By Zivko Dodovski, Founder & CEO, DoneMaker · Updated September 2026
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the tool we use to build every outreach list, and it does exactly one job well: it turns an ideal customer profile into a list of real people who match it. It does not write messages, it does not send them, and it does not fix a fuzzy profile. Below is the way we build a list on every client account, filter by filter, in the order that produces the tightest result.
What Sales Navigator is for (and what it isn’t)
Sales Navigator is LinkedIn’s paid search. Its account and lead filters go far past what the free search allows: company size, function, seniority, whether someone has posted recently, whether they changed jobs, whether you share a connection. That is the whole value; better filters, better list.
What it isn’t is an outreach tool. InMail credits are a distraction; connection requests sent by a person work better and cost nothing. And it is not a place to plug in automation; LinkedIn watches Sales Navigator accounts as closely as any other, and a restricted profile ends a campaign. We use Sales Navigator to build the list, then close it and send by hand. The full method is in the LinkedIn outreach playbook.
Before you open it: the ICP
Most people open Sales Navigator and start typing job titles into the search bar. That produces a bloated list that wastes connection requests and, worse, wastes the messaging, because a message written for everyone lands with no one.
Write the ideal customer profile first. Four things:
- Industry. Two or three verticals where you can name real clients. Not ten.
- Company size. A small firm where the owner still does business development and a larger one with a sales team are different buyers with different problems.
- Geography. Where your clients are, in time zones you can take calls in.
- The person. Who feels the problem you solve, and who signs. Sometimes the same person, sometimes not.
“Accounting firms” is not a profile. “Accounting and bookkeeping firms in the US and Canada, owner-led, small enough that the partner is still the one selling” is. The filters only mean something once you’ve made those decisions. If you haven’t, start with how to build an ideal customer profile.
Accounts first, then people
Here is the step almost everyone skips. Sales Navigator has two searches: Account Search (companies) and Lead Search (people). Most users go straight to leads and end up with contacts scattered across thousands of companies that have nothing to do with the profile.
Build the company universe first. In Account Search, apply, in this order:
- Industry: your two or three verticals.
- Company headcount: your size range. Be strict.
- Geography: country or region.
- Technologies used (only if it matters): useful if what you sell integrates with, or replaces, something specific.
Save that account search as a list. That list is the sandbox. Then switch to Lead Search and anchor it to the saved account list, so you are no longer searching all of LinkedIn; you are searching inside a set of companies you’ve already qualified. Every filter after this is applied to people who already work somewhere that fits.
The five lead filters that do the work
You don’t need every filter. These five carry the load.
Seniority level. Pick the tier that matches your buyer; more on that below.
Function. Underused, and the one that gives precision. “Sales” as a function pulls everyone from the newest rep to the head of revenue; pair it with seniority and you get the right layer.
Current title, with Boolean. Titles are typed by the person, so the same job has a dozen spellings. Use OR to catch the variants and NOT to remove the ones you don’t want: (“Owner” OR “Founder” OR “Managing Partner”) NOT “Assistant”. Check the first page of results by hand; if the profiles don’t look like people you’d want on a call, the Boolean is wrong, not the tool.
Company headcount. Already set at the account level; setting it again at the lead level catches outliers the account search let through.
Geography, at the lead level. A firm can be headquartered in one city while the person you want works from another. Lead-level geography is where the person is.
Who to message: the owner or the right hand
The lazy answer is “go to the top.” The right answer depends on the size of the company.
At a small firm, the owner is the buyer, the user, and the person who feels the problem. Message the owner. That is most of our clients’ targets and most of ours.
At a larger firm, the owner delegates. Land a call with the CEO and, if they’re interested, they hand you to the person who runs the function; now you’re starting over with someone who didn’t choose to be in the conversation. For those companies the better door is the person who owns the problem day to day, has enough authority to say yes, and gets a fraction of the cold outreach the CEO gets.
Decide this in the ICP, not in the filter screen. It changes the seniority filter, the title Boolean, and the value proposition.
Activity filters: don’t message ghosts
A profile that exists is not a profile that’s used. Three filters tell you who is on LinkedIn right now:
- Posted on LinkedIn recently. This is the ghost-account filter. Someone who hasn’t posted or engaged in a while is unlikely to see your request, and a request to a dormant profile spends one of your daily sends for nothing. We apply this on every build.
