Top 9 Best Tools to Making the Most of Your LinkedIn Prospecting
LinkedIn is a professional networking platform designed for building business-to-business (B2B) relationships. It is a great tool for businesses to find and connect with potential customers or clients, as well as research and learn about their needs and interests. The process of identifying and reaching out to these potential prospects on LinkedIn is known as LinkedIn Prospecting. LinkedIn has a wide range of features and tools, such as demographic and geographic filters, job titles, and industry targeting, that can be used to target an audience and take all the steps of a prospecting strategy.
Statistics show that LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than Facebook or Twitter. B2B companies that use LinkedIn prospecting strategy and LinkedIn outreach strategy help to generate 80% of their social media traffic leads from the platform. Furthermore, the LinkedIn outreach campaign has a conversion rate of 2.74%, which is higher than Twitter and Facebook.
Also, prospecting on LinkedIn is a powerful way for businesses to reach out to potential customers and clients in a targeted and personalized way and generate social selling processes or business opportunities.
By creating a comprehensive prospect’s LinkedIn profile, researching and targeting specific LinkedIn groups, LinkedIn members, and audiences, building relationships with potential leads, and finding qualified prospects, businesses can increase their chances of converting them into customers or clients.
LinkedIn Prospecting: What is it?
LinkedIn Prospecting is the process of identifying and reaching out to potential customers or clients through the LinkedIn platform. This can include finding and connecting with qualified leads, researching and learning about their needs and interests, and building relationships with them in order to generate sales or business opportunities.
So, Why is LinkedIn powerful for prospecting?
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for prospecting because it is a professional networking platform with over 660 million users worldwide.
This means that there is a large pool of potential customers and clients that businesses can reach out to. In addition, LinkedIn offers a range of features and tools that can be used to research and target specific audiences, such as demographic and geographic LinkedIn filters, job titles and industry targeting, and the ability to search for specific keywords or phrases.
How to get started with LinkedIn sales prospecting?
To get started with LinkedIn prospecting, businesses can begin by creating a comprehensive LinkedIn profile that accurately represents their brand and services.
They can then use the platform’s alumni search and targeting features to find potential leads and connect with them. Additionally, businesses can use LinkedIn’s InMail feature to send private messages to potential leads or use LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator tool to manage and organize their prospecting efforts.
How to Prospect on LinkedIn?
There are several ways to prospect on LinkedIn, such as –
- Use the search function to find potential leads based on job title, industry, location, mutual connections, and other criteria.
- Connect with people in your target market by joining a professional social network and groups related to your industry and participating in discussions.
- Use LinkedIn search to find and filter leads based on specific criteria, such as company size and job function.
- Personalize your connection requests and messages to make them more likely to be accepted and read.
- Use InMail to reach out to people who are not in your network.
- Utilize LinkedIn’s account targeting and sponsored content feature to reach key decision-makers.
- Continuously engage with your prospect, send direct messages and build a relationship before trying to sell.
- Track and analyze your prospecting activity and LinkedIn feed to improve your approach over time.
- Leverage the power of video and relevant content to build trust and establish your brand on LinkedIn.
- Utilize LinkedIn’s lead generation forms through the LinkedIn inbox to collect contact information and make it easy for prospects to get in touch with you.
9 Best LinkedIn Prospecting Tool
Using tools for LinkedIn prospecting majorly depends upon professional goals. It is important to know why you are using LinkedIn for prospecting so that you can select the specific tools wisely.
To understand more, here is a list of top tools that are used for LinkedIn prospecting –
1. Linked Sales Navigator
Pricing: Basic Plan at $99.99
Overview: LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a powerful sales prospecting tool that offers advanced features to find, target, and generate leads on LinkedIn.
It provides a more advanced search filter experience than the standard professional network on the LinkedIn platform, allowing users to find the most relevant leads for their business.
With LinkedIn Sales Navigator, users can search for leads based on factors such as location, industry, company search, size, job title, and more, save their search alert criteria, and receive alerts when new leads that match their criteria become available.
Moreover, LinkedIn Sales Navigator uses a proprietary algorithm to provide users with a list of recommended leads that are most likely to be interested in their products or services. It also allows users to create a list of leads and accounts and track them, which can help to streamline the sales process.
