How to create and execute a winning LinkedIn sales strategy in 2025 [+ 5 mistakes to avoid]

If you're in sales, chances are you've given social selling on LinkedIn a try. You may also be all too familiar with the following scenario: you spend hours sending invites to connect, crafting messages, and follow-ups only to realize the results are…nowhere to be found. Conversations die out before they've truly begun, engagement is flat, and you're left wondering if all this effort is even worth it. But LinkedIn isn’t the problem. It's how you're using it. LinkedIn is a powerful sales engine, but only with the proper LinkedIn sales strategy.

So, how do you create one? And, more importantly, how do you put it to work?

Since our sales gurus, Andrea and Pavle, are experts on sales (and LinkedIn), we thought we'd pick their brains to answer these. And now, we'll be using their knowledge and firsthand experience to break down:

• How to create and execute a LinkedIn sales strategy that gets results;
• How to track and analyze its performance;
• And what mistakes you need to avoid to minimize wasted efforts.

So, if you are ready to turn things around on LinkedIn sales-wise, it's time to dig in!

How effective is LinkedIn for sales?

Why bother using LinkedIn for sales to begin with?

Because it’s home to over 1 billion professionals spread across 200 territories. Out of these, a whopping 63 million are decision-makers and another 10 million C-level executives. This means your audience is definitely there. You just need to get to them.

Basic users are slightly limited when it comes to LinkedIn prospecting and LinkedIn lead generation. And while you can use any LinkedIn Premium subscription to get to sales leads, Sales Navigator remains your best bet.

That’s because it’s aimed precisely at sales professionals and equipped with over 50 lead and account LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters that simplify prospecting. Not to mention, it comes with advanced features that aren’t available to other Premium subscribers (e.g., Buyer Intent and Persona features).

We could spend hours talking about the LinkedIn Sales Navigator vs Premium differences. But instead, let’s focus on the stats that prove just how effective LinkedIn, or Sales Navigator, is for sales professionals.

Namely, its users manage to:

• Close 31% more deals
• Connect to 4x more decision-makers
• Save 65+ hours annually due to reduced tool switching

Moreover, Forrester Consulting conducted a study on Sales Navigator in 2023, where they revealed that this subscription yields an impressive 312% ROI over the course of 3 years. It also pays itself off in less than 6 months.

So, if you’re in sales and LinkedIn, especially its Sales Navigator, isn’t part of your strategy, it’s likely you’re losing out on some serious opportunities.

What is a LinkedIn sales strategy & why do you need one?

A LinkedIn sales strategy is a structured plan for using LinkedIn to find prospects, generate leads, and drive sales. It focuses on tapping into LinkedIn’s networking opportunities, sharing valuable content, and using sales tools to connect with potential customers, build relationships, and nurture them into clients.

In fact, with a LinkedIn strategy in place, you can:

• Target the right individuals who fit your Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona.
• Build credibility and trust through thought leadership posts, insightful comments, and meaningful conversations.
• Increase efficiency by focusing on high-value activities like nurturing warm leads and minimizing time spent on low-potential prospects.
• Drive measurable results by converting these leads into paying customers.

On the other hand, without a clear and actionable LinkedIn sales strategy, the results are often wasted effort, time, and, ultimately, money.

What should you do before creating a LinkedIn sales strategy?

So, having a social selling strategy for LinkedIn is a must. That much we established.

But now, let’s show you what you should do before you create one, according to our sales team at Skylead.

Identify your sales objectives & goals

Every successful LinkedIn sales strategy starts with clear objectives. That’s because defining them upfront helps you measure success later on.

To establish them, think about what you are trying to achieve.

Are you looking to:

• Generate leads, 
• Increase product demos, 
• Or drive sales directly?

Objectives are meant to guide your strategy and point you in the right direction.

But a strong LinkedIn sales strategy also needs goals to keep you focused and on track.

Unlike objectives, goals are specific, measurable, and highly influenced by key performance indicators (KPIs).

For example, your goals could be to:

• Bring 250 warm leads from LinkedIn in Q1.
• Increase product demos by 30%.
• Bring $20K of sales directly from LinkedIn.

To track these goals effectively, you’ll need to define relevant KPIs.

