LinkedIn Prospecting: Targeting Competitors

Welcome to the fourth installment of our LinkedIn prospecting strategies. In this video, we will discuss a highly effective strategy for targeting prospects who are following your competitors on LinkedIn. By leveraging this strategy, you can take advantage of the fact that these prospects are either using your competitor's product or service or are familiar with your competitors and the industry space. This knowledge allows you to position yourself against those competitors and increase your chances of success.

Now let's dive into a live walkthrough of how to find prospects who are following your competitors on LinkedIn.

Remember to watch this session to check out the full walkthrough.

Finding Prospects Who Follow Your Competitors

To start, you will need to identify the persona you want to reach out to. For example, let's say you are targeting salespeople. You can get more specific by filtering based on job titles, but for now, we will focus on filtering by people in general.

Under the "All Filters" option, select "Followers of." To make this strategy even more effective, it's recommended to find an executive or an individual with a significant influence who is following one of your competitors. Let's use the example of Gong, a call intelligence software provider. Gong has a well-known individual named Udi who has a large following on LinkedIn and frequently discusses call intelligence and AI.

After entering the relevant information, click on "Show Results." You can further refine your search by specifying job titles, industries, companies, and more, depending on your requirements. However, for this example, we will keep it basic.

You will now have a list of over 5000 sales leaders who are following Udi on LinkedIn. This is a great opportunity for you to reach out to them and engage in a warm conversation. For instance, you can start your outreach by mentioning their interest in Gong, saying something like, "Hey Amanda, I noticed you're following Udi on LinkedIn. I'm not sure if you're already a Gong user, but based on your interest in call intelligence, I thought you might be interested in learning how our call intelligence software compares to Gong." This personalized approach will help you create a warm connection and increase your chances of success.

Leveraging Influencers and Keywords

Aside from targeting followers of your competitors, you can also identify influencers who talk about keywords related to your solution. For example, if you are selling a power dialer software for cold calling, you can search for people who follow Jason Bay, as he frequently discusses cold calling strategies.

By finding and reaching out to these individuals, you can tailor your outreach to align with the topics they follow. For instance, you might say, "Hey, I see you're following Jason on LinkedIn. I'm sure you have heard him talk about the importance of leaving voicemails and how it can improve your connect rates. If you're interested, I'd be happy to introduce you to our auto voice mail dropper, which can enhance your call software experience."

Remember, these examples are just illustrations of how you can leverage influencers and their audience to create more effective and purpose-driven opening sentences in your outreach.

The Benefits of Targeting Competitor Followers

By using this LinkedIn prospecting strategy, you gain valuable insights into the preferences and behaviors of your potential customers. You have a clear indication that they are interested in your industry or have already interacted with your competitors. This positions you as a knowledgeable and relevant resource, making your outreach more impactful.

Instead of blindly reaching out to random prospects, you now have a solid reason for your outreach. This strategy can be applied to cold calling, cold emailing, or LinkedIn messaging, making your efforts more targeted and increasing your chances of success.

Targeting prospects who are following your competitors on LinkedIn is a powerful approach to drive your prospecting efforts. By leveraging this strategy, you can tap into a pool of prospects who are already aware of your industry and competitors. Creating a warm connection and positioning yourself against these competitors increases your chances of successfully capturing their attention and generating quality leads.

Try out this strategy and monitor its effectiveness. By identifying the right influencers and leveraging competitor followers, you can refine your outreach and make it more purposeful. Stay tuned for our next LinkedIn prospecting strategy, and remember to keep exploring innovative strategies to improve your prospecting efforts.