Exporting LinkedIn Connections: How Sales Professionals Can Take Inventory and Nurture Their Connections

Taking inventory of your connections is a vital step in prospecting and is something that we always remind participants of our LinkedIn training program to do. A couple of questions to ask yourself:

Who do we know that we’ve been ignoring?
What buyers have moved jobs to new companies?
What connections would make good networking partners?

One way to keep track of your network is to export your connections into a spreadsheet. To export LinkedIn connections:
1. Click the Me icon at the top right of your LinkedIn profile.
2. Select Settings & Privacy from the drop-down menu.
3. Click Data privacy on the left menu.
4. Under the How LinkedIn uses your data section, click Get a copy of your data.
5. Check Connections.
6. Click Request archive.
7. If asked, enter your password and click Done.
8. You’ll receive an email to your Primary Email which will include a link where you can download your list of connections.
9. It will download as a CSV file, to open it, double click and there will be a file called Connections, right click and open it in your spreadsheet program of choice.

The columns will be populated with all of your connections’ information, from the newest at the top including:
1. First Name
2. Last Name
3. Email (only those that opted in to allowing their email to be downloaded)
4. Company Name
5. Position
6. Date you connected

I recommend that you add a column on the left and create categories to help you organize your connections. Consider:
1. Clients
2. Prospects
3. Referral Partners

And because these are first-degree connections, you can send a direct message to engage. Consider:
1. Personalized video message
2. Asking them to vote on a poll
3. Inviting them to a free event

Don’t pitch. You can reach out to a LinkedIn sales training specialist who can walk you through the right steps and even help you find the right words for your video message.

Exporting your LinkedIn connections should be part of your monthly sales activities, as people move and opportunities open up all the time. If you need a more comprehensive guide or need Sales Navigator training, click here to schedule a conversation.