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Is your LinkedIn Sales Navigator subscription living up to its potential, or are you barely scratching the surface of its capabilities?
Finding the right prospects on LinkedIn can feel like searching for a needle in a digital haystack. Well, LinkedIn Sales Navigator promises to be the magnet that attracts those needles – but only if you know how to leverage it properly.
Many sales professionals and businesses invest in this premium tool, hoping it will improve their prospecting efforts. Yet, too often, they find themselves overwhelmed by its features or underwhelmed by their results.
So, what separates the power users from the casual scrollers? What strategies and tactics are truly moving the needle when it comes to using LinkedIn Sales Navigator for prospecting?
That’s exactly what we set out to uncover in our latest research project.
In collaboration with Real Inbound and other partners, we surveyed over 100 companies across various industries to gain deep insights into how they’re leveraging LinkedIn Sales Navigator to supercharge their prospecting.
Let’s check out what they had to say:
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium tool that’s designed to help sales professionals find, connect with, and manage potential leads more effectively using advanced search filters and personalized recommendations within the LinkedIn platform.
It offers features like lead and account tracking, CRM integration, and real-time insights to streamline the prospecting process.
We collected a lot of actionable insights in our report – but we’ve also gathered some amazing data in the exclusive Organic and Paid LinkedIn Performance Benchmarks for All Companies.
This is a new Benchmark Group where companies can check out the current values of some of the most popular LinkedIn performance metrics.
Want a glimpse into some of the benchmark insights from the group?
Let’s talk about unique impressions first.
According to data provided by the Benchmark Group Organic and Paid LinkedIn Performance Benchmarks for All Companies, there were 1.61k unique impressions in July 2024 (median, 1539 contributors).
However, top performers had 5.77k unique impressions in the same period, which indicates that there’s a lot of room for improvement.
Similar results apply for Clicks, with a median of 146.5 clicks in that same period.
As for, total engagements, there were a total of 5.4k in that period, while top performers saw 15.27k during the same time span.
If you want more benchmark data like this, you can join the Benchmark Group Organic and Paid LinkedIn Performance Benchmarks for All Companies for free. All you have to do is connect your data sources to join (which is 100% anonymous for everyone involved).
Now that we’ve covered the benchmark data, let’s check out some of the direct stats we pulled up from our survey.
For starters – how many companies actually use LinkedIn Sales Navigator?
When asked, 67.52% of the respondents stated that they have 1-5 people from their company using LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
As for specific departments, most companies stated that Sales (82.24%) and Marketing (68.22%) use LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
We also asked companies how tightly managed their use of LinkedIn Sales Navigator is for sales prospecting.
More than half stated that they have a set of recommended strategies, but individual approaches may vary. 26.17% of the companies replied that they have a well-defined strategy and playbook that everyone follows.
When it comes to strategies companies employ in order to engage their prospects on LinkedIn, most of our respondents selected:
Next up, we wanted to know how they use the tool to find their ideal prospects.
It turns out that the largest portion of the respondents primarily identify their ideal prospects by Applying advanced search filters (35.51%) and Using specific keywords (e.g., job titles, industries) (35.51%).
As for the most effective search filter in LinkedIn Sales Navigator, 38.32% of the respondents voted for ‘Function’.
When it comes to ways companies primarily manage their lead lists in LinkedIn Sales Navigator, 50.47% Use CRM integration.
Most of our respondents utilize LinkedIn Sales Navigator to convert prospects into customers with regular, personalized follow-ups (67.29%), and by demonstrating product or service expertise through educational content (52.34%).
The features or tactics most of our respondents successfully used with LinkedIn Sales Navigator are Lead recommendations (58.88%) and Saved searches (55.14%).
When it comes to effectiveness, most respondents think that LinkedIn Sales Navigator is better compared to other prospecting tools they have used.
They also stated that it increased their sales prospecting or lead generation results.
We also asked the respondents which one would they keep, if they had to choose between using LinkedIn Sales Navigator and their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system – 50.5% opted for CRM.
Based on these answers and statistics, we came to several conclusions.
First, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is predominantly used by sales and marketing departments, reflecting its strong alignment with these functions. This highlights its role as a crucial tool for prospecting and engagement in these areas.
While a significant portion of companies have a well-defined strategy and playbook for using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, more than half operate with recommended strategies but allow individual variations.
This suggests a balance between structured approaches and personalized tactics within organizations.
And despite recognizing the value and efficiency of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, companies appear to underutilize its features. Most of the respondents reported successfully using only 2 out of 9 offered tactics and 2 out of 10 methods for converting prospects into customers. This points to a potential area for improvement in maximizing the tool’s capabilities.
To truly maximize LinkedIn Sales Navigator, personalization is key.
You need to tailor your outreach and engagement strategies, so you can build stronger connections with prospects and drive sales outcomes.
Below, we’ll check out the strategies our respondents recommended:
Personalizing your outreach by doing a bit of research on each lead can be a game-changer.
When you tailor your messages to the prospect’s specific needs, it shows you’ve taken the time to understand what they care about, which makes them more likely to respond.
Plus, in a sea of generic messages, yours will stand out, helping you build rapport faster. In the end, it’s about connecting with them on a level that really matters.
Arum Karunianti of Voisse is one of our respondents who uses this approach:
“As a digital marketing manager, I’ve found that personalizing outreach on LinkedIn Sales Navigator is crucial for engagement and conversion. One effective strategy I use is researching each lead thoroughly before reaching out. This includes understanding their company, industry challenges, and personal interests or achievements.
For example, I recently connected with a lead who works in the fintech sector. In my message, I referenced a recent industry report they published and how our services could support their upcoming product launch based on their LinkedIn updates. This personalized approach not only shows genuine interest but also increases the likelihood of a positive response and further conversation.”
However, are personalized messages enough to seal the deal?
Chris Cozzolino of Uptown Creation believes that relevant messages might be an even better alternative to personalized ones.
“From my experience, relevant messages outperform personalized messages. If a message isn’t relevant to a well-targeted audience then the message will flop – even with the best personalization. We use tools like Clay.com to create robust waterfalls for personalization; however, this is ONLY to achieve a lift in responses once we find a relevant message that performs.”
Chris Cozzolino
CEO at Uptown Creation
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With this strategy, you can leverage your existing network to get warm introductions and bypass cold outreach. It also allows you to reach decision-makers who might otherwise be difficult to connect with directly.
Moreover, a personal introduction provides more context to your outreach, potentially opening doors to meaningful conversations that might not have occurred through cold prospecting alone.
Ed Marsh of Ed Marsh Consulting shared his strategy for getting introductions with decision-makers:
“I create a saved search with a target ICP, narrowing it to 1st-degree connections of a specific 1st-degree of mine. Then I jump on a quick Zoom call with my 1st degree and ask for specific introductions to a few of them. I provide suggested text for a 3-way LinkedIn message they can send that creates the connection but doesn’t wander into them trying to sell me.”
When you start actively participating in relevant discussions, you can organically expand your network on LinkedIn and connect with potential leads who share similar interests or views.
This approach positions you as a helpful resource rather than just a salesperson who’s only interested in closing deals.
Irene Graham of Spylix says that she “discovered that becoming involved in group conversations is really beneficial. It’s similar to walking into a space where possible customers congregate.”
“You begin to automatically establish relationships by exchanging ideas, responding to inquiries, and participating in their posts. I once joined a group for marketing experts, for instance, and there I shared a useful piece about content strategy.”
LinkedIn Sales Navigator data allows you to make informed decisions about who to target and how to approach them.
You can use this data to prioritize leads that are more likely to be interested in your offer and tailor your messaging based on their specific roles, industries, and behaviors.
Cristina Mihalache of Republic Marketing shared their process for this strategy:
“We begin by thoroughly analyzing the lead’s profile, including recent activity, professional achievements, and recent posts. Then, we tailor our messages to reflect a genuine interest and relevancy.
For instance, when reaching out to a potential client in the legal sector, we noticed that they consistently commented on posts about site speed improvements. We then tailored our outreach message to include a direct reference to that discussion and shared exclusive content instead of just sending a link to a publicly available blog.”
