How to Find Decision-Makers on LinkedIn (2026 Guide)

If you're selling B2B, you need to get in front of decision-makers.

The good news? LinkedIn is full of them.

Whether you're targeting CEOs, Heads of Sales, or Marketing Directors, LinkedIn gives you powerful tools to find the right people fast.

Here's what you'll learn in this guide:

• How to find decision makers on LinkedIn (without Sales Navigator)
• How to find decision makers on LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• How to use Account Based Marketing to find decision makers
• How to engage with and reach decision-makers on LinkedIn

Let's dive in.

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How to find decision makers on LinkedIn?

If you don't have LinkedIn Sales Navigator, no worries. You can still find key people manually.

LinkedIn Search

You don't need any paid tool to start finding decision-makers. Just use the LinkedIn search bar at the top of your screen.

Here's how to do it:

• Type a job title like "Sales Director", "Founder", or "Head of Marketing"
• Click on the "People" tab to filter out everything else
• Use additional filters like location, industry, or company to narrow it down

You can also use keywords like past companies, education, or specific industries if you're looking for people with a certain background.

Once you've got a list, sort by:

• Relevance: to see the most matching profiles
• Connections: prioritize 1st or 2nd-degree connections for better acceptance rates
• Activity: pick people who post or engage regularly — they're easier to reach

This method works best when you already have a clear idea of the role or persona you're targeting.

After building your list, you'll often want to find their email so you can follow up outside the platform. While some emails are visible in profile contact details, most teams rely on dedicated tools to enrich LinkedIn profiles with verified business emails.

LinkedIn Company Page

You already have a company in mind? Head straight to their LinkedIn company page.

Click on the "People" tab. This section gives you access to a full list of employees — along with their job titles, locations, and sometimes even direct contact details.

Here's how to use it effectively:

• Use the search bar to filter employees by department (e.g. "marketing" or "sales")
• Narrow the list using filters like location, job title, or seniority level
• Look for decision-makers like VP Marketing, Head of Sales, or Founder

Take a moment to review their profiles. Look for mutual connections or recent activity — these give you a natural opening for your message or connection request.

Once you've found the right person, send a personalized invite or craft a message that shows you've done your homework.

How to find decision makers on LinkedIn Sales Navigator

If you have LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you're already one step ahead. It gives you way more control and precision than a regular LinkedIn account.

If you're serious about prospecting, I strongly recommend using Sales Navigator. It's hands down the best tool to identify and contact decision-makers at scale.

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Use lead filters

With LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can use 40+ filters to identify decision makers.

Head to the Lead Filters section and start applying filters. This is where the magic happens.

Here's a simple setup that works for most use cases:

• Set the right company headcount
• Choose a good current job title (like "CEO", "Head of Sales", or "Marketing Director")
• Define a geography

You can also refine with:

• Years in current position (great for spotting experienced decision-makers)
• Connection of (to check leads in the network of your competitors)
• Viewed your profile recently (to target warm leads)

This setup will give you a clean, focused list of decision-makers that match your exact targeting.

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How to target CEO/Founder

In the "Current job title" filter, the best way to identify a CEO or founder is to use a boolean search.

You can use this boolean search:

"CEO" OR "Founder" OR "Co-Founder" NOT "Assistant"

✅ This boolean search finds founders whether they write "CEO", "Founder" or "Co-Founder".

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How to target Head Of Sales

In the "Current job title" filter, you can use this boolean to find Head of Sales:

"Head of Sales" OR "Sales Director" NOT "Marketing"

✅ This boolean search finds people whether they write "Head of Sales" or "Sales Director".

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How to target Head Of Marketing

In the "Current job title" filter, you can use this boolean to find Chief Marketing Officers:

"Chief Marketing Officer" OR "CMO" NOT "Part Time" NOT "Fractional"

✅ This boolean search finds people whether they write "CMO" or "Chief Marketing Officer".

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How to find decision makers with Account Based Marketing

If you already know which companies you want to target, here's how to go from company list to decision-makers.

Step 1: Use account filters

The first step is to identify companies.

On LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can explore the LinkedIn database with many filters like:

• Company headcount
• Company headcount growth
• Industry
• Hiring
• Headquarters location
• Search keywords (useful when you want to target e-commerce)
• Etc

To access the account filters, go on the homepage of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, then click on "Account filters":

On the left part of your screen, you will have all the account filters. On the right part, you have the results of your filters.

With all these account filters, you can identify the accounts you want to target (meaning, in your ICP).

After you played with some filters, it's time to save your results in an account list.

Let's say you select 4 companies:

Then, to save these companies into a list:

1. Click on "Save to list"
2. Create new list

Finally, to create this account list:

1. Name your list (e.g. "Tiers 1")
2. Click on "Create and save"

Congrats! The companies you've selected are now in your account list.

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Step 2: Add this account list to the lead search

The second step is to identify leads inside the accounts you've selected.

On LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you have many lead filters like:

• Current job title
• Geography
• Posted on LinkedIn
• Years of experience
• Previous company
• Etc

To access these filters, go to your Sales Navigator homepage and click on "Lead filters."

Once you're there, you'll see two main sections:

• Left side: All the filters you can use to narrow your search.
• Right side: The results based on the filters you apply.