Based on the examples above, your sub-KPIs could be to:

• Increase connection requests by 50%
• Reach a 30% response rate

When clearly defined, KPIs become measurable, allowing you to plan activities, allocate resources, and monitor progress efficiently. As you move closer to your goals—and, ultimately, your objectives—you can refine and optimize these metrics to improve your results over time.

Define your ICP and Buyer Persona

After you identify your objections and goals, it's time to figure out who to target. In other words, you should define your Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona.

Your ICP represents the type of companies that benefit the most from your product or service. 

In the meantime, your Buyer Persona is a more detailed representation of decision-makers within those companies.

To paint a better picture, say you’re selling a CRM for small businesses. In that case, your ICP may include SaaS companies with 10-50 employees. As for your Buyer Persona, it could be a VP of Sales who struggles with pipeline visibility and wants to simplify the sales process.

With these two defined, you can focus on the right people and improve your odds of driving sales.

Optimize your LinkedIn profile

What’s the first thing your prospects will see after you’ve invited them to connect?

Your LinkedIn profile!

Thus, it needs to make a strong first impression. Otherwise, your entire efforts could be for nothing.

So, before creating and implementing a LinkedIn sales strategy, you need to optimize it for impact.

Firstly, begin with your profile photo. Use a high-quality, professional image where you look approachable and confident. Avoid selfies or overly casual pictures, as they don’t inspire trust.

You should also make your LinkedIn cover photo count. Use it to highlight your expertise, showcase your company’s branding, or feature an eye-catching tagline that tells prospects how you can help them.

Then, focus on your LinkedIn headline. Emphasize the value you bring or the problem you solve instead of simply typing out your title. For example, try ''Helping SaaS companies streamline their sales process and close more deals.’’

Your headline should be complemented by a strong LinkedIn summary. Focus on who you help and how and the results you’ve achieved. Keep it conversational but professional, and don’t forget to include keywords your audience might search for through Boolean search.

Finally, opt for a custom URL (e.g., linkedin.com/in/yourname). It makes your profile easier to share and looks way more professional in emails and on business cards.

Prepare supporting resources

Outbound outreach is one of the LinkedIn sales strategies. But truth be told, the chances of your closing a deal after the 1st message are slim, to say the least. Your prospects will likely have questions before they're ready to convert. Some of them may also object to what you're offering.

But, as our wonderful Head of Sales, Andrea, says:

''Hearing things like “I’m not interested” or “I don’t have time” doesn’t mean you’ve lost your prospect. It just means you need to handle their objection.''

Some objections you can handle on the spot. But it's better to be safe than sorry. In other words, you should prepare supporting resources.

For instance, Andrea commonly uses case studies that our marketing team has prepared to handle objections involving uncertainty about profitability. They demonstrate measurable results in terms of the ROI that Skylead has delivered to other businesses.

Some other resources you could create yourself or have your content team do to aid objection handling include:

• Blog posts that explore your prospects' pain points in detail and provide solutions to them
• Videos, such as product demos and how-to-guides
• Case studies that explain how you solved others’ problems
• eBooks or whitepapers that establish your expertise

A good practice is to also anticipate the most common questions or concerns your prospects may have and prepare materials/scripts to support your answer.

For example, if they say:

• ‘’This seems too expensive,” have a value breakdown or an ROI report ready to provide.
• ‘’I’m not sure this will work for my industry,” share industry-specific case studies or testimonials.
• ‘’I don’t have time to implement this,” explain how your solution saves time in the long run.

Having these resources ready in advance allows you to respond quickly and confidently. Thus, they minimize the chances of potential deals going to waste.

How to create a LinkedIn sales strategy

By now, you should know exactly who your target audience is. But you still need to think about the best way to reach them.

That said, you can use one or combine several prospecting strategies into a broader LinkedIn sales strategy.

To get you started, here are 4 prospecting strategies. Need more? Check out our LinkedIn prospecting blog, where we’ve covered a total of 18!

Different prospecting strategies to include in your LinkedIn sales strategy

1. Using Sales Navigator filters to zero in on ICP and Buyer Persona

Sales Navigator filters help you translate your ICP and Buyer Persona into actionable search criteria. 

