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Relationship Explorer is the 2026 upgrade to TeamLink — it maps every connection your team has into target accounts, surfaces second-degree intros, and highlights mutual relationships. This is the warm-intro lever that turns cold outreach into champion-introduced conversations.
Who this is forB2B sales teams on Sales Navigator Advanced ($149/mo) or Advanced Plus who want to maximize warm-intro coverage at target accounts. Especially powerful for ABM programs targeting 50-500 accounts.
What you'll need
Step 1
Relationship Explorer requires Advanced ($149/mo) or Advanced Plus. TeamLink requires 3+ team members with Sales Nav seats. More teammates = more reach.
Relationship Explorer is a 2026 feature on Sales Navigator Advanced and Advanced Plus. Core ($99/mo) does NOT include it.
TeamLink (the underlying technology) requires at least 3 team members each holding Sales Nav seats. With 3 teammates each having 500 connections, you cover ~1,500 unique relationships (minus overlap).
Bigger team = exponentially more reach. A 10-person team with 1,000 connections each covers ~10K unique connections, often 30-50% of any target Fortune 500 account's LinkedIn footprint.
Critical: each teammate must have OPTED IN to TeamLink sharing. Sales Nav → Settings → Privacy → "Allow teammates to see my connections in TeamLink." Default is OPT-OUT for new seats.
Verify in Admin Center → Settings → TeamLink → see which teammates have shared connections. Missing teammates = missing intros. Send a Slack/email reminder.
Step 2
Sales Navigator → Account Lists → click any account → "Relationship Explorer" panel surfaces connections, intros, and shared context.
Open Sales Navigator → Account Lists → click into a target account.
Locate the "Relationship Explorer" panel (top-right on Account page, or expandable section depending on UI version).
It shows: (1) Direct connections — your 1st-degree connections at this account; (2) TeamLink connections — teammate 1st-degree connections; (3) 2nd-degree paths — your connections who know someone at this account.
Each connection card shows: name, title, your relationship (1st degree via you, or TeamLink via teammate), shared context (same school, mutual groups, shared past employer).
Sort by relevance: Sales Nav surfaces "best intro" candidates based on relationship strength signals (recency of interaction, mutual messaging, shared experiences).
For Tier 1 ABM accounts: run Relationship Explorer on every account during initial list build. Document the intro paths in your CRM as "Champion candidates."
Step 3
For each high-priority account: identify intro path → message the teammate → teammate makes the intro → outreach to target. 3-step relay.
Step 1 (you): identify the strongest TeamLink intro path. Usually = teammate with strongest 1st-degree connection (recent interaction, mutual messaging).
Step 2 (you → teammate): message the teammate via internal Slack/email. Template: "Saw you are connected to [Name] at [Company]. We are working that account. Open to a quick warm intro? Here is the context: [1-2 sentences]."
Step 3 (teammate → target): teammate sends the actual intro via LinkedIn message. Template: "[Name], wanted to introduce [Your Name] from our team. They are working on [topic] and noticed [signal] — figured a conversation might be useful. I will let you two take it from here."
Step 4 (you → target): once intro lands, follow up within 24 hours. Reference the introducer and the specific context.
Warm-intro reply rates run 60-80% vs 5-15% for cold InMail. The 4-step relay is worth the friction.
Cap intro requests at 1-2 per teammate per week. Asking for 10 intros/week burns teammate goodwill fast.
Step 4
Send teammate a Smart Link version of the deck. Teammate forwards in the intro. You get analytics on whether the prospect opened it.
When asking a teammate for an intro, package the value: send them a Smart Link version of the relevant case study or deck.
Teammate forwards both the intro AND the Smart Link in their message. The prospect lands on a teammate-endorsed piece of content.
You get Smart Link analytics: did the prospect open the link? How long did they spend? Which slides? Did they re-open?
Re-open = buying signal. Trigger follow-up.
This pattern (warm intro + Smart Link) is the highest-converting B2B outbound motion: warm intro replies at 60-80% PLUS Smart Link analytics surface intent signals from week 1.
Make this the default for Tier 1 ABM outreach.
Step 5
When a new SDR joins, run Relationship Explorer on their target accounts to identify which teammates can warm-intro them in.
New rep onboarding: in week 1, the SDR builds their initial target account list (10-50 accounts).
Run Relationship Explorer on each account. Identify TeamLink paths from existing teammates.
For each TeamLink path, schedule a 15-min intro call: new SDR meets the teammate, builds rapport, and asks for the warm intro to the prospect.
This accelerates new-SDR ramp by 30-50%. Instead of starting cold, the new SDR inherits the team's relationship graph immediately.
For accounts with no TeamLink paths: those become "build your own connection" priorities — new SDR connects to relevant employees at those accounts in their first 30 days.
Track ramp velocity. SDRs onboarded via warm intros hit quota 60-90 days faster on average than cold-only ramps.
