Generate new qualified leads. Grow your business. Increase your brand awareness safely.

Our suite of B2B lead generation software allows you to find B2B leads and create high-quality lists of ideal prospects such as executives, decision-makers, and company leaders.

Source

How to find new prospects in our database:
Thanks to our search tools, you will be able to view and download new prospects.

–    Browse over 21 million prospects from French companies and 300 million contacts worldwide.

Enhance: Automate visits and connection requests on the LinkedIn social network!

Obtain contacts and company information from multiple sources

Do you want to enhance your CRM?

–       Find qualified leads with key information such as email, first and last name, job title, industry, and company name

Collect your prospects' contact information

Gather information on the LinkedIn social network.

The LinkedIn social network is an incredible source of information.
Access this information the way you want. 

–       From a search on B2B social networks, collect emails even if they do not appear on their profiles.

 
Send your campaigns

Integrate your active LinkedIn account and mailboxes in seconds and create automated LinkedIn invitation sequences and/or emails
.

Send newsletters or cold emails (drop by drop until recipients respond).

Prospecting via email and LinkedIn using a series of prospecting/newsletter campaigns (at a specific pace)

Prospect via email and on the B2B LinkedIn network automatically.

Integrate your email accounts and LinkedIn accounts in seconds and create unlimited automated email sequences.

–    Send emails without any limits

–     Track your prospects' responses.

–       Connect your email and LinkedIn accounts for efficient work.

–      Prospect automatically via email and LinkedIn .

 
What exactly is LinkedIn?

the most used prospecting channel today

LinkedIn is a professional social network !
It works the same way as Facebook, except that its network (not its “friends”) seeks professional content and exchanges.

LinkedIn has 610 million members worldwide, 16 million in France (half of the working population and a
growth of 2 new members per second!), hence the importance of this network.

To further convince you that LinkedIn is essential:

• LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Twitter or Facebook (source: Hubspot)
• B2B digital marketing specialists have found that 80% of their leads on social media come from LinkedIn (source: Business.linkedin.com)
  

Laying the foundations for effective LinkedIn prospecting

The first step, as with everything, is to lay solid foundations!
The first point of contact on LinkedIn is your profile and company page, so it is essential to work on them well in order to make visitors want to learn more about your page.

Yes, it works a bit like a website! But it takes much less time to create .

How to optimize your LinkedIn profile for B2B prospecting?

Customizing your LinkedIn URL

It's essential to personalize your LinkedIn profile address (URL) to avoid a string of numbers. Opt for a URL that ends with your first and last name.

For what ?

This small manipulation allows you to be better referenced on Google; your profile will appear more effectively in the results when someone types your first name, last name, or company.

This also shows that you are comfortable with this social network and that you are used to using it, which can reassure your interlocutor.

As explained earlier, LinkedIn is not Facebook. You can't use your dog, goldfish, or a great selfie with friends as your profile picture!

To convey the right message, you need a professional photo that looks like you and makes people want to get in touch with you.

I recommend Photofeeler to test your photos and see if you're on the right track.

The cover photo

• Still on the topic of "photography," don't neglect the cover photo (also called the banner), as it too plays a crucial role in the message you want to convey and the first impression you give. It's important that this element aligns with your business and is consistent with the (professional) image you want to project.

Your LinkedIn profile title

An evocative title!

Located below
your first and last name, you must describe what
motivates you in about ten words. Note that this is not where you should list your job title, but rather
what you do (hashtags are welcome).

For example, I put on my profile “I help companies reach, or even
exceed, their revenue #DevCo #automation”

“Info” section

The first section visible to visitors of your page, now is the time
to make a difference!

Tell a story, highlight your differences and strengths ;). If
you have a good sense of humor, now's the time to have fun, but don't forget the
key word: stay professional !

Professional experiences

This section is very important when looking for a new job, but also essential
in prospecting.

Here, I advise you to include at least your three most recent significant experiences
your job titles each time so they
are clear and accurately reflect your responsibilities. It's
also good practice to describe your tasks to allow the reader to envision themselves in
your role.

Recommendations

Final recommendation for optimizing your profile: recommendations
!
Don't hesitate to ask your friends, colleagues, superiors, or even
clients to write you a recommendation. This humanizes your profile and
builds trust!