That said, one of Andrea’s and Pavle’s LinkedIn sales strategies is to rely on account and lead filters to filter out ICPs and promising individuals inside them. 

Then, they build Lead lists that they later use to create outreach campaigns in Skylead.

But Skylead doesn’t only support campaign creation from Sales Navigator Lead lists—it also allows campaign creation directly from its search results. This is a faster approach, though not as detailed as the first. 

2. Fishing for leads through LinkedIn groups

Speaking of search filters, did you know that Sales Navigator, unlike standard LinkedIn, has a dedicated "Groups" filter? This one is especially useful since it allows you to isolate members of specific LinkedIn groups, which you can later outreach through a search-based Skylead campaign.

Before jumping into campaign creation, though, you’ll need to take a few preparatory steps:

• Identify groups your audience is likely a part of.
• Compile information about these groups into a single place for easy reference (e.g., CSV file).
• Consider joining these groups yourself to engage with members (if they are active).

That said, most LinkedIn groups are inactive these days. Nonetheless, the right groups can still be valuable sources of leads. You just need to be strategic about how you use them.

3. Setting up lead alerts to determine the right moment to reach out

Sales Navigator has a handy feature that helps you stay updated on your leads’ activity—alerts.

You can use these alerts, as our sales team does, to track when:

• Leads post or engage with content.
• They’re mentioned in the news.
• They switch roles or companies. 

This can help you identify whom exactly to reach out to and when with relevant, personalized messages. 

So, if you want to increase the likelihood of starting meaningful conversations, incorporate these alerts into your LinkedIn sales strategy.

4. Attracting prospects through thought leadership content

Thought leadership isn’t a direct prospecting strategy. Nonetheless, it plays a big role in warming up leads, increasing brand visibility, and making your direct outreach more effective.

At its very core is content. That’s because quality content grabs attention, starts conversations, and builds trust.

That said, your content should speak directly to your target audience's pain points, challenges, and goals. So, before you go about creating it, think about what your ICP and Buyer Persona would find valuable. Then, make a list of topics you could cover that aim to educate rather than only sell.

You'll also need to plan for different content formats, such as:

• Text-only posts
• Images
• Videos
• Carousels
• LinkedIn Pulse articles
• LinkedIn polls

From our experience and that of our sales team, videos and carousels drive the most engagement and have the highest reach on LinkedIn. Still, you want to balance them with other post types to keep your content appealing to those with different consumption preferences.

Moreover, LinkedIn's algorithm loves consistency. This means that to remain on people's radars, you need to post at least 2-3 times a week. Thus, it's important to create a posting calendar. And stick to it!

Of course, posting is only part of the equation. You’ll need to reply to comments you receive, keep conversations going by asking follow-up questions (this will increase your reach, too!), and comment on others' posts. That's how you’ll establish credibility and authority on LinkedIn and build thought leadership that sells for you.

How to prepare a LinkedIn sales strategy message according to the prospecting strategy

Your messaging is just as important as the strategy you’re using.

Since each strategy calls for a slightly different tone and structure to really connect with your audience, we’ve got you covered with some practical tips to simplify message creation.

And to make it even easier, we’ve included message examples for each strategy—personally approved (and used) by Andrea and Pavle!

1. Sales Navigator filters

Focus on personalization and contextual relevance when reaching out to prospects found through filters.

• Reference a detail from their profile or company to make your outreach feel extra personal.
• Keep your message concise, focusing on how you can address a specific challenge they face or offer value.

Template example:

‘’Hi {{FirstName}}, I came across your post about {{PainPoint}} and couldn’t help but think about the challenges that come with it. 

When I worked with {{SimilarCompanies/Professionals}}, we tackled this by {{Solution}}, leading to {{TangibleBenefit}}. 

I’d love to share a few insights or ideas that might help you achieve something similar if you're open to it.''

2. LinkedIn Groups

When targeting leads from LinkedIn Groups, establish a connection by referencing your shared interest in the group or ongoing conversations.

• Mention the group explicitly to build rapport.
• Position yourself as helpful and not overly promotional.