A Key Feature: It helps you identify the right people at your target companies by offering customized suggestions.
2. Leadberry
Pricing: Basic Plan starts at $24
Overview: Leadberry is a list-building tool that helps users identify companies that have visited their websites and enriches the list with accurate information.
The tool works by tracking the companies that visit your website and then provides you with detailed information about each company, including contact information, size, and industry.
One of the standout features of Leadberry is its inbuilt LinkedIn integration, which allows users to instantly view the LinkedIn page of the visiting company. This is particularly useful as it not only provides you with connections from within the organization of the lead but also from their 2nd and 3rd-degree connections. This can help you expand your reach and increase your chances of success when reaching out to potential leads.
A Key Feature: This sales prospecting tool is popular due to its sophisticated filtering system that shows only relevant results. Spammers are filtered out intelligently, reducing the amount of effort you need to put into prospecting.
3. Findthatlead
Pricing: Basic Plan at $49 per month
Overview: Findthatlead is a sales tool that provides a full suite of tools to help the sales team kickstart a full-blown outbound email campaign. The tool is designed to make the process of reaching out to potential leads as efficient and effective as possible.
Among the top features of FindthatLead, it has an in-house algorithm that verifies emails in real-time, which takes out the guesswork involved in bounced emails. This means you can be sure that the emails you are sending are going to the right people and that your LinkedIn message is not being lost in a sea of bounced emails.
Additionally, FindthatLead allows users to build targeted campaigns to convert leads into qualified prospects. The tool provides all the necessary tools to do this, including a robust analytics engine that allows you to track the performance of your campaigns and make adjustments as needed.
A Key Feature: Unlike most LinkedIn prospecting tools, Findthatlead has a handy recent searches tab that allows you to search for leads you’ve viewed in the past.
4. Rocketreach
Pricing: Basic Plan at $53 per month
Overview: Rocketreach is a sales prospecting tool that allows users to find emails from a variety of sources, including LinkedIn and Sales Navigator, as well as from a simple Google search, Crunchbase, and AngelList. The tool is easy to use and can be accessed by installing the Rocketreach extension on your browser.
Once installed, users can simply visit the corresponding profile page on any of the above-mentioned platforms, and Rocketreach will automatically extract the lead’s email address. This tool empowers your team to reach out to leads promptly and with all the necessary information to make their outreach hyper-personalized.
The tool also provides company data and statistics that can help users to tailor their message to the specific needs and interests of the lead.
A Key Feature: Rocketreach provides the lead’s personal email as well, so you can communicate with them in multiple ways.
5. LeadGibbon
Pricing: Basic Plan at $49 every month
Overview: LeadGibbon is a prospecting tool that works seamlessly with LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The tool allows users to easily find the email addresses of potential leads by visiting their profile in Sales Navigator and clicking on the LeadGibbon extension.
The tool also allows users to find email addresses in bulk by exporting a CSV file from the LeadGibbon dashboard. This can save a lot of time and effort for sales teams looking to connect with multiple leads at once.
LeadGibbon also verifies all the email addresses it provides, so you can be sure that the addresses are accurate and up to date. Additionally, LeadGibbon does not charge users for unverified emails, which can help to keep costs low.
A Key Feature: LeadGibbon’s email verification feature is very intuitive, as it pings the lead’s company’s server for a correct response. This is a foolproof method of ensuring all the email addresses are valid.
Tools to connect with prospects
6. Zopto
Pricing: Basic Plan at $215
Overview: Zopto is a cloud-based cold outreach LinkedIn automation tool that is designed to work seamlessly with LinkedIn Premium and LinkedIn Search Engine.
The tool comes with free InMail messages, which means you don’t have to use your existing paid InMails to communicate with leads. This can save you money and help you to reach more leads.
Additionally, Zopto allows you to schedule unlimited campaigns and stop them whenever you want to take a pause. This feature can help you to manage your LinkedIn outreach efforts more effectively and make adjustments as needed.
Another feature of Zopto is the ability to track the performance of your campaigns with analytics and reporting, which can help you to understand which campaigns are working and which ones are not.