I highly recommend the ResumeWorded , which will
allow you to take a step back and look at your profile by highlighting areas for improvement
.

Okay, you're all set, your profile is activated, now you need to
switch it to expert mode! To do this, you need to prepare your ammunition and not
fire blindly.

How to organize your prospecting on LinkedIn?

You have an optimized LinkedIn profile and you are now in the
starting blocks to begin prospecting!

But where to begin?

How do I go about it?

Just ask! 

We will see in a few steps how to optimize prospecting on
LinkedIn.

What is Social Selling?

First of all, it is important to understand what social selling and
what the stakes are.

The basic definition is as follows: social selling is
the approach of using social networks in the
sales process.
For B2B, the key player is, as you've probably guessed, LinkedIn!

LinkedIn represents an endless hunting ground and allows you to connect with a multitude of profiles all over the world.

If you implement a genuine strategy to expand your network so that it
meets your expectations and needs, the community aspect is
then significantly amplified.
In short, the ideal is not to accept everyone so that this network is

fruitful business connections .

Define and find your targets

First step: The Personas

The first step, and one that should NEVER be neglected, regardless of the
prospecting channel used, is defining your personas.

Take the time to think about your personas; they have become
essential and are an integral part of the company's strategy.

Keep in mind that it's pointless to start prospecting if you don't know
WHO to prospect! Your prospecting will fall flat and
you'll feel like it's just another wasted effort.

If this concept is not entirely clear, I invite you to
consult our article on the definition
of personas .

Second step: finding your targets

And this is no small feat! 

16 million profiles! 

But how do you find those that match your personas?

Two methods are possible: a free one and a paid one.

We have written a guide
to LinkedIn research , which we
summarize here:

Classic LinkedIn filters

For the free version, simply go to your LinkedIn account
and in the search bar select “People” and then click on
“all filters”. This method is limited and doesn't allow for high-quality searches
, but it has the merit of existing and allows everyone to
perform an initial filtering.

Sales Navigator

Regarding the paid method, the easiest to use is the one
offered directly by LinkedIn: Sales Navigator .

With a monthly subscription, you have access to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
degree profiles in your network. Numerous filters are available to
segment your search as precisely as possible.

WARNING  : with Sales Navigator you must differentiate between
declarative filters and deductive filters.

Some filters, such as job title or company name, are
self-reported, because we can then be sure that this data is reliable.

However, the hierarchical level is deductive. It is the
LinkedIn search algorithm that interprets the data and deduces a
hierarchical level, which implies a larger margin of error!

I strongly advise you, if you haven't already done so, to take advantage of the
free trial month to familiarize yourself with the tool and see if it
meets your expectations.

Structuring your prospecting on LinkedIn

The final step is to consider how to contact prospects
on LinkedIn. To do this, you need to answer these three questions:

• What is my objective? I know what you're
  thinking, you're going to tell me "that the prospect becomes a client!!" No, here you
  need to ask yourself why you are contacting this type of prospect,
  what you are going to bring them, why it would be good for you to collaborate?
• What messages should I send him?
• At what rate? That is, how many messages
  will my prospect receive and how frequently?

There are no right or wrong answers, I can only advise you
and give you some examples regarding messages and cadence, because
regarding the objective only you can answer this question according to
your expectations.

The 3 steps to get in touch with your prospects

At Sales Odyssey, we recommend sending two LinkedIn messages
(called InMail), but following a three-step prospecting process. Let me explain:

• Step 1: Sending the connection request.
• Step 2: Sending the first InMail (assuming the prospect has
  agreed to be connected). This InMail should pique the prospect's interest
  them want to learn more about your business. You need to successfully
  connect them with your business and your company. Always remember
  to provide value!
• Step 3: Send a follow-up InMail. This message should be short and
  request a response; it can be written like this: “Hello {Firstname},
  I hope you are well! Have you had a chance to read my
  previous message? Best regards, Gaëlle”

Regarding the pace , we recommend leaving 7 days between
step 1 and step 2, as this allows maximum time for
prospects to accept the connection request, and 3 days between step 2
and step 3. The last message being short and clear, it does not require
any response other than yes or no.

That's it, you're all set, everything is in place to launch a
well-structured, thoughtful prospecting campaign that will inevitably bear fruit!

