Episode 83. LinkedIn Sales Navigator Review

In this special episode I take a break from the normal format to concentrate fully on a comprehensive review of LinkedIn's Sales Navigator product.

I believe that this product is critical to the future of LinkedIn who are still trying to break away from an unhealthy reliance on their flagship Recruiter product so I thought it was about time I upgraded and gave Sales Navigator a thorough appraisal.
What is Sales Navigator?

The first thing to understand about Sales Navigator (SN) is that it is not a conventional premium account. It's DNA comes from the Recruiter product and so it sits separately from LinkedIn.com.

To access SN you click on a link from within your normal LinkedIn account which opens a separate tab with a different user interface. Premium accounts are basically normal accounts with added features, SN is very different and is designed for people who are focussed on using LinkedIn as a social selling tool.

It is principally a lead generation and social listening tool, it's not a CRM (contact/customer relationship management) tool....not yet anyway!
Terminology

One of the first things you notice about SN is that LinkedIn have chosen to rename things, despite the fact that they are (mostly) the same as the traditional features on LinkedIn.com. For instance;

Leads - translation = People

Account - translation = Company

Lead builder - translation = Advanced search (with all filters)