LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 722 million users worldwide. With its powerful search functionality and wealth of profile data, LinkedIn is an invaluable resource for finding and connecting with sales professionals. Sales roles encompass a diverse range of responsibilities, skills, and industries. Whether you are looking to recruit salespeople for your own business or connect with sales experts in your field, LinkedIn provides various tools to identify relevant profiles quickly and easily.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk through the most effective strategies for finding sales people on LinkedIn.
Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
Before conducting your search for sales professionals, take time to optimize your own LinkedIn profile. A complete profile with detailed work experience, skills, recommendations, and connections will add credibility. Salespeople would be more likely to accept connection requests and engage with an informative profile that aligns with their industry and interests.
Here are some key tips for profile optimization:
- Include a professional headshot so your profile doesn’t look incomplete.
- Provide a detailed summary of your professional background and specialties.
- List your skills, particularly those relevant to the sales role you are targeting.
- Showcase awards, certifications, licenses, and other credentials.
- Get recommendations from previous managers, colleagues, and clients.
- Grow your network by connecting with other professionals and engaging on LinkedIn.
An optimized profile establishes your credibility and demonstrates you are a serious professional on LinkedIn. This will get you better results when connecting with sales people.
Use LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search
LinkedIn’s advanced people search provides a wealth of filters to target sales professionals based on role, industry, location, qualifications, company, school, skills, and other criteria. Take advantage by using multiple parameters to narrow your search.
Here are some of the key filters to leverage:
- Search by job title such as “Sales Representative”, “Account Executive”, “Business Development Manager”, etc.
- Filter by industry, for example, “Computer Software”, “Financial Services”, “Manufacturing”, etc.
- Input keywords for sales skills like “Prospecting”, “Pipeline management”, “CRM”, etc.
- Search by company names or types, like “Fortune 500”.
- Filter by seniority level, such as “Manager” or “Director”.
- Input schools attended by top sales professionals.
- Search within geographic locations.
Layering multiple filters enables you to define your ideal sales candidate and identify relevant profiles quickly. Try different combinations of criteria to uncover the most suitable matches.
Leverage LinkedIn’s Lead Recommendations
Based on your profile, activity, and searches – LinkedIn will automatically suggest relevant sales leads under “Lead Recommendations”. This uses LinkedIn’s powerful algorithms to recommend users you may want to connect with.
Lead recommendations showcase professionals with complimentary interests and networks. They appear on the right rail of your LinkedIn homepage.
Review the sales lead recommendations regularly and send connection requests or InMails to those that match your search criteria. This allows you to easily tap into LinkedIn’s suggestions to uncover sales prospects you may have otherwise missed.
Join Industry or Sales Focused LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups centered around sales topics or specific industries are a hive of activity for connecting with the right sales professionals. Join Groups aligned with your interests to engage in discussions and connect with members.
Here are some popular sales Groups to consider joining:
- Sales Professionals Networking Group
- Sales Development Professionals
- Inside Sales connected
- B2B Sales Prospects
- CRM & Sales Automation Fans
When you join Groups, pay attention to the most active members and those sharing top insights. Engage with them by liking posts, commenting, and answering questions to establish a connection. You can then view their full profile and connect directly.
Follow Company Pages for Employee Discovery
An effective way to uncover salespeople to connect with at target companies is by following their Company Pages. Finding employees on these Pages can lead to sales prospect discovery across entire organizations.
Here’s how it works:
- Search for and follow Company Pages of businesses you want to connect with.
- Scroll down to their “People Also Followed” and “People You May Know” sections. These will surface employee profiles to view and connect with.
- Click into each profile to assess if they are relevant sales prospects to reach out to.
- Send InMail or connection requests to professionals at your target companies.
This approach provides a constant source of sales leads from companies you want to penetrate. Make sure to also look for alumni groups from these companies. Connecting through shared education or past employers is a great networking strategy.
Search Alumni Groups of Top Universities
University alumni groups are full of sales professionals from leading programs. Focus your search on alumni groups from universities renowned for sales programs, such as:
- Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
- Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania
- Harvard Business School
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley
Within these alumni groups, search by sales as the professional specialty. Connect with group members working for your target companies or roles. Sales programs at these schools produce top talent, making alumni groups ripe with prospects.
Attend Local Sales Events and Conferences
Local sales events are prime networking opportunities. Find relevant conferences, trade shows, workshops, and networking meetups in your area. Excellent places to search include:
- Eventbrite
- Meetup.com
- Local Chambers of Commerce
- Industry association calendars
- Convention centers
Look particularly for sales specific gatherings like Sales Hacker events or the AA-ISP Annual Conference. These attract sales thought leaders and professionals. Attend these events then connect with prospects you meet in person through LinkedIn outreach and InMail messages.
Search by Company Size
Want to connect specifically with salespeople at enterprise companies? LinkedIn’s advanced search lets you filter by company size.
Potential options to target lucrative enterprise sales roles include:
- 5000+ employees
- 10,000+ employees
- Fortune 500
- Fortune 1000
Combine this with sales titles and keywords. This surfaces sales managers, directors, and reps at leading large corporations. They will have the budgets and mandates you require.
Look Through Your Existing Network Connections
Don’t forget to mine the sales professionals already within your LinkedIn network. They can connect you with new prospects from their contacts.
Thoroughly look through your LinkedIn connections for:
- Former colleagues now in sales roles
- Connections from sales networking events
- Sales leaders you follow or engage with
- Warm introductions to their sales contacts
Your existing network already contains prequalified sales prospects. Tap into this dormant social capital on LinkedIn to expand your sales search.
Join Paid LinkedIn Sales Navigator
For advanced sales prospecting capabilities, upgrade to LinkedIn Sales Navigator. This paid version includes premium features like:
- Unlimited InMail messages
- Expanded search filters and alerts
- Daily saved lead recommendations
- Contact info for lead profiles
- Team collaboration tools
Sales Navigator amplifies your LinkedIn performance for sales lead generation. If used heavily, the subscription can pay for itself in new business value. They offer a free 30-day trial to test it out.
Conclusion
With 722+ million users worldwide, LinkedIn is a prime hub to connect with sales professionals of all types. To recruit top sales talent or build invaluable networks, use the strategies outlined. Optimize your profile, leverage advanced searches and filters, join key Groups, follow Company Pages, and tap into your existing network. Consider Sales Navigator to take it up another level. Apply these best practices to unlock LinkedIn’s immense potential for sales prospecting and relationship building.