To answer your question… Yes, yes it is. (We use Sales Navigator and it works.)
BUT you have to use it the right way.
The problem is that many sales professionals use Sales Navigator the wrong way, and because of this, they aren’t finding their ideal prospects.
(And it doesn’t matter if you are a recruiter, sales manager, CEO, or a massive corporation; the key to Linkedin Sales Navigator success is using it correctly.)
Keep reading as we dive a little deeper into why Sales Navigator is worth it during your lead generation process.
What is Linkedin Sales Navigator exactly?
Linkedin Sales Navigator is a prospecting tool that Linkedin itself provides. It provides different search filters that allow sales teams to find the right prospects.
Whether you are looking for decision-makers at companies or even a company size, you will be able to find the info, when using Linkedin Sales Navigator.
Therefore, if you are a sales rep that’s keen on Linkedin outreach, you should really invest in using this sales tool.
Why?
Because this tool offers various features that can be really helpful if you know how to use it properly.
Different features are offered depending on which package you choose.
Some of the features are:
- Advanced lead and company search
- Alerts on your saved leads and accounts
- Customized lists
- Content sharing and engagement tracking
- CRM integration (whether it’s Salesforce, or something else.)
- Inmail
- Access to Linkedin subscriptions
For example, if you decide to choose the “Sales Navigator Professional,” you will receive the following Sales Navigator features:
- Unlimited people browsing
- See who has viewed your profiles within the last 90 days
- Lead recommendations and saved leads
- 20 InMails per month.
The good news is that Linkedin does offer a free trial, so if you decide that it’s not the right social selling tool for you, you can cancel it at any time.
What search filters are there on Linkedin Sales Nav?
The good news is that you can do advanced searches with Sales Nav, and this can help when you need to build custom lists.
Here are some of the filters that you can use to find the right people for your marketing campaigns:
(Note: There are “People” Search Filters and “Company” Search Filters. These filters are available with a Linkedin premium account and are not found on Linkedin.com)
How much does a Sales Navigator account cost?
Depending on which package you choose, you could pay between $79 a month, or more. For example with the enterprise package, “pricing starts at $1,600/seat per year before volume and multi-year discounts.”
You have 3 options:
- Professional
- Sales Navigator Team
- Enterprise
Should you purchase a higher package for more InMail messages?
What is Inmail? Well, essentially it is a paid message that goes to any Linkedin member. You pay for the right to reach any individual on the platform. The message is delivered directly to the prospect’s inbox on Linkedin.
It works on a pay-per-send basis and if you have a Sales Navigator account, you will get 20 Inmails credits a month. When someone responds to your message, you are refunded a credit. Theoretically, you could message more than 20 people a month, if you have a high response rate.
On average each Inmail costs between $0.30 and $1 to send, depending on your target audience. You will also receive a certain amount of Inmails, depending on which package you have on Linkedin.
Another important thing to know is that you can also purchase more Inmail credits if you need to.
At Salesbread, we have done various tests this year to see if using more InMails are worth it, but we still prefer sending Linkedin Connection Request messages instead.
This is for 2 reasons.
Firstly, it’s free. And Inmails are pretty much the same as connection requests, in the sense that they are messages that sales teams use to get their foot in the door.
And secondly, by sending requests to those in your second-degree connections, you already have some commonalities. Therefore the chances of the prospect replying to you will be greater. You can use Inmails as a last resort if you really need to contact someone that you think would be perfect for your lead list.
So, don’t purchase a more expensive package just for more Inmails.
Work on getting prospects to reply to your connection requests first, before paying for a messaging service, where leads might not even reply.
What we love about Linkedin Sales Navigator
This sales prospecting tool is great for marketers looking for prospects that work for a specific company; So, if you have a list of companies, you will be able to find people who work in those particular companies and target them.
You can also get really granular about how you target prospects, from their job title, geography to their seniority in a business. You can and even use specific keywords to search for a prospect.
Have a look at some of the screenshots below as examples.
Filter for titles
As you can see below, you can include a variety of very specific titles when prospecting.
Filter for keywords
SalesBread suggests using negative keywords because when you look at a specific keyword, the outcome is not always the best. This is also known as a Boolean search, and it will help refine your list.
What’s not so great about Linkedin Sales Navigator
If you are looking for specific companies, do not use Sales Navigator. The industry filter is usually incorrect.
The reason is that Sales Navigator has insufficient data for finding the correct accounts you want to target.
Yes, you can narrow it down by “technology” and company size, but the industry tag is incorrect more than 40% of the time.
(Industry is user selected.) For example, a fitness app could call itself one of these industries:
- Health, wellness, and fitness
- Internet
- Computer Software
Therefore, you are going to miss out on a large part of your target audience. In some cases, even more, than 50% because the business might have put themselves in different categories.
This is why we suggested using a third-party prospecting tool to look for businesses to hit, such as Apollo.io. It has a database of 25 million businesses, which really opens your playing field.
Should you use Linkedin Sales Navigator?
At Salesbread we really find Sales Navigator extremely helpful in finding relevant leads, especially if we are looking to target specific people at companies. It allows us to refine our lists, and contact prospects with ease, and more often than not we receive many replies.
In fact, we are able to book 1 meeting or appointment per day for our clients through this social media platform.
But… (yes, there is a but…)
We know how to use Linkedin Sales Navigator the right way, and this is why we get results.
Many other companies are canceling their subscriptions because prospects aren’t replying to their messages.
The problem isn’t Linkedin Sales Navigator itself, but it could be that you might be using the filters the wrong way. Or perhaps the salesperson sending messages to prospects might not be writing the best kind of messages. They could lack personalization, or maybe they are just too “salesy.”
Perhaps you are sending out too many automated replies and not “real-time” messages.
Remember people like engaging with real people and not robots.
So Sales Navigator is worth it, but it helps if you know how to use the platform the right way.
Quick List: Pros & Cons
Pros
- You will have many search filters at your fingertips, including advanced ones.
- You can save searches and integrate with any CRM
- “LinkedIn Sales Insights aggregates all of your Sales Navigator activity by account so you can get insights into sales activity at scale”
- It’s a great tool for prospectors looking to find people who work at a specific company
- The pricing isn’t too bad, depending on which package you choose.
Cons
- It will only work well if you have a great sales team that uses personalization, build the right list of people, and message prospects in real-time (even if it’s just initially.)
- Sometimes the filters are not as accurate as they should be, therefore it would be wise to use a third-party organization as well (especially if you are looking to target businesses.)
- InMails can be expensive
- Sometimes it pulls up the incorrect Linkedin profile.
Final Thoughts
Sales Nav is worth it if you know how to use it the right way.
If you have the service and it doesn’t seem to be working for you, let’s get on a free 15 min consultation, and we will see how we can help you. ( Maybe it’s as simple as, all you need is a warm introduction in your connection requests.)
But if you’re looking to close deals, and you’re just not getting the leads that you would like, contact us today.