How to Sell Better on LinkedIn: A Prospecting Guide for Sales Teams
Yes, LinkedIn is a great place to update your resume or build your network—but over the years, it’s become an important tool for B2B sales teams who are looking to connect with decision-makers, build their brand, and close more deals. With over 850 million professionals on the platform and 61 million senior-level influencers, LinkedIn is a goldmine for B2B sales prospecting.
When I first started prospecting on LinkedIn, I thought, “Nice, I have all these prospects I can just reach out to. That should be easy!” Well…I was humbled quite quickly because, just like with any other outreach channel, it’s all about how you engage with people, how you build trust, and how you position yourself as someone worth listening to.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the strategies, tools, and best practices I’ve learned to help you master LinkedIn prospecting and generate leads more effectively.
Download now: Social Selling on LinkedIn for B2B Companies [Free Guide]
1. Why LinkedIn is a goldmine for sales teams
LinkedIn should be a non-negotiable part of your sales strategy. The platform has positioned itself as the go-to platform for B2B engagement, and according to LinkedIn’s internal data, 4 out of 5 members on the platform drive business decisions. That’s an enormous pool of prospects who are already in a business mindset.
Key numbers to know:
- LinkedIn’s influence on B2B buyers: 76% of buyers are ready to have sales conversations when they perceive the sales representative as a trusted advisor(How The Linq Group helps…).
- High-value users: LinkedIn is home to over 10 million C-level executives, 90 million senior-level influencers, and 63 million decision-makers.
Here’s the thing, though: just having a LinkedIn account isn’t enough, and sending generic, impersonal messages won’t get you the results you are looking for. You need to approach LinkedIn as a place to build relationships, not just rack up connection requests. If you treat it like a giant phonebook and start blasting out cold messages, you’re going to hit a wall.
Instead, focus on adding value right from the start. Think about how you can help solve a prospect’s challenges. That’s where LinkedIn’s power lies—it’s not just a place to find your target audience but a space to engage and nurture them.
2. The Power of LinkedIn for B2B Prospecting
Why does LinkedIn work so well for B2B sales? It’s all about context. Unlike cold emails or cold calls, LinkedIn lets you tailor your approach and approach a prospect with the right information at the right time: you can see their job title, industry, recent activity, and even what they’ve been posting about. That’s gold.
Why LinkedIn works for sales:
- Targeted search capabilities: Use LinkedIn’s powerful search tools, including LinkedIn Sales Navigator, to filter for your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
- Professional insights: Keep track of job changes, promotions, and even content engagement to time your outreach perfectly.
- Engagement tools: Comment on posts, share insights, and like updates to stay top-of-mind before making a direct pitch.
Think of it like this: LinkedIn lets you create a “warm lead” environment—where you can ease into a relationship rather than diving in cold.
3. How to use LinkedIn for sales prospecting: A step-by-step approach
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that LinkedIn prospecting works best when you have a solid plan. It’s not just about sending out connection requests—you need to be strategic. Here’s a step-by-step approach I follow:
Step 1: Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Before you even think about clicking that “Connect” button, you need to start mapping out who your ideal customers are. Use LinkedIn’s filtering options to narrow down your search based on factors like company size, industry, seniority level, and even specific keywords.
Pro tip: Use tools like LinkedIn’s Boolean search to refine your searches even further. For example, you can use “NOT” operators to exclude irrelevant titles (e.g., “Marketing Manager NOT Assistant”). Or if you are searching “VP Marketing AND SaaS,” it will yield more precise results than just “VP Marketing.”
Step 2: Optimize your LinkedIn profile for sales
Your LinkedIn profile is like a personal landing page for prospects. So, it’s important to spend some time optimizing it. When a potential lead visits your profile, they should immediately know who you are, what you do, how you can help, and why you’re someone worth connecting with.
Download now: Optimize your LinkedIn profile for sales [Free manual]
Key areas to optimize:
- Headline: Make it benefit-oriented. For example, “Helping B2B Teams Generate High-Quality Leads through LinkedIn Outreach.”
- About section: Think of it as your elevator pitch. Clearly define how you help your clients and include keywords relevant to your industry.
- Experience: Focus on results. Highlight specific metrics and client success stories that show your impact.
- Rich media: Add presentations, case studies, and videos to demonstrate your expertise.
“Your LinkedIn profile is your digital storefront. Prospects should immediately see the value you offer and be intrigued to learn more.”
