Be in the Know About the Competitive Field

What you know about your market and competition can greatly improve your ability to compete. Here’s a personal story to illustrate the value of competitive intelligence. Years ago, I competed in triathlons. Before each season, my husband, Mark (who also doubled as equipment manager and cheerleader), would ask, “What’s your idea of success this year?” The answer to this question guided our race choices.

We would then evaluate the races on the schedule against two factors: my strengths (for example, long bike legs with lots of hills) and the potential competition. For each race that made the initial list, we researched that race’s previous years’ information for course, racers, and winner details. This additional information provided insight into what it would take to be competitive and who I most likely would be up against. Once we finalized the races, we would put together the training strategy and plan.

Whether you’re racing in triathlons or up against competitors for your products, this same type of rigor applies. You need to know your strengths, which markets and/or customers play to these strengths, what it will take to win, and who you will be competing with. It’s hard to bring your best game and win if you are not in the know about the competitive field.

In the case study Thorough Competitive Analysis Leads to Successful Shift in Business Strategy you can learn how one of our customers applied this approach. They used primary research to gather competitive intelligence to help improve their ability to more quickly close large new deals.

Outsmart your rivals with competitive intelligence research, market research, analytics, business planning, business strategy — Know Your Rivals Better with Competitive Intelligence

How to Get Smarter About Your Rivals

If you’re in a competitive market, and most of us are, then you need to gather competitive intelligence (CI). CI analysis provides insight into marketplace dynamics and challenges in a structured, disciplined method in order to inform your business strategy. CI enables you to develop counter moves, plan for future customer and market opportunities, benchmark your organization, and assess the effectiveness your positioning and messaging.

Start with these four steps to make sure your competitive intelligence efforts pay off with wins.

Know what you need to know. Competitive intelligence (CI) gathering can be expensive, so as with any research effort, the first step is to determine what you need to know. Be clear about what you want to validate as well as learn about your competitors. For example, maybe you are trying to determine the unmet needs of your competitors’ customers in order to motivate these companies to switch. It is very likely you already know some facts about the competition: Make a list of what you think you know (for validation), and then a list of what you need to learn. To become smarter about your competition you should at least know the size, growth, profitability, objectives, strategies, positioning, key offerings, and target markets/segments of each of your primary competitors.
Research is only valuable if it is actionable. Frame the research in a way that will help you make business decisions. For example, should you pursue a market fraught with competition? If so, what is your strategy? Perhaps there’s a need out there you’ve noticed that requires a whole new solution? If so, what are the customer specifications that will enable you to successfully compete? Acquire data that will help you assess your competitor’s capabilities and vulnerabilities to support the decisions made by Marketing, Research and Development, Customer Services, etc.
Determine how you will collect the data. There are a variety of ways to acquire competitive intelligence. Is there valid secondary research available to fill the gaps? Can you harvest data from combing competitor websites, company reports, customer reviews, analyst market reports, trade show material, and other information in the public domain? If these options don’t yield what you need to know, then you need to determine the best approach for conducting primary research. Primary research requires determining the methodology, deciding on the study participants, creating the instrument, fielding the study, data coding and analysis, and synthesizing the findings into actionable insights and crafting the final report/presentation. It’s a science and an investment.
Decide and Implement. Remember, the purpose of your research is to help guide your decisions and facilitate your success. Use the study findings to take action. One valuable way to employ your CI and use it to facilitate decisions is through a scenario analysis. Scenario analysis provides you with a way to estimate and anticipate each key competitor’s most predictable response to your action. Explore a scenario analysis working session as a starting point for your CI.

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The Value of Competitive Intelligence

When done well, CI can help uncover unmet customer needs, identify new markets, and predict what a competitor is going to do. It can also help you stay abreast of trends and changes, or decide whether to invest in new product development. Gathering competitive intelligence is not a one-time project; it should be an ongoing process. The competitive landscape, market, customer requirements and trends continually change, so it is important to keep your CI and CI processes up to date.

FAQ:

(written by Penn of Sintra.ai)

Q1: Why does being “in the know” about the competitive field improve your ability to compete?
A: Because competitiveness is not accidental—it is planned. Knowing your strengths, where those strengths matter most, what it will take to win, and who you are up against enables smarter choices about markets, customers, positioning, and investment. Without this visibility, you are effectively competing blind.

Q2: What does the triathlon story teach about competitive intelligence in business?
A: It demonstrates a disciplined approach: define success, evaluate options against strengths and likely competition, research historical performance and conditions, then build a strategy and plan. The same rigor applies in business: competitive intelligence helps you choose where to play, how to win, and how to prepare—before you commit resources.

Q3: What is competitive intelligence (CI), and what does it enable?
A: CI is a structured, disciplined way to analyze marketplace dynamics and competitors in order to inform strategy. Done well, CI enables you to develop counter-moves, plan for future opportunities, benchmark your organization, assess positioning and messaging effectiveness, and anticipate competitor responses.

Q4: What are the four steps to make competitive intelligence pay off?
A:

Step 1: Know what you need to know.
CI can be expensive, so define what you want to validate and what you need to learn. Start by listing what you believe you know about competitors (to validate), then list what you must learn. At a minimum, understand each primary competitor’s size, growth, profitability, objectives, strategies, positioning, key offerings, and target markets/segments.

Step 2: Make it actionable.
Research is only valuable if it informs decisions. Frame CI around the choices you need to make—whether to enter or exit a market, what strategy to pursue, what specifications a new solution must meet, and where competitors are vulnerable. Acquire data that helps multiple functions (Marketing, R&D, Customer Service, etc.) assess competitor capabilities and weaknesses.

Step 3: Determine how you will collect the data.
Start with secondary research: competitor websites, company reports, customer reviews, analyst reports, trade show materials, and other public-domain sources. If gaps remain, plan primary research—methodology, participants, instrument design, fielding, coding/analysis, and synthesis into actionable insights. Primary research is an investment and should be treated as such.

Step 4: Decide and implement.
Use findings to take action. A practical way to operationalize CI is scenario analysis—anticipating likely competitor responses to your moves so you can choose actions with fewer surprises and higher odds of success.

Q5: What is the value of CI when done well—and how often should it be done?
A: CI can uncover unmet customer needs, identify new markets, predict competitor behavior, and help you stay ahead of trends and shifts. It should not be a one-time project; it must be an ongoing process because competitors, customer requirements, and market conditions continually change.