If you’re a law firm marketer or business development professional, you’re probably already using LinkedIn. But are you actually using Sales Navigator in a way that helps you find leads, support your lawyers and stay ahead of opportunities?
Sales Navigator is LinkedIn’s premium tool designed for targeted outreach and relationship building. It’s not just for sales reps at tech companies. When used well, it can help legal marketers identify warm leads, track job moves, support client teams and help lawyers build meaningful connections with the people who matter most.
Here’s how to make it part of your toolkit in a way that actually helps your lawyers build business.
Start with smarter search filters
One of the best features of Sales Navigator is its ability to refine your search in a way regular LinkedIn doesn’t. You can filter by geography, company size, seniority level, title, years at company, even school or past company. This helps you get very specific about the kinds of people and companies you want to track.
- Tip: Support your practice groups by creating lead lists aligned to their industry focus or client targets. For example, if your tech transactions team is focused on AI startups in California, build a list of GCs and legal operations professionals at those companies.
- Tip: Use the title exclusion filter to remove recruiters, consultants or vendors from your results so you can focus on potential buyers and decision makers.
Track without connecting
Sales Navigator lets you follow people and companies without sending a connection request. This is incredibly helpful when you want to build quiet awareness of a company’s growth, leadership changes or hiring trends without tipping anyone off.
- Tip: Follow strategic accounts even if no one at the firm has a relationship yet. This lets you start gathering context before a pitch or before a lateral says they’re speaking to someone at the company.
- Tip: You can also use the “save search” feature to keep tabs on a specific segment and receive alerts when someone new matches the criteria.
Use job change alerts as conversation starters
Sales Navigator sends alerts when someone in your lead list changes roles. That notification is an opportunity. Job moves are one of the most natural reasons to reach out—congratulations, how are things going, would love to reconnect.
- Tip: Track alumni of the firm and past clients who have moved into in-house roles. These people already know your lawyers and how your firm works. They’re often receptive to reengagement.
- Tip: Make it part of your weekly BD check-in to scan for job changes and send suggested outreach language to your lawyers. It saves them time and increases the likelihood they’ll follow through.
Build event and campaign lists
When you’re planning a client event, webinar or content campaign, try using Sales Navigator to build a more focused invite list.
- Tip: Filter by geography and job title to find the right people in a particular city or region ahead of an event. Add them to a lead list, then track who engages with your posts or client alerts related to that topic.
- Tip: Coordinate with your email marketing tool so you can personalize invites or follow-ups based on a person’s activity or connection to the firm.
Support lateral integration
When a new partner joins the firm, they often bring a book of business and a long list of contacts. Sales Navigator can help you map out their network and spot opportunities.
- Tip: Cross-reference their past employer with client lists to find overlaps and shared contacts.
- Tip: Build a custom lead list for each lateral and flag priority contacts to reengage within the first 60 days. It helps with onboarding and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Turn online behavior into BD insights
Sales Navigator doesn’t show who viewed your posts, but it does give you activity alerts. You can see who’s posting, sharing or commenting on industry topics that may align with your firm’s services.
- Tip: If a GC posts about ESG or AI regulation, flag that for a partner in the relevant practice group and suggest a low-pressure touchpoint, a comment, a helpful article or a coffee catch-up.
- Tip: Use those cues to suggest content ideas. If a trend keeps showing up in your lead lists, your lawyers should probably be writing or speaking on it.
Make it a habit
Sales Navigator works best when it becomes part of your routine. It’s not a once-in-a-while research tool. It’s a way to stay close to the market and give your lawyers a steady flow of actionable insights.
- Tip: Set aside 20 minutes each morning to check alerts, review your saved searches and flag anything noteworthy. Then send quick suggestions to the lawyers you support.
- Tip: Keep a running spreadsheet or dashboard to track who’s been contacted, what follow-ups are needed and which leads are warming up.
This tool isn’t going to build relationships for you. But if you use it regularly and take action on what you find, it can help you spot patterns, identify the right people to reach out to and give your lawyers a reason to follow up. That’s where business development really starts to move forward.
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