- Changed jobs recently. A new role means new priorities, a budget being set, and vendor relationships that haven’t formed yet. Reference the change in your connection message; it is the most natural “one true thing” you’ll find.
- Viewed your profile. They already know you exist. Put them at the top of the list.
You won’t find many people who hit all three; use “posted recently” as the baseline and the other two as priority flags. Activity filters cut a list hard. That is the point: a smaller list of people who are on the platform outperforms a larger list of people who aren’t, every time.
Warm paths before cold ones
Two filters find people you can reach with an introduction instead of a cold request.
2nd-degree connections. You share a mutual connection. If it’s a real relationship, a short message to the mutual asking for an intro beats any cold message you could write. Segment these into their own list and work them first.
TeamLink. If more than one person at your company has a Sales Navigator seat, TeamLink shows which prospects your colleagues are connected to. Same rule: intro first.
Neither replaces direct outreach. They’re a first pass.
Keep the list alive
A list built once is not a system. Titles change, people move, firms get acquired; a list from a few months ago is already decaying.
Saved searches with alerts. Save every search. Sales Navigator will surface new matches, new hires, and job changers on its own; review the alerts on a fixed day each week and move new entries into the outreach sequence.
Named lead lists. One list per campaign or segment, named so a stranger could read it: “Owner-led accounting firms, US & Canada, Q4” beats “List 3.” This is what the outreach specialist works from each day, and it’s where contacted, pending, and follow-up status live.
The build, start to finish
- Write the ICP: industry, size, geography, the person. On paper, before opening the tool.
- Account Search: industry, headcount, geography. Review, save.
- Lead Search anchored to the saved account list: seniority, function, title Boolean. Add “posted recently.”
- Layer the priority signals: job changes, profile views. Pull 2nd-degree connections into a warm list.
- Save the lead search with alerts on. Name the lists. Tag the first batch for outreach.
Then close Sales Navigator. The list-building can be systematic; the messaging has to be human. Why is in manual vs automated LinkedIn outreach.
How DoneMaker uses Sales Navigator
On every account, a strategist builds the list this way during onboarding, with the client’s ICP in hand, and saves the search into the client’s campaign document alongside the four messages. The outreach specialist then works that list by hand every working day: connection requests to the next people on it, the value proposition to everyone who accepted, replies read and answered, everything logged. The list is reviewed on the weekly strategy call; if the connection rate says the targeting is off, the strategist fixes the list, not the message.
As of September 2026:
- Running manual LinkedIn outreach since 2018
- 58+ active client accounts, US and Canada
- Up to 40 connection requests sent per working day, by hand
- 25–30% average connection rate
- 7–11 deal opportunities per account per month
- 4–5 booked calls per account per month
- Clients: accounting, bookkeeping and CFO firms; digital, marketing and advertising agencies; coaches and consultants; B2B services with relationship-driven sales
A deal opportunity is a prospect who expresses clear interest: asks questions, opens an email exchange, or books a call.
What happens after the list, message by message, is in how to personalize LinkedIn outreach messages; the broader targeting method, including how to do it without Sales Navigator, is in the targeting blueprint.
Frequently asked questions
Is LinkedIn Sales Navigator worth it for outreach?
If you are running outreach every working day, yes; the account-first search and the activity filters alone justify it, because they keep you from spending connection requests on the wrong people and on people who aren’t there. If you send a handful of requests a week, the free search plus a written ICP will get you most of the way.
What is the difference between account filters and lead filters?
Account filters search companies: industry, headcount, geography, technologies. Lead filters search people: title, seniority, function, activity. Build the company list first with account filters, save it, then run lead filters inside it. That order is what keeps the list tight.
How big should a LinkedIn outreach list be?
Small enough that one value proposition fits everyone on it, and large enough to run for a couple of months at your daily volume before you need to rebuild. When the list gets so broad that you’d need a different message for half of it, split it into two lists.
Do I need Sales Navigator to do LinkedIn outreach?
No. You need a clear ideal customer profile and a way to find people who match it. Sales Navigator is the fastest way to do the second part; it is not the only way. What you can’t skip is the profile.
Should I use InMail instead of connection requests?
No. A connection request with one true line about the person, sent by hand, is accepted more often and starts a real thread. InMail arrives as a paid message from a stranger, and prospects treat it that way.
Want the list built for your buyer, and worked by a person every day? Book a call; 20 minutes, and we’ll tell you honestly whether LinkedIn outreach fits your business before anything else. If you’d rather read first, here is how the service works.
