How to choose a CRM for LinkedIn outreach

Choose a CRM for LinkedIn outreach by asking where the conversation lives, whether it can store LinkedIn threads next to email, how it identifies a person (a LinkedIn profile, not just an email), how it handles duplicates, what it syncs both ways, and what it costs per user. A setup that keeps the threads in one tool and the CRM in another leaves the CRM blind. Pick the setup where one record shows the whole history.

Most CRMs were designed around email and phone. LinkedIn is a different kind of channel: the person is identified by a profile, the conversation happens inside LinkedIn, and a message can be a connection note, an InMail or a chat. This guide lists the questions that matter when LinkedIn is your main channel.

Why is LinkedIn a special case for a CRM?

Three reasons.

• The identity is a profile. Many leads have no email at first. A CRM that requires one cannot store them, or stores them as duplicates when the email arrives later.
• The conversation is elsewhere. The thread sits on LinkedIn, and a CRM only knows about it if something copies it across.
• The first step is an invitation. A lead can be invited, accepted, messaged, ignored or withdrawn. These states are not in a normal CRM.

A CRM that ignores all three ends up with notes like "contacted on LinkedIn" and no way to tell what happened. On our own account, 27,737 people were messaged on LinkedIn and 10,978 replied (40%). Each reply is a thread the next message depends on.

What are the seven questions?

1. Where does the LinkedIn conversation live? In a separate tool, in the CRM, or both with a sync. If a person must open LinkedIn to read the thread, the CRM is not the record.

2. How is a person identified? The best answer is by the LinkedIn profile as well as the email. Ask what happens when you import a lead with only a profile.

3. How are duplicates handled? Ask what happens if the same person arrives from two lists, or from a search and a CSV. The right answer is a merge, not a second record. See duplicate leads: merge and prevent.

4. What syncs, and in which direction? A one way push of a note is different from a two way sync of stages and fields. Sellinger has a two way sync with HubSpot. Salesforce, Pipedrive and Zoho are coming soon, not live. The HubSpot guide lists what moves.

5. Does it show the whole history across channels? If you also use email or WhatsApp, one record should show all of it. Sellinger's CRM holds contacts, deals and the full conversation history across channels.

6. What does it cost, and for whom? Per user prices add up when sales, founders and agents all need access. Use dated prices, such as those on our comparison pages, not a number from memory.

7. Can you get your data out? Export and erasure matter. Sellinger has an export your data page and an erasure function that anonymizes matching leads and adds the identifiers to the suppression list.

Which setup suits whom?

The point of the table is that you may not need a new CRM at all. If you already have one, the question is how to feed it and keep it true, not how to replace it.

What do you do with LinkedIn specific states?

Decide how you will record them, before the first import.

• Invited, pending. Not yet a connection. Do not count as contacted twice.
• Accepted. A connection, ready for a first message.
• Replied. Stop the other channels. A reply on any channel stops the rest.
• Withdrawn or expired. Old pending invitations can be withdrawn. See the help page on pending invitations.
• Closed. With a reason: not a fit, refused, opted out, wrong person.

If your CRM cannot hold these states, use a field or a tag, and write the rule down. Otherwise the same person will be invited twice.

What about the quality of the data?

Check it on day one. Import fifty leads and look at them: are the names clean, are the profiles right, is the company correct? LinkedIn profile URLs change when a person edits their custom link, so a CRM that matches on the URL alone can lose a person. A stable identifier is better than a pretty one.

Also check what the CRM does with contacts that opt out. A suppression list should be checked before every send, and an opt out should close the lead, not just add a note. See opt outs and suppression.

How do you score the options?

Give each candidate a mark from 0 to 2 on each of the seven questions: 0 if it cannot do it, 1 if it can with a workaround, 2 if it does it natively. This is a made up scoring sheet to show the method, not a review of any product.

A low mark on question 1 or 5 should weigh more than a low mark on price. A cheap CRM that cannot show the thread forces your team to read LinkedIn by hand, and that cost never appears on the invoice.

What do small teams get wrong?

• Buying a CRM before they have a process. Write down the states a lead moves through first, then configure the tool to match.
• Running two sources of truth. If the outreach tool and the CRM both hold stages, they will disagree. Decide which one wins.
• Importing everything. Bring in leads you are contacting now, and keep old lists in a file until you need them.
• Forgetting who gets a seat. Founders, sales and any person who takes over conversations need access.

What should you ask in a trial?

Run the same five tests in any trial.

1. Import 50 leads that have only a LinkedIn profile and see what is stored.
2. Import the same 50 again from a CSV with emails, and see whether it merges or duplicates.
3. Send a message and have a colleague reply, then check whether the thread is visible in the record.
4. Trigger an opt out and check that the contact stops receiving anything and that the suppression is recorded.
5. Export everything and open it. If you cannot read your own data, you do not control it.

A 30 day trial is enough for all five. Sellinger offers a 30 day free trial on messaging modules and bundles, with no card, and usage modules such as enrichment start with a $10 credit. Whatever you choose, do these tests before you load your real list.

A checklist

• [ ] LinkedIn conversations are visible in the record, not only in LinkedIn.
• [ ] A lead can exist with a profile and no email.
• [ ] Duplicates merge instead of multiplying.
• [ ] The sync direction and fields are written down.
• [ ] One record shows LinkedIn, email and other channels.
• [ ] I know the price per user and the export path.
• [ ] Opt outs close the lead and write to a suppression list.