Build your sales pipeline utilising LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Remember when you’d pour your heart into creating that perfect piece of content, you’d sprinkle some keywords in, hit publish, and then wait for the magic to happen.
And voila! It often did…qualified leads would actually find your content and reach out to you.
Ah I miss those days! Don’t you?
I’m not saying that creating content, blogging and SEO is dead – or that these tactics no longer work. They still do, but relying on these as your only lead generation strategy is like fishing in a pond where the fish have learned to ignore hooks.
B2B buyers are smarter and more discerning now. They’re searching for your services across multiple platforms, they’re carrying out their research, comparing, asking for recommendations – and this is all before they even think about starting a conversation with a shortlist of providers.
If you want to succeed, you need to adapt your strategy and strike the right balance between inbound marketing and tailored outreach.
Don’t just rely on prospects finding you, you also need to find them.
We’ve been having great success with clients using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to support their inbound activity, and I want to share some of the ways you can use this powerful B2B prospecting tool to connect with your ideal customer and fill your pipeline with qualified prospects.
Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to map out decision makers
The B2B decision-making-unit has always been complex, involving having to convince and influence different people, each with their own priorities, concerns, and levels of authority in the purchasing process. LinkedIn Sales Navigator gives you the power to identify and connect with multiple stakeholders (influencers, champions, decision makers), so you can reach out more strategically, and start building relationships across the entire buying committee.
By understanding their level of influence, you can tailor your messaging to speak directly to each stakeholder’s unique concerns rather than using generic messaging. This is what will make you stand out against the competition because you’ve done the research on their business and you’re addressing the specific pain points that matter most to each decision-maker.
Target new hires within a business
You might be wondering why new hires are relevant and helpful when you’re trying to prospect, so let me explain …
Newly appointed decision-makers are often eager to bring fresh ideas to a business and may be reviewing existing service providers so they can make a bigger impact in their role. LinkedIn Sales Navigator lets you easily filter these high-potential prospects so you can tailor your outreach message to something that might be relevant to their new role.
Identify growing or decreasing teams
LinkedIn Sales Navigator lets you identify and monitor shifts in team growth (or reduction), allowing you to target the right businesses and provide timely outreach to them.
Teams who have experienced rapid growth may need more advanced, scalable technology, training or marketing to support their growing team. Conversely, shrinking teams may be open to working with a consultant or open to cost saving solutions.
Ask for referrals
I’m a great believer in the power of referrals. They create an immediate foundation of trust that’s nearly impossible to build through cold outreach alone. Studies show that referred prospects are five times more likely to engage and have a 30% higher conversion rate than cold outreach.
As you build your prospect list in Sales Navigator, it shows you who is connected to your 1st degree connections, giving you an opportunity for a warm introduction that could make all the difference to your prospecting.
These are just some of the features available within LinkedIn Sales Navigator and I’m sure you can see that it really is a goldmine for building your pipeline, supporting your inbound activity and doing tailored outreach.