Aug 21, 2012

the silver bullet

The competition analysis provides valuable information about the strengths and weaknesses of your company, ultimately helping you answer the client's question: Why should I work with you, rather than with your competition? 

Do you have in place a system to collect and disseminate information about your competitors? 

Or do you occasionally trip on articles or pieces of data you'd like to keep, but haven't quite found the right storage format? 


Collecting information about competitors is one of the key activities of the marketing department; it helps the sales force act clever, look informed and react quickly and correctly when dealing with objections regarding the competitors. 

It eventually guides you to pinpoint your Unique Selling Point vs. every competitor.

This activity mixes market research with word of mouth; you can't build comprehensive content without one or the other.

The research on competition is a strategic activity for a company, enabling you to:
  • improve or develop your company's products and services,
  • create your differentiating advantage,
  • collect and standardize all the knowledge your sales force has gathered during client meetings,
  • offer a powerful tool for your sales reps. to use when they're facing competition.

When the marketing department scrutinizes the market to collect competition data, there are some public and less-public aspects to look into:

  • how the company presents itself on the website, in brochures, presentations, videos, press releases;
  • what are the channels the competitor uses to advertise and promote its brand
  • what's the message the competitor transmits in advertisements
  • what's the approach and speech of the competitor's sales reps. 
The last category is the most important, but the least accessible kind of competition intel; the source for this is the client itself, who might disclose such details to your sales force.

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