Internationalization strategies: the use of LinkedIn Sales Navigator

In the context of internationalization strategies, identifying new opportunities represents a constant commitment for businesses. Here it is LinkedIn Sales Navigator emerges as a crucial tool, an ally for companies to face this challenge. Equipped with advanced features, it allows you to search and identify new potential customers based on specific criteria, thus facilitating the identification of qualified sales opportunities and the acquisition of new leads.

However, despite it being an increasingly popular tool among entrepreneurs, in order to be able to use it and make the most of it, a clear and well-defined strategy and the appropriate tools to implement it are needed. In order to act in the right direction it could be ideal to be supported by experts in this field.

Access to LinkedIn Sales Navigator is via a subscription, and includes automation for lead generation, based on advanced profiling that allows you to initiate targeted and personalized communications to create lasting relationships.

With an extensive network of over 900 million potential interested parties (given that it refers to the beginning of 2023), the LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows you to identify profiles corresponding to specific requirements through the platform's algorithm. Features include saving leads and accounts of interest, sending personalized messages via InMail, and instantly sharing leads, notes, and tasks across your team to foster communication and synergy.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator: the main features and its role in internationalization strategies

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is also a fundamental asset for companies operating in the export sector. Thanks to its unique features and advanced functionalities, this tool offers a number of advantages in detecting market opportunities and enhancing the global presence of companies. Let's take a closer look at the main features of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and the benefits this can bring in the context of internationalization strategies corporate.

The “Profiles” function

The introduction of Sales Navigator's Profiles feature in 2023 represented a significant step forward in identifying new customers.

This feature allows users to identify recurring profiles in their searches, offering advanced personalization that goes beyond the previous "Sales Preferences". With the possibility of creating up to 5 distinct profiles, each with specific characteristics such as Job Function, Seniority Level, Current Qualification and Geographical Area, it is possible to adapt your searches in a targeted and effective way. This flexibility allows further refinement of lead and account search strategies, giving an advantage over competitor in the context of export-oriented businesses. The easy implementation of profiles during searches ensures immediate access to the desired filters, while the ability to create and save customized searches for future use ensures greater efficiency and precision in identifying market opportunities.

The “Search” function

Searches on LinkedIn Sales Navigator are a crucial point in internationalization strategies corporate, offering users the ability to locate people's profiles or company pages through filters and keywords. 

This way it is possible conduct advanced searches using a variety of filters, but also allow you to savethe searches carried out, recallsrle and generatessome new ones.

This process is essential to ensure that no sales opportunity is overlooked, promoting effective international expansion. Purchasing a Sales Navigator license offers the ability to perform unlimited searches, thus exceeding the limits of the free account. Available filters include both those for lead/profile searches and company accounts/pages, giving you access to a number of exclusive Sales Navigator options not available in LinkedIn Premium licenses. 

In most recent versions of Sales Navigator Core, Sales Navigator Advanced and Advanced Plus, it is possible to further customize the search criteria, including or excluding specific parameters, allowing even greater adaptability to the needs of those companies that also sell outside national borders. 

Advanced searches allow users to combine multiple filters using the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT, thus expanding the possibilities for identifying global business opportunities. These operators give unlimited access to research, but it is essential to understand their correct use to maximize their effectiveness.

We refer for example to the use of double quotes to search for multiple consecutive keywords, and to Spotlight filters, which allow you to quickly select profiles that meet certain criteria.

The Inmail tool

The InMail they represent a hybrid type of communication between LinkedIn and email, characterized by a mandatory subject of up to 200 characters and a message body that can contain up to 1,900 characters, also allowing file attachments and the inclusion of automatic signatures. 

Using Sales Navigator, users can send up to 50 InMails per month, which is more than previous licenses. In the event of a response from the recipient, the InMail used will be credited back. Unused InMails are accumulated up to a maximum of 150 over the course of the quarter, after which they are reset. It is essential to use InMail sparingly and avoid sending commercial proposals indiscriminately, since building professional relationships plays a central role on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator for B2B marketplaces

According to LinkedIn, using Sales Navigator you can achieve significant results, such as a +17% increase in more fruitful 42% trade negotiations and deals. This tool offers a wide range of advanced search filters, allowing you to identify the most relevant leads for your target of interest, very useful in the B2B market.

Thanks to its advanced features, it helps optimize negotiations, improving the effectiveness of lead generation and conversion strategies.

Using this tool, it is therefore possible to identify otherwise unexplored business opportunities, expanding your network and communicating in a targeted and convincing way with potential customers in the B2B marketplaces. 

However, it is good to remember that, although innovative tools are provided for contact research and profiling, the search or conversation with leads is not automated, leaving the sales force or professionals interested in the opportunities full freedom to manage the dialogue with the contacts.

In summary, for all companies that are interested in exploiting the tools and functions of Sales Navigator, adequate awareness and training are needed in order to undertake a path of growth and expansion of their business.

For companies that want to fully exploit the potential of LinkedIn Sales Navigator in internationalization strategies and in the context of B2B marketplaces abroad, Octagona offers specialized advice and support. Thanks to its experience in the field of internalization, Octagona can help your company maximize the use of this tool to achieve its business objectives on a global scale.