Template example:

“Hi {{FirstName}}, I saw we’re members of the same group, {{GroupName}} and wanted to reach out. 

I specialize in {{Expertise}} and thought it’d be great to connect and exchange ideas!”

3. Sales Navigator alerts

Timing is everything when using Sales Navigator alerts. Thus, craft your message around the alert to show you’re paying attention and reaching out with purpose.

• Acknowledge their recent activity, like a promotion or a post they shared.
• Use the alert as a conversation starter to build engagement.

Template example:

“Hi {{Name}}, congratulations on your new role at {{Company Name}}! 

Transitioning into {{Role}} must be exciting. But having worked with others like you, I know how tough it can be trying to handle {{SpecificChallenge}} while navigating new responsibilities.

One approach that’s proven effective for others in your field is {{Solution}}, which helped them achieve {{Result}}.

I’d be happy to share more details. Let me know if you’re open to a quick chat!”

4. Thought Leadership content

When reaching out after sharing thought leadership content, reference your post or their comment to bond immediately.

• Highlight shared values or goals to build credibility.
• Use the message to guide them toward exploring your expertise further.

Template example:

“Hi {{Name}}, I noticed you liked my recent post about {{Topic}}. It’s great to see others in {{Industry}} contributing to the discussion! 

I’d love to hear your thoughts—what’s been your biggest challenge with {{Issue}}?”

How to execute a LinkedIn sales strategy

After choosing one or more prospecting strategies we talked about, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and execute. This is where strategy meets action.

No matter which approach you take—leveraging Sales Navigator filters, finding prospects through LinkedIn groups, setting up lead alerts, or sharing thought leadership content—the next step boils down to one activity: outreach.

Here’s how you can effectively execute your LinkedIn sales strategy with outreach as the core focus.

1. Choose the right tool for execution.

Attracting sales leads naturally is the dream.

But you don’t want to rely on generating inbound leads only. And cold outreach is how you’ll get outbound leads.

You could do everything manually, for sure. But know that tools can simplify and speed up the process drastically.

When it comes to LinkedIn-specific tools, Sales Navigator is the gold standard, especially for prospecting, as we’ve explained earlier.

Then, you also need to decide on a tool to use for the actual outreach part. 

You have a number of LinkedIn automation tools to choose from. However, our advice is to go for Skylead. Not because it’s ours but because it’s truly the most complete tool on the market.

To paint a picture, our Skylead is your one-stop-shop LinkedIn automation and cold email software that sales teams can use to:

• Automate lead generation at scale.
• Combine LinkedIn outreach with unlimited email outreach to maximize touchpoints with leads.
• Find and verify emails of leads to reduce bounces.
• Increase response rates to 76% and more with hyper-personalized images & GIFs.
• Warm-up infinite emails thanks to our partnership with one of the best email warm-up tools, InboxFlare, to keep emails away from spam.

In essence, Skylead lets you make the most of your LinkedIn sales strategy and compliments it by introducing multichannel outreach into the mix. This is possible thanks to our Smart sequences. We were the first tool on the market to introduce this feature, which lets you combine LinkedIn and email steps with if/else conditions. As a result, you get coherent outreach flows that react according to your leads' behavior to reach them in the fastest way possible.

And did we mention you get all this at a single price?

On top of a reliable outreach solution like Skylead, you also need to choose a CRM. If you don’t use one already, that is. 

A CRM helps you connect all your leads’ details, track their progress through the sales funnel, and monitor conversions. Some of the best CRM software for sales include HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, and Monday.

If you want, you can also use content scheduling tools for LinkedIn, such as Hootsuite or Buffer. However, LinkedIn has its own post-scheduling feature. So, if other social media platforms aren’t part of your sales strategy, these may be redundant.

The point is to choose tools that fit your workflow and the ones that you’ll actually use.

2. Create an outreach campaign

After choosing the tools, it’s time to create an outreach campaign.

We’ll walk you through the process using Skylead and Sales Navigator search as a lead source. 

However, bear in mind that you can also use these lead sources with our tool:

• Sales Navigator Lead list (as mentioned)
• LinkedIn and Recruiter search result
• Recruiter Talent pool and Pipeline URL
• LinkedIn post
• LinkedIn event
• CSV file

That said, here’s how to create a campaign step-by-step.

