My three favorite techniques that I use almost daily.

1. Google Search for Key Persons

Probability that you know this specific technique: 0%

Everyone knows how to Google. Right? The answer is "yes and no."

Many people understand the importance of evaluating both search results and the quality of results returned by appropriate keywords. However, there are very few that use operators in their searches to extract exactly the information they're looking for from the Google Ocean. Without further ado, use the following (copy-paste) queries to find:

• people within the following roles,
• holding positions in companies of your interest,
• and who are active
• within the only professional social network, called LinkedIn.

Key Persons – Sales

(("Sales Manager" OR "Sales Director" OR "Head of Sales") AROUND(5) "at Toyota Hellas") AND (Greece OR Athens OR Thessaloniki) AND "500+ connections" -intitle:jobs site:linkedin.com

Key Persons – Marketing

(("Marketing Manager" OR "Marketing Director" OR "Head of Marketing") AROUND(5) "at Toyota") AND (Greece OR Athens OR Thessaloniki) AND "500+ connections" -intitle:jobs site:linkedin.com

Key Persons – Business Development

("Business Development Manager" OR "Market Development Manager" OR "Partnership Development Manager" OR "Development Manager" OR "Business Development") AROUND(5) "at Vikos" AND (Greece OR Athens OR Thessaloniki) site:linkedin.com

Key Persons – Supplies

("Supply Chain Manager" OR "Procurement Manager" OR "Procurement") AROUND(5) "at Vikos" AND (Greece OR Athens OR Thessaloniki) site:linkedin.com

In the above searches, you can always replace the company highlighted in olive-green with your company of interest. You can also replace the roles (highlighted in blue) with any other role. Finally, assuming you're interested in another country besides Greece, e.g., Germany, replace the terms Greece, Athens, and Thessaloniki with Germany and your desired German cities.

OK, since I’m in a good mood, feel free to steal my Key Persons - Power Query Builder. It is a Google Sheet with view-only permission. Make a copy and start using it immediately…

2. Contact Information of Key Persons within LinkedIn

Probability that you know this specific technique: 50% - 60%

Now that we have found the key persons we were after, we need to find their contact details. How do we do that?

First and foremost, never forget one basic rule of communication. Even if contact information is public and 100% compliant with GDPR legislation, this doesn't mean we can't misuse it. Therefore, keeping in mind that annoying was, is, and will always be… annoying, we contact key persons and decision-makers only when we possess a solution to their problems. So, moving forward…

First, click the "Connect" button.

It seems unlikely, but even experienced LinkedIn users often fail to see that "Contact info" link (image 1), simply because it's not formatted as a call-to-action, like the "Message" button below. With a simple click on "Contact info," a small modal window will open (image 2). This modal often contains both the phone number and email of the person you want to contact. If you don't find contact information, you can always use LinkedIn's messaging system. Anyways, before you try to connect, it's a good idea to get a feel for the priorities, stresses, and overall goals of the person in the right role. In any case, before attempting to connect, it is a good idea to try and understand the priorities, concerns, and general aspirations of the person in the relevant role. To achieve this, click on the notification icon (image 1) to be able to monitor the key person's online activity. Do the same for the person’s company's page. Sales cycles in the B2B ecosystem are usually very long, and a customized approach based on announced needs significantly accelerates the processes.

Image 1: Decision-maker LinkeIn Profile

Image 2: Decision-maker Hidden Contact Details

3. I didn’t find any contact details on LinkedIn. Now what?

Probability of knowing this specific technique: 5%-10%

Since we haven’t managed to find any contact details till now, let's attempt to at least discover an email address.

Go to Hunter, sign up for free, and while on the free plan, you will be able to search up to 50 emails per month.

Avoid the Domain Search option. A simple search could return a huge list of emails from your desired domain, and this could lead to one or two email gems, and a sh***load of useless email addresses that will kill your 50 available per month. Instead, select Email Finder and search for a specific name in your desired domain (image 3). The tool returns excellent results even in Greek when you search for the exact name as written on the respective LinkedIn profile.

hunter.io: Find Email by Name

Happy Prospecting Boys & Girls!