Advanced lead search; lead lists; saved searches; alerts
$100/month
No bulk export; CRM sync
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Advanced
Team features; TeamLink; enterprise integrations
$150/month
CRM sync; limited reporting
LinkedIn Recruiter
Candidate search; InMail; talent pool management
$835+/month
Limited candidate export
Compliant Data Collection Methods
Important: LinkedIn's terms of service
Allowed
Not allowed
Manual research and note-taking
Automated scraping (bots, scripts, crawlers)
Using LinkedIn's own tools (Sales Navigator, search)
Using third-party scrapers that violate LinkedIn TOS
CRM sync through official integrations
Bulk downloading profile data
LinkedIn API (with approved application)
Circumventing rate limits or access controls
Third-party tools with LinkedIn partnership
Fake profiles or misleading activity
Viewing public profiles and taking notes
Storing scraped data commercially
Method 1: Manual research (always compliant)
Step
Action
Time per company
Data collected
1
Search LinkedIn for company page
1 minute
Company overview, employee count, industry
2
Review "People" tab; filter by title
2-3 minutes
Decision makers; titles; departments
3
Note key contacts (name, title)
1-2 minutes
Prospect list
4
Check "Jobs" tab for open roles
1-2 minutes
Hiring signals; technology requirements
5
Review recent company updates
1-2 minutes
News; milestones; engagement triggers
6
Check for mutual connections
1 minute
Warm introduction paths
Total
7-11 minutes per company
Full company research
Method 2: LinkedIn Sales Navigator (recommended for volume)
Feature
How to use it for prospecting
Data output
Lead search (advanced filters)
Filter by title, company size, industry, geography, seniority
Targeted prospect list
Account search
Filter by industry, headcount, revenue, technology, growth rate
Target account list
Saved searches with alerts
Set up searches for ideal profile; get notified of new matches
Automated lead discovery
Lead lists
Organise prospects by campaign, territory, priority
CRM-ready organisation
Account maps
Visualise decision-making structure within target accounts
Multi-threaded outreach planning
Buyer intent signals
See who is engaging with your company; topic interest
Intent-based prioritisation
InMail
Direct messaging even without connection
Outreach channel
CRM sync
Push leads and activities to Salesforce, HubSpot
Data synchronisation
Method 3: LinkedIn-partnered third-party tools
Tool
What it does
LinkedIn relationship
Compliance
ZoomInfo
B2B contact database; LinkedIn profile matching
Data partnership
Compliant (independent database)
Apollo.io
Lead database; LinkedIn enrichment
Independent data sourcing
Grey area (does not scrape LinkedIn directly)
Lusha
Contact data (phone, email) from LinkedIn profiles
Browser extension
Grey area (check current TOS)
LinkedIn API (official)
Programmatic access to LinkedIn data
Official API
Compliant (with approved application)
HubSpot (CRM sync)
Sync Sales Navigator leads to CRM
Official integration
Compliant
Salesforce (CRM sync)
Sync Sales Navigator leads to CRM
Official integration
Compliant
Phantombuster
Automation for LinkedIn actions
Not partnered
High risk (violates TOS; account ban risk)
Dux-Soup
LinkedIn automation
Not partnered
High risk (violates TOS; account ban risk)
Job Posting Intelligence
Job postings are one of the most valuable and overlooked data sources on LinkedIn:
What job postings reveal
Job posting signal
What it tells you
How to use it
Technology mentioned in requirements
Current tech stack
Sell compatible or competing solutions
Number of open roles
Hiring velocity; growth stage
Company is investing; has budget
Seniority of open roles
Company building leadership team
New leaders re-evaluate vendors
Department hiring (sales, marketing, engineering)
Where budget is flowing
Target that department with relevant solutions
Salary ranges
Budget and compensation philosophy
Price sensitivity indicator
Remote / hybrid / on-site
Work model
Remote tools, office tools
New office locations
Geographic expansion
Location-specific services
"Replace" vs "new" positions
Growth vs replacement
Growth = more budget; replacement = possible churn risk
Specific tool mentions ("Salesforce admin")
Current vendor relationships
Competitive intelligence
Extracting contact data from job postings
Job posting element
Where to find contact info
Notes
Recruiter name
Listed as job poster; "about the hiring team"
Direct recruiter outreach (for recruiting vendors)
Hiring manager (sometimes listed)
Job description; "reporting to" section
Decision maker for role-related tools
Company careers page link
"Apply on company website"
Additional contact discovery
Email in application instructions
Some postings include email for applications
Direct email from posting
Building Prospect Lists from LinkedIn Research
Workflow for Sales Navigator research
Step
Action
Output
1
Define ideal customer profile (ICP) filters
Search criteria
2
Run lead search with ICP filters
Lead list (name, title, company)
3
Save leads to Sales Navigator list
Organised lead list
4
Export company names and websites from account search
Company list with domains
5
Use company domains to find emails (email finding tools; company website)
Email addresses
6
Enrich with additional data (phone, department, technology)
Complete prospect profiles
7
Import into CRM
CRM-ready lead list
Processing LinkedIn-Sourced Data
After researching companies and decision makers through LinkedIn, you will have prospect data spread across notes, saved lists, CRM exports and email finding tool results. Upload all these files (CSV exports from email finding tools, spreadsheet notes from manual research, company website contact page extractions) to Email Extractor to extract and deduplicate email addresses across all research sources. Prospects researched through LinkedIn often appear in multiple email finding tool results and company databases, so deduplication prevents contacting the same decision maker through overlapping outreach lists.
