Sales Navigator is the tool that finds the right people: the right role, at the right company size, in the right region, with the signals that matter, such as a recent job change. But it stops exactly where cold calling begins. There is no button to export your list, and almost no profile shows a phone number. Between a well-built search and a rep who dials, there is a chain of six or seven steps. Set up well, it takes half an hour. Set up badly, it takes a day and gives you a list full of switchboards and wrong numbers.
This guide walks through that chain step by step, with the time to allow for each step, the tools you can use at each link, and the traps that cost you calls. It does not compare LinkedIn prospecting tools against each other: our LinkedIn prospecting tools comparison does that. And if you are looking for one person’s number, our guide on how to find a prospect’s cell phone number is a better fit.
What Sales Navigator gives you, and what it does not
Sales Navigator is excellent at the hardest part of the job: deciding who to call. Its filters combine role, seniority, company size and industry, geography, and signals such as a job change in the past 90 days or a recent post. It is also a good tool to prepare the call, since a profile often says what the person actually does.
For a team that calls, though, three things are missing.
No export. You can save leads to lists, but you cannot download those lists. CRM sync exists on the most expensive plan, Advanced Plus, sold on quote, and it links records rather than producing a call file. To get a list out, teams use a third-party tool.
Almost no numbers. LinkedIn only shows what each member chose to share with their connections, and most people do not add their phone. La Growth Machine, which reads those details for its customers, says in its help center that this route enriches 10 to 25% of phone numbers depending on the audience, and only when you are connected with the person.
A ceiling per search. A search only displays its first 100 pages, which is 2,500 profiles. Beyond that, results exist but cannot be browsed. Several export tools also recommend staying around 2,500 extracted profiles per account per day. LinkedIn does not publish these limits in an official table; they are the ones described by the help centers of tools that work with Sales Navigator.
The 30-minute workflow, step by step
Here is the full chain, with the time to allow for a list of about 200 leads once your tools are set up. The times are planning benchmarks, not measurements: the first time through, each step takes two to three times longer.
- 01
Build a callable search (8 minutes):
the filters that give you people you can reach by phone, in a segment under 2,500 results. - 02
Get the list out (3 minutes):
an export tool reads the search or saved list and produces a file with name, company, title and LinkedIn URL. - 03
Add phone numbers (5 minutes of work, plus processing time):
a phone data provider or a waterfall of providers fills in the file. - 04
Check and clean (4 minutes):
international format, invalid numbers, duplicates, broken columns. - 05
Sort mobile, direct dial, switchboard (3 minutes):
mobiles on top, switchboards set aside. - 06
Calling windows and compliance (3 minutes):
each lead’s local time, permitted hours, opt-outs and do-not-call lists. - 07
Import and run the first session (4 minutes):
load the file into your dialer and work the mobiles first.
The rest of this guide covers each step. If you already prospect with Sales Navigator, most of the gain usually sits in steps 3 and 5: that is where the share of numbers that actually connect is decided.
Build a callable search
A good search for email is not always a good search for the phone. On the phone, every dial costs time: you want people who have a reason to be reached now, and who can be reached during your working hours.
Two habits save time at every later step. First, save each segment in a named list (role, region, date): export tools read lists as well as searches, and later you will know where each contact came from. Second, remove what you will not call before exporting: current customers, competitors, companies already in a sales cycle. Every useless profile you export burns an enrichment credit later.
A call list is won in the filters: every useless profile you export becomes a credit spent, then a wasted dial.
Get the list out of Sales Navigator
Without a native export, several kinds of tools read a Sales Navigator search or list and turn it into a file. Prices below were checked on November 6, 2026; where a vendor does not publish a readable price grid, we say so and report what 2026 comparison articles state.
| Tool | What it does | Phone numbers | Entry price checked | Limit to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaboot | Exports searches and lists, cleans names and company names | No, emails only | About $9 a month for 100 credits, per 2026 comparisons | Requires a Sales Navigator subscription |
| PhantomBuster | Automations, including Sales Navigator search export | No | About $69 a month, per 2026 comparisons; free plan limited to 10 results per export, per its help center | Monthly execution time caps real volume |
| Waalaxy | LinkedIn invitation and message campaigns, imports from Sales Navigator | No documented phone enrichment | Several monthly plans and a 14-day trial; comparisons disagree on prices | Built for LinkedIn and email outreach |
| La Growth Machine | Multichannel sequences, Sales Navigator import, enrichment | Yes, 10 to 25% of leads per its help center | About €60 per identity a month, per 2026 comparisons | Phone numbers billed only when found, per comparisons |
| Kaspr | Extension that bulk-enriches a Sales Navigator list | Yes, its core product | Starter $49 per user a month billed annually, $65 month to month, 100 phone credits | Bulk enrichment cap depends on the plan |
| Datagma | Extension and file enrichment | Yes, 30 credits per mobile | Regular $49 a month, which buys 100 mobiles | Charged only on success |
The table shows the real decision: either you export, then enrich with a second tool, or you use one tool that does both. Pure export tools such as Evaboot and PhantomBuster give you a clean file with no numbers; it then goes through a phone data provider. Kaspr and Datagma start from the list or the profile and add numbers, at the cost of phone credits. La Growth Machine combines sequences and enrichment, with a number rate that depends on your network.