PRO TIP: Need an easier way to track your LinkedIn metrics? Try out our free LinkedIn Company Page Engagement Dashboard to collect all the important insights in one place. From ad performance to company pageviews, you can have all of this data in a real-time screen that you and your team can check out instantly.
Integrating LinkedIn Sales Navigator with your CRM and sales tools can streamline your workflow and drastically improve your sales process – but there are different ways to do it.
Let’s explore some clever integration strategies that top-performing companies are implementing.
With direct lead data syncing, you can automatically update your CRM with the latest information from Sales Navigator, ensuring your team always has access to real-time, accurate data. You also eliminate manual errors and save time for your team.
Moreover, this synchronization enables you to fill your CRM profiles with valuable insights from LinkedIn, such as job changes, company updates, and shared connections.
Jonathan Feniak of LLC Attorney shares that they “integrate LinkedIn Sales Navigator with our CRM system by syncing lead and contact data directly, which allows us to maintain updated records of all interactions.”
“This integration helps us track the status of each lead throughout the sales process. For example, after connecting with a lead on LinkedIn, all relevant information is automatically transferred to our CRM. This seamless transition ensures that no details are lost and that we can continue nurturing these relationships effectively.”
This approach allows you to leverage Sales Navigator’s robust filters to create highly targeted prospect lists based on more specific criteria.
Once you’ve curated these lists, you can transfer them directly to your CRM to organize and prioritize your outreach efforts more effectively.
Reed Daniels of Rail Trip Strategies says that they use this approach for integration:
“We build lead lists in Sales Navigator and import them into our CRM. In our CRM we manage all of our outreach and follow-up tasks. We use both tools hand in hand.”
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Zoho lets sales professionals access and update Zoho CRM data directly from LinkedIn profiles, which both saves time and keeps information consistent.
You can add new leads to your CRM, update contact details, and track interactions without leaving even LinkedIn. The extension also displays your CRM data alongside LinkedIn profiles, giving you a fuller view of each prospect.
Garrett Yamasaki of We Love Doodles shared their approach to connecting the Sales Navigator to Zoho:
“The process begins by installing the LinkedIn Sales Navigator extension in Zoho CRM, which you can get from the Zoho Marketplace. Once installed, this extension provides a LinkedIn profile sidebar within Zoho CRM. This sidebar gives insights into a lead’s LinkedIn activity, mutual connections, and shared interests. With this information readily available, I can create highly personalized messages and follow-ups based on real-time LinkedIn data.”
According to David Reid of VEM Tooling, Salesforce offers similar capabilities:
“Integration with CRM systems such as Salesforce allows the capture of insight about the customer from LinkedIn and synchronizes with the contact record. Through LinkedIn profile integration, one is able to see leads from a new perspective depending on the engagement level. This also eliminates having to enter data manually, which would otherwise take time when using conventional means.”
Transferring leads to your CRM only after they take specific actions is a smart way to prioritize your prospecting efforts. This way, you can focus on leads that have shown genuine interest in your offer.
For example, you might set up your integration to transfer a lead to your CRM when they view your profile, accept your connection request, or engage with your content.
As Tony Dowling of Real Inbound puts it, “leads are only transferred to CRM when qualified by the actions taken in Sales Navigator. So the protecting and qualification is done LinkedIn side before I create a contact and maybe a deal in HubSpot.”
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is packed with powerful features, but many users aren’t taking full advantage of its capabilities.
Let’s check out some of the most underutilized features that could improve your prospecting efforts and help you find hidden opportunities.
The Persona Filter allows you to apply specific filters based on detailed buyer personas, helping you zero in on leads that match your ideal customer profile.
You can define personas based on things like job title, seniority, industry, and more.
Martin Gasparian of Maison Law says that he believes that “people don’t often recognize the Persona filter as a means to connect with more people.”
“You can use this filter to find high-quality leads, all you need to do is set up different personas that match the qualities of the clients you’re looking for. Defining your target persona is simple, you just have to know what you’re looking for and integrate that into a persona. For example, you’re looking for clients who may need some help with marketing.
