Make It Personal: expalas, ARP Nederland, and OneLife Drive Results with Sales Navigator [Case Study]

A recent study from Evergage and Researchscape International found that nearly eight out of 10 marketers believe personalization should be a bigger priority in their organizations. The percentage (77%) was up from 73% in 2017 and 64% in 2016.

Clearly, this is becoming an increasingly ubiquitous focus, and with good reason: 98% of those surveyed agree that personalization positively impacts customer relationships. Needless to say, salespeople should be rallying behind this directive as well.

Of course, recognizing the importance of relevant, tailored experiences and being able to deliver them at scale are two very different things. The aforementioned study identified personalization as a rising priority but also showed much room for improvement, with a majority of respondents describing their organization’s maturity on this front as “limited.”

How can B2B sales teams move toward a more advanced targeting approach conducive to superior personalization, while balancing ambitious lead gen goals? Let’s look at three European companies making it happen with LinkedIn and Sales Navigator, in search of helpful insights your team can apply.

expalas Improves Lead Quality by Homing in on The Buyer’s Circle

The No. 1 key to improving personalization is ensuring that you’re reaching out to the right people. This was the primary objective for expalas, a sales automation firm based in Germany. For them. that meant finding a way to get past gatekeepers at high-value accounts and zero in on the “Buyer’s Circle.”

To do so, the company turned to Sales Navigator and the Lead Builder functionality, relying on its critical insights and advanced prospecting to surface people with decision-making authority and then engage them with a consultative approach.

expalas CEO Alexander Kep says the tool has helped his team build bridges in ways that weren’t possible with alternative solutions.

“Sales Navigator helps us generate significant competitive advantages in comparison to other prevalent sales channels,” he explains.

The organization’s campaigns on LinkedIn have yielded an average response rate in the 25-35% range. expalas has engaged around 500 marketing managers through Sales Navigator and qualified 150 as valuable contacts, including 50 sales-accepted leads.

These are the kinds of results made possible by a more sophisticated prospecting approach driven by solid data and insight.

ARP Nederland Ditches Inefficient Leads Lists

IT hardware and software provider ARP Nederland, too, has ramped up its prospecting effectiveness by utilizing Lead Builder in Sales Navigator. This has proven to be a revelatory shift from the previous standard of inaccurate and outdated lists of leads.

“The Lead Builder tool in LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator helps us easily create a list of relevant, up-to-date leads,” according to account manager Noël Brouwers. “Lead Builder provides us with great insight into who the decision makers are within our target companies.”

Within Sales Navigator, ARP’s reps send personalized InMails to the decision makers they’ve identified, even when they aren’t yet connected. Brouwers says this has provided “a great way to start a conversation and book meetings.”

Following this strategy, the sales team has been able to greatly expand its collective network, experiencing far more receptiveness thanks to tailored outreach enabled by Sales Navigator.

OneLife Steps Up its Prospect Sourcing

Much like ARP Nederland, OneLife turned to Sales Navigator out of exasperation with the traditional methods for sourcing prospects. Because the company specializes in customized wealth and asset management solutions, it only made sense to develop a more customized approach to generating leads.

Digital marketing manager Christophe Regnault says that LinkedIn has provided “an amazing professional contacts database,” bolstering his team’s ability to spark sales conversations with targeted prospects and build long-term relationships internationally.

“Thirty percent of our assets within Europe come from leads sourced with Sales Navigator,” says Regnault. “If you apply that to the rest of our territories, it has quite the impact.”

Make It Personal

B2B sales trends worldwide make it clear that increased personalization is imperative for improved results. Today’s buyers won’t accept anything less.

The companies above leverage Sales Navigator to up their games in this department, and the outcomes speak for themselves. If LinkedIn lead gen is part of your business development strategy, we encourage you to see how tools like Lead Builder can sharpen your scope and strengthen connections with your most valued targets.

Ready to make personalization a priority? Learn more about LinkedIn Sales Navigator and its many features.