How to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator | LinkedIn Australia

Create your Ideal Customer Profile first

Before diving into LinkedIn Sales Navigator to attract more leads from Australia and beyond, it’s crucial to define your ideal client first.

Based on your goals and your best clients so far, identify the type of decision-makers they are (e.g., their job titles), and other important details by creating an Ideal Customer Profile using the following criteria:

• The industry / Niche:
• Their job title:
• Their problem & challenge they’re facing right now:
• Their desired outcome:
• Your solution:
• Their location
• Their values:
• Their competitors:
• Their market:
• Their sales cycle duration:
• Company Size & Headcount:
• Seniority level (Are they senior in their role or junior):
• Seniority level / Job title:
• Job function (what departments within the business are they mostly
  involved with):
• Personas that influence your Ideal Customer Profile:

Creating a detailed customer profile sharpens your targeting efforts on LinkedIn. Understanding what your ideal customer currently looks like is essential for you to maximise your time instead of viewing profile after profile!

Example of an Ideal Customer Profile

The more specific you get, the better! If you have the time, you can also create more than one Ideal Customer Profile to guide you on LinkedIn.

💡 Hot tip: On Sales Navigator, find one of your clients or a promising prospect and click “’view similar” to discover other potential leads that match their profile.

How to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium subscription service that helps you find and engage with prospects on LinkedIn more effectively.

Yes, it requires a paid subscription, but the advanced features make it worth the investment for serious B2B prospecting in Australia.

Tip 1: Use Boolean search on Keyword Lead Filters

First, click on the “Lead Filters” button on the LinkedIn Search Bar.

You will see this advanced search box, which has the Keywords filter:

The Keyword filter helps you search for specific keywords that are in your target leads’ LinkedIn profile. Now, you can use this filter in a straightforward way and just put in some words from your Ideal Customer Profile.

But an even better strategy to help you save time is to use a Boolean search.

A Boolean search combines your keywords with important operators like AND, NOT, and OR. So if you’re aiming to connect with Financial Planning agencies, for example, but don’t work with Insurance Agencies, your Boolean search could look like this:

(“Financial Planning OR “Wealth Management”) NOT “Insurance Agency”)

How to use Boolean search on LinkedIn

(Source: Salesflow)

💡Hot tip: Don’t place job titles in the “Keyword” section! Instead, use the “Title” section on Sales Navigator when looking for specific leads with specific job titles. You can use a Boolean search there too for more precise targeting.

Tip 2: Use AI-assisted search feature

Aside from using Lead Filters, you can also search on LinkedIn using AI 😉

Similar to using Meta AI or ChatGPT, you can type conversational prompts in Sales Navigator such as: “Find me CEOs in Perth with 50 employees” and it’ll automatically create its own search filters and list all the leads in Perth to bring you relevant results.

👉 Related: The Ultimate ChatGPT Marketing Cheat Sheet

Here are some examples of AI demands you can use to refine your searches:

• “Find me CFOs in Melbourne at companies with over 200 employees.”
• “Show me marketing directors in Brisbane who have posted in the last 30 days.”
• “List HR managers in Perth from companies with less than 100 employees.”

On the left-hand side of the screen, you can continue to narrow down your search by selecting extra prompts such as:

• “Search for past colleagues”
• “Search for leads who’ve viewed your profile”
• and more.

💡Hot Tip: A lead with “Viewed” next to their name indicates that you have already looked at their profile and a connection request might be pending on your end, so make sure to check your Notifications!

Tip 3: Use Saved Search

When you’re happy with the filters you’ve created above, you’ll want to save these search filters into lists. This is so you can quickly run that search again at any time and build lists of targeted leads for your campaigns! 📈

Just click on “Save search to get notified of new results” like in this photo:

With multiple Saved Searches, you can get notified of new leads that fit your past criteria based on the filters. You don’t have to look for them again manually.

Tip 4: Use custom lists

You can also use custom lists to segment your leads further and manage them efficiently.

Here are some custom lists you can consider creating:

• Custom List Example 1: Leads that have viewed your profile
  Under the Home tab, click on “Who viewed your profile”. Examine the profiles of these warm leads, and if they fit your Ideal Customer Profile, send out a connection request!
• Custom List Example 2: Your second-degree connections
  These leads are the primary targets for your campaigns. They are potential clients you haven’t connected with yet and are outside your current network.
  These results should come from using the filtered searches that align with your Ideal Customer Profile (See Tip 1). Before creating this list, review the first 2-3 pages of results to ensure they match your profile.
• Custom List Example 3: People who posted in the last 30 days
  This list comprises high-quality leads who have been active on LinkedIn in the past month, making them more likely to engage with you. Since they frequently use LinkedIn, they are more likely to check their inbox and see your messages.
  You can even craft personalised messages to connect with these individuals effectively (See Tip 5).
  You can find these leads using the lead filter “Past Lead and Account Activity” below:

• Custom List Example 4: Account-based profiles
  If your Ideal Client Profile focuses on larger companies like mid-market or Enterprise Accounts (200+ employees), you can use the “Account filters” tab.

It’s located at the top of the Sales Navigator Lead Search box here:

This feature will give you account/company pages and you can see their:

• Growth insights
• Website
• New hires/job openings
• Personas
• Activity on LinkedIn

👉 Related: 5 ways manual tasks slow down your business expansion

Tip 5: Create InMail scripts for different leads and scenarios

Using all the information you have gathered, you can create different InMail scripts to connect with different types of leads in different scenarios on LinkedIn.

InMail on LinkedIn is a premium messaging feature that allows you to directly message any LinkedIn user, even if you’re not connected with them.

Unlike regular messages, which can only be sent to your first-degree connections, InMail lets you reach out to second and third-degree connections, as well as completely unconnected professionals!

You can tailor your messages to strike up the right conversations with your ideal leads.

Here are some examples of simple scripts you can create (based on our own scripts at Outsourcing Angel 😉):

• Example 1: To leads who viewed your profile
  You can send out the following connection request to your custom list of leads who viewed your profile. Remember to personalise it with their first name!
  Connection message:

• Example 2: New leads who booked a call/consult/appointment with you
  Search for the LinkedIn account of these warm leads and connect with them! Then save them in Sales Navigator and click Notify to be alerted to their content. Your message to them could be something along the lines of:
  Connection message:

Connection message from your salesperson:

• Example 3: Leads who downloaded your lead magnet/resources (did not book a call)
  If you put out downloadable resources such as eBooks, guides, and more, you can be notified who downloaded them, search these leads on LinkedIn, and send them a message.
  Connection message:

By using these tips and building your personal brand on LinkedIn, you can reach more people who are more likely to do business with you.

No need to comb through LinkedIn profiles all day long! 😅