Why Some Sales Professionals Are Using Crustdata for LinkedIn Sales Navigator Data — Reddit Pros Share Their Setup

For modern sales professionals, LinkedIn Sales Navigator has become an indispensable tool for lead generation. However, data limitations and export frustrations have pushed many to look for alternatives that supercharge their workflows. One solution getting traction among Reddit sales pros is Crustdata — a tool that promises to make LinkedIn data more accessible and usable for prospecting and outreach strategies.

TL;DR

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is powerful but lacks export flexibility, which hampers lead generation efficiency. Reddit sales professionals are turning to Crustdata for an easier way to collect, organize, and analyze Sales Navigator data. This tool streamlines LinkedIn prospecting into exportable spreadsheets or CRM-compatible formats. With Reddit users sharing scripts, workflows, and automation tips, Crustdata is quietly becoming a sales tech secret weapon.

What Is Crustdata?

Crustdata is a data scraping and extraction tool with a core focus on LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Specifically designed for sales teams, recruiters, and growth hackers, it allows users to:

• Export search results from Sales Navigator into spreadsheets or CSVs
• Extract enriched data such as company size, job titles, industries, and contact info (when available)
• Avoid manual copy-pasting and cloud up your workflow with ready-to-use datasets
• Automate searches using predefined filters to mine target personas

While LinkedIn does not offer native CSV exports from Sales Navigator, Crustdata serves as a powerful workaround. It provides sales professionals with the freedom to analyze and act on their search results however they like — a luxury not built into LinkedIn’s default UI.

Why Are Reddit Sales Pros Jumping on the Crustdata Trend?

Sales-focused communities on Reddit such as r/sales, r/leadgeneration, and r/entrepreneur are buzzing with case studies and workflow breakdowns involving Crustdata. Here’s what Reddit users value most:

1. Speed and Efficiency

LinkedIn’s interface does not lend itself well to scale. When users need to build email lists or conduct large-scale outreach, clicking through hundreds of profiles isn’t realistic. One Redditor noted:

“I was spending 6 hours a week just scraping leads manually. With Crustdata, that’s down to 30 minutes. That’s game-changing.”

By coupling Crustdata with a browser extension or script, users are skipping the grind and going straight from search results to cleaned marketing-ready databases.

2. Automation Capabilities

Some Reddit users have taken Crustdata even further by integrating it into their tech stack. The most commonly shared setups include:

• Zapier or Make.com (formerly Integromat) integrations to route exported data to CRMs
• Use of Python scripts to run Crustdata repeatedly on new segments of LinkedIn filters
• Combining Crustdata exports with email validation tools like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce

This significantly reduces manual work and allows sales reps to quickly ramp up targeted campaigns with minimal input.

3. The Quantity vs. Quality Debate

A key advantage surfaced by Redditors is Crustdata’s high volume capability. Using Sales Navigator filters such as geography, industry, seniority, and company size, pros are scraping thousands of records weekly. But with power comes responsibility. Some commenters caution others to vet the quality of leads exported using the tool before sending mass cold emails.

In response, several Redditors shared how they use companion tools like:

• Apollo for contact enrichment
• Snov.io for lead scoring
• Lemlist for personalized outreach sequences

Crustdata delivers the raw fuel — it’s up to users to refine that into clean, qualified leads.

How Does Crustdata Work with LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

Crustdata typically functions as a browser extension or web scraper. Users run a search in LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and Crustdata extracts the information on each profile. Here is a basic breakdown of how it works:

1. Install Crustdata and sign into your LinkedIn account.
2. Run a filtered search on LinkedIn Sales Navigator (e.g., Managers in SaaS companies with 10-200 employees).
3. Crustdata reads the data loaded on the page — name, title, company, region, etc.
4. Export the result as a CSV with customizable fields.
5. Optional: Re-run or paginate through results automatically to mine deeper pages.

Crustdata’s scraping speed is optimized to mimic human-like interaction, which helps it stay under LinkedIn’s anti-bot radar — a common concern among data-savvy salespeople.

Best Practices from Reddit Users

Here are some top tips shared by experienced users on Reddit:

1. Use Segmentation Strategically

Rather than scraping the entire universe of results, many users recommend breaking Sales Navigator lists into micro-segments. For instance:

• Group by job function (e.g., HR vs Marketing vs IT)
• Split by company size and funding rounds
• Separate enterprise vs startup prospects

Segmenting allows better targeting, messaging personalization, and higher response rates.

2. Don’t Over-Scrape — Respect the Limits

LinkedIn monitors user behavior patterns and can limit your account if you’re too aggressive. Redditors suggest:

• Stick to fewer than 1,000 profiles/day
• Rotate accounts or IPs if necessary
• Use stealth browsing and proxies when operating at volume

The goal is to scale outreach without risking your Sales Navigator access — so staying under the radar is key.

3. Enrich with External Data Sources

Many Redditors don’t stop at the basic extract. They use tools like:

• Hunter.io to find personal or work email addresses
• Clearbit for firmographic data
• BuiltWith to understand the tech stack of each lead

This multi-source enrichment helps prioritize hot leads and nurture cold ones.

Limitations to Watch Out For

While Crustdata is powerful, it isn’t a magic bullet. Some common limitations discussed by Reddit users include:

• Rate Limits: You cannot scrap unlimited data daily — LinkedIn gets suspicious fast.
• Incomplete Profiles: If a LinkedIn user limits visibility, Crustdata can only extract what’s public.
• No Emails by Default: Crustdata won’t magically find email addresses — it needs to be paired with an enrichment tool.
• Paid Tool: Crustdata operates on a usage-based or subscription model, which may not suit smaller teams.

Successful users learn to navigate these constraints with supporting tools and ethical scraping limits.

Final Thoughts: Is Crustdata Worth It?

If you or your team lives inside LinkedIn Sales Navigator and often wished there was an “Export to CSV” button, Crustdata may be the answer. It elegantly bridges the gap between LinkedIn’s built-in features and the agility today’s sales professionals demand.

By automating what used to be hours of research and button clicking, it allows you to focus on what really moves the sales needle: smart targeting, personalized messaging, and consistent follow-up.

Is it for everyone?

Probably not. If you’re just starting your sales career or don’t need to prospect at scale, the cost and complexity of setup might outweigh the benefits. But for freelancers, SDRs running outbound campaigns, recruiters, or agency-based sales teams, Crustdata offers a return on time investment that Reddit’s top pros are calling “worth its weight in leads.”

As one Reddit user succinctly summed it up:

“Crustdata didn’t just make LinkedIn easier — it made my outreach 10x more effective.”

And in an environment where speed and precision dictate success, that kind of edge is hard to ignore.