How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to Get New Leads

Social selling is a hot trend right now. But how many sales reps are truly exploiting the power of social sales tools to get to the right connections? LinkedIn Sales Navigator is one of the most powerful sales tools right now, and can help you build the right connections to build your business. This is why we spoke to an expert to try and find how to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator effectively.

Gabe Larsen, Director of XANT Labs, discussed the topic with Brynne Tillman, Chief Learning Officer at PeopleLinx and bestselling Author of “LinkedIn & Social Selling for Business Development.

She gave us some actionable insights on how to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to get new leads, build strategic alliances and set exploratory call appointments with social leads.

how to use linkedin sales navigator concept - social media icons on a mobile phone screen

Watch the entire Playmakers podcast with Brynne Tillman below:

 

 

The Value of LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the ultimate social media tool for salespeople. With over 500 million users (2017 statistics), it is the world’s largest repository of professional data. The advantage of this social network over others lies in its nature of user-generated and regularly updated content. Brynne Tillman shows it is one sales tool companies need to invest in – and make sure they are using correctly.

“Sales Navigator is very much like a gym membership. You can pay for that gym membership. If you go three times a week, you’re going to have an enormous improvement in your health, in your well-being, in the way you look, three times a week. But if you don’t go to the gym, you’re just going to pay every month and get nothing. Sales Navigator is the same thing. If you don’t show up three times a week, you’re never going to get out of it what you need.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator has enormous power when used the right way, says Brynne Tillman – provided sales reps are using it regularly. One of the ways you can use it is sales research, shows Brynne.

How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to Identify Decision Makers

“[…] With outbound calling and outbound prospecting, it’s really important to start to identify all the decision makers, and all of the influencers in a particular company,” shows Brynne Tillman.

With account-based marketing, even if you have only one name of a decision-maker, you can research all of their connections. Ultimately, you can find all of the other players that are going to be part of the sales process.

How Social Media Helps with Pre-Call Research

You should invest five minutes before every scheduled call, says Brynne, and one of the ways you can do this is by using LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Once you have people’s names, you can look up their profiles and see what they are sharing or talking about. This way, you have more insight into what they really care about.

“You can actually connect with them before the call. A lot of people wait until after the call, but I’ll connect a few days in advance. I will say: ‘I’m really looking forward to our call in a couple of days. I’d love to connect with you, learn a little bit more about you. If there’s anything specific you are personally hoping we cover on our call, please let me know.’

The Power of Social Media Comments and Likes

Any comment or like to your prospect’s profile is an open door for you to reach out to them, sows Brynne. You can show your appreciation for their thoughts and their shares. Once you create a connection, you can invite them to join a call where you can learn more about their needs and projects.

It’s a good idea to look at their recent activities, and see things that they’ve shared, and like or comment on something that they’ve actually shared. This is a good way to get onto people’s radar, says Brynne.

Building Strategic Alliances Through Social Media

LinkedIn Sales Navigator can also be a great tool for building strategic alliances, shows Brynne Tillman. It will help you identify the partners for a strategic alliance, but also connect with them and get referrals.

“Who are your buyers? Is it the VP of Sales? Is it sales enablement? Who are you talking to, and then who else is selling in there that complements what you do, not competes? Those to me are the strategic alliances,” explains Brynne.

Once you have identified the strategic alliance, you can come up with a plan on how to reach common customers or have partnering activities.

Exploratory Calls: Best Practices with Social Media Connections

For contacts that you have reached via social media, the exploratory call is a great opportunity to find out more about them and their business, shows Brynne.

“I want to learn about them, and I will ask, and ask. I won’t even say one word about me until they ask me. I just make it about them,” says Brynne.

If you manage to have a 15 minutes conversation about them and their business, you can then proceed to set an appointment for the second call. This is where you can truly show off your solution and explain how it can benefit their business.

If you can’t make a second appointment for a call, or if you can’t get them on the call at all, there’s also plan B, says Brynne. And that plan is content.

“’Here’s a blog post that I think will help you out. Here is a video, a webinar!’ They’re all gated, so I’m collecting their names and their emails, knowing that they were interested in,” adds Brynne Tillman.

Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Referrals

Once you’ve locked in a sale and you have a happy customer, you can use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to get referrals for your next customers, shows Brynne.

“If you come up with a list of people that they’re connected to on LinkedIn and say, ‘I’ve noticed you’re connected to seven people on LinkedIn that I’d love to have a conversation with. Can I run these names by you?’ That becomes one, two, or three introductions,” said Brynne Tillman.

To see the entire podcast on how to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator, click below!

 

 

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