Tim Weenink, Communication Strategist at The Linq Group
Step 3: Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to identify high-quality prospects
If you want to get more serious about LinkedIn prospecting, you need to be using LinkedIn Sales Navigator. I know it’s not free—but the insights it provides are worth the investment. Sales Navigator’s advanced filters let you narrow down your search by company size, geography, seniority, and even shared connections.
Here are some of the key features I use to get the most out of Sales:
- Advanced search: Use the “Lead Builder” tool to search based on company size, geography, job function, and seniority to create precise prospect lists.
- TeamLink: This gives you an overview of eventual shared connections within your company and lets you see if any of your colleagues can introduce you to a prospect.
- Saved searches & alerts: Stay on top of what’s happening within your network with personalized alerts—someone announcing a new job, a company expanding to a new market, or someone starting a new chapter in their career. Real-time alerts keep you in the loop, and saved searches help you identify new leads quickly.
- Boolean search: As I already mentioned, use Sales Navigator’s Boolean search feature to create highly specific searches. For example, use “AND” and “NOT” to exclude irrelevant titles. This will save you time and help you focus on the leads that matter
4. Building a strong personal brand to attract prospects
As LinkedIn gets more crowded, it’s important to find a way to stand out from the rest. Working on your personal profile and posting quality content can have a significant impact on your prospecting activities. Building a strong personal brand helps you become a magnet for inbound opportunities. It’s the difference between being ‘just another salesperson’ and being the go-to expert in your field.
But that’s not all; according to a recent study by LinkedIn, 82% of B2B buyers are more likely to trust a company whose leadership is active on social media.
When I started investing more time in building my personal brand, I noticed quite a big shift. Suddenly, prospects started engaging with my content and reaching out to me, asking for advice. Why? Because I wasn’t sending out generic messages, instead, I focused on sharing insights, personalizing my outreach, engaging in conversations, and showing up in people’s feeds with relevant posts.
Download now: LinkedIn content calendar [Free template]
Steps to build a personal brand that attracts prospects:
Publish relevant and authentic content regularly
Create and share posts that showcase your expertise. This could be industry trends, personal insights, or even challenges you’ve faced. Make it authentic. Share what you think—not just what everyone else is saying.
💡 Example: Write a post about a recent challenge you encountered while managing a sales team and how you overcame it. Include a “What I Learned” section at the end. Personal experiences resonate more deeply than generic advice. If you add a nice picture to it, even better! LinkedIn’s algorithm favors insightful posts with images.
Engage authentically with your network
Comment on your connections’ posts, share relevant articles, and ask thoughtful questions. Engaging with others is just as important as posting your own content.
💡 Pro Tip: Use LinkedIn’s search feature to find conversations around topics relevant to your industry and join the discussion. This helps you expand your network organically.
“Your personal brand should reflect your values, your expertise, and your personality. It’s what turns a cold outreach into a warm connection.”
Milan Meijer, Head of Sales at The Linq Group
Showcase customer success stories
People trust real-world results. Use LinkedIn’s rich media features (this sits right below your About section on your profile) to share case studies, post a quick testimonial from a happy client, or short video clips where clients discuss the impact you’ve had on their business.
💡 Speaking of short videos; In our last newsletter, we broke down how LinkedIn’s new in-feed video tab is changing how personal (and company) brands need to adjust their marketing strategy to stay relevant on the platform. Subscribe here so you can stay in the loop:
Be transparent and authentic
Yes, I know, I’ve mentioned authenticity a few times already, but this is important. It’s tempting to put on a “professional mask” on LinkedIn, but authenticity wins every time. Share your journey—the ups, the downs, and everything in between. This humanizes you and makes you more relatable. And in a time where AI-generated content is flooding everyone’s feed, a relatable personal story is worth a lot more.
5. Scale LinkedIn outreach using multiple accounts
As I’ve mentioned before, 82% of B2B buyers are more likely to trust a company whose leadership is active on social media. So, get your whole team involved. For larger teams, scaling LinkedIn outreach using multiple profiles can be highly effective. Each account can target a different segment of your ICP, which allows you to broaden your reach without compromising on personalization.
How to scale responsibly:
- Maintain consistent messaging: Ensure that all profiles use a unified tone and consistent messaging.
- Be aware of automation tools: This one’s important. There are enough tools out there that allow you to send out connection requests and messages automatically. However, it is important to know that automation tools are prohibited on LinkedIn and can quickly result in account restrictions or even shut down. So, it is important to spend your time intentionally finding and selecting prospects and personalizing your outreach. To streamline these efforts, you can use Sales Navigator to help you refine your search and build lead lists based on your ICP.
