Overview

Excluding leads that have already been contacted or your current clients is essential to preserve relationships and optimize campaigns. This article outlines several ways to manage exclusions in LinkedIn Sales Navigator and LaGrowthMachine (LGM).

Key benefits

Protect loyal clients from unnecessary outreach
Optimize campaigns by targeting only valid prospects
Save time with automated lists and filters

How to use exclusions in LinkedIn Sales Navigator and LGM

Option 1: Exclude accounts directly in LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Open a lead search.
In the Current Company field, add companies you’ve already targeted or clients.
Click the exclude button.

Tip: For long lists, create lists in Sales Navigator and import via CSV.

Examples of lists:

Recently prospected (last 6 months)
Currently in pipeline
Existing client

Working at the company level is recommended to avoid monitoring new employees individually.

Option 2: Create a blacklist directly in LGM

Go to Leads → Import leads
Import a CSV with recently contacted clients or prospects
To exclude other prospects in the same company:
- Import from LinkedIn
- Select leads to add to your Black List audience

Best practices:

Update the blacklist regularly (e.g., monthly)
Use Only leads in multiple audiences to automatically remove leads from new audiences

Optional: Unsubscribe in bulk to mark leads as "unsubscribe". This action is reversible via resubscribe.

Unlike an unsubscribe initiated by a lead from the unsubscribe link, this is a reversible action: you can decide to "resubscribe" your leads at any time.

Option 3: Filter by contacted or replied leads

In LGM:

Use Replied or Contacted filters to identify recently automated leads

Combine with qualification tags to avoid contacting the same prospect twice

Option 4: Exclude 1st-degree connections in LinkedIn Sales Navigator

For LinkedIn Basic: select only 2nd and 3rd-degree connections

Sales Navigator search :

Option 5: Exclude 1st-degree leads in LGM (Pro plan)

Use Custom Sequences → add condition Is a Contact
Choose:
- Send a tailored message
- Handle the lead manually

This feature is available on Pro or Ultimate plans.

Option 6: Use the Unsubscribe function

For inactive or uninterested prospects, manually unsubscribe them
Resubscribe is possible only for manually unsubscribed leads
Leads unsubscribed via the email link cannot be contacted again

Option 7: Modify Exit Settings with custom exits

Standard exits: automatically stop sequences after a reply
Custom exits: add a webhook or unfollow a lead after a reply

Practical example:
- Reply → Add to Audience
- Filter with Audience Count → Only leads in multiple audiences
- Goal: isolate leads in the Already Contacted audience