LinkedIn Sales Navigator is undoubtedly a powerful sales tool, but it’s not the whole story for winning clients on LinkedIn. The core LinkedIn platform offers features that are not on Sales Navigator and some that outperform Sales Navigator. Knowing when to use LinkedIn over Sales Navigator can save you time and improve your sales and marketing effectiveness.
Here’s a breakdown of the LinkedIn features that you should use:
Your LinkedIn profile is your personal brand and your main marketing asset. Your Sales Navigator profile is made up of information from your LinkedIn profile and data enriched by Sales Navigator for your visitors who have Sales Navigator as well.
LinkedIn Profile
You cannot update or optimise your profile within Sales Navigator.
Your profile optimisation to showcase your proposition is all done on LinkedIn
Update your profile regularly with new media and tweaks to deliver the best experience for visitors
Your positioning is crucial for attracting and engaging prospects, so this all happens on LinkedIn.
Messaging Experience
While Sales Navigator offers InMail and messaging, LinkedIn’s messaging provides a smoother, unified messaging experience.
LinkedIn has one inbox for all messages, avoiding confusion from toggling between two inboxes.
InMail (IMO) is not a great messaging feature. They are used by most people for selling off the first message, which is not recommended.
LinkedIn allows you to see message history in a single thread. This is mostly beneficial, but sometimes, you may want to start a fresh conversation. When you do so in Sales Navigator, it starts a brand new thread.
For everyday communication and managing conversations, LinkedIn is superior.
Content Creation
You can’t create content or post content from Sales Navigator (you can engage on Sales Navigator). So:
LinkedIn offers a comprehensive content creation tool
Posts, polls and articles must be created on LinkedIn.
You cannot create or post content from Sales Navigator.
If content marketing is part of your strategy, LinkedIn is the platform to use.
Events
All LinkedIn events, whether webinars or LinkedIn Lives must be created and managed on LinkedIn.
Sales Navigator does not support event creation.
LinkedIn lets you create, promote, and manage events natively.
You can also access event invitations and RSVPs only on LinkedIn.
For hosting or attending events, LinkedIn is essential.
Connection requests and invitations
Sales Navigator does not show pending connection requests or invitations to follow newsletters and company pages.
LinkedIn provides a dedicated place to manage all connection requests and invitations.
You can accept, ignore, or reply before accepting, helping you nurture relationships from the start.
Managing these invites is crucial for growing your network, staying engaged and reviewing potential opportunities. The invitation section is something Sales Navigator just doesn’t have.
Notifications
Sales Navigator alerts you only about saved leads and accounts. If you haven’t saved a lead, you won’t get alerts about their activity.
LinkedIn notifications cover a broader range, including:
Notifications of engagement on posts from unsaved leads
Notifications for when people like, comment, or share your content.
Updates about industry news and articles that may be of interest to you.
Checking LinkedIn notifications regularly helps you catch opportunities missed by Sales Navigator’s more focused alert system.
LinkedIn Groups
Groups can be a valuable way to network and engage with niche communities.
You cannot fully access or participate in LinkedIn Groups from Sales Navigator.
LinkedIn allows you to join, post, and interact in groups, which can be a rich source of leads and industry insight.
For community engagement, LinkedIn is better.
Who’s Viewed Your Profile
While Sales Navigator has a button for viewing who has viewed your profile, clicking it redirects you to LinkedIn for full insights.
LinkedIn offers detailed profile view analytics, including trends and viewer insights over the past 365 days.
This helps you understand who’s interested and tailor your outreach accordingly.
Sales Navigator provides the insight information, but going to LinkedIn gives you the full details.
Conclusion
Sales Navigator is a fantastic tool for advanced lead generation and sales prospecting. It has fantastic features that help you segment, organise, and track people and companies for new business and more business from existing clients.
However, LinkedIn offers essential features that Sales Navigator doesn’t have, in some cases, does better, and as the leading platform, holds detailed information.
To maximise your LinkedIn sales and marketing efforts, use both Sales Navigator and LinkedIn together. Mastering both platforms and knowing which functionality to use will accelerate your growth and sales success.
Sales Navigator Users: Don’t Forget LinkedIn.com
Sales Navigator Users: Don’t Forget LinkedIn.com
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is undoubtedly a powerful sales tool, but it’s not the whole story for winning clients on LinkedIn. The core LinkedIn platform offers features that are not on Sales Navigator and some that outperform Sales Navigator. Knowing when to use LinkedIn over Sales Navigator can save you time and improve your sales and marketing effectiveness.
Here’s a breakdown of the LinkedIn features that you should use:
Your LinkedIn profile is your personal brand and your main marketing asset. Your Sales Navigator profile is made up of information from your LinkedIn profile and data enriched by Sales Navigator for your visitors who have Sales Navigator as well.
LinkedIn Profile
Your positioning is crucial for attracting and engaging prospects, so this all happens on LinkedIn.
Messaging Experience
While Sales Navigator offers InMail and messaging, LinkedIn’s messaging provides a smoother, unified messaging experience.
For everyday communication and managing conversations, LinkedIn is superior.
Content Creation
You can’t create content or post content from Sales Navigator (you can engage on Sales Navigator). So:
If content marketing is part of your strategy, LinkedIn is the platform to use.
Events
All LinkedIn events, whether webinars or LinkedIn Lives must be created and managed on LinkedIn.
For hosting or attending events, LinkedIn is essential.
Connection requests and invitations
Sales Navigator does not show pending connection requests or invitations to follow newsletters and company pages.
Notifications
Sales Navigator alerts you only about saved leads and accounts. If you haven’t saved a lead, you won’t get alerts about their activity.
LinkedIn notifications cover a broader range, including:
Checking LinkedIn notifications regularly helps you catch opportunities missed by Sales Navigator’s more focused alert system.
LinkedIn Groups
Groups can be a valuable way to network and engage with niche communities.
For community engagement, LinkedIn is better.
Who’s Viewed Your Profile
While Sales Navigator has a button for viewing who has viewed your profile, clicking it redirects you to LinkedIn for full insights.
Sales Navigator provides the insight information, but going to LinkedIn gives you the full details.
Conclusion
Sales Navigator is a fantastic tool for advanced lead generation and sales prospecting. It has fantastic features that help you segment, organise, and track people and companies for new business and more business from existing clients.
However, LinkedIn offers essential features that Sales Navigator doesn’t have, in some cases, does better, and as the leading platform, holds detailed information.
To maximise your LinkedIn sales and marketing efforts, use both Sales Navigator and LinkedIn together. Mastering both platforms and knowing which functionality to use will accelerate your growth and sales success.
Use both smartly.
Categories