LinkedIn Sales Navigator gives you access to many filters: you can identify leads but also you can research specific accounts with a very segmented approach thanks to those filters.
For some reason, your outbound strategy may require your research to be extremely precise with the geolocation of the companies you want to target.
For instance, you may want to identify companies to build a commercial tour. In that case, using a filter by city won’t be precise enough.
Luckily, you can be more precise when looking for accounts using the postal code filter!
Table of contents:
How to segment accounts based on their postal code?
It’s a three-step process :
Go to Sales Navigator and open Account Research.
Use the Headquarters location and click on Postal Code
Add all the postal codes that are relevant to your strategy
That’s it! No great trick, just a hidden feature you probably missed!
Now let’s build a list of these accounts and turn them into a precise lead search!
How to build a list of accounts and convert it into a lead search?
Now that you have precisely identified the account you want to address, you need to identify the right points of contact and add them to your audience!
How to go from accounts search to leads? Using accounts list!
Account lists is a Sales Navigator feature that allows you to save a group of accounts to find leads later on. Let’s build a list together, and see how to convert it into a lead search!
Building a list of accounts
To build a list of accounts, select the accounts you are interested in contacting and click on save to list. Create a new account list and add them.
It seems simple, but there is a catch: LinkedIn forbids you to select all of them in bulk.
You can select page by page only. So if your research shows several pages, you will need to repeat the process for each page.
Tedious, we know, but it will all be worth it soon!
Now you have a list of accounts. How to identify leads working at those companies?
Converting that list into a lead search
To identify leads within these targeted accounts, you need to go to lead research and use the filter Custom list.
Select the list of accounts you’ve just created. And now you have a search with only the leads that work in those accounts.
You will now see all the people working for the targeted companies.
Of course, you’re not quite done yet: now you need to identify the persona you want to target: use the Job Title filter for instance.
You are probably wondering: why your results be more accurate if you start looking for accounts instead of leads directly?
Why should I build a list of accounts instead of starting directly with a lead search?
Lead information is full of information that is not up to date or incorrect, which can be disastrous in your segmentation.
Especially if you’re using the Industry filter! It’s a big no-go!
Why shouldn’t I use the industry filter at the lead level?
There are three reasons why the lead filter is too often incorrect :
This information is self-declared by the lead: it means that he may choose an industry that is not related to his current company
This information is not automatically updated when someone switches companies: very often, this means that the declared industry is outdated
Many profiles list their industry as their department, not the industry they work in. Let’s they somebody works in the marketing department of a construction company, their profile will be self-listed as Industry “Marketing & Advertising” while you’re looking for “Construction” companies.
All of these results in the industry filter at the lead level are too misleading to be used as a company attribute. You must work around by building a list of companies, at the account level, in which the industry is the right one!