Evaboot
- Best for
- Pulling large, clean lists, then enriching them elsewhere
- Phone numbers
- No
- Strength
- Cleans names, job titles and company names
- Watch out
- Low entry price, but add the cost of Sales Navigator
PhantomBuster
- Best for
- Teams that already automate other tasks
- Phone numbers
- No
- Strength
- Programmable: recurring exports, several accounts
- Watch out
- The execution time in your plan sets your real volume
Kaspr
- Best for
- Going from a saved list to phone numbers in one step
- Phone numbers
- Yes, 100 phone credits a month on Starter
- Strength
- Bulk enrichment straight from a Sales Navigator list
- Watch out
- No credit used when Kaspr finds nothing
La Growth Machine
- Best for
- Combining LinkedIn, email and calls in one sequence
- Phone numbers
- 10 to 25% of leads depending on the audience
- Strength
- The whole journey in one tool
- Watch out
- Priced per connected LinkedIn identity
Add the phone numbers
This is the step that decides how many conversations you get. There are three approaches, and they do not give the same result.
LinkedIn contact details. Some tools, including La Growth Machine, read the number a member made visible to their connections. It is included in the plan, but limited: 10 to 25% of leads according to the vendor, and only if you are connected with them. These are often genuine mobiles, since the person added them.
A phone data provider. Kaspr, Lusha, Datagma, Cognism, Apollo and others match the name, company and LinkedIn URL against their database and return a mobile, a direct dial or the switchboard. Results vary a lot by country and role: a provider that is strong on US sales leaders may be weak on small-business owners in Germany. Our B2B phone data coverage by country map gathers what is published.
A waterfall of providers. Tools such as FullEnrich or Zeliq query several databases in a row and stop at the first number found. This often gives the most mobiles on a hard list, at a higher credit cost per number. Our waterfall enrichment tools comparison explains how they work. If you already have exports from several providers, our waterfall enrichment merger joins them and keeps the best number per contact, so you do not pay twice for the same person.
Whatever the tool, keep a “number source” column in the file. It pays off three times: to know which provider produces numbers that connect, to claim a refund for a wrong number where the provider allows it, and to answer a prospect who asks where you got their number. To pick a provider, our phone enrichment pricing comparison converts each plan into a cost per conversation, and our which data provider quiz suggests two or three names for your market. Our article on free B2B phone numbers shows what each free plan and trial lets you test.
For a first test: run the same 50 leads from your list through two providers, count the mobiles found, then call a sample from each. The winner is the provider whose numbers connect, not the one that returns the most.
Check and clean the file
A file that comes out of an export and an enrichment step is almost never ready to import. Numbers arrive in different formats depending on the source, some contacts are duplicated because the same person sat in two lists, and column names change from one tool to the next.
- Mixed formats: (415) 555-0134, +14155550134 and 001 415 555 0134 for numbers in the same country.
- Damaged numbers: Excel turns long numbers into scientific notation or drops the leading zero of UK numbers.
- Duplicates: the same person exported from two lists, with two different numbers.
- Ambiguous columns: “Phone 1”, “Phone 2”, “Company phone” with no sign of which one is the mobile.
- One format: every number in E.164 international format, with the country code.
- Invalid numbers set aside: too short, outside the numbering plan, or with no identifiable country.
- One contact per row: duplicates merged, keeping the best number.
- Clear columns: first name, last name, company, title, phone, number type, source.
Two free tools on this site handle that work. The phone number validator formats every number internationally, flags invalid ones and shows the line type when the numbering plan allows it. The CSV cleaner fixes delimiters, accents, useless columns and duplicates, and explains every change. Both run in your browser: the file is not sent anywhere.
Sort mobiles, direct dials and switchboards
This is the step teams forget most often, and the one that changes conversations per hour the most. An enriched file mixes three kinds of numbers that do not connect in the same way at all: the person’s mobile, their office direct dial, and the company switchboard.
| Number type | Working rate used | Dials per conversation | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile | 14% | About 7 | Call first |
| Direct dial | 8% | About 13 | Call next |
| Switchboard | 3% | About 33 | Set aside, use a gatekeeper script |
These working rates come from our article on direct dials, mobiles and switchboards, which details the sources and their limits. They are benchmarks to replace with your own numbers.
