The professional world is all about connection.
And if you’re looking to expand your network, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the tool for you.
So I want to talk about how you can use Sales Nav to make organic connections with others.
Connect With Others Using Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium account with extra features that help you connect with others. The main tool that makes this possible is the Advanced Search.
You can use the Advanced Search to find your fellow professionals by using its many different filters. This allows you to find specific people who will actually want to connect with you.
The Filters You Can Search By Include:
- Job title
- Industry
- Location
- Professional background
- How closely you’re connected on LinkedIn
- If they’ve been mentioned in the news recently
- And many more filters…
This means you can find other professionals with the same interests as you, similar career experience, or those in the same industry. You have common ground, so the connection will be much more organic.
After you find these people, you can add them to a lead list, which is a place you can bookmark the profiles you find.
To create a lead list within your Sales Navigator account, go to Lists → Lead Lists and click the “Create Lead List” button.
You can even set up notifications so you’re alerted when people on your list change jobs or view your content.
Connect With A Cold Email
Now that you’ve found specific professionals, try contacting them with a cold email — just use an email finder tool to get the emails you need. You might think cold emailing doesn’t work, but that’s not true at all, as long as you do it right.
Jon Youshaei from EveryVowel and Shane Snow from Contently ran a cold email test to see how you can do it right.
And their results were surprising.
Out of the hundreds of emails they delivered successfully, 45.5% of people opened the email. That’s double the average open rate of mass emails, according to numbers from MailChimp and ConstantContact.
The main factor that led to this success was personalization.
“The common advice about the little things you can do to optimize cold email is all moot without one thing — personalization,” writes Snow.
You Can Personalize Your Emails By:
- Using the recipient’s first name
- Mentioning one of the recipient’s accomplishments
- Giving them a genuine compliment
LinkedIn does have InMail, but it limits you to 30 messages a month and 300 characters per message. But email has no limits.
So to get started with cold emailing, you can use an email finding tool to obtain the addresses of each person on your lead list. You can also get each person’s full name and company name. Fro
Then you can write an email template as the basis for every email. Just make sure you keep it short. Most professionals don’t have much time to read and answer emails, so be friendly, personable, and get to the point.
Here’s An Outline You Can Use For Your Template:
- Begin with a greeting that uses the recipient’s name
- Write 1-2 sentences that point out common ground between you and them
- Write 2-3 sentences explaining who you are and why you’re emailing
- End with a question that encourages them sharing their opinion or insights
- A personable farewell that includes a thank-you and even your phone number
As you can see, the one-two punch of Sales Navigator and cold emails can lead to organic connections. If you make sure you’re contacting people who actually want to hear from you and take the time to email them, that can make a big difference.
And you might just connect with a professional who turns out to be your mentor, partner, or best friend.