A Key Feature: Upon signing up with Zopto, you’ll have access to a wide array of free campaign templates.
7. Dux-Soup
Pricing: Pro version at $11.25 a month
Overview: Dux-Soup is a sales prospecting tool that is designed to help users who are short on time. The tool automates many aspects of the prospecting process by engaging with and nurturing prospects on your behalf.
This includes endorsing their skills, sending personalized LinkedIn connection requests, and even delayed personalized direct LinkedIn prospecting messages. Despite automating most of the engagement, Dux-Soup still offers users complete control and visibility over the prospects it is engaging with. This can help users to better understand the leads they are reaching out to and tailor their approach accordingly.
Furthermore, Dux-Soup offers a variety of other features, such as lead tracking, analytics, and reporting, which can help users to track the performance of their campaigns and make adjustments as needed.
A Key Feature: Dux-Soup auto-visit LinkedIn profiles based on your searches, resulting in prospects visiting your profile and possibly connecting with you.
8. Expand
Pricing: Basic Plan at $99 per month
Overview: Expandi is a LinkedIn cold prospecting tool that enables users to connect with leads securely.
The tool allows users to create hyper-personalized campaigns and follow-ups based on the prospect. This can help users to better understand the leads they are reaching out to and tailor their approach accordingly.
In addition, Expandi comes with a handy analytics feature that enables users to gain valuable insights and track typical marketing campaign metrics. This can help users to understand the performance of their campaigns and make adjustments as needed.
Expandi also offers a variety of other features, such as lead tracking, data enrichment, and account-based marketing, which can help users to better target their cold outreach efforts and increase their chances of success.
A Key Feature: Expandi’s auto-warm-up feature mimics human behavior by slowly increasing daily campaign limits to simulate human behavior.
9. LinkedIn Helper
Pricing: Basic Plan at $15 a month
Overview: LinkedIn Helper is a tool that automates most of your sales prospecting tasks on LinkedIn. As the name suggests, this tool is specifically designed for people who use LinkedIn.
The new and revamped version of LinkedIn Helper comes with convenient features such as profile auto-followers, InMails to 2nd and 3rd-level contacts, and the ability to invite first-level connections to join a LinkedIn group, LinkedIn event, or webinar.
These features can help users to save time and increase their chances of success when reaching out to potential leads.
Moreover, LinkedIn Helper offers a variety of other features, such as lead tracking, analytics, and reporting, which can help LinkedIn users to track the performance of their campaigns and make adjustments as needed.
A Key Feature: LinkedIn Helper’s autoresponder allows LinkedIn users to send follow-up LinkedIn prospecting messages to recently added connections and skip those who have already responded.
Benefits of LinkedIn Prospecting
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for B2B prospecting, offering a wealth of benefits for sales and marketing professionals. By using LinkedIn prospecting, you can reap some of the benefits that come with it, including:
- Large user base: LinkedIn has over 740 million registered professionals, providing a vast pool of potential prospects for B2B companies to tap into.
- Advanced search filters: LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers a range of search filters, such as job title, company size, location, and more, allowing users to find highly targeted prospects with ease.
- List creation and saved searches: The ability to create and save prospect lists, and receive updates when new prospects match the saved search criteria, can help streamline the prospecting process and increase efficiency.
- High engagement rate: According to a study by Hubspot, LinkedIn has a higher engagement rate compared to other social media platforms, with a 2.74% average engagement rate per post.
- High conversion rate: A study by Lead Forensics shows that LinkedIn generates the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, compared to other social media platforms.
- High B2B usage: LinkedIn is a social network primarily used by business professionals, making it an ideal platform for B2B prospecting.
- Professional context: LinkedIn provides a professional context for reaching out to potential clients, which can increase the chances of receiving a positive response.
- Advanced updates: LinkedIn Sales Navigator makes it possible to receive updates on important LinkedIn activity, such as job changes, news mentions, and posts, which can provide an opportunity to reconnect with cold prospects or engage with new ones.
