Competitor connection displacement
Purpose
Someone who has just connected with a competitor is probably comparing options right now. Reaching them within that window, with a reason that concerns their own problem, is the best timing a list can offer. The risk is that most new connections are not buyers, and an approach that mentions the connection reads as surveillance. This skill turns a set of recent connections into a short, qualified list with a useful opening for each name.
When to use
- The team wants prospects who are already in market for the category.
- A competitor has been active in the team's segments, and the people around it are open to a conversation.
- A displacement list is needed for a campaign or a rep's week.
Route elsewhere when:
- The question is a battlecard or a competitor's moves. Use competitive-intelligence.
- The question is the general ICP list. Use prospect-list-building.
Inputs
- The recent connections to the competitor: its employees, its leadership, or its company page followers. Keep the source in the record.
- The ICP segments and personas to qualify against.
- Existing pipeline and active sequences, to exclude.
Procedure
- Qualify against the ICP first. Most connections are peers, recruiters, candidates, or the competitor's own customers. Keep only role and firmographic fits. Never work the raw list.
- Remove anyone already in motion, including open opportunities and active sequences.
- Score each remaining prospect on three factors:
- Net-new: not already a contact in the team's systems.
- Decision power: the person can buy, or can influence the buyer.
- Freshness: a connection made in the last few days scores above one made last month.
- Rank 1 to 5 on the combination of those three factors. Rank 5 is net-new, with decision power, and connected very recently.
- Write one angle per prospect. The angle is a short, problem-first opener tied to the prospect's role. It names the difference the team makes. It never names the competitor, and it never says how the prospect was found.
- Check the angle. It should still make sense if the competitor were removed from it entirely. If it does not, rewrite.
Output
For each prospect:
- Name, title, and company.
- Why they are displaceable: ICP fit and why now.
- Rank, with the three factor scores shown.
- The angle, in the team's voice.
Plus a count of connections removed at each step, so the list can be audited.
Quality bar
Every prospect is net-new, fits the ICP, and has an angle specific to their role. The angle never mentions the competitor or the connection. Freshness is shown, not assumed. Watch for raw connection lists, competitive teardowns as openers, and angles that could be sent to anyone.