How to Find Prospects on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a major goldmine for sales reps, AEs, recruiters, and founders who need to prospect. It’s an entire database of professionals who are ready to network, with plenty of relevant information like their company and job title available.

B2B prospecting on LinkedIn is easy if you have the right tools and strategies in place. ✅
In this article, we will teach you how to find sales prospects on LinkedIn using different tactics and tools, plus how to reach out to them.

How to find sales prospects on LinkedIn

Finding sales prospects on LinkedIn all comes down to knowing where and how to look.

Searching in the right places, recognizing indicators of high-intent prospects, and knowing how to position yourself are essential.
These are the best tactics to help sales reps find potential prospects on LinkedIn:

1. LinkedIn’s search filters.
2. “People also viewed” sidebar.
3. Skill endorsements.
4. See who is commenting on your prospect’s posts.
5. Create a search alert for jobs.
6. Use Kaspr to get contact data.
7. Sales Navigator triggers.
8. Boolean Google search.
9. Investigate your client’s networks.
10. Personal branding.
11. Alumni search.
12. Join LinkedIn Groups.
13. Users who have interacted with your posts.

1. LinkedIn’s search filters

Sales reps can use search filters to leverage LinkedIn’s powerful search engine.

You can, for example, search for a specific job title. In this example, we’re searching for “CMO.”
When you do this, you can filter people by any of the following:

• Connection level.
• Topics they discuss on-platform.
• Current and past companies.
• Schools attended.
• Industry.
• Connections or followers of other users.
• Active hiring status.
• Service categories.
• Keywords about their name, company, title, or school.

Use this to find decision-makers for companies that align with your ideal customer profile (ICP). 🔎

2. “People also viewed” sidebar

A solid LinkedIn prospecting strategy involves taking deep dives into your prospects’ and clients’ on-platform activity. Not only can this help you regarding outreach, but it can also mean you find additional potential prospects.

When viewing a potential customer’s profile, you’ll see the “people also viewed” section. This shows you what other profiles users viewed in addition to this prospect.

In many cases, users in the “people also viewed” section fit into a similar target audience segment. There may be overlapping qualities like:

• Job title.
• Company size.
• Industry.
• Work experience.

3. Skill endorsements

When viewing a potential client’s (or an existing client’s) profile, scroll down until you see “endorsements.” You can see which skills an individual has been endorsed for and who endorsed them.

4. See who’s commenting on your prospect’s posts

The next step you should take when viewing a sales lead’s profile is to check out their post activity. You want to see who is commenting on their content and what they say.

5. Create a search alert for jobs

Most sales reps have had the frustrating experience of finding a great potential client only to struggle to convert them. Creating a job search alert for the companies in question can flag when that previously blocked sale opens up as an opportunity again - and you can be first in line to pitch to the new hire. 🙋‍♀️

6. Use Kaspr to get contact data

Finding potential clients is just the first step of the prospecting process - you also need to figure out how to get in touch. Kaspr is a self-service B2B prospecting tool that instantly provides a prospect’s contact information while you’re browsing LinkedIn.

7. Sales Navigator triggers

Using LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator is common in prospecting strategies, as it’s an outstanding way to find a large number of relevant leads quickly. You can use Sales Navigator trigger alerts to stay informed about what your prospects are doing, helping you identify new sales opportunities faster.

8. Boolean Google search

Boolean searches allow you to use commands (also known as “Boolean operators”) like AND, OR, and NOT to combine phrases in a search engine to find hyper-specific results.

9. Investigate your clients’ networks

Your sales team is likely already familiar with your clients, including which clients align with your high-value ideal customer profiles. You’re likely already connected with existing clients on LinkedIn, so head to their profiles and check out their connections.

10. Personal branding

Sometimes, finding your ideal client is all about setting the stage so they can easily find you, too. Personal branding is a critical element of value-based selling;

11. Alumni search

Familiarity goes a long way when it comes to cold outreach. Prospects are more likely to engage if there’s a past shared experience - even if it’s as simple as a shared school you both attended in the past.

12. Join LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups are another opportunity to build genuine relationships with prospects. You can join groups of people with similar professional or personal interests.

13. Users who have interacted with your posts

Users who have already interacted with your posts are ideal prospects because they’re already familiar with you. They found your content engaging enough to interact, opening the door for impactful cold calling or messaging.

Reaching out to prospects on LinkedIn

Once you’ve built your prospect lists, it’s time to start with the outreach itself.

Be the guide

You want to act as their guide through that buying process. Instead of just selling, being the guide means:

• Listening to their needs and concerns so you can address them directly.
• Suggesting solutions based on customers’ needs.

Try LinkedIn voice notes

LinkedIn’s voice messaging is a new way to reach out to potential prospects.

Be personalized and relevant

Relevant content is always going to give you an edge during the outreach process, and personalization is key to relevance. Making sure your opening lines establish relevancy is particularly important during the first touch message.

LinkedIn message templates

While personalization is important, so is efficiency. LinkedIn message templates can give you a solid cold outreach message baseline, which you can customize and personalize to your heart’s content.

The final say on LinkedIn prospecting

B2B prospecting is a huge undertaking, but the right strategies and tools can make your efforts more effective. Each rep may have their own preferred methods, but teaching them how to leverage LinkedIn to the fullest can drive more qualified leads and high-quality prospects directly into your sales pipeline.