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Prospecting is important yet challenging for any sales professional.
It’s not just about finding leads; it’s also about engaging them effectively, which is crucial for startups looking to gain a foothold in their market.
This is where sales intelligence tools like Apollo and LinkedIn Sales Navigator come into play, significantly improving the prospecting workflow.
With features that facilitate B2B lead generation, these tools are essential for sales teams aiming to connect with their ideal customers.
In this article, you’ll find out if Sales Navigator is worth it or if you should try an alternative like Apollo, in the following order:
- What are the features of Sales Navigator
- How to use it for prospecting
- What are the features of Apollo
- How to use it for prospecting
We’ll compare these tools, focusing on data availability, accuracy, platform functionality, pricing, and user feedback.
And by the end, you’ll know better which tool fits your prospecting efforts.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator: A Comprehensive Overview
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a paid subscription service that optimizes lead generation, networking, and sales conversion processes.
Tailored for individuals and teams, it is the premium choice for sales professionals, straight from the Navigator’s official page.
Pros and Cons of LinkedIn Sales Navigator
The LinkedIn Sales Navigator is packed with powerful features:
- A vast database of LinkedIn users
- Targeted searches through advanced filters
- Recommendations for sales leads and updates
- Exclusive filtering capabilities
- Alerts and notifications for career changes, mentioned in the news, sharing content
- Notifications for specific keyword mentions
- Unlimited profile searches
- Lists for leads and accounts
- InMail messages
- Capabilities to connect with key decision-makers
- Personalized lead suggestions
- Access to 2500 search results
- Saved searches and contact lists
On the flip side, some LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s limitations are:
- Higher subscription costs
- Manual integration of activities and notes into CRM
- Restricted compatibility with external platforms and tools
- A dedicated time and effort to learn
- Long customer support system
- No direct export opportunities
How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Prospecting?
To leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator effectively, stick to the following steps:
1. Get LinkedIn Premium and choose your Sales Navigator subscription plan (Professional, Team, or Enterprise)
2. Familiarize yourself with its interface and key features
3. Use the database search and filters to pinpoint your ideal prospects
4. Organize your leads and accounts efficiently
5. Engage your prospects by sending InMail
6. Continually assess and refine your social selling strategy for better performance
7. And a bonus tip: If you want to export saved leads and accounts into a CSV file, then simply download Evaboot Chrome Extension.
This tool lets you get clean data and emails from LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
Apollo: A Comprehensive Overview
Apollo is a leading B2B database provider delivering a comprehensive sales intelligence platform tailored for prospecting and lead generation.
This platform is a fusion of data, analytics, and sales engagement tools designed to empower sales reps to identify, engage, and transform prospects into loyal customers.
Apollo emphasizes ease of use, seamlessly integrating with well-known CRM and email platforms and optimizing the sales process and workflow.
Pros and Cons of Using Apollo
The key offerings of Apollo include:
- An expansive database featuring 275+ million contacts
- Access to intent data and lead-scoring techniques to prioritize top prospects
- Flexibility to build and export lists of leads with contact information
- Chrome extension for quick access to contact data from LinkedIn and other websites
- Synchronization of your activity with your CRM and email system
- Efficient email and phone outreach capabilities
- Advanced A/B testing and analytics tools
- Detailed pipeline forecasting and reporting
- Tools to automate and personalize outreach campaigns
However, its potential drawbacks include:
- Incomplete contact profiles
- Inconsistent international data
- Lack of comprehensive onboarding and customer support
- A higher subscription cost that may be higher than some competitor services
How to Use Apollo for Prospection?
If you want to get the most out of Apollo, go along these steps:
1. Sign up for Apollo and download the Chrome extension
2. Select a plan that suits your needs: Starter, Basic, Pro, or Enterprise.
Or use the free version if it suits your needs.
3. Dive into the platform’s key features and functionalities
4. Go to any website or LinkedIn profile and click on the Extension icon to get the contact data of your prospects.
5. After getting contact details, you can contact prospects using email and phone options.
6. Continuously test and analyze your strategies for better cold email or other outreach campaign results
Apollo vs. LinkedIn Sales Navigator: 5 Key Differences
It’s time to delve into a more thorough comparison across five key aspects:
- Functionality and usability
- Pricing
- Data quality
- Integration options
- Customer support
1. Functionality and Usability
Apollo and LinkedIn Sales Navigator are designed to assist sales representatives in discovering and engaging with prospects.
There are notable differences in their operational ease and overall user experience.
- Apollo boasts an intuitive, user-friendly interface with advanced features like intent data, lead scoring, A/B testing, and pipeline forecasting.
