How to get leads for Wholesale businesses

The easy way to generate leads for Wholesale businesses for B2B sales using LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Find another industry

Step 1

Decide if Wholesale is the right industry to target

The Wholesale industry

The Wholesale industry encompasses businesses that act as intermediaries in the supply chain. They purchase large quantities of goods from manufacturers or other producers and sell them in smaller lots to retailers, other wholesalers, or directly to businesses. The key distinction is that they usually don't significantly alter the goods they handle. This industry covers a wide array of products from diverse sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, and even some information industries like publishing.

What businesses are included

A typical example of a wholesale business is a company that buys coffee beans directly from farmers, packages them, and then sells them to cafes and restaurants. Similarly, a business that sources office supplies from various manufacturers and sells them in bulk to other businesses is also considered part of the wholesale industry.

When targeting the Wholesale industry on LinkedIn, your search will automatically cover all related sub-industries. To maximize the relevance of your leads, you may want to exclude certain sub-industries that don’t align with your ideal customer profile.

Sub-industries included in Wholesale:

Which businesses are not included

It's important to note that while a retail store might buy goods from a wholesaler, they are not considered part of the wholesale industry themselves as their primary function is selling directly to end consumers. Similarly, businesses that significantly transform goods before selling them, such as a company that buys raw timber and turns it into furniture, would fall under manufacturing rather than wholesale.

Industry size on LinkedIn

Est. market size

440K

businesses

Est. market size

440K

businesses

Est. market size

440K

businesses

Est. LinkedIn users

2.2M

users

Est. LinkedIn users

2.2M

users

Est. LinkedIn users

2.2M

users

Est. LinkedIn adoption

3

/ 5

Est. LinkedIn adoption

3

/ 5

Est. LinkedIn adoption

3

/ 5

Step 2

Pick job titles to target

Focus your LinkedIn search on these key decision-maker roles within the Wholesale industry to find high-value leads. These roles are typically involved in B2B purchasing decisions and are most likely to respond to your outreach.

Influential roles in Wholesale

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Operating Officer

Chief Operating Officer

Chief Operating Officer

Head of Sales

Head of Sales

Head of Sales

VP of Procurement

VP of Procurement

VP of Procurement

Supply Chain Director

Supply Chain Director

Supply Chain Director

Setting your lead filters

Open LinkedIn Sales Navigator and select the ‘Leads’ tab. Use the filters on the left side to narrow down your search. Enter 'Wholesale' in the ‘Industry’ filter, and add the job titles you want to target in the ‘Current job title’ field.

Screenshot showing LinkedIn lead filters
Screenshot showing LinkedIn lead filters

How many leads can I export?

You can export up to 2,500 leads per day from Sales Navigator. If your search results is higher than this limit, consider narrowing your filters or breaking your search results into multiple saved lead lists that can be exported over several days.

Do I have to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

Yes, to effectively target specific industries like Wholesale, you'll need LinkedIn Sales Navigator. It provides the advanced filtering options you need to find the right leads and it has much higher export limits than the regular version of LinkedIn.

What does Sales Nav cost?

Sales Navigator offers a 30-day free trial, after which it costs around $90 per month.

Considering the quantity and quality of the targeted B2B leads you can export from Sales Nav, we think this is a bargain - certainly cheaper than almost any other way of generating leads.

Step 4

Export your leads

  1. Install the Exportli Chrome Extension

To start exporting your leads, first install the Exportli Chrome extension.

Exportli works seamlessly with Sales Navigator and does two main things:

  • It allows you to export lead lists into a CSV

  • It uses 20+ email enrichment providers to find and verify business email addresses for your leads.

When you sign up, you’ll receive 50 free credits to get you started.

  1. Run your lead export

With Exportli installed, you’re ready to run your export. The extension guides you through the process of exporting your selected leads into a CSV file.

Screenshot showing LinkedIn lead filters
Screenshot showing LinkedIn lead filters

Step 5

Import to your CRM or email tool

With your leads exported to a CSV file, you can now import them into your CRM or email outreach tools.

Most tools will let you import CSVs including:

Salesforce
Apollo
Hubspot
Zoho CRM
Pipedrive

Start exporting Wholesale leads today

First 50 credits free, no credit card required