Step 1: Use Sales Navigator filters to refine search

Narrow down your audience in Sales Navigator using filters like industry, job title, geography, company size, etc.

Once your search results are refined, copy the search URL.

Step 2: Begin campaign creation in Skylead

Now it’s time to hop into Skylead.

• Go to the Campaigns page and click Create New Campaign.
• Name your campaign.
• Paste the search URL into the corresponding field.
• Choose a connection degree.
• Hit Next.

Step 3: Define campaign settings

There are 3 types of settings to set up next:

• LinkedIn settings
• Email settings
• Global settings

Under LinkedIn settings, you get 2 options you can toggle on or off:

• Collect contact information - If turned on, Skylead will collect publicly available information from your leads’ profiles.
• Refresh search automatically - Turned on, it prompts Skylead to refresh search results and add new leads into a campaign if they appear.

If you’d like to use email as an outreach channel, use email settings to select the specific accounts. Skylead lets you connect unlimited mailboxes and rotates through them while sending emails. As a result, you can send tens of thousands of emails a month at no additional cost.

Finally, as part of global settings, you get to set a schedule Skylead will use for the campaign, along with targeting options. 

When you’re happy with the settings, click Create sequence.

Step 4: Create your Smart sequence

This is where you get to build your own Smart sequence.

Just drag actions and conditions from the right and drop them into the workspace. Then, connect them to each other to form coherent outreach flows. Don’t forget to set delays between steps while at it!

Here’s an example of a Smart sequence for inspiration.

Need more inspiration? We’ve got a library of Smart sequence templates that Andrea personally tested. So, feel free to check them out and use them in your outreach for guaranteed results!

Step 5: Add hyper-personalization

Message-based steps (e.g. Invite to connect, LinkedIn message, inMail, and email) allow you to use variables for personalization.

But we’ve got another feature that helps you truly stand out in your leads’ inboxes: native image & GIF hyper-personalization.

To enter the image & GIF editor, click the Add image button above the message field.

Then:

• Click Create new template
• Upload the image/GIF
• Submit

A new window will open where you’ll have the option to personalize the visual with:

• Your or your leads’ LinkedIn profile photo
• Your leads’ logo or a custom logo
• Custom text

Once you’re happy with the results, just click Save Image, and it will be added to your message for a chance at up to 76% response rate, as we had using this feature.

And if you’re happy with your entire sequence, this is consequently the time to kick your campaign running!

The tool will then reach out to your prospects on your behalf. If they reply, the chat will immediately appear in your Smart inbox, where you can take over the conversion and nurture away.

Smart inbox is consequently where you can label leads according to whether they are warmed up, if they booked a call, or converted. Thus, you can also use it to keep track of conversions and ROI.

How to analyze the success of your LinkedIn sales strategy

Crafting and executing a LinkedIn sales strategy is only half the battle. To make sure it’s working as intended—and to make improvements where needed—you need to track and analyze its performance.

That said, the first thing to do is analyze the KPIs that you defined in the strategy. Doing so will help you determine which parts of your strategy are driving results and which need to be refined.

Depending on the type of KPIs that you want to analyze, you can use LinkedIn’s native analytics to track:

• The demographics of your profile viewers (e.g., job titles, industries, locations).
• The performance of your posts and articles, including impressions and engagement rate.
• Trends in follower growth and audience interactions over time.

In terms of specific LinkedIn sales strategies, LinkedIn’s social selling index is a good indicator of whether your thought leadership strategy is working or not.

What’s more, if you’re using Skylead for outreach, you can easily keep track of different KPIs, like the number of leads you reached out to (connections sent), connections accepted, response rate, etc. These are available on our Reports page via:

• Graph view to spot oscillations at a glance;
• Table format to analyze day-to-day change in performance and sport patterns;
• Step-by-step mode to identify exact spots where prospects drop off or engage.

Furthermore, if you aren’t sure of the impact of the messages you prepared in a strategy, a good practice is to experiment with A/B testing. For example, while creating a Smart sequence in Skylead, you can define up to 5 different variants of your messaging and compare them against each other later on.