Its browser extension facilitates quick access to contact data on LinkedIn and other platforms while allowing for the automation and personalization of outreach campaigns via email and phone.
For sales representatives, this means less time spent on lowly tasks and more on engaging potential clients.
- Conversely, LinkedIn Sales Navigator presents a more complicated interface with less room for customization.
Lacking features such as intent data, lead scoring, A/B testing, or pipeline forecasting confines users to LinkedIn for contact data access.
It necessitates using InMail for prospect communication.
Automation and personalization of outreach campaigns are limited.
2. Pricing
Comparing the pricing plans of Apollo and LinkedIn Sales Nav. reveals Apollo as the more budget-friendly option.
Apollo’s pricing tiers include:
- Free Plan: You can always begin with a free trial
- Basic Plan: $59/month for 1000 exports
- Professional Plan: $99/month for 2000 exports
- Organization Plan: $149/month for 4000 exports
LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s pricing plans are:
- Sales Navigator Professional: $99.99 /month
- Sales Navigator Advanced: $149.99 /month
- Sales Navigator Advanced Plus: $1600 /month
3. Data Quality
- Apollo’s database includes over 275 million contacts with verified emails and phone numbers, alongside over 30 million company information categorized by industry, revenue, and employee data.
However, sometimes it may be lacking up-to-date that can be used right away.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator, with over 700 million contacts and over 30 million companies, does not leverage intent data or lead scoring.
With the help of the Evaboot tool, you get to export contact data that is always accurate and up-to-date
4. Integration Options
Both platforms offer CRM and email platform integrations to streamline sales processes, though Apollo provides a broader range of integration possibilities.
- Depending on your pricing plan, Apollo integrates with platforms and tools, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Zapier, etc.
This allows users to effortlessly sync their data and activities with their CRM and email.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s integration capabilities are limited. Only the Advance Plus plan allows users to connect with HubSpot, Salesforce, Gmail, and Outlook.
However, it lacks native integrations outside of LinkedIn.
Users must manually transfer their LinkedIn activities and notes into their CRM and sometimes pay for them.
5. Customer Support
Both Apollo and LinkedIn Sales Navigator are equipped with customer support and resources to enhance user experience with their platforms.
- Apollo is renowned for its dedicated and responsive customer support team, which is accessible through various channels, including chat, email, phone, and video.
Unique to Apollo, it provides onboarding training and consulting services to assist users in setting up and fine-tuning their accounts for optimal performance.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s customer support is perceived as limited and slow in response. Support is available only through email or an online chat.
Unlike Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator lacks onboarding training or consulting services, which could hinder users from maximizing their account’s potential.
Other B2B Prospecting Tools for 2024
While Apollo and LinkedIn Sales Navigator are popular choices, the landscape of sales prospecting tools is broad, offering other options to refine your strategy in 2024.
Whether you’re budget-conscious or ready to invest in premium features, here are 10 alternatives that could elevate your prospecting game:
Conclusion
Choosing the right tool for your sales arsenal ultimately hinges on your objectives, budget constraints, and personal preferences.
Both Apollo and LinkedIn Sales Navigator present unique advantages and limitations.
However, if you’re unsure, start a trial session to determine which platform best meets your needs and expectations.
FAQ
Who are the competitors of LinkedIn Sales Navigator?
LinkedIn Sales Navigator faces competition from platforms like ZoomInfo SalesOS, Apollo.io , Seamless.ai , Lusha , and UpLead .
These sales intelligence platforms provide features, including data enrichment, lead discovery, and outreach automation, similar to what Sales Navigator offers.
They mostly vary mainly in their ease of use, integration with other software, and supporting features that enhance B2B lead generation efforts.
Can Apollo integrate with LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is considered a vast network platform for lead generation and prospecting.
So, it is essential to use a tool that can integrate with it. In this case, Apollo integrates seamlessly with LinkedIn.
Leveraging the Apollo Chrome Extension allows users to collect contact and account data from LinkedIn directly, request email addresses and phone numbers, and automate LinkedIn tasks within Apollo.
Is there a better tool than Apollo.io?
Based on various factors, such as user reviews and feedback, the leading alternatives to Apollo.io are Zoominfo, Lead411, Lusha, and others.
Another alternative is LinkedIn Sales Navigator in combo with the Evaboot Chrome extension.
It offers a faster way to generate lead lists and to export clean and accurate data to Excel or CSV with just a click.
Disclosure
This content was partly written by AI (ChatGPT 4), I added my own perspective, fact-checked it and made sure it is helpful for you.