Prospecting on LinkedIn!

Perhaps you want to contact a large number of people and
in those cases you think to yourself, "Gaëlle is very nice, but I'm going
to waste a lot of time contacting everyone, and on top of that, keeping up a
pace!"

I completely agree, but we must remember one thing:

Prospecting, whatever form it takes, takes time! Especially if you
want the results to be effective.

But don't panic, there are a few little techniques to save
time.

Automate your sales prospecting on LinkedIn

Given LinkedIn's daily growth, a multitude of tools
have emerged to automate sending messages to
selected LinkedIn profiles. It's possible to use Linked
Helper or Dux Soup, for example, but technically this isn't permitted
by LinkedIn; the social network's algorithms generally end up
detecting them.

It's a real game of cat and mouse that's unfolding!

The advantage of these tools is the time saved! They also offer the
possibility of customizing certain categories such as first name, last name, or
company in messages.

WARNING : Don't
do just anything! When using automation, avoid
the trap of focusing solely on quantity. Always maintain a focus on
building a truly strategic and qualitative prospecting strategy.

Internal resources

Depending on the number of people in your company, don't
hesitate to ask the teams for help!

It cannot be stressed enough that the separation between marketing and
sales is now a thing of the past. Synergy is essential, because
the objective remains the same: to generate new leads

revenue targets

Ask your colleagues if they would be interested in getting involved in
LinkedIn prospecting. The salesperson will, of course, remain responsible for
responding to prospects, but many will be motivated to work as a team
on defining buyer personas, researching prospects, writing
messages, and setting the posting frequency.

Other prospecting channels

I want to emphasize that it's essential to combine multiple
prospecting channels to secure an appointment. After
the LinkedIn stage, don't hesitate to send emails and call prospects. The more points
of contact you have, the higher your conversion rate will be.

I hope this article has shed some light on how to prospect effectively on
LinkedIn and, above all, that it will help you smash your
goals!

Share this article on social media!

Increase your visibility on LinkedIn

Don't forget, we haven't lost sight of the objective: to get more customers!
We need to make ourselves known, and the upstream process is the same as for
physical prospecting.

Content: the cornerstone of your visibility strategy

“Elementary, my dear Watson!” Because yes, to be visible you have to make yourself
seen, and for that, on LinkedIn, you have to create content. This content can be
shared through written posts or video posts. The topics can be
varied, but they must remain consistent with your image, your
company, your industry, and your objectives for using
LinkedIn. (In this case, building professional relationships with your future clients
and partners).

Even if you have an inbound marketing strategy with lots of content,
remember that it is essential for LinkedIn to prioritize what is called
native content ! That is, content that does not require
the user to leave LinkedIn to view it.

Prioritize quality LinkedIn content over quantity!

Again, this is obvious, but you shouldn't publish content just for the sake of publishing
content. Your reputation is at stake!

The goal is to engage your audience. The people who
follow you need to want to look at your news feed and learn things
that are relevant to their profession, their industry, or their network.

To avoid repeating myself, I'll directly link to
the excellent infographic . It summarizes very accurately and practically how
to create quality content.

And quickly, for those who are lacking inspiration, here are
some examples of themes:

• Publish photos or short videos of the events you attend
• Publish posts on your company's blog articles
• Giving advice
• Create explainer videos about your products/services
• Stories from your company's everyday life
• Giving your opinion on the news in your industry

Interact with other users' LinkedIn content

As with any social network, it is possible – and here even strongly
recommended – to interact with your network through shares, reactions, and
comments.

This has several advantages:

1. We remain committed to the same strategy of providing quality content
   . If you share articles or videos that allow
   your audience to learn or stay informed, they will pay even
   more attention to your activities on LinkedIn.
2. This shows that you don't rest on your laurels, that you're
   always seeking new information and, consequently, a desire to be an
   expert in your field. Curiosity, in this context, is not a bad thing,
   quite the opposite!
3. Sharing, liking, and commenting allow you to interact
   constructively with your network. For example, you can tag
   people directly in the comments section of articles if you think they're
   relevant. You can also like a post from someone in your
   network, which shows that you find what they're saying meaningful. This
   helps build relationships and demonstrates that you have things in
   common.
4. This allows you to expand your network! If you interact with posts
   , the authors may in turn become interested in your content.