How to Use Advanced Filters to Find Better Sales Leads

Although it’s a bit cliché, the saying that you “get what you give” is absolutely true. If you are on a quest for sales leads, finding the best ones will require your best efforts. Fortunately, there are a lot of tools and resources out there today to help you with that. One of the most common that comes up when you research using advanced filters for lead generation is LinkedIn Sales Navigator. 

This tool is a great example of advanced filter options, with more than 30 different ways to search for leads and potential clients. Of course, it’s not the only tool. You can use most CRM platforms to filter leads and contacts, get information about audiences and target markets, and more. Whatever tools you’re using, you have to know how to search with advanced filters to get the results you want. 

Let’s dive in. 

What are advanced filters?

Almost every search engine or search bar has an option for “standard” and “advanced” searches. Standard searches only include certain parameters and are often much more generic. Using advanced filters allows you to further refine your leads (or whatever other information you’re searching) based on a host of ultra-specific parameters. 

The exact options for advanced filtering will vary depending on the tool that you’re using, but usually they include things like:

• Lead source
• Signup date
• Company name or role 
• Keywords
• Spotlights (experience, highlights, important changes)
• Assigned sales rep
• Last active date
• Number of visits 
• Status

LinkedIn even allows you to search for leads and prospects by things like:

• Company headcount
• Current and past company
• Company type
• Headquarters location
• Current and past job titles
• Function
• Years in current position
• Seniority level
• Job changes in the past 90 days
• LinkedIn posts, mentions, and follows
• Experience
• First and last name
• Profile language
• School
• Industry
• Location
• Connections
• Groups

As you can see, the customization of your filtered searches can get as specific as you want. This is helpful because it allows you to better target the leads and audiences that you have in mind for your sales efforts. 

How to use these filters effectively 

It may take some testing and toying with the advanced filters that you have access to before you feel comfortable with them or understand how you can best put them to use. However, there are some general rules and best practices that everyone can benefit from. 

Choose what filters matter to you

Before you even start searching, take a minute to think about what types of advanced filters would be most beneficial. You can look at some examples, like those listed above if you’re not quite sure about just what these filters are capable of. However, it generally stands to reason that if you can think of it as a filter, you can find it. Think about whether you’re trying to reach a specific key individual (KI) at an organization, or if you’re looking to see how many leads you’ve sourced from your PPC campaigns in the last 30 days. 

If you’re not interested in narrowing down prospects by their exact company and role, don’t use those filters. Make a list of what features you want to find in your prospects and then use those to filter the searches that you create. 

Create filters when you can 

Sometimes, you might not find the exact filter that you need. That’s okay because a lot of platforms will allow you to define your own parameters or filters. If you have that opportunity, take it. That will give you ultra-targeted search results that make it easy to find what you need instead of just using whatever generic filters you’re offered. 

This isn’t always available or necessary with some platforms, but keep it in the back of your mind as an asset that could help you in the future. 

Don’t leave generic lead lists

Now that you have access to all these resources and filters, you can’t just keep creating generic lead lists and prospecting efforts. You can, and should, take advantage of the ultra-targeted approach of custom filters and advanced filtering. This will make it easy for you to generate lists that are highly likely to convert and get much better returns. 

Generic lists mean a lot more work for your team. And when you have access to these advanced search filters, generic anything leaves a ton of money on the table. Use filtering to create targeted lists that have higher conversion rates and fewer lost leads. 

Try it out and see what works best 

You might not even be sure what it means for you to “make the most” of a tool like advanced filtering. That’s okay. Before you start making plans and changing your ways, go ahead and try out some searches and see how they work out. Do some filtering in a few different ways and see if you can generate the insights that you need. 

What works for you might work better for someone else. What matters is that you’re using these advanced filters. How you do so depends on your needs. Familiarize yourself with the different tools that you use and their search functions so that you can maximize your resources. 

When those leads start rolling in, will you be ready?

Of course, the caveat with better lead generation and targeting is that you’ll need more support for things like lead intake, appointment scheduling, and 24/7 phone answering to ensure that you never miss an opportunity. The virtual receptionists at Smith.ai can deliver all that and more, including solutions for live chat, an AI voice assistant, and even support for your outreach campaigns to get the leads flowing in the first place. 

To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai. 

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