You know – and I know – that finding the right leads is crucial to success.

That's why I always turn to LinkedIn, a treasure trove of potential customers just waiting to be discovered. But not all profiles are created equal. Some are closed off to the public, and you can’t send them your cold email.

That's where Open Profiles come in.

They're a game-changer when it comes to cold outreach. In this article, I'll share with you why you want to find Open Profiles in the first place and provide actionable steps I take to find those elusive profiles on LinkedIn.

Once you’ve mastered this trick, you’ll see your cold outreach game step up another level. (P.S. I’ll also share my secret weapon to make the process easier– you know I got you).

What are Open Profiles on LinkedIn & Why You Should Care

Picture this: you've found the perfect lead on LinkedIn, but there's one problem– you're not connected with them.

Thanks to Open Profiles, LinkedIn has become an even more powerful lead generation tool, as it removes the friction between you and the potential lead.

That’s because you can reach out to potential leads outside your network. And let me tell you; there are some pretty sweet benefits from leveraging Open Profiles.

First off, using Open Profiles means you can save on connection credits.

No need to worry about hitting that weekly limit of around 200 connection requests– with Open Profiles, you can send up to 800 Inmails without breaking a sweat.

Not only that, but Open Profiles are more likely to give you a positive response since they're already accepting messages from anyone.

It's like they're saying, "Hey, come at me with your best pitch!"

This brings me to my final point– using Open Profiles makes cold outreach much smoother and faster.

You don’t need to worry about getting that pesky connection request accepted– just send them a message and get the ball rolling.

Easy peasy, right?

Unfortunately, there isn't a search filter that lets you easily find Open Profiles on LinkedIn or Sales Nav. So it takes a little know-how to get the most out of them.

But don't worry, I've got you covered.

In the next section, I'll show how you can find out if someone has an Open Profile so you can start sending free Inmails and supercharge your outreach efforts.

Finding Open Profiles on LinkedIn

Okay, I’m going to take you through two main methods: finding Open Profiles on the LinkedIn website and then finding them on Sales Nav.

LinkedIn Website

Note: this method will work whether you have a free or premium account. (Though you might find the process a bit more restrictive if you don’t have premium).

  1. First, go to the Linkedin website and ensure you’re logged into your account.
  2. Click on the search bar and type in your leads name (or go directly to their URL).
  3. Now, under their profile picture, look for the Message button. It can be hidden under the "More" dropdown menu
  4. Click on it
Testing a profile - this one is open!

If it opens a message box with the words "Free message" on the bottom left, this profile is an Open Profile and you can send a message for free!

Otherwise, you will be redirected to the Sales Navigator lead page with an inMail box.

Of course, doing this manually for every prospect can quickly become tedious.

Before I cover how you can make it a heck of a lot easier, let’s look at finding them on Sales Nav.

Find Open Profiles with LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator

On Sales Navigator the procedure is fairly similar:

  1. Visit a profile
  2. Click "Message"
  3. Check if the opened message box says "Free" or not

Here's what it looks like on profile that is NOT open:

And here's what it looks like for an Open Profile:

Again, this can be time-consuming since LinkedIn doesn’t allow you to filter directly for Open Profiles. That’s because people would abuse it, and we’d all be inundated with spam messages in our LinkedIn inboxes.

Thankfully, there’s a way around this, and that’s where my secret weapon can help.

Using Findymail to Find Open Profiles

Now that you know how to find Open Profiles using Sales Navigator, let me introduce you to my tool that can help automate the process: Findymail.

When exporting leads with Findymail, there's a column called open_inmail that tells you whether or not the LinkedIn profile is an Open Profile. This saves you time from manually checking each lead's profile for the Open Profile icon.

So, how do you use Findymail to find Open Profiles? It's simple, with three easy steps:

  1. First, build your lead list in Sales Navigator.
  2. Then, export your Sales Navigator leads to a spreadsheet with Findymail.
  3. Finally, upload the CSV file to Findymail.


And voila! Findymail will automatically check each profile and indicate in the "open_inmail" column whether the profile is open or not with a simple “yes” or “no.”

Boom, and now you have a list of Open Profiles ready to go!

Using Findymail, you can quickly filter out leads with closed profiles and focus your efforts on the ones that are open.

Doesn’t that sound much better than going through each account individually and looking for that little green icon? I sure think so.

Final Thoughts

Alright, folks, that's a wrap on our journey to uncover the wonders of Open Profiles on LinkedIn!

In today's digital age, LinkedIn is a crucial tool for any sales or outreach specialist, and finding those Open Profiles is another trick you can use to find quality leads and close deals.

With Open Profiles, there’s no more stressing over connection credits or worrying about whether your message will be seen or not. With Open Profiles, you've got a direct line to your potential leads, and the responses are often more positive and welcoming.

Sure, it may take a little extra legwork to find those Open Profiles. But believe me, it's worth it.

Whether you're using Sales Nav or tools like Findymail, there are ways to make it happen.

Now go forth, sales warriors, and use the power of Open Profiles to your advantage. With some persistence and savvy tactics, you'll be on your way to a successful outreach campaign in no time!