Tips for Sales Prospecting on LinkedIn

BY Jessica Helinski
prospecting on LinkedIn

Successful sellers know that there are major opportunities for prospecting on LinkedIn for quality leads. The network is full of professionals, with many fitting your ideal customer profile. And users voluntarily share their business information and professional details.

Half of B2B buyers use LinkedIn to help make purchase decisions, showing it's a critical platform for sales,” writes Disha Shukla.

But finding those ideal buyers can be challenging. Sellers must do more than just rely on the basic search function.

Should you try prospecting on LinkedIn?

First, it’s important to determine if LinkedIn prospecting can benefit you and your business.

 Shukla encourages reps to only focus on this network if their ideal clients actively use it. Those who have clients who don’t typically digitally engage may find it to be a waste of time.

But, if you know that your target audience is active online, there are major benefits, including:

  • Higher response rates than cold emails
  • The ability for targeted networking
  • Up-​to-​date insight into buyers and their businesses
  • Opportunities for branding and visibility

Search basics

While a basic search alone may not mine every quality lead, it can help get you started. If you aren’t familiar with Boolean searches, this tactic can optimize LinkedIn’s search feature.

Boolean searches can help narrow your focus:

  • Use “operators”: AND to include all your search terms, OR to broaden your search, and NOT to exclude specific terms.
  • Punctuation: Use parentheses to search for exact phrases.
  • Application: Once you’ve completed a search, narrow results by filters like location, industry, current company, and more.

Another simple tip for prospecting on LinkedIn is to use the available “People Also Viewed” sidebar. When visiting a user’s profile, the sidebar will feature similar profiles that other viewers visited.

This feature can help you discover new prospects that resemble your ideal customer profile,” Shukla explains.

It provides insight into the connections that might influence your primary prospect’s decisions.”

Advanced tactics

There are also prospecting tips that are go a bit beyond the basics. One involves keeping an eye on job changes. This trigger event, according to Hubspot’s Emma Brudner, can be a great indicator of a new opportunity.

When someone takes on a new role, they’re often more open to changing the tools or services they use.”

To do this on LinkedIn:

  1. Click the “My Network” tab, then the “Catch up” section.
  2. Select “Job changes,” which will show job changes within your network.

Brudner recommends making this a habit by adding a calendar reminder each week to look over recent changes.

Another suggestion is to explore skill endorsements. This gives a great snapshot of others who likely work in a similar industry or share skills and interests. Do this by visiting the profile of a current client or ideal prospect.

Then, scroll down to the Skills section toward the bottom of the page. You’ll find professional endorsements from other LinkedIn users. These often come from colleagues, managers and mentors. And likely, they all share at least one commonality.

I always look for professionals with niche skills that align with my product or service,” Brudner adds.

Finding someone with a relevant skill set is a natural way to start a conversation about how I can help…”

Maximize new connections

Successful prospecting on LinkedIn doesn’t just end with discovering a potential lead. You must then engage effectively to kick-​start a conversation.

For guidance on how to successfully convert connections into conversations, check out this webinar. Presented by SalesCred, and in partnership with Sales and Marketing Management magazine, it focuses on leveraging ChatGPT.

You’ll hear suggestions from Brynne Tillman, CEO of Social Sales Link and the LinkedIn Whisperer, for using ChatGPT to position yourself as a credible expert. Doing so can make it easier to connect with LinkedIn prospects and make the most of your prospecting efforts.


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