# How to find prospects in your competitors' LinkedIn comments > Identify buyers in competitor LinkedIn posts, filter commenters against your ICP, and send connection requests that start real conversations today. - HTML: https://getkinlead.com/find-prospects-commenting-on-competitor-posts - Markdown: https://getkinlead.com/find-prospects-commenting-on-competitor-posts.md **Short answer:** Find leads by watching competitor posts that attract your buyers. Filter commenters against your ideal customer profile, then send a connection request that references the specific point they made. ## Pick the right competitor posts to watch Open a competitor's company page and go to the posts tab. Sort by recent posts. You are looking for posts with a real comment thread, not a post with a lot of likes and no replies. A post where ops managers argue about reporting is better than a product launch with applause. Read the comments before you read the post. The post tells you what the vendor wants to say. The comments tell you what buyers are struggling with. If the comments are all 'Congrats!' or people tagging colleagues, skip it. Not every post on a competitor's page is useful. If you target the wrong content, you'll spend your day messaging other vendors, employees, or fans who have no intention of switching software. Look for posts where a prospect admits they have a problem or wants a better way to do something. You want evidence someone has the problem. Attention alone doesn't tell you much. A post about a painful manual process will give you better conversations than a post about a funding round. Check the date and the comment count. A post from last week with a dozen comments is easier to work than a post from last year with hundreds. You want a thread where people are still paying attention. **Avoid these posts** - Company milestones (We just hit 10k users) - New hire announcements - Generic industry news shares - Award wins **Target these posts** - Pain point discussions (Why manual data entry is killing your margins) - Educational how-to guides (5 ways to automate your pipeline) - Opinionated takes on industry failures - Questions about specific feature gaps ## Filter commenters against your ICP Don't message every person who leaves a comment. A 'great post!' comment from a junior employee at a 2-person agency is a waste of time. A detailed question from a head of operations at a 200-person company is worth a look. Verify that the person has the authority to buy and the problem you solve. This stops you from burning your LinkedIn reputation by messaging people who aren't a fit. It also keeps your connection requests from looking random. Check the comment itself. A question about how to handle a specific workflow is a stronger signal than a one-word reply. A complaint about a tool is stronger than a compliment about the writing. Use the profile to confirm the basics: title, company, and whether they work in the function you sell to. If the title is vague, look at their recent posts or about section. If you still can't tell, skip them. 1. **Open all comments.** Click 'View all comments' to see the full thread. Scroll through to find people asking questions or sharing frustrations. 2. **Check the headline.** Click the profile. Look for a job title such as VP of Sales or Head of Ops that matches your buyer persona. 3. **Verify company fit.** Check their current company. Ensure the industry, size, and region match your target market. 4. **Exclude peers.** Ignore anyone who works for a competitor or a complementary agency trying to network. | | Signal | Keep | Skip | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Comment type | Asks about a workflow or tool gap | Says 'great post' or tags a colleague | | Job title | VP, head, director, founder, or owner | Student, intern, sales rep at a peer vendor | | Company fit | Industry, size and region match your profile | Agency, consultant, or competitor | | Timing | Commented in the last few days | Old thread with no recent replies | ## Write a first note that sounds like a peer Avoid sounding like you're watching the competitor's page too closely. Saying 'I saw you commented on X's post' can feel like a cold call. Act like someone who read the thread, not someone running a script. Focus on the idea the person shared, not the fact that you saw them on a specific page. Reference the specific detail they mentioned to prove you read their comment. If they wrote about multi-currency reporting, mention that, not the competitor's brand. Keep the note short. A connection request note has a character limit, so one sentence about their comment and one sentence about why you want to connect is enough. Leave the pitch for after they accept. - **you:** Hi Sarah, your point about the struggle with multi-currency reporting on the CRM thread was interesting. I've seen the same issue with my clients in the EU and wanted to connect. - **them:** Thanks for reaching out! Yes, it's a nightmare. How are your clients handling it? - **you:** Most are using a middleware layer to sync the rates. I'm actually building a way to automate that directly. Happy to share how it works if you're still dealing with it. ``` Hi [first name], your comment about [specific problem] on [topic] caught my eye. I work with [type of team] on the same issue and wanted to connect. ``` ## Manage the outreach flow Don't jump straight into a demo pitch after they accept your request. You've built a small amount of trust by referencing a shared interest, but you haven't earned a meeting yet. Move from curiosity to a conversation about their specific problem, then to a pitch. If you push for a call in the first message, you'll likely be ignored. Ask what they're doing now and whether the problem is still live. Keep a simple rule: one question, one useful observation, then a meeting request. If they don't reply, one follow-up is enough. More than that reads like pressure. When they describe the problem, repeat it back in plain words. Then ask if a short call would help. That is a natural next step, not a pitch. If they say they already have a solution, ask what they would change about it. That keeps the conversation open without arguing. 1. **Wait for acceptance.** Give them a few hours or a day to accept the request before sending the next message. 2. **Ask a clarifying question.** Ask a low-friction question about the problem they mentioned. For example, 'Are you still seeing that issue with your current setup?' 3. **Provide a small win.** Offer a specific observation, a short tip, or a resource that helps them solve the problem without a call. 4. **Request the call.** Ask for a brief meeting once they've replied to your first two messages and acknowledged your value. > The first message after acceptance should ask about the problem, not ask for time on a calendar. The calendar link comes after they describe what they're dealing with. ## Doing this with Kinlead Manual discovery works for a few posts, but scaling requires a system. Kinlead automates discovery and initial contact without requiring a Sales Navigator seat. The [Steal Customers agent](/features/steal-customers) watches competitor company pages and optional founder or employee profiles. It reads comments on recent posts and turns commenters who look like buyers into leads. - Kinlead scores each lead from 0 to 100 against your customer profile, so you don't waste time on low-fit profiles. - Outreach runs from your own account via Unipile and sends at a human pace, with one action every 5 minutes. - You can set daily invite limits and send windows to match the lead's time zone. - Replies land in one inbox, classified by intent, and you get an email when someone responds. > Kinlead keeps the post URL and the specific comment text for every lead, so your AI-written connection notes under 200 characters can explain exactly why that person became a lead. ## Related - [Pricing plans](https://getkinlead.com/pricing.md) - [Outbound for founders](https://getkinlead.com/use-cases/outbound-for-founders.md) - [Minimum booking guarantee](https://getkinlead.com/minimum-booking-guarantee.md) ## Common questions **Will LinkedIn ban me for messaging people from a competitor's post?** LinkedIn does not publish exact limits, but they restrict accounts that send too many requests too quickly. Keep your daily volume low and use personalized notes. **Should I mention the competitor by name in the first message?** Reference the topic or the specific point they made rather than the competitor's brand. This makes the conversation about the problem, not the vendor. **How many people from one post should I reach out to before it looks obvious?** If you message a large slice of one thread in a short window, it may look like a bot. Space out your requests and vary your messaging. **What if the competitor post is old?** Skip it. Old threads rarely have active commenters, and the people who replied may have already solved the problem or moved on. [Create a Kinlead account](https://getkinlead.com/signup). Pro is $49/month after a 7-day free trial.