Contents
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium service that offers advanced features and capabilities for sales managers and sales reps who want to find, connect, and engage with potential customers on LinkedIn.
If you are here you might wonder:
- Is the LinkedIn Sales Navigator worth the investment?
- How does it compare to the free version of LinkedIn?
- What are the benefits and drawbacks of using it?
In this article, we will answer these questions and more, based on our researches and experiences on this LinkedIn account type.
| Features | LinkedIn Basic | Sales Navigator |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Around 50 /month | Unlimited |
| Search results | 1000 | 2500 |
| Search filters | 18 | 45 |
| Boolean Search | Limited | Complete |
| Account Searches | No | Yes |
| Lead Tracking | No | Alerts, Lead lists, Smartlinks |
| Saved Searches | No | Yes |
| Warm Introductions | No | Icebreakers ideas, Teamlink Intros |
| Direct Messages | 1st Degree Connections | Anyone with Inmail messages |
| CSV Upload | No | Yes |
| CSV Export | No | No |
Here are the key takeaways of this article:
- Sales Navigator costs $99.99 per month for the Professional plan, $149.99 per month for the Advanced plan.
- Sales Navigator does offer game changer features compared to the free version of LinkedIn
- Sales Navigator has some drawbacks, such as the lack of CSV export functionality, the quality of search results and data.
- Sales Navigator definitely worth the money. Especially if you combine it with tools like Evaboot.
Let’s dive into the details of LinkedIn Sales features.
How Much Does Sales Navigator Cost?
The cost of Sales Navigator depends on the subscription plan you choose:
- Sales Navigator Professional: $99.99 /month
- Sales Navigator Advanced: $149.99 /month
- Sales Navigator Advanced Plus: custom pricing.
You can try Sales Navigator for free for 30 days before deciding to purchase a plan.
You can also cancel your subscription at any time without any penalty.
Let’s see what are the benefits you get spending that money.
Advantages of LinkedIn Sales Navigator
12 benefits of using Sales Navigator for your sales activities:
- Unlimited Searches
- Access to 2500 search results
- More Search Filters
- Boolean Search
- Account Searches
- Decision Makers Identification
- Automated Lead Generation with Saved Searches
- Alert on Lead Activities
- Warm Introduction with Teamlink
- Prospect Tracking with Smartlinks
- InMails
- CSV Upload
1. Unlimited Searches
One of the most frustrating limitations of the free version of LinkedIn or the Premium plans is the limited number of searches you can perform per month.
If you exceed your search limit, you will see a message that says “You’ve reached the commercial use limit on search“.
You won’t be able to use LinkedIn’s search function until the next month.
With Sales Navigator, you don’t have to worry about this limitation.
You can perform unlimited searches on LinkedIn, using any criteria you want.
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
Unlimited search means that you can find your target audience, explore more opportunities, and generate more leads with Sales Navigator.
2.Access to 2500 Search Results
Another limitation of the free version of LinkedIn or the Premium plans is the limited number of search results you can access per search.
You only have access to the 100 pages of 10 results. It means that you cannot access more than 1000 results per search.
With Sales Navigator, you can access up to 2500 results per search, which is more than double the limit of the free version or the Premium plans.
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
This means that you can see more prospects, discover more potential leads, and reach out to more decision makers with Sales Navigator.
3.More Search Filters
One of the most powerful features of LinkedIn is its advanced search filters, which allows you to filter your search results based on various criteria such as:
- location
- industry
- company size
- job title
- seniority level
- function
- keywords
- and more…
However, not all search filters are available for the free version or the Premium plans.
Some filters are exclusive to Sales Navigator.
With Sales Navigator, you can access more search filters than the free version or the Premium plans.
Some of these filters are:
- years in current position
- years at current company
- years of experience
- company type
- company headcount growth
- groups (membership)
- interests (followed topics)
- and much more…
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
These filters can help you narrow down your search results and find more relevant and qualified prospects for your sales goals.
4.Boolean Search
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Boolean search is a technique that allows you to combine keywords with operators such as: AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses to create more complex and precise search queries.
For example, if you are looking for decision makers in Marketing or Sales you can write:
(Head OR VP OR Chief) AND (Marketing OR Sales) NOT (Assistant OR “Right Arm”)
On the LinkedIn basic, you can’t use complex Boolean queries like this.
You will see a message like this:
If you copy and paste the same query on Sales Navigator, you won’t have any problem.
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
With Sales Navigator, you can unlock complex Boolean search, use Boolean search, and create more specific and targeted search queries for your prospects.
This can help you save time and effort in finding the right leads for your sales pipeline.
5. Identify Decision Makers
On Sales Navigator you can cross Account filters and Lead filters to find decision makers in a specific companies:
- Search for accounts
- Create an account list
- Select your account list in the lead search
- Add job titles to find decision makers
You can’t do that with the LinkedIn basic search engine.
That is called LinkedIn Account Based Marketing:
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
With Sales Navigator, you can identify decision-makers inside a list of companies more easily and quickly.
You can use the decision maker filter to find prospects who have a specific job title or seniority level within a list of companies.
6. Automated Lead Generation with Saved Searches
One of the most tedious and time-consuming tasks for salespeople is to manually search for new leads every day.
You have to repeat the same search queries over and over again, hoping to find some new prospects that match your criteria.
With Sales Navigator, you can automate lead generation with saved searches.
Saved searches allow you to save your search queries and get notified when new results are available.
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
With Sales Navigator saved searches, you can get a steady stream of fresh leads delivered to your inbox every day, week, or month, depending on your preference.
7. Alerts on Lead Activities
One of the most crucial factors in sales is timing.
You want to reach out to your prospects when they are most likely to be interested in your offer, when they are ready to buy, or when they are facing a problem that you can solve.
