...when your entire firm uses Navigator, you are able to unleash significant networking and BD power

In a recent conversation thread among business development folks, I saw a colleague describe LinkedIn Sales Navigator as being "like a CRM on steroids" for lawyers and law firms. In many ways, I agree with this, and am suprised more firms aren't using this premium LinkedIn feature.

In my BD and sales capacity, I use Navigator daily. I have long thought that it is a perfect addition to the BD toolbox for law firms - or, for that matter, for any professional services team in which relationships are key to growing business.

We all use LinkedIn to put our best professional foot forward. Many posts talk about how to do this, holding forth on how to optimize your profile and such activities. Great, but Navigator's true power is that it is also a powerful intelligence tool.

LinkedIn grew up on the power of who you know. With Navigator layered on top, it is now also very much focused on what you know about those people inside and outside of your network. Here's how I think lawyers can wield it for successful business development.

1. Greater insights into existing clients

Navigator is, to a degree, an exercise in successful information design. Some but not all of the data it floats to the surface is available if you try hard enough in the standard LinkedIn experience. However, Navigator's interface makes it especially easy to find, track, and act upon important data regarding your network.

Navigator's interface makes it especially easy to find, track, and act upon important data...

This is particularly true when it comes to keeping track of the activity and interests of your existing clients, and we all know the value in that.

"We want you to deeply understand our business." Who has not heard that by-now-common refrain from in-house counsel, typically spoken during a panel presentation titled some variation of "What we want from that law firms that serve us"?

By organizing certain people into key lists within LinkedIn Navigator, I am able to see what my clients care about most, based on items they share to their network and how they talk about them. The collective value of how Navigator organizes information is exactly this: deeper insights into a sector or marketplace or business based on activity within my network.

Navigator also enables me to easily see when a client moves from one firm to another. For law firms whose alumni are an excellent source of new business - or who find that former clients who move to other companies are also great leads for new work - this function alone is worth its weight in gold.

2. Greater insights into new leads and prospective clients

Dirty word(s) in legal: lead gen. Navigator is great at lead gen, in three ways:

First, with LinkedIn Navigator, among many other data feeds, I am able to apply a robust combination of filters in order to see highly targeted people who might be great leads just for me. I can customize that steady stream of candidates many ways, filtering by industry, company, geography/location, role/job title, seniority, years of experience, company size, and on and on and on.

This granular filtering means that every time I log into LinkedIn I see a list of potential connections that come to me based on what I deem most valuable. It is a huge time saver and, from experience, is able to surface some very interesting, on-target prospective clients for me. I hear frequently that most lawyers don't really know how to proceed on LinkedIn after setting up a their own professional profile, which then lies dormant and without much activity. This filtering gives a lawyer's presence on LinkedIn purpose and focus. Anyone using it can concentrate their efforts on select, high value connections.

...gives a lawyer's presence on LinkedIn purpose and focus.

And second: hand in hand with this, Navigator also helps me understand the best path to a new candidate, a potential connection. (That's exactly how LinkedIn presents the information: "Your best path in" - which suggests the most effective way to connect with a particular person.)

Navigator also floats up great data about a particular lead, showing me their public shares and comments and such interactions, so that I can see what's on their mind, what they care about most. This gives me something specific to talk about when I reach out.

(For an attorney who counts thought leadership as part of their BD activities, this particular information can be hugely valuable. If, for example, you know that the in-house counsel of a biotech firm is focused on a particular aspect of patent law, it might make sense to write on that issue as part of your overall campaign. Also true of how you respond to client insights, as above.)

Thirdly, with Navigator I am able to take notes and apply tags to each person in my dashboard of leads, prospects, and clients. This is just one of the many ways Navigator is a powerful CRM. I can record key interactions, and remind myself with a note or tag of something specific about this person that should be remembered. Powerful stuff, when combined with LinkedIn's other connective tissue.

(I credit two upcoming meetings with prospective clients to Navigator's ability for me to send INMAIL to folks on LinkedIn. Both of these people had not responded to my emails, but replied almost immediately after I sent a short, focused note via INMAIL.)

3. Greater insights into the entire firm's relationship to clients and prospects

"Who knows someone at this company?"

That's a question everyone should be able to answer, but often cannot. Navigator changes that when you deploy it at an enterprise level. That is to say, when your entire firm uses Navigator (I argue it should!), you are able to unleash significant networking and BD power by seeing how your colleagues are connected to people within a specific company. 

This simple yet powerful data point greatly impacts "the best path" to a prospect and, surprisingly, is not particularly easy to find in most law firms. As with the many other features described above, Navigator makes it extraordinarly easy to learn this information.

The next time you are at a meeting with a business development manager and they ask: who do we know at this company? ... fire up Navigator for a quick and easy answer.

It will be just one of many data points that help you wield the business development power hiding in plain view within your network. Until now.

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[Kara McKenna is a Business Development Director at JD Supra. Connect with her on LinkedIn, where she uses Navigator daily.]