Sales Navigator Versus Apollo: Which Platform is right for your LinkedIn Sales Strategy?

Are you considering upgrading to LinkedIn Sales Navigator or perhaps using a third-party platform like Apollo?

In my recent LinkedIn Live, I addressed this Sales Navigator versus Apollo dilemma.

Let’s break down their differences and see which tool best suits your sales and networking needs.

The Advantages of LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Let’s start with LinkedIn’s own native – and expensive – dedicated sales platform. It’s long been the preferred tool for sales professionals who want to leverage LinkedIn’s powerful networking capabilities, but is it the right one for you? Does it give you access to the insight and tools you need? Will you get ROI?

Here are four reasons why it might be a ‘yes’ to those questions;

LinkedIn-Centric Features: Sales Navigator has advanced search capability. These tools are available elsewhere but understanding who is in your network, who worked at the same companies as you, and who is regularly active on LinkedIn is pretty difficult to replicate elsewhere.
Sales Navigator’s Home Page: Consider this a dynamic to-do list, filled with conversation starters based on the real-time activities of your saved accounts and leads. If you are looking for long-term lead nurturing, heading to this page every day will help you do just that.
Custom Lead and Account Lists: Creating custom lists and receiving timely updates on these accounts makes lead tracking and engagement seamless, especially useful for Account Based Marketing (ABM) strategies.
Automatic Integrations: Integrations such as AI and Crunchbase allow you to gain additional insights crucial for your account research.

How does Apollo match up?

Let’s look at Apollo, which has emerged as a strong competitor in the CRM and sales engagement space. So much so that LinkedIn has banned its Company page from the platform. It is slightly cheaper than Sales Navigator and has several compelling capabilities.

Let’s take a look;

Comprehensive Outreach Tools: Apollo provides features that extend beyond LinkedIn, including email automation, data enrichment, and CRM integrations. This positions it as a marketing automation powerhouse rather than just a LinkedIn-focused tool.
Competitive Pricing: Priced slightly below LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo has gained a significant user base by offering both data and outreach features at an attractive cost.
Automated Workflows: Designed for sales and marketing automation, Apollo can send thousands of emails, track website interactions, and compose emails using AI, making it ideal for companies with extensive outreach needs and those implementing multi-channel tactics.

How do you decide between Sales Navigator and Apollo?

Both are powerful tools and on the face of it appear very similar. Here’s what I think your decision will come down to;

Technology has revolutionized the way we live, work, and connect with others. From instant communication through smartphones to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, it continues to redefine our daily routines.

These advancements have made tasks more efficient and information more accessible than ever before.

Your Primary Focus:

Sales Navigator’s specialised features can’t be beaten if your work revolves around networking and engaging deeply with your LinkedIn connections. Yes, that’s you ABM Marketers! Account-Based Marketing and Profile-Based Marketing strategists will find all the tools they need in Sales Navigator.

Apollo may suit your organisation better if your strategy includes broader email and multi-channel outreach and marketing automation as part of a comprehensive sales funnel. Of course there are many marketing automation platforms out there, but it may be one to consider if you want deep LinkedIn data.

Note, with the ban from LinkedIn, the main issue between them is the scraping of data from LinkedIn to add it to Apollo’s database. It may be that the depth of this data is reduced, and less frequently updated in the future.

Budget Considerations:

While Apollo offers a wide range of features at a competitive price, both are similar in cost at $100/month. If LinkedIn is the centre of your activity, and you won’t use the automation as much, then Sales Navigator is better value for the lead nurturing features.

Feature Utilisation:

Sales Navigator is best suited for those prepared to leverage advanced search capabilities, saved lists, and LinkedIn-specific insights daily.
Apollo is more appropriate for replacing or enhancing CRM aspects with data enrichment capabilities and automated marketing workflows.

Compliance:

As with many LinkedIn 3rd party tools, use them with caution as they may not be within LinkedIn’s user agreement.

Final Thoughts

Whichever path you choose, maximising the features of your chosen platform with clear sales objectives will be critical to driving success.

To ensure the return on investment you need when investing in either tool, keep your teams’ training bang up to date.

Need help choosing the right platform for your team?

Book a free strategy call with us