Hi Community members, 

Hope you’re having a great week and getting ready for the holiday season that is approaching. 

Today, I’d like to discuss with you something I hear frequently from our Community members, especially the ones who are brand-new to Sales Navigator. When we start using Sales Navigator it’s important to understand the differences between leveraging Linkedin.com and this platform. Of course, these two are connected and feed each other, but the way you would take advantage of them can and should be different. 

This said, let’s look at the differences between these two:

LinkedIn

• Search: basic filters only
• Results: depend on your network (1st and 2nd degree connections + limited pool of 3rd degree connections)
• Updates/Alerts: only about your LinkedIn connections activity
• Feed: updates from prospects/customers mixed with your network, not filtering
• Messages: connections only 

Sales Navigator

• Search: robust search engine with advanced filters 
• Results: no restrictions, you’ll see everyone. You can go a step further and save people (like connecting, but private), quickly see the warmest leads, and save searched to get new lead lists sent to your inbox
• Updates/Alerts: save people (leads) and companies (accounts) to privately subscribe to their LinkedIn activity, job changes promotions, and additionally the alerts include activity from news around the web (not just LinkedIn)
• Feed: filter your home feed for a specific type of update to stay focused (leads and accounts)
• Messages: anyone through InMail

So, now that we’ve briefly went through the main features for each platform, it’s clear that the two of them are important, but the smartest approach is to leverage them both and according to your needs. When looking at them, once you fully understand how they differ from one another, it’s time for you to get comfortable using both of them to engage with your leads.

Below, we’re sharing how you can leverage all the features that both LinkedIn and Sales Navigator offer you:

• Target the right buyers through Sales Navigator: in order to find the right people and companies faster, the first step is to run a search to find the leads and accounts you’re looking for. The second step should be to save your searches in order to make sure you’ll get an alert every time a new lead or account is added to your saved searches, so that you can qualify new people and companies right away. 
• Understand buyers value through Sales Navigator: if you’re doing your job in running searches and saving them, the next step is to save those as lists so that you can get alerts regarding their LinkedIn activity and do your research wherever you work. 
• Engage with leads through Sales Navigator and LinkedIn: by using Sales Navigator alerts you’ll be able to understand what your leads and accounts are sharing on LinkedIn.com and decide whether that’s the best time to engage. Sales Navigator gives you the opportunity to interact with content that leads and accounts share on LinkedIn.com without leaving the platform, and, just like we mentioned before, you can see how connected these two platforms are in making sure that your activities are visible in both of them. 
• Position yourself as a thought leader through LinkedIn: being a subject matter can be crucial for getting closer buyer relationships, as these potential customers will want to look at you as someone who’s an expert on the field and/or solution they’re looking for. For this reason, LinkedIn.com is the right platform for you to share thought leadership content that, when connected with a lead, will show them how knowledgeable you are and make them more comfortable in partnering with you. 
• Reach out to buyers with personalized outreach through Sales Navigator: engaging with insights is a principle we believe it should be followed when reaching out to prospects. There are two main Sales Navigator features that help you do that: InMail and Smart Links. Personalization is key and both of these features allow you to interact with leads following a more personalized approach, that, hopefully, will help you get a closer relationship with buyers. 

As you can see, LinkedIn and Sales Navigator are intrinsically connected and as a seller you’ll need to leverage both of them to virtually engage with potential buyers and partners. The key is to fully understand how both of them can be used depending on the actions you’re taking. Don't forget: both of them will help you achieve exactly what you’re looking for!

Hope you’ve enjoyed finding out more about the differences between LinkedIn and Sales Navigator, as well as discovering how an holistic approach can and should be adopted when leveraging both of these platforms. Now, to continue this discussion, let us how you’re leveraging these two to help you get closer relationships with buyers and close more deals.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Nádia