LinkedIn Prospecting Vs. Cold Emailing or Cold Calling
To understand better the difference between LinkedIn prospecting vs. Cold emailing or cold calling, here is a table with an explanation given below –
| Difference | LinkedIn Prospecting | Cold Emailing/Cold Calling |
| Audience | Connections, 2nd-degree connections, Groups | Unknown individuals |
| Personalization | High (access to profile information) | Low (limited information) |
| Response rate | Moderate to high (depending on targeting and messaging) | Low |
| Time investment | Moderate (requires research and targeting) | High (requires research, list building, and personalized messaging) |
| Potential for relationship building | High | Low |
| Inbox placement rate | High | Low |
| Spam reports rate | Low | High |
| Legal compliance | High | Medium |
| Cost | Low | Medium to High |
- Audience: LinkedIn prospecting allows you to reach out to your connections, 2nd-degree connections, and members of groups that you are a part of. Cold emailing and cold calling, on the other hand, involve reaching out to unknown individuals.
- Personalization: LinkedIn prospecting provides access to profile information, making it easier to personalize your messaging. Cold emailing and cold calling, however, have limited information available, making personalization more challenging.
- Response rate: The response rate for LinkedIn prospecting is typically moderate to high, depending on the targeting and messaging. Cold emailing and cold calling, however, typically have a low response rate.
- Time investment: LinkedIn prospecting requires research and targeting, making it moderately time-consuming. Cold emailing and cold calling, however, require research, list building, and personalized messaging, making them more time-consuming.
- Potential for relationship building: LinkedIn prospecting provides a higher potential for building relationships. Cold emailing and cold calling, however, have a low potential for building relationships.
- Inbox Placement rate: LinkedIn prospecting has a high inbox placement rate, as it is sent to known individuals. Cold emailing and cold calling, on the other hand, have a low inbox placement rate as it may get filtered as spam.
- Spam reports rate: LinkedIn prospecting has a low spam reports rate, as it is sent to known individuals. Cold emailing and cold calling, however, have a high spam report rate as they may get filtered as spam.
- Legal compliance: LinkedIn prospecting is highly compliant as it is sent to known individuals. Cold emailing and cold calling, however, may have compliance issues as they may reach individuals who do not want to receive such messages.
- Cost: LinkedIn prospecting is generally low cost, while cold emailing and cold calling can be medium to high cost due to the cost of list building and personalized messaging.
Campaigns for LinkedIn Prospecting
There are several types of campaigns that can be used for LinkedIn prospecting, including
- Sponsored Content: This type of campaign allows you to promote your company’s content, such as blog posts or videos, to a targeted audience on LinkedIn.
- Sponsored InMail: This campaign allows you to send personalized messages to a targeted audience on LinkedIn.
- Display Ads: With this campaign, you can display banner ads on LinkedIn, which can be targeted to specific demographics and interests.
- Lead Generation Forms: This campaign allows you to create forms that can be placed on your LinkedIn profile or in sponsored content. These forms can be used to collect information from potential leads, such as their contact information or job title.
- Matched Audiences: By targeting people who have visited your website, engaged with your content on LinkedIn, or are similar to your existing customers, you can effectively increase your sales.
- Account Targeting: LinkedIn allows you to target specific companies and organizations based on their industry, size, or location.
Conclusion
Due to its vast amount of information on existing customers, LinkedIn has become a popular and widely-used tool for prospecting within organizations worldwide.
However, relying solely on LinkedIn for sales prospecting can be limiting. To truly make the most of your prospecting efforts, it is advisable to use tools that work in conjunction with LinkedIn to achieve success.
Salespeople are looking to book meetings with executives all the time to pitch their products or services. They write cold emails, cold call them, do LinkedIn automation, and whatnot to pitch them. Only to get a 1% reply and a 0.5% booking rate.
Whereas on the other hand, with Fozzie, you will be able to expand your network and close more deals. Fozzie brings these executives to this platform and pays them every time they take meetings with a sales rep. So an executive or expert signs into the app decide their price for half an hour, and then the sales rep books a meeting with them.
We are working hard to get you more leads for your product/services. Moreover, Fozzie assists you in link building, consultancy, and management.
So, what are you waiting for? Start prospecting with Fozzie now!