Now, use the "Account list" filter to find leads inside the companies you've selected:

For example, let's say you want to reach CEOs in your Tiers 1 account list. In the Current job title filter, use boolean operators:

"CEO" OR "Founder"

Then select your account list "Tiers 1". You'll get all the CEOs and founders working in those companies:

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How To Export Decision-Makers from LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Follow the 6 steps to export your leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator with their verified emails:

1. Create a GiveMeLeads account
2. Download the Chrome Extension
3. Select your target on LinkedIn Sales Navigator
4. Launch your export
5. Schedule your export (Optional)
6. Download your leads file

Let's dive in!

Step 1: Create a GiveMeLeads account

Go on GiveMeLeads. Then click on "Get first 20 leads for free".

Then, you have to write your:

1. First Name
2. Last Name
3. Email
4. Password

And click on "Create account".

Step 2: Download the Chrome Extension

To get started, install the GiveMeLeads Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store.

Once installed, it integrates directly into LinkedIn Sales Navigator, allowing you to extract your leads instantly while browsing your search results or saved lead lists.

Step 3: Select your target on LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Go to LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Use filters to find your ideal decision-makers — for example, combine the Account list filter with a boolean job title search like "CEO" OR "Founder", then add geography or company size to narrow it down.

Then click "Extract leads" using the GiveMeLeads extension or paste the search URL on the platform.

Step 4: Launch your export

Your target is set up. Now it's time to export your leads. For that, click on "New Export".

You will get a pop-up where you can select:

• The number of leads you want to export
• If you want to get the verified emails (of all leads or filtered leads only)
• If you want to schedule this export on a weekly basis

Then click on "Export Leads".

Step 5: Schedule your leads export (Optional)

GiveMeLeads lets you schedule lead exports. Pick the day you want, and you'll receive fresh leads weekly.

Each lead is unique, and the system ensures there are no duplicates. This saves you time and keeps your CRM clean, so you can focus on outreach, not data cleaning.

Step 6: Download your leads file

When your export is finished, you'll receive an email with a download link.

You can also download your file directly by clicking the "Download" button in your dashboard. You'll see two options.

1. "Open in Sheets"

This gives you a simple version of your lead list. You have:

• matches_filters / invalid_reason
• First Name
• Last Name
• Profile picture
• Company name
• Job title
• Headline
• LinkedIn URL
• Email

It doesn't include all the data, but it's perfect if you just want to import leads into your CRM or a B2B outreach tool like Lemlist or Expandi.

2. "Download CSV"

This gives you the full file with all available data. For each lead, you'll see extra info like whether they have LinkedIn Premium, their total years of experience, and company details like size, industry, and location.

GiveMeLeads also automatically cleans your data:

• Fixes capital letters in names and job titles
• Removes emojis from job titles
• Removes legal suffixes in company names (like LLC, GmbH, etc.)

GiveMeLeads also checks if each lead matches your LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters. Leads that don't fit are tagged in the matches_filters column with the reason they're invalid (like "Invalid job title" or "Wrong company size"). That way, you keep full control of your data.

With GiveMeLeads, you also get the verified professional email of every lead — even if they're in your 2nd or 3rd-degree connections.

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How To Engage With And Reach Decision-Makers On LinkedIn?

Finding the right people is just step one. Here's how I recommend you contact them.

Send a connection request

Start with a short and personalized message. Your goal isn't to pitch — it's to open a conversation.

Mention something relevant like:

• Their role or team
• A common industry or pain point
• A shared connection or recent LinkedIn post

Example:

"Hey [First Name], I saw you're leading growth at [Company]. I work with similar teams on [pain point]. Would be great to connect!"

Keep it light. Don't oversell. If it feels like a cold pitch, most people will ignore it.

Follow-up

If they accept your connection request but don't reply, follow up 2–3 days later with a short, thoughtful message.

Here's what works well:

• Ask a quick question related to their role or team
• Share a useful insight, article, or idea
• Mention a common challenge you help with

Example:

"Thanks for connecting, [First Name]! Curious — are you currently working on [challenge]? I might have a few ideas that could help."

Keep it casual and value-driven. You're starting a conversation, not making a pitch.

Send an InMail

InMail credits allow you to message LinkedIn members you're not connected with. Unlike standard messages, which require a connection, InMails let you reach out directly.

They are useful if you want to send a message to someone in your 2nd or 3rd-degree connections without sending a connection request.

Here are the number of InMail credits you get depending on your Premium plan:

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Send a cold email

If you've got their verified email (using a tool like GiveMeLeads), don't hesitate to reach out via cold email.

Example:

"Hi [First Name], saw you're leading marketing at [Company]. I had an idea that could help you [solve X]. Mind if I send you a quick 2-min overview?"

No pitch. No pressure. Just a conversation starter.

You can use a tool like Lemlist to send cold emails.

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Conclusion

Now you know how to find and reach decision-makers on LinkedIn — whether you're using the free version, Sales Navigator, or an account-based strategy.

If you want to speed things up and get verified emails directly from your lead lists, try GiveMeLeads. It's the easiest way to save time and go straight to the right people.