Answer Competitive Intelligence questions simply by using these sources
This article suggests answer Competitive Intelligence questions simply by using these sources and you will get more insight to your competitive environment. Here are nine suggestions you can do to get to know your competitors better.
1. Your competitor’s website and product pages
Their website is a hive of information and a clear place to start. But, we don’t as we try and gain a picture of a business before dipping into their website. But keep things simple, look at their website to see what they tell the potential customers. And just as importantly, what they don’t tell them. And then there’s:
- Product descriptions and explanations
- What dont they say to the buyer and why?
- Customer product reviews
- Help articles
- Forum discussions
- Your own UX experience
- Tone of voice
- Product photography and imagery
2. Buy their products
Understanding how customers feel about their offering is to become a customer yourself. Buy goods from them to assess the customer journey. Assess the ongoing development of their products. Analyse their branding, shipment details, build quality, service levels, packaging, etc.
3. Understand their pricing strategy
Knowing the prices of their product isn’t enough. You will gain a minimal advantage. You also need to check the features and breakdown of their pricing strategy. Including at least the following:
- The discounts they offer
- Their standard fees
- Distribution channels
- Contract terms and duration
- Extra services
- Pricing segmentation
- and much more
Find out your competitor prices by:
- Looking at their websites and promotions
- Product review websites like G2, Glassdoor etc
- Price tracking software like Prisync and Price2Spy
- Asking their customers
4. Keep an eye on product reviews
Many review sites share customer feedback. Look at them to see what’s being said about your competitors. Websites like:
- G2 Crowd
- Software Advice
- Yelp
5. Look at their key players
Their team teams are the most valuable competitor strengths. Or at least they should be. All their teams influence customer relationships and satisfaction. The critical questions in your research could be:
What is Competitive Intelligence?
Competitive intelligence is the finding, sorting and critical analysis of information. To make sense of what’s happening and why. Predict what’s going to happen and give the options to help you control the outcome. Competitive intelligence offers certainty, competitive advantage, insight, growth & security.
- How often are they recruiting? In which departments and regions?
- What’s their staff retention record?
- What types of skills and qualifications are they searching for the most?
- What do candidates say about how they were treated during the recruitment process?
- Are their employees happy and motivated?
- Who are their key players?
- Why do they work for them and not you?
- What do employees tell us on third-party review sites like Glassdoor and Indeed?
On LinkedIn, follow a company and get alerts when updates on their LinkedIn page. Find former employees and recruits. Look at their employees’ track record, qualifications and skills. What do they say about their company?
6. Job adverts and boards
Look where they are recruiting and what for. Look at jobs boards and find your competitor’s adverts. It may provide insight into these:
- What your competitor is planning to do
- What new technologies are they working on
- Any unexpected skill requirements
- Are they expanding internationally?
7. Research your competitor’s customers
Assist your sales team in targeting the right prospects. Understand your competitors’ clients to give your sales warmer leads and better prepared. So if a competitor is mentioned, they have a counter prepared.
Key competitor customer Competitive Intelligence questions include:
- Who are your competitors’ customers? What do they look like?
- Are there any patterns in their customers’ profiles, demographics, revenues or geographic regions?
- What are they saying about your competitors? Are they satisfied with your rivals’ products and service levels?
- What features and benefits do they proclaim to their customers?
- Do their customers think they have better features and benefits than yours?
- What customer retention strategies do your competitors use?
- Why do their customers use them and not you?
- What testimonials and case studies do they have on their website or social media? What do they tell you?
- Do they have recommendations on Linked? And from whom?
- Which customers have offered a testimonial or recommendation? What does it say?
- Can you say why your competitors win or lose sales?
8. Surveys
Are you wondering how you can get this information? Ask them. Either formal via a survey or more informally by talking to them.
Their customers could offer insight into their proposals, discounts, promotions and loyalty programs. It also allows you to build relationships with them, and it gives you a better chance of business in the future.
9. Win-loss analysis
A win-loss analysis is the most valuable analysis you can undertake. Often best done impartially and independently. And yes, we can do it for you.
Conduct a survey discussion with your customers that you lost to your competitors. Ask them why they chose a competitor over you. There are many reasons for a change, including price, product quality, and level of service? And we bet it’s not price.
When you win a new customer, ask them who they used before. And then why they chose you, what made them dissatisfied with the previous supplier.
An independent win-loss analysis provides nuanced, precise, and actionable insights. Not from searching Google or an expensive database but from those who know you best. That potential customer who has gone through your customer journey. And then decide to buy from you or went elsewhere.
How we could do win-loss for you
- We determine the questions associated with a sales team’s ability purchasing decision. Pricing, contracts and your offering’s feature and benefits.
- Understand who need to know the results of the win-loss
- We endeavour to understand your sales and marketing process, product lines and markets.
- Then the impartial interviews take place with the decision-makers. Decision-makers at your new customer or former prospect to discuss won and lost deals.
- The interactions are analysed and report the overall vital findings and trends.
Analysing several deals allows us to suggest recommendations. About your sales processes, customer journeys, value proposition, features, benefits and USPs. Then praise sales and after-sales teams and suggest new ways of working.
Increased sales
You should experience increased sales as you understand your customer needs better. And to counter your competitors’ efforts. Once some Win-Loss interviews have taken place, you will be in a position to appreciate your success rates accurately.
Any win-loss exercise must be consistent. And done after the majority of successful and failed sales opportunities. It can transform your business, and it’s so much more than emailing a prospect and asking what you did wrong.
Answer Competitive Intelligence questions simply by using these sources
You will find valuable competitive information about your business in their responses. This article suggested answer Competitive Intelligence questions simply by using these sources and you will get more insight to your competitive environment. Here are nine suggestions you can do to get to know your competitors better.
