Prospecting is both an art and a science, and a tool like LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator is a huge help when it comes to finding potential clients. To use it effectively, however, you need to employ practices that maximize its value.
Tip 1: Integrate Your CRM Program
Keeping up with several sales programs simultaneously can be a nightmare, so integrating Navigator with your CRM reduces the workload. LinkedIn connects seamlessly with several primary CRM providers to integrate profile data and shared connections, including:
- HubSpot
- Microsoft Dynamics
- Salesforce
- Zoho
- Infor
Use the Data Validation option to keep your information on leads, prospects and customers clean and up to date. For example, if a contact changes his (or her) job title on LinkedIn, it updates in your CRM program, too.
Tip 2: Reach the Customers You Really Want
Most salespeople dream of the day they land a real, high-value account. With Sales Navigator’s advanced filters, it’s now possible to identify and target those clients’ representatives, based on seniority, years of experience, company size and type, and the topics they are interested in.
You then set up lookalike modeling to reach users who resemble those ideal clients, and track how your prospects engage with your marketing content. Navigator will even send you alerts when a target account has read, liked or shared any of your sponsored content.
Tip 3: Use Notes and Tags to Track Participants
The cost of sales prospecting can be prohibitive for smaller companies, especially those targeting large clients. Two sales people could cost more than $17,280 per year by 2018, just in prospecting time. Maximize costs by extending your Sales Navigator search to users with Open profiles, which won’t count towards your InMail quota.
Research from CEB shows an average of 5.4 people participate in a B2B purchase, which is a lot to keep track of. Once you make a connection, adding tags and notes for yourself helps you follow everyone in the company who is involved in the buying decision.
Tip 4: Use Shared Experiences to Build Relationships
Navigator has a neat option that enables you to identify prospects with experiences in common with you. Whether you both lived in the same city, volunteered for the same charitable organization or studied the same subject, using the filters to find this info and then reaching out based on your common ground can open up doors you didn’t know existed.
It’s the modern, digital take on the “old school tie” tradition, in many respects.
For more information on sales prospecting tips and techniques, contact Wax Custom Communications at 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com.