Of course, if results aren’t there immediately, that doesn’t mean all hope is lost. Often, they take time to show. That said, Andrea suggests you give your LinkedIn sales strategy 2 to 4 weeks to reflect progress. Only then should you evaluate its performance and optimize it accordingly.

Common mistakes to avoid when creating and executing a LinkedIn sales strategy

Even the best-intentioned LinkedIn sales strategies can fall flat if certain pitfalls aren’t avoided. 

That said, here are some of the most common mistakes to watch out for—and how to steer clear of them.

1. Not adjusting your strategy to your audience

Your audience isn’t a monolith, so your approach shouldn’t be universal. After all, a generic strategy often leads to low engagement and missed opportunities. 

Avoid this mistake by:

• Tailoring your messaging and content to the specific needs and pain points of your ICP and Buyer Persona.
• Regularly revisiting your target audience criteria to make sure they’re still relevant.

2. Sending generic connection requests

Nothing screams “spam” more than a connection request that says “Let’s connect!” without context. These requests often get ignored or outright declined. 

Instead, personalize every connection request with a reference to something specific about the prospect, such as their recent post or a common interest.

For example:

"Hi {{FirstName}}, I loved your recent article on {{topic}}—it gave me some great insights! I’d love to connect and exchange ideas on {{shared interest}}."

3. Sending sales pitches right after connecting

The fastest way to lose a connection is by pitching your product or service immediately after connecting. Social selling is about building relationships above all. 

Therefore, engage with their content before sending a direct message. When you finally message them, focus on providing value first and your offerings second.

4. Neglecting to follow up with connections

Not everyone will respond to your initial outreach message. That doesn’t mean they’re not interested, though. In such a situation, a lack of follow-up can cost you some valuable opportunities. 

Avoid this by scheduling polite and value-driven follow-ups spaced a few days apart.

To follow up after no response, feel free to share a relevant blog post or case study with a message like:

"Hi {{FirstName}}, I thought this article might be helpful based on our earlier conversation about {{topic}}. Let me know if it resonates!"

5. Giving up too soon

LinkedIn sales strategies often take time to show results, as we pointed out earlier. Many give up after a few weeks of minimal engagement. By all means, don’t do the same! 

Instead:

• Be consistent with your efforts.
• Evaluate your performance occasionally and make data-driven adjustments.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

How do you use LinkedIn effectively for sales?

Focus on building relationships. Optimize your profile, create engaging content that speaks to your audience’s pain points, and use Sales Navigator for targeted prospecting. Combine this with personalized outreach and consistent engagement to nurture leads and drive conversions.

What’s the recommended balance between inbound (content-driven) and outbound (cold outreach) efforts in a LinkedIn sales strategy?

A 60/40 split is often ideal, from our experience. This means you should devote 60% of your efforts to inbound (content-driven) strategies to build trust and visibility and 40% to outbound (cold outreach) to directly engage with prospects. Then, adjust as you go based on audience response and resource availability.

How can I make the most of a LinkedIn sales strategy if I’m working with a small team or limited resources?

You can maximize efficiency by using automation tools like Skylead to save time on manual outreach. This leaves you time to focus on high-impact activities like relationship-building. Also, prioritize connecting with your ICP and Buyer Persona and repurpose content (e.g., turning blog posts into videos or carousels) to maximize your reach with minimal effort.

Seal the deal with the proper LinkedIn sales strategy

Creating and executing a successful LinkedIn sales strategy is the difference between chasing leads aimlessly and actually closing deals.

So, take the time to plan it out and put it into motion when you're confident you’ve got it right. And whatever you do, don’t cut corners—success on LinkedIn is all about doing things the right way.

Just keep in mind that results may not come overnight. But that’s just part of the process. Be patient, stay consistent, and tweak things as needed. Over time, it’ll all start to click, and your hard work will pay off.

Need a little help along the way? Skylead can handle the repetitive outreach tasks for you, freeing up your time to focus on what really matters: nurturing those valuable connections.

The best thing is that you can try it out for 7 days free of charge! Got questions or just want to say hi? Our team’s here on live chat, ready to help and cheer you on on your way to becoming a social selling expert on LinkedIn.