If you have a LinkedIn profile you have been using to generate leads, you already understand how important it is for this, especially for B2B businesses. LinkedIn is so effective at B2B lead generation that it outperforms most other social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook. LinkedIn provides businesses with opportunities to engage and connect with other professionals and businesses as well as connect with your target audience, but it is not always easy to do so.

What is a lead management system?

A lead management system is a platform or process that helps businesses automate and streamline their lead-generation efforts. A typical lead management system or process will include features such as:

• A contact database
• Lead capture forms
• Workflow automation
• Lead scoring and grading
• Reporting and analytics

There are many ways to approach lead generation. In this blog, we are going to focus on how to do that through LinkedIn. and whether you should take on the challenge yourself or outsource it to a marketing agency that specializes in LinkedIn lead generation. If you are at a point where you are struggling with LinkedIn lead generation, you could do with some help from a LinkedIn Lead Generation Agency.

What Is the Difference Between Using an Agency Or Doing It Yourself?

If you decide to use an agency, you outsource the development of the lead generation strategy which means you do not have to do it yourself. Generating successful strategies and marketing campaigns is important and challenging mainly because decision-makers on LinkedIn are bombarded with numerous messages a day. The agency will target the right people in the right way to reduce the chances of your messages being ignored.

Second, you do not have to pay for or purchase lead-generation tools. LinkedIn lead generation tools can cost thousands of dollars annually which is a cost many businesses cannot bear. A marketing agency will already have these tools and pay for them or build them into the service. This means your business could be getting access to smarter tools at a fraction of the price. And you don’t have to manage the software!

Third, it allows you to focus on closing leads. A LinkedIn lead generation service works on your funnels to ensure you get a steady stream of qualified leads. You do not have to focus on getting these leads which means you can put more effort into closing them.

Lastly, you will have to pay an in-house lead generation expert if you decide to do it yourself. Even if you decide to not hire someone, you still need to think about the opportunity cost associated with doing so. Hiring an agency is a lot cheaper than hiring a sales development representative who would have to handle the lead generation for you.

This can save you hours of research time and possible lost opportunities by running your campaigns with non-qualified marketing staff.

What Are the Best Automation Tools for LinkedIn Lead Gen?

LinkedIn lead generation automation tools automate your lead generation activities, helping you generate leads, import contacts, track responses, schedule messages and so much more. By doing all this, they make it easier to not only connect with the right people but to also increase the probability of getting a reply that could lead to business relationship development and sales opportunities.

There are several LinkedIn lead generation tools, many of which are used by agencies providing LinkedIn lead generation services. Here is a handpicked list of the best of them.

Expandi

Expandi is a cloud-based LinkedIn lead generation tool and platform. It is an easy-to-use software that is easy to install and set up and that runs either 24/7 or at specific times. It can find relevant Twitter and Facebook profiles, create connector campaigns, personalize messages, and help you create targeting options for better results.

Some of its standout features include:

• Smart inbox – Smart Inbox organizes your messages and gives you powerful filtering options that are crucial for those managing multiple accounts. By ensuring you never miss a message or chat ever again, Smart inbox can help boost customer engagement and thus boost your lead gen efforts
• Dynamic personalization – This option allows the tool to personalize messages based on specific variables. This tool goes beyond the typical “First Name” and “Company Name” that most other tools use
• Safety – Expandi gives a dedicated local IP address so that you do not have to log in each time you need to use the tool. They also provide additional safety features for your account and data

Additionally, you also get powerful reporting and campaign import tools, unlimited campaigns, and different scenarios depending on who you are trying to reach.

Phantombuster

Phantombuster is popular among businesses providing LinkedIn lead generation services because, in addition to automating your LinkedIn lead generation, it also helps you do the same on different social media platforms.

This tool is different because businesses can use it online or as an extension or request access to an API that helps with LinkedIn automation. Its data extraction tools are perfectly suited for scraping audience data, generating leads, and automating growth.

Phantombuster makes it easy to:

• Send connects and invitations automatically to LinkedIn users
• Send personalized messages to connections
• Engage with posts from connections and LinkedIn users
• Collect relevant data from numerous LinkedIn profiles

You can set these actions to run automatically and in batches to help with fast growth. You can also chain different automation tasks to build advanced workflows that get you better results faster.

Dripify

Dripify is an advanced tool that helps create sales funnels in minutes. Its standout feature is advanced algorithms that are excellent for prospect analysis. The algorithm finds and segments prospects depending on how well they fit the criteria you have set to ensure better results with your lead generation efforts.

Dripify lets you import leads from other sources and then run their algorithm through this list to create prospecting sequences. You can then conduct A/B tests on different segments before going live. Additionally, Dripify simplifies lead management.

LinkedIn Helper

LinkedIn helper is specifically geared toward sales and marketing. It is a Chrome-based extension that sits alongside your main LinkedIn window helping you find leads without spending too much time and money.

Some of its standout features include:

• An autoresponder – You can create an outreach campaign, create templates, and run the autoresponder to reach out to every 2nd and 3rd-degree contact you have.
• Group member messaging – You can collect information about other members in the groups you have joined. You can then set up the tool to message them even if they are your second or third connections.
• Manage and export contacts – If you would like to work with the contacts you have collected elsewhere, you can export them in CSV format. Additionally, you can import contacts for specific targeting within this tool.

MeetAlfred

MeetAlfred is an AI-powered sales assistant that helps you automate your sales approach. It’s designed to help sales reps with the entire sales process from start to finish. Alfred starts by collecting data about your current leads and customers. It then analyzes this data to find patterns and trends.

Based on this analysis, Alfred gives you recommendations on the best way to move forward with each lead. It also provides real-time updates on the status of each lead, so you know exactly what’s always going on.

Standout features include:

• A lead management system that helps you keep track of all your leads in one place
• A contact management system that helps you keep track of all your contacts and their information
• Integrations with a wide range of sales tools to help you automate your sales process
• Great personalization options so you can adjust your script to include things that matter to your potential clients.

Alfred is an excellent tool for sales reps who want to automate their sales process and get more time back to focus on sales.

LinkedIn lead generation services are crucial for B2B businesses that would like to connect with their ideal audience and potential customers, get more customers or build meaningful relationships for business. These services allow businesses to send out a connection request to potential customers, collect quality leads, message new leads, manage leads and do much more. Businesses can enhance these efforts through using various lead-generation tools available to marketers and businesses.