How to start a Competitive Intelligence project
This article discusses how to start a Competitive Intelligence project. A Competitive Intelligence project may be a lot of work. The rewards you can get are worth the effort.
Consistent analysis allows you to stay updated on your industry trends, ever-changing customer expectations, and crucial areas of need that your competitors aren’t meeting.
All successful entrepreneurs thrive under competitive pressure. So don’t see competition as a stressful hurdle. See it as the most significant opportunity to take your business to another level.
Start by targeting specific concerns and then compile those concerns to provide insight.
It’s all about asking the right questions
It’s always best to spend time to define the questions you want to ask. The better the question, the better the answer. It’s all about asking the right questions.
Basic questions such as these, maybe?
- How do you find the competitors of a company?
- Then, what are our competitors’ weaknesses?
- How can we monitor competitor prices?
To develop the questions you need to answer, you should take the following into account:
- Avoid yes/no questions.
- Would a non-expert understand the question?
- Try summarising the question in one sentence of no more than three lines.
- Ensure the question is broad enough to cover what you think you will need to cover. But narrow enough to provide a useful answer.
- Do the questions meet the decision-maker’s needs?
Firstly, to answer these questions, it’s advisable to ask these sorts of questions?
- What’s really the problem?
- Who’s the decision-maker?
- What’s the decision-maker trying to accomplish?
- Also, what’s their goal?
- How can we limit uncertainty for the decision-maker?
Your Mission, should you choose to accept it…
Do you know the Mission Impossible film franchise’s classic line, “Your mission, should you choose to accept it”? It’s an excellent example of providing a simple understanding of what they want Ethan Hunt to do. Read more: What are some commonly used competitive benchmarks?
A mission is structured like this: We are here and want to be here. We have a problem and want to know what to do about it. Read more: Competitive Intelligence in 60 Seconds: A Quick Guide
So, to ensure a clear understanding of your needs, break the project down as follows:
Our Mission is to
We will answer the following intelligence questions to create valuable intelligence, insight and recommendations:
If this happens or if this is found, we will do this.
Include a deadline.
Suppose you’re looking for industry trends or competitor information. Start by collecting as much accurate information as possible to answer your questions. Then, you should sort through the information. Then, extract vital insight that will help you in the next step.
The final step is action. Now that you’ve got the most critical information, you start to create a map to see where to go to close isolated performance gaps. Repair those pain points while growing and developing your business.
starting a Competitive Intelligence project
This article discusses how to start a Competitive Intelligence project. Remember, having this sort of information can mean the difference between success and failure, especially in today’s competitive market.
We are Octopus. The Global People-Powered Competitive Intelligence Agency.
Outsmart your competition. Make the unknown known. Octopus helps you gain clarity in complex markets. With clients and tentacles around the world, we deliver sharp, actionable competitive intelligence through a blend of deep primary (HUMINT) and secondary research. If you’re looking to make smarter decisions, beat the competition, and reduce uncertainty, we’re the partner you want on your side.
