If you are not using LinkedIn to build your business you are missing out on a huge opportunity. I recently wrote about leveraging LinkedIn and how you can find new prospects within LinkedIn groups, but there is another side to LinkedIn: stalking your competition.
This week I did what many people won’t: I told a close competitor how we run our business including what works, what doesn’t, successes we created and how we created them.
Gyi Tsakalakis from AttorneySync is not just kind of competition to my company Get Noticed Get Found Inc., we literally go after the identical clients and provide them the same results. Without stalking him on LinkedIn, this meeting may not have happened.
We both offer websites and SEO services to law firms and the best part is we each learned a lot about our market by opening up and talking about the real issues we're facing.
Here's exactly how you get in front of your competition:
1) Set up a Google Alert with your competitions name. You will receive an email anytime their name shows up online. Make sure to add quotes around their name when you set up your alert to ensure you only get emailed when their full name appears. This is a great way to keep an eye on what your competition is doing online.
2) Find them in groups on LinkedIn. Sometimes people are apprehensive if you send them a connection request out of the blue. If you join the same group you can get your face in front of them softening the impending connection.
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3) Comment positively on their group discussions. When they post something interesting or something you wish you'd thought of, add a comment that explains how great it is.
4) Upgrade to a Premium LinkedIn account. There is a nominal monthly cost, but you get a massive amount of increased capabilities. One odd or addictive feature is that you will be able to see who looks at your profile. Get in front of your competition online enough and eventually they'll visit your profile and you'll know when.
5) Come from a position of contribution. Connect with your competition and do what you can to help them succeed. This may be counter to some people. Business is not about winning over your competition, it's about succeeding within your market. You'll be amazed at how collaboration leads to more for everyone.
Jabez LeBret is the author of the Amazon No. 1 best selling law office marketing book How to Turn Clicks Into Clients. As a partner at Get Noticed Get Found, a legal marketing agency, over the last nine years he has delivered over 800 keynote addresses in six countries. His main area of expertise is managing Gen Y in the workplace, advanced Facebook strategies, LinkedIn strategies, Google+, SEO, local directory optimization, and online marketing.
