Item: LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Rating: 8
Author: Kevin Knudsen

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We currently employ the use of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at KeyedIn for the purpose of defining targets and understanding the company and contacts. It can be difficult to have reliable data so we use Sales Navigator as a tool to double check. The tool is mostly being used within the Marketing and Sales departments to help identify those targets. I highly recommend this.

Pros and Cons

If you're unclear who to target within an organization this product can help.
It also helps in knowing the industries that exist and who your target audience is.

It would be nice to have better integration from SF with other tools.
We often have skewed data since we use two search tools. Discover.org and Sales Navigator. Sometimes the data doesn't always match, and not by a few numbers, but by the thousands occasionally.
I'd like to be able to export and import contacts more easily and start drip campaigns to reach out.

Return on Investment

Because we can better identify targets this has allowed us to be more effective.
Time is our most valuable resource and by knowing which industries to target we've been able to better use our time.
This tool brings value from the fact that you can verify information and contacts. If you've been wondering how to have a more targeted approach whether its industries, companies size or business partners look no further.

Alternatives Considered

DiscoverOrg, RainKing (acquired by DiscoverOrg) and ZoomInfo

The benefit of Sales Navigator against any of these is you have the social aspect of selling which is really lacking in other platforms. While it's not a bulk list building tool, this can really strengthen relationships and immediately allow the end user to connect with individuals. The other benefit is when you're in an industry that is constantly dealing with gatekeepers, LinkedIn Sales Navigator gives you the immediate benefit of jumping right past those hurdles.

Other Software Used

DiscoverOrg, Outreach, Salesforce App Cloud, ConnectAndSell

Likelihood to Recommend

This is also a great tool that we use for a social selling approach. I've personally had lots of success with clients not responding and reaching out through LinkedIn to spark a conversation. What really makes a difference is having a tool that helps analyze businesses and their employees. The other side of this, besides just LinkedIn, is your ability to see companies and individuals as well as send messages without a limit, therefore increasing the effectiveness and scope of the impact for your business.

It doesn't always do a great job of pulling in contact data. If you're looking to bulk search individuals this isn't the tool you would want to use.

If you're looking for your target market look no further!

Overall Satisfaction with LinkedIn Sales Navigator