Uploading LinkedIn Connections (Intro Paths)

What intro paths do

Cold outreach converts at a fraction of the rate of a warm introduction. The intro paths feature maps your existing LinkedIn network against your target accounts, so when you open an account you can see who you already know there, and route your outreach through a real relationship instead of a cold message.

To build that map, Salesmotion needs your LinkedIn connections list. LinkedIn provides it as an official export, and uploading it takes a few minutes.

Step 1: Export your connections from LinkedIn

LinkedIn's official data export is the reliable route:

1. On LinkedIn, click your profile photo and choose Settings & Privacy.
2. Go to Data privacy → Get a copy of your data.
3. Choose the option to select specific data, tick Connections, and request the archive.
4. LinkedIn emails you a download link, usually within about 10 minutes for a connections-only export.
5. Download and unzip the archive. Inside is a Connections.csv file with names, companies, and positions.

Do not use scraped exports from third-party browser extensions. They violate LinkedIn's terms and often produce malformed files; the official export is safe and clean.

Step 2: Upload to Salesmotion

Upload the Connections.csv in Salesmotion from your workspace settings. Processing takes a few minutes, after which your connections are matched against companies in the platform.

If you do not see the upload option in your workspace, email the CSV to support@salesmotion.io and the team will load it for you the same day, this was the original flow and still works.

Step 3: Use intro paths on your accounts

Once processed, account views show where your network overlaps a target account. The practical patterns:

• Before outreach: check whether anyone in your network works at (or recently left) the target account, and open with the relationship instead of a cold hook.
• Team leverage: where multiple teammates upload their connections, the paths compound; the person with the relationship may not be the account owner.
• Signal pairing: the strongest play is a live buying signal plus a warm path: reach out about the real event, through the person who knows you.

Keeping it current

Your network changes, so re-export and re-upload every quarter or after events and conference seasons. Uploads replace the previous connection set, so there is no duplicate cleanup to do.

Frequently asked questions

Is uploading my connections allowed under LinkedIn's terms?

Yes. You are exporting your own data through LinkedIn's official export tool, which LinkedIn provides exactly for this purpose. What Salesmotion does not do is scrape LinkedIn or access data behind the login wall; the platform works from the file you choose to upload.

Can my teammates see my connections?

Connections power intro paths within your workspace, which is the point of the feature for teams: the warm path into an account may belong to a colleague. If your role requires keeping your network private, raise it with your workspace admin before uploading.

Why do some connections not match to accounts?

Matching runs on company names and domains from your CSV. Connections whose current company is missing or outdated on LinkedIn, or who work at companies not tracked in your workspace, will not produce paths. The match rate improves as your tracked account list grows.