Lead generation

How Account Executives Can Use the News Stream to Generate More Leads

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If you are an account executive, your company depends on you for consistent sales lead generation. Generating qualified leads means uncovering new opportunities. It also means nurturing your "not-quite-ready-to-buy" prospects so that you gain access to the buying cycle once they transition from consideration to evaluation.

Read on to learn how the News Stream within LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help you generate new leads and nurture your existing sales opportunities.

Creating saved leads

The first step in setting up your News Stream is to create a list of saved leads. You can import data from your CRM to receiving automatic updates on key accounts and prospects. LinkedIn Sales Navigator also makes lead recommendations, surfacing potential industry targets based on data inputs for who you are targeting.

Once you have a list of saved leads, you will be alerted to company news and status updates of your contacts, such as job changes and work anniversaries. Additionally, you’ll learn when prospects publish blog posts, join LinkedIn Groups, and share content. Feed settings allow you to pick the specific updates you’d like to receive.

Monitor buying signals

Daily updates from your saved leads can signal where your prospects are in their buying process. For example, prospects often engage in LinkedIn Groups to find answers to pressing questions or to ask about specific vendor solutions. When you see a prospect engaging in this manner, you can feel confident of their intent to buy.

Get additional indication of prospect intent from company updates and news mentions in your News Stream. For example, news of an acquisition or geographical expansion may trigger an additional need for the solution you offer. Find the trigger events that create demand for your solution and monitor them closely.

Staying on top of personnel changes at your target accounts can improve your sales lead generation results as well. Newly hired decision makers tend to make their mark early, which is why executives who move into new positions usually make major purchases in their first year on the job.

Engage with insights

Once you have identified a buying signal, use insights to engage your prospects. For instance, you can engage prospects who ask questions in LinkedIn Groups by sharing insights from your company’s content.

When armed with the right insights, news regarding your prospect’s company is also actionable. When key accounts make the news (and when there’s a relevant tie-in to your solution), try crafting a thoughtful InMail to your prospect that connects the dots between the current event and the potential business problem(s) you can solve.

For account executives with an opportunistic mindset and a helpful attitude, the News Stream is filled with sales lead generation opportunities. Dedicating a few minutes each day to examining your News Stream for new opportunities to engage prospects with insights can help you build stronger relationships and uncover more qualified leads, which naturally leads to better sales numbers.

Feel for warm paths to prospects

The LinkedIn Sales Navigator News Stream can help to secure warm introductions by alerting you to when prospects in your saved leads connect with someone in your network.

Knowing someone in common can build trust with a prospect so that a buyer is more receptive to outreach. The effect can be especially powerful when you use the “get introduced” feature. A prospect is far more likely to engage through your shared connection than through cold outreach. In fact, 69% of B2B buyers are more likely to buy from a vendor recommended to them.

Taking a strategic approach to News Stream updates can help you turn insights into actions, all without committing a great deal of time to prospecting. In the process, you can establish yourself as a trusted authority B2B decision makers can rely on.

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