If you have attended a business school or have been a part of a corporation, chances are that you have heard the phrase ‘Competitive Analysis’ almost all the time. If you have, feel free to keep reading on (you thought I’ll ask you to skip.. Not really). This blog isn’t going to talk about your usual competitive analysis that is found in presentations, especially within the sub-section of ‘SWOT’ (stands for Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats) analysis.
While it necessarily might not be true for everyone, in a majority of the deals you’ll typically find the same competitors vying for the customer’s attention. It’s but natural that companies want to outdo their competitors. Knowing that this is such a big issue for a lot of companies, you’ll be surprised when you ask some further details about their competition. For example, get in touch with an account manager or a sales representative to find out what the competitors are saying to your customers and you’ll get some blank looks staring back at you. It’s fair enough to say that that itself isn’t a big issue, more so because, unless you have been hired from a competitor, it’s very difficult for you to know what they have as an edge over you. But is it?
The world has greatly changed in the last 2 decades. So don’t be blind-sighted to your competition anymore. Here are the things you can do to get that critical information on your competitors:
1. Visit their website
This might seem like a no-brainer. But in reality how many people know what their competitors’ websites look like? I can bet that there aren’t too many. Start from there. A company website gives a wealth of information. And I am not saying this casually. Visit the page and see what business strategies your competitors are propagating.
a) Messaging:
If you keep following their website, you’ll notice subtle changes, messaging that they are incorporating with their clients (which are your clients too), along with financials of course. Do note that anything on their corporate website is quite important, as nothing gets put up there unless it’s gone through multiple rounds of reviews and blessings from top management. Pay a little attention to it and you’ll be better than most of the sales guys out there.
b) Client List/References:
When you are in a particular industry, there is a market that you are running after. The amount of clients you work with and the amount you work with them (revenue) is quite important in determining your market share. Hence it’s always a good idea to keep a tab on the list of clients your competition is acquiring. Not only it gives you a perspective on guarding your territories, it can give you leads in terms of prospects that you should go after.
c) Case Studies:
A lot of well known IT companies put up case studies, whitepapers, reports etc. which are available to the general public. This is usually done to prove the credibility of the company. At the same time it give you troves of information on the type of projects, areas of expertise and in some cases the upcoming technologies within the specific domains. If it’s on their presentation, be rest assured that it’s the same message that is being conveyed to the customer. Compare your presentations to theirs to see what you are missing and in what ways can you one up the advantages stated there. Another way this can help you is that there might be dated case studies of clients which have recently become your clients. You have an automatic prospecting opportunity handed over on a platter right there.
d) Keep a regular tab with automatic updates:
This is the easiest thing to do out of the list so far. In earlier days, you would have had to go through newspapers, or press releases to understand the changes your competitors are undergoing, but not anymore. Set up Google Alerts on the competitors you want to track and get a daily/weekly dose on them. Use it to notice management changes, new launches, major deals, executive blogs etc.
2. Ask your clients
The previous section had a lot of points to cover and all of them are important. But note, that if you are a client partner or an account manager, the only company you care about is your current customer, in which case the new list of customers your competition has acquired is of little importance to you. Also the wealth of information you might receive from the above steps can be a long drawn process. That doesn’t mean that you don’t try it out, but while you are in the process of getting all that information collected and made sense of, is there something you can do to get a jumpstart on the competition? The good news is, that there is! You simply talk to your customers about it. You’ll be surprised at the amount of information that you can get from your customers by just asking about your competition. A couple of points to note here:
a) Get the customer’s perspective:
Instead of asking what Mr. XYZ from ABC company said in the 9 AM meeting, a better way is to find out from the customer what they see as a differentiation in the competitor. Notice that instead of finding out what the competitor mentioned their advantages to be, this approach lets you in on the things that the customer perceives to be important from their point of view.
b) Never run-down your competition:
I have seen this play out too often. Sales folks talking bad about the competition and slowly being edged out themselves from the account. No matter how big or great your company is, it’s never a good idea to talk ill about your competitors. But doesn’t that go against the principles of selling? No, it doesn’t. It’s important to remember that you can always bring out your advantages by showing your company is better at something rather than why your competitor is bad at it. If you do have to point out a shortcoming, state it objectively rather than embellishing the information. Do remember that if the customer is already working with your competitor, by running them down, you are basically hinting at what bad decision makers your customers are, which will instantly put them off. Hence build your value rather than degrading others.
You can get some more tips on how to approach this conversation from my previous blog.
CONCLUSION
At the end of the day, your competitors are the ones that keep you on your toes and push you to do their best. With that in mind, use the information stated above to be a sales professional to bring in the best value to your customers.
