Getting more from Sales Navigator: A Guide for Sales Leaders

Sales Navigator is an incredibly powerful tool with the potential to boost our sales teams' performance, if used to its fullest extent. However, we often come across common issues that hinder our teams from utilising it to the maximum.

You're paying for Sales Navigator, but if you're sales team are using it wrong and it's not making a meaningful impact on the sales process - it's a waste of money.

I've heard many say "we know how to use Sales Navigator" then once I see what they have been doing, I'm not surprised why they think it's waste of money.

Most LinkedIn activity has no strategy - that's why it doesn't deliver.

In many cases, Sales Navigator and LinkedIn are used as a lookup tool and to send blind sales pitches.

When working alongside sales teams and sales enablement leads, these are the common things we talk about.

Shifting from Feature-Centric to Outcome-Centric Training

One of the most significant issues salespeople face is the focus on training around Sales Navigator's features instead of desired outcomes. As sales leaders, we should ensure that our teams understand not only the features but also how they can be leveraged to achieve specific objectives. We can do this by providing scenario-based training and guiding them on the best practices for utilising Sales Navigator's tools to meet their targets.

Key points to consider:

• Training SDRs / AEs how to use the features that move the needle.
• Avoiding feature-focused tutorials and focusing application of feature in prospecting.

Moving Beyond the Directory Mentality

Sales Navigator is more than just a directory or lookup tool; it's a platform that can help salespeople identify, engage, and build relationships with prospects. We need to encourage our teams to dive deeper into the platform's capabilities, such as advanced search, alerts, and lead recommendations. This way, they can uncover new opportunities and stay ahead of the competition.

Key points to consider:

• Using features as part of a process to engage prospects.
• Writing a clear engagement strategy and action plan for your team

Driving Opportunity Creation On and Off the Platform

While Sales Navigator can help identify potential leads, it's essential to integrate it with other tools and strategies to drive opportunity creation. Encourage your teams to use Sales Navigator in tandem with CRM systems, email marketing, and social media campaigns to create a holistic sales approach. By combining these efforts, we can maximise the potential of LinkedIn as a channel and achieve greater ROI.

Key points to consider:

• Using Sales Navigator to gain intelligence on prospect to create talking points and conversation openers.
• Using Sales Navigator as part of a phone or email outreach campaign to increase response rates offline.

Addressing Lacklustre Outcomes and Time Management

It's not uncommon for sales teams to spend hours on Sales Navigator without seeing significant results. As leaders, we should evaluate how our teams are using the platform and help them develop strategies to focus their efforts on high-impact activities. Time management is crucial, and by setting clear expectations and encouraging regular progress check-ins, we can help our teams make the most of their time on Sales Navigator.

Key points to consider:

• Having a written strategy and action plan for prospects will eliminate wasted time searching and thinking of what actions to take.
• Sharing best-practice that aligns with your process to avoid laziness or copy and paste actions which achieve nothing.

Harnessing the Full Potential of Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator has massive potential to enable greater results, but it's often not fully realised. To unlock its true power, we need to establish a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Encourage your teams to stay updated on platform enhancements, share success stories, and collaborate on best practices to make the most of the tool.

Key points to consider:

• People do what they've always done, unless they see something more successful.
• Creating champions within the business to support users in their adoption, helping reluctant social sellers to get an early win is key.

Increasing Success Rates in InMail and Outreach

Low success rates in InMail and outreach are common issues faced by salespeople. To address this, we must help our teams develop personalised and targeted messages that resonate with their prospects. Encourage them to use Sales Navigator's insights, such as shared connections, interests, and recent activity, to create meaningful conversations that drive engagement and ultimately, conversions.

Key points to consider:

• Outreach on LinkedIn is a skill - it's a copywriting skill, having frameworks for sales reps can help overcome fear (yes fear) of sending messages.
• Too many try to get to 4th base on the first date, outreach is a series of engagements to elicit a response, not a pitch and chase up series.

By addressing these common issues and integrating Sales Navigator's features into our sales strategy, you can significantly improve your sales teams' response rates and success.

It's up to us, as sales leaders, to create an environment that fosters continuous learning and growth, enabling our teams to unlock the full potential of Sales Navigator and, in turn, drive greater results for our organisations.

If you'd like to know more how you can achieve more with Sales Navigator, drop me a line.