With Sales Navigator, you can do social selling by getting alerts on lead activities that indicate their level of interest, readiness, or pain.
You can get alerts when your leads change jobs, get promoted, share or comment on content, mention keywords, view your profile, follow your company page, or celebrate work anniversaries or birthdays.
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
With this sales newsfeed, you can stay on top of your prospects’ activities and behaviors and use them as triggers or opportunities to reach out to them with a hyper-personalized LinkedIn message.
8.Warm Introduction with TeamLink
According to a study by LinkedIn, 84% of B2B decision makers start the buying process with a referral, and 92% of buyers trust referrals from people they know.
With Sales Navigator, you can get warm introductions with TeamLink.
TeamLink is only available for Sales Navigator Advanced or Advanced Plus plans.
This feature that allows you to see who in your team or organization has a connection with your prospects.
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
You can then ask your team member to introduce you or refer you to your prospects, increasing your chances of getting a positive response.
9.Track Interest with SmartLinks
One of the most common challenges in sales is to track and measure the interest and engagement of your prospects.
You want to know if they opened your email, clicked on your link, viewed your content, or took any action after receiving your message.
With Sales Navigator, you can track interest with SmartLinks.
SmartLinks are personalized links that allow you to share content with your prospects and get real-time insights on their engagement.
You can share any type of content with SmartLinks, such as web pages, PDFs, videos, or presentations.
SmartLinks are only available for Sales Navigator Advanced or Advanced Plus plans.
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
With SmartLinks, you can see who viewed your content, when they viewed it, how long they viewed it, and what actions they took.
You can use these insights to follow up with your prospects with relevant and timely follow-ups on LinkedIn.
10.Send InMails
One of the most common barriers in sales is to get in touch with prospects who are not in your network.
You cannot send them an outreach message on LinkedIn unless you have their email address or phone number or unless you have a mutual connection who can introduce you.
With Sales Navigator, you can send Linkedin InMails to prospects who are not in your network.
InMails are messages that allow you to contact anyone on LinkedIn without needing their contact information or a mutual connection.
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
With Sales Navigator, you can send 50 InMails credits per month. You can use InMails to introduce yourself, pitch your offer, request a meeting, or ask for a referral without having to send a connection request.
11.Import Account Lists
One of the most useful features of Sales Navigator is the ability to import account lists.
Account lists are lists of companies that you want to target for your sales campaigns.
You can create account lists from various sources, such as your CRM system, your marketing automation platform, your spreadsheet, or your web browser.
Why does that make Sales Navigator worth it?
With Sales Navigator, you can import account lists and get access to more information and insights about the companies on your list.
You can see the company overview, news and insights, recommended leads, connections, and TeamLink connections.
Drawbacks of LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Sales Navigator is not a perfect solution. It also has some drawbacks that you should be aware of before deciding to use it.
3 drawbacks of using Sales Navigator:
- No CSV export feature
- Search results quality
- Data Quality
1. No CSV Export Feature
One of the most annoying limitations of Sales Navigator is the lack of CSV export functionality.
CSV export allows you to export your search results or lead lists to a CSV file that you can open with any spreadsheet software.
This can help you save time and effort in transferring data from LinkedIn to other platforms or sales prospecting tools.
Unfortunately, Sales Nav does not offer CSV export functionality.
How does Evaboot solve that?
However, there is a workaround for this limitation.
You can use a tool like Evaboot to export your search results or lead lists from Sales Navigator to a CSV file in one click.
2. Search Results Quality
Another limitation of Sales Navigator is the quality of search results.
You want your search results to be as accurate and relevant as possible for your sales goals.
However, Sales Navigator does not always provide high-quality search results.
Sometimes, you may encounter false positives or irrelevant results in your search results.
For example, you may find prospects who have outdated profiles, who have changed jobs or companies, who have inaccurate or incomplete information.
This can waste your time and effort in reaching out to unqualified leads.
How does Evaboot solve that?
To save your time, the Evaboot algorithm will automatically detect the false positive in your search results.
That way you are 100% sure to only contact qualified leads when doing launch LinkedIn outreach campaigns.
3.Data Quality
Another limitation of Sales Navigator is the quality of data. However, Sales Navigator does not always provide high-quality data.
Sometimes, you may encounter dirty data or missing data in your leads’ LinkedIn profiles.
For example, you may find prospects who have:
- emojis or symbols in their names
- capital letters in their names
- incomplete or inaccurate company information
- not updated their profiles in a long time.
This can affect your ability to contact and engage with your ideal customers.
How does Evaboot solve that?
To improve the quality of your data, you need to use a data cleaning tool.
That’s what Evaboot does. We automatically clean all your LinkedIn Sales Navigator export so you get clean data for your CRM.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Reviews
If you want to have more data to take a decision, here are some Sales Navigator reviews websites where you can read more opinions and feedback from other users who have used Sales Navigator for their sales activities.
FAQ
Here we answer most common questions about Sales Navigator.
Is Sales Navigator Worth The Money?
Yes. Sales Navigator worth the money if you know how to use it. Learning how to use Sales Navigator effectively will definitely help you to improve your sales process and generate more qualified leads.
Is LinkedIn Sales Navigator useful?
LinkedIn Sales Navigator stands out as a valuable tool for sales professionals. As a premium offering, it provides enhanced features tailored for those aiming to effectively connect with and engage prospects on LinkedIn. The platform streamlines the tasks of identifying, reaching out to, and maintaining connections with potential leads and existing clients
Which is better LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator?
Deciding between LinkedIn Premium and Sales Navigator hinges on your primary use-case. LinkedIn Premium suffices for networking and expanding connections. However, for targeted lead generation, Sales Navigator provides a more specialized approach and is worth the investment.”
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.