Step 6
Admin Center → TeamLink → review which teammates contribute the most intros, which accounts are TeamLink-poor, and gaps to fill.
Monthly Admin Center review: which teammates contribute most TeamLink coverage? (Usually the longest-tenured + most-connected reps.)
Identify TeamLink-poor accounts: target accounts where no one on the team has 1st-degree connections. These are "build" priorities — assign reps to actively connect with employees at those accounts.
For new hires: as TeamLink contributors come online, re-run Relationship Explorer on existing target accounts. New teammates may unlock intro paths that did not exist before.
Quarterly: pull a "TeamLink coverage" report — % of target accounts with at least one TeamLink path. Track over time. Healthy ABM teams should be at 70-85% coverage.
If coverage drops (rep churn, list expansion), prioritize relationship-building activities — events, content engagement, LinkedIn connection campaigns aimed at decision-makers in TeamLink-poor accounts.
Common mistakes
TeamLink opt-in skipped on team setup
What goes wrong: Teammates do not opt in. Relationship Explorer shows zero TeamLink paths even though connections exist. Warm-intro workflow falls apart silently.
How to avoid: Mandate TeamLink opt-in during Sales Nav rep onboarding. Verify monthly in Admin Center → TeamLink. Send Slack reminders to non-opted-in teammates.
Asking for intros without context
What goes wrong: Generic "can you intro me to X?" requests get ignored. Teammate goodwill burns. After 2-3 ignored requests, the introducer stops engaging.
How to avoid: Every intro request includes: why you are reaching out, what value you are offering, what timing trigger exists, and a draft intro the teammate can copy-paste.
Asking for too many intros per teammate
What goes wrong: Asking a teammate for 5+ intros per week is extractive. They stop helping. Long-term, the relationship value collapses.
How to avoid: Cap intro requests at 1-2 per teammate per week. Reciprocate (offer intros back). Build a culture where TeamLink helps both directions.
Not pairing warm intros with Smart Links
What goes wrong: Warm intro lands but you have no insight into whether the prospect engaged with shared content. You miss the re-open signal. Follow-up timing is guesswork.
How to avoid: Always send teammate a Smart Link version of the relevant content for them to forward. Track analytics. Follow up on re-opens within 24 hours.
Ignoring TeamLink-poor accounts
What goes wrong: You discover 30% of target accounts have no TeamLink coverage but do nothing about it. Those accounts only get cold outreach forever. Win rates lag.
How to avoid: Identify TeamLink-poor accounts quarterly. Assign reps to deliberately connect with employees there over the next 60-90 days. Coverage builds compounds.
No new-hire intro program
What goes wrong: New SDRs ramp cold without leveraging the team's relationship graph. Quota-attainment lags 60-90 days behind what is achievable. Churn risk increases.
How to avoid: In week 1 of every new SDR onboarding, run Relationship Explorer on their target accounts. Schedule intro calls with teammate connectors. Warm-intro relay starts immediately.
Recap
Done — what's next
How to set up Sales Navigator account and lead lists (with saved searches and alerts)
Read the next tutorial
Hand it off
Relationship Explorer is the warm-intro lever that 5x outbound reply rates — and the feature most teams under-utilize. A LinkedIn Sales Nav specialist will train your team on the workflow, build the intro-relay templates, configure TeamLink reporting, and run a 30-day coverage audit in 3-4 hours, typically $50-80. The pipeline lift from warm intros is usually 20-40% within 90 days.
See specialist rates
Related but not identical. TeamLink (older, ~2018) is the underlying tech that shares teammate connections across the team. Relationship Explorer (2026) is the unified UI that combines TeamLink, mutual connections, second-degree paths, and shared context (school, past employers, groups) into one panel per account.
No — teammate connections show up in your Relationship Explorer view, but the teammate does NOT receive notifications when you view or request intros. Communication happens via your internal team channels (Slack, email), not via Sales Nav.
For ABM programs (50-500 target accounts), 70-85% TeamLink coverage is healthy. Below 50% = build coverage urgency (deliberate LinkedIn connection campaigns). Above 90% = unusual; most teams plateau at 70-85%.
No — only LinkedIn-based relationships are surfaced. For broader relationship intelligence (CRM history, email history, calendar interactions), pair Sales Nav with tools like Reciprocity, Bonjoro, or Common Room. They layer non-LinkedIn signals on top.
During initial account research: once per account (document the intro paths). During active pursuit: re-check every 30 days — new teammate connections + new prospect-side connections can unlock fresh paths. After 90 days: revisit comprehensively as the relationship graph drifts.
Partially — native CRM Sync (Advanced Plus only) writes TeamLink connection info to custom CRM fields (e.g., "TeamLink connection at this account: [Teammate Name]"). For Core/Advanced: export manually or via Zapier workaround. Most teams document in a shared Notion/sheet instead.
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