How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator Filters to Find Niche Prospects

If you’re tired of sifting through endless LinkedIn profiles and coming up empty-handed, you’re not alone. Sales teams and solo founders alike spend hours searching for the right leads—only to end up chasing generic lists that don’t convert. This guide is for anyone who wants to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters to actually find prospects in niche markets, without falling for the usual “spray and pray” tactics.

Let’s get into it. No fluff—just what works, and what to skip.

1. Know What You’re Really Looking For

Before you even touch a filter, be brutally honest about your “ideal customer.” If you can’t describe your niche, no tool will magically fix it.

  • Go beyond job titles. Are you after CTOs in fintech startups? Healthcare marketers at companies with 50–200 employees? Get specific.
  • List must-haves and nice-to-haves. Location, industry, company size, tech stack, funding rounds—write it down.
  • Gut check: If your list is “anyone in tech,” you’re not ready. Narrow it down.

Pro tip: Don’t chase “more leads.” Chase better leads. Ten highly-targeted prospects beat a thousand random ones every time.

2. Fire Up Sales Navigator—But Ignore the Noise

Sales Navigator is powerful—but it’s also noisy. Lots of shiny features won’t help you find niche prospects. Focus on the filters that matter.

  • Log into Sales Navigator.
  • Head to the “Lead Filters” or “Account Filters” tab.
  • Ignore “Spotlights,” “Recommended Leads,” or anything with a lightning bolt. These are fine for casual browsing, but they rarely help you go niche.

3. Use These Filters First (And Why They Matter)

A. Geography

  • Start with location. Even if you sell globally, time zones, languages, and laws matter.
  • Search by country, state, or city. Don’t just tick “United States”—get granular if you want local relevance.

B. Industry

  • Sales Navigator’s industry list is… weird. “Computer Software” is generic; “Internet” includes everyone from SaaS to dog meme pages.
  • Best move: Use multiple industries and cross-check with keywords (next step).

C. Company Headcount

  • This filter is surprisingly useful. Small companies (1-10, 11-50) behave differently than mid-size (51-200) or enterprise (1000+).
  • Filter by “Current company headcount”—it’s more accurate than “company size” in someone’s profile.

D. Keywords (The Underrated Filter)

  • Use the “Title,” “Company,” and “Keyword” fields to get ultra-specific.
  • For example: Want Heads of Product at e-commerce SaaS startups? "Head of Product" in Title, "SaaS" in Company, "e-commerce" in Keywords.

E. Seniority Level

  • Skip “Entry” and “Unpaid.” Stick to “Manager,” “Director,” “VP,” “CXO,” or whatever fits your buyer.
  • But be careful: “Owner” can mean everything from a solopreneur to a franchise boss.

F. Function

  • This helps if you know who usually owns the decision. “Engineering,” “IT,” “Marketing”—choose wisely.
  • Don’t overdo it; sometimes, function overlaps with title.

G. Posted Content Keywords (Optional)

  • This one’s for advanced users. If your niche is talking about, say, “AI in dental tech,” add it here.
  • Just know that not everyone posts, so don’t depend on this filter.

4. Stack Filters, Don’t Overload Them

There’s a sweet spot. If you select every filter, you’ll get zero results. If you use too few, you’ll get garbage.

  • Start broad, then layer in filters one by one.
  • Watch the results count on the right—if it drops below 100, you’ve gone too narrow.
  • Remove or relax filters if nothing good shows up.

What doesn’t work: Filtering by “Years in current position” or “Years at company” is usually a waste unless your niche demands it. Don’t get lost in the weeds.

5. Check Your Results (And Don’t Trust the List Blindly)

LinkedIn’s data isn’t perfect. People mislabel themselves, switch jobs, or create junk profiles.

  • Open profiles manually. Preview a few leads—do they actually fit your niche, or is LinkedIn guessing?
  • Check company pages. Sometimes the company’s description, not the industry code, reveals what they really do.
  • Save promising leads/accounts to a list—don’t just blast them with messages.

If your results are off, tweak your filters. Sometimes just swapping “industry” or tightening up “keywords” makes all the difference.

6. Use Boolean Search to Get Specific

Sales Navigator lets you use AND, OR, and NOT in the keyword fields. This is nerdy but powerful.

  • Examples:
  • "head of product" AND SaaS
  • ("digital health" OR medtech) AND founder
  • marketing NOT agency (to skip agencies)

Pro tip: Parentheses help. Use quotes for exact phrases.

7. Set Up Alerts and Save Your Searches

Don’t redo work. Once you’ve got a solid search:

  • Save it in Sales Navigator.
  • Turn on alerts for new matches.
  • Check back weekly—LinkedIn’s database updates constantly.

But don’t obsess. Most niches don’t change overnight.

8. What to Ignore (Most of the Time)

  • Spotlights: “Changed jobs in last 90 days,” “mentioned in the news,” etc.—these are fine for general prospecting, but not for niche hunting.
  • Relationship filters: “2nd-degree connections” is handy if you want intros, but don’t let it limit your pool.
  • “View similar” suggestions: Often surface people who are only tangentially related.

If a filter feels like it’s there for marketing, not for finding your people, skip it.

9. Exporting and Working Your List (Without Getting Banned)

LinkedIn hates bulk exports outside of their ecosystem. Don’t bother with sketchy scraping tools—they’re slow, risky, and often break.

  • Use Sales Navigator lead lists. Tag and add notes to keep things organized.
  • If you need to get contacts into your CRM, do it manually or use a legit integration (like HubSpot or Salesforce).
  • Don’t mass-message. LinkedIn notices, and you’ll get flagged.

Pro tip: Personalize your outreach. Mention something real from their profile or company page. Niche prospects can smell a template a mile away.

10. Iterate—Don’t Overthink

No search will be perfect on the first try. The best Sales Navigator users treat it like tuning an old radio—adjust, listen, adjust again.

  • If you’re not getting results, loosen a filter.
  • If you’re getting junk, tighten up.
  • Save what works, ditch what doesn’t.

You’ll get faster with practice.

Keep It Simple

Finding great niche prospects isn’t about using every filter or chasing every shiny feature. It’s about knowing exactly who you want, using the filters that actually work, and ignoring the noise. Start simple, experiment, and tweak as you go. You’ll waste less time—and talk to people who actually want to hear from you.