Through the Persona filter, you can craft one that appeals to small businesses that may not have the best marketing setup. Perhaps their profile is too challenging to find or they aren’t using keywords as much as they should be. So long as you know that’s who your target audience is, you can make a persona to appeal to them.”
With this feature, you can add notes to individual profiles and save important reminders for future reference. Tags enable you to categorize leads based on specific criteria, making it easier to segment and track your prospects.
Together, these tools help you stay organized, personalize your outreach, and keep all your important information in one place.
Derrick Hathaway of VEM Medical says that “the Notes and Tags tool is one that is, in my opinion, greatly underutilized.”
“You can tag leads for simple categorization and add customized remarks about them. This option, which many people ignore, is quite helpful for recording talks and customizing subsequent interactions.”
Daniel Lewis of LegalOn Technologies also says that “many people don’t make the most of the ‘Notes’ section in LinkedIn Sales Navigator.”
“It’s like a virtual notepad where you can write down important details about the people you’re connecting with. For example, you can remember things from your past conversations or details about their company. Using this feature helps you have more personalized and meaningful interactions because you can refer back to what you’ve noted.”
Daniel Lewis
CEO at LegalOn Technologies
The TeamLink extension shows you how your colleagues are connected to prospects, even if you’re not directly connected to them yourself.
You can then ask for warm introductions, making it easier to start conversations with potential clients.
Andre Oentoro of Breadnbeyond noted this tool as one of the most underutilized ones and said that their team uses it to “leverage team networks for warm introductions.”
Thomas Medlin of JumpMD also says that “TeamLink can be a game-changer but is often overlooked.”
“It leverages connections across your entire team to find the best path to a lead, enhancing the chances of a warm introduction. The advanced search filters are powerful yet underused. Filters like ‘Company headcount growth’ or ‘Leads who follow your company’ can help identify high-potential leads.”
The Relationship Map feature in LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a visual tool that helps you map out and understand the key connections within a target account.
You can see the hierarchy of decision-makers and get direct insights into how they interact within the organization.
It’s primarily designed to help you identify opportunities to engage with multiple stakeholders, which reduces the risk of stalled deals if key relationships change.
Mateusz Calik of Delante says that he thinks that “an underutilized feature is the relationship map, which could have a great potential, but feels like it’s not.”
“To me, it still lacks the proper UX, and the UI is not the easiest one to navigate either. It works better with bigger companies, where such map can be created, but we never got a hang of it.”
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is one of the most powerful tools modern companies can use for B2B prospecting – but like any tool, its effectiveness lies in how you use it.
The strategies we’ve explored, from engaging with prospects through personalized messages to using some of the lesser-known tools, can significantly help your prospecting efforts.
However, the question remains – how do you know if you’re truly maximizing LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s potential?
This is where data-driven insights become crucial, and it’s where Databox’s Benchmark Groups step in.
With our Organic and Paid LinkedIn Performance Benchmarks for All Companies group, you can gain real-time insights into how other companies are performing with their LinkedIn Sales Navigator strategies.
Are your connection rates on par with industry leaders? How does your engagement compare to others in your field? Now you can know for certain. You’ll be able to instantly see how your LinkedIn Sales Navigator efforts stack up against your peers.
And that’s not all. You also get access to Databox Dashboards where you can combine your insights to get a comprehensive, real-time view of your most critical metrics, all in one place.
So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for a free trial and take Databox for a spin!
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At Databox, we’re obsessed with helping companies more easily monitor, analyze, and report their results. Whether it’s the resources we put into building and maintaining integrations with 100+ popular marketing tools, enabling customizability of charts, dashboards, and reports, or building functionality to make analysis, benchmarking, and forecasting easier, we’re constantly trying to find ways to help our customers save time and deliver better results.
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Filip Stojanovic is a content writer who studies Business and Political Sciences. Also, I am a huge tennis enthusiast. Although my dream is to win a Grand Slam, working as a content writer is also interesting.
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