: identifying prospects or leads and outreach. Once you get the hang of it (and it’s not buggy that day), Sales Navigator is pretty user-friendly.
Thinking about Sales Navigator but not sure if there’s enough for you? Here are 6 ways to use Sales Navigator for outreach.
General Outreach. Send personalized messages to your saved leads which relate to your outreach goal (join my Group, let’s talk about business, etc.).
Follow Up After a Conference or Event. Have you recently attended a conference/event and exchanged business cards? Connect to those people! Be sure to include where/how you met.
Events. Have an event coming up? When you reach out to your leads, tag the person as “xxx Event” so you can quickly access everyone you’ve invited.
Who’s Viewed Your Profile. When you are viewing profiles, your name will show up in their Who’s Viewed Your Profile. If they then check out your profile before you reach out, it could mean they are interested, or at the very least, they know LinkedIn well. Reach out to them if you haven’t already.
Engaging with Top Updates. Your home page is comprised of updates from only your saved leads. These updates can be great conversation starters! Hi xxx, I really enjoyed the article you shared. Very valuable. Thanks, xxx. It really is that simple.
Similarities. LinkedIn has always provided shared or mutual connections, but within the Sales Navigator inbox, you can see all of your similarities as well as the person’s recent activity. Some similarities provided include companies, location, school, and groups. Use these similarities to personalize your messaging further!
Although it’s a pretty simple product, there are many ways to utilize what Sales Navigator has to offer. Do you use Sales Navigator for other types of outreach? I’d love to hear how. I am always looking to improve and maximize my process!
This post was originally published on Intero Advisory’s website in February 2017. Please note that LinkedIn is constantly changing. While it’s current now it may not be in the coming weeks or months.