- Use Sales Navigator to avoid double-messaging: Messaging a prospect twice about the same solution from different accounts is unprofessional and bad for your brand’s reputation. Tools like LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator help you keep track of the prospects your team has already reached out to.
6. Measuring your success: KPIs and metrics to track for LinkedIn prospecting
What is the saying? “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” And this is also true for LinkedIn outreach. But here’s the thing: not all LinkedIn metrics are created equal. Instead of focusing on vanity metrics like “number of connections,” track KPIs that show whether your strategy is actually driving business results.
Here are the KPIs I always track:
- Connection request acceptance rate
With this metric, you can start some A/B testing. Try sending connection requests without a note and with a personalized note. After about 4 weeks, look at the acceptance rate changes and check which approach is resonating with your target audience. Aim for a 30-50% acceptance rate. If it’s lower, re-evaluate your strategy and see how you can improve it. - Response Rate for Messages
It’s great to have a lot of connections, but are they engaging with you? Track how many recipients respond to your messages. A healthy response rate shows that your outreach strategy is on point.
- Engagement Rate
Engagement includes likes, comments, and shares on your posts. High engagement signals that your content is valuable and relevant. This one is very important to track consistently. Why? LinkedIn is updating its algorithm frequently, so what was working last month might not work anymore next month. - Profile views and connection requests
As soon as you start investing more time in your personal brand, you will see an increase in your profile views and connection requests quite quickly. More profile views mean that people are taking an interest in learning more about you. However, also evaluate the balance between views and connection requests, If you’re getting a lot of views but few connections, it might be time to tweak your profile. - Number of meetings booked
At the end of the day, that’s what you want to get out of your outreach, more meetings. It is the ultimate goal. So, make sure you and your team track how many of your LinkedIn interactions lead to real-world meetings or calls. If you’re not getting meetings, re-assess your outreach and follow-up strategy.
7. Common pitfalls to avoid when prospecting on LinkedIn
Even with the best strategy in place, it’s easy to fall into traps that can derail your efforts. Here are a few I’ve stumbled into over the years—and how you can avoid them.
- Being too sales-y in your outreach
LinkedIn is a professional networking site, not a direct sales platform. Sending overly aggressive or sales-focused messages is a fast way to turn off potential prospects. Instead, lead with value and focus on building a relationship first.
Example:
Avoid: “Hey [Name], I’d love to show you how our solution can save your company 30% on software costs.”
Try: “Hi [Name], I noticed your team is focusing on [specific project]. I recently worked with a similar team and thought I’d share a few insights.” - Ignoring engagement opportunities
Personalized messages are great, and if you combine them with consistently leaving valuable comments on posts, sharing relevant articles, and liking updates, even better! These small actions keep your name top-of-mind and establish you as an active contributor to industry conversations. - Automating your outreach can result in a profile ban
I know automation tools are tempting, but I really want to highlight this again because I know way too many people whose accounts have been restricted or shut down. LinkedIn official policy states, “We don’t permit the use of any third party software that automate activity on LinkedIn’s website. […] Any member who uses tools for such purposes is in violation of the User Agreement. This means that they risk having their accounts restricted or shut down.” So, be aware of this if you are thinking of automating your LinkedIn outreach. - Not following up strategically
The fortune is in the follow-up. A single touchpoint is rarely enough to convert a lead. However, sending too many follow-ups or repeating the same message can be just as counterproductive. Space out your follow-ups and always add value—share a relevant resource, ask an open-ended question, or provide new insights.
“Prospecting doesn’t stop with sending messages. It’s about showing up consistently and engaging thoughtfully—people want to connect with professionals, not just a profile.”
Koen Scholten, Communication Strategist at The Linq Group
Bottom line: Building a future-proof LinkedIn outreach strategy is key
At the end of the day, successful LinkedIn prospecting isn’t just about sending the perfect connection request or following up at the right time. It’s about positioning yourself as someone worth listening to. Someone who adds value consistently. Someone who prospects don’t just want to connect with—they choose to connect with because they see you as a trusted partner.
Whether you’re looking to expand your network, increase your response rates, or close more deals, LinkedIn can help you get there. Just remember: approach it with authenticity, focus on delivering value at every interaction, and always be willing to experiment and refine your strategy. If you do that, you won’t just see more meetings on your calendar—you’ll see real, meaningful relationships that turn into long-term business opportunities.
Want to get more meetings out of your LinkedIn outreach?
Book a call with our experts, and we will help you generate more leads and close more deals.🤝