To sort without losing a morning, our direct dial checker classifies every number, spots switchboards shared by several contacts at the same company, and suggests a dialing order. One simple rule also works by hand: if the same number appears for three people at the same company, it is the switchboard, whatever the provider’s label says.
Calling windows and compliance
A clean list can still lose half its chances if it is called at the wrong time, or if it includes people you are not allowed to call that way.
Calling windows. Leads from one Sales Navigator search can be spread across several time zones. Our when to call tool gives each number’s local time, the permitted hours and a call plan in your own time zone. If you split your segments by region in step 1, most of this work is already done.
The rules. They depend on where your prospects are.
For a specific country or a doubt about a case, our cold calling compliance checker gives the rules country by country, each with its source. This is general information, not legal advice.
Import and run the first call session
The file is clean, sorted and dated: all that is left is to load it into your dialer and call. Three settings make the difference from the very first session.
For the import into Skipcall, our help center explains how to import contacts from a CSV file and how to prepare your first call session. To size the effort, the prospecting calculator shows how many dials and numbers your meeting target requires.
Three ways to organize the workflow
The same chain is not set up the same way for a founder who makes their own calls and for a team of ten reps.
| Profile | Volume | Suggested tools | Rhythm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founder or solo rep | 20 to 50 leads a week | A phone data provider’s extension on profiles, validator, dialer | One list a week, called in two sessions |
| Rep or small team | 150 to 300 leads a week | Export tool, one phone data provider, CSV cleaner, number type checker | One list per segment and time zone, every Monday |
| Team of several reps | More than 500 leads a week | Scheduled exports, provider waterfall, export merging, routing rules in the CRM | Daily lists per rep, sources compared every month |
The higher the volume, the more step 3 matters. At 30 leads a week, a few missing numbers can be found by hand. At 500, a provider that fits your market poorly costs hundreds of wasted dials a month: that is the point to compare two sources on your real call results rather than on advertised rates.
Measure what each list is worth
The workflow does not end with the first session. A list built from Sales Navigator is judged on what it produces on the phone, and measuring it takes little work if the columns from step 3 are in place.
These three figures answer three different questions. The first tells you whether your provider covers your market. The second tells you whether its numbers are current: a provider that finds a lot but is often wrong costs more than a careful one. The third tells you whether the list deserves another pass, and when.
Compare them from one list to the next rather than in absolute terms: two Sales Navigator segments are never equally reachable. CFOs at large companies pick up less often than small-business founders, whatever the tool. After three or four lists, you will know which segment, which source and which time slot produce the most conversations, and step 1 gets faster because you will know what to filter.
Also go back to the provider when a number is wrong. Several providers do not bill a lookup with no result, and some refund a number reported as incorrect; their rules are listed in our pricing comparison. Your dialer’s call log, with the date and the outcome, is the simplest proof to send.
The mistakes that cost you calls
- 01
Exporting searches that are too broad:
above 2,500 results the list is cut off without telling you which leads are missing. Split it first. - 02
Enriching before filtering:
every customer, competitor or open opportunity burns a credit for nothing. - 03
Trusting the "direct" label:
a number shared by several contacts at the same company is a switchboard. - 04
Opening the file in Excel before cleaning it:
long numbers turn into scientific notation and lose their last digits. - 05
Dialing in file order:
switchboards and direct dials come before mobiles, and the session starts slowly. - 06
Forgetting the source column:
you can no longer compare providers, or answer a prospect who asks where their number came from. - 07
Letting the list age:
a list exported and called three months later has already lost part of its numbers. Our B2B data decay calculator estimates how many.
How Skipcall fits this workflow
Skipcall is an outbound calling and prospecting platform, not a contact database: it does not build lists or sell data. It comes in at step 7, once your Sales Navigator list is ready. You import it as a CSV or sync it from HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce or Attio, then call it with the power dialer or the parallel dialer on up to four lines. If some contacts in your file are missing a number, Skipcall’s built-in enrichment completes the contacts you already have, using credits.
What to remember
Sales Navigator picks the right people, but a call list is built after it, in seven steps: a search split into callable segments, an export, adding numbers, checks, sorting by number type, calling windows and compliance, then the import. Once the tools are in place, the chain takes about half an hour for 200 leads.
The step that weighs most on the result is adding numbers, followed by sorting: a provider that fits your market and mobiles called first do more for your conversation count than any script. To go further, our phone number finder Chrome extensions comparison tests the tools that work directly on profiles, and our guide to B2B phone number enrichment describes the 100